WHO AM I TO JUDGE?

CHAPTER 17

"Hiroshi, I don't think it's a good idea to roam around the town." I suggested.

"Relax, nothing's gonna happen to us." He said while walking.

While walking in the street, I can't help but notice the houses. They really gave a creepy vibe to me. In the area, some of the tress were badly burned and roads were covered with thick algae.

"By the way, where are we going?." Meldy asked.

"I want to go to the old townhall." Hiroshi said.

"But why there?." I asked.

"I don't know, I feel that we can find something interesting there." He replied.

After several minutes of walking, finally we reached the destination.

"Look at that." Hiroshi said while admiring the old townhall.

"Let's take a look inside." Hiroshi suggested.

When we went inside, it was covered with cobwebs and dust. The old townhall was also filled with a lot mannequins and books, especially in the library.

"These mannequins are really creepy." Meldy said while looking at the mannequins."

"If you're bored here, I suggest you take some of these books to read." Hiroshi suggested while taking a look at the books at the shelves.

While looking around, I noticed this door in the end of the library room. It was a small door, but there's something in it that makes me wanna open it.

Slowly I opened the small door, and what I saw behind it was a small wooden stairs towards the basement. Since it was so dark, I decided not to proceed.

"Hey let's check out the upper floor." Meldy suggested.

"Yeah, sure let's do that." Hiroshi agreed.

When we reached the Second floor, there was nothing there but a small old office and of course some mannequins standing near the table.

"Seriously, what's with the mannequins?." Meldy asked.

"I don't know but earlier while the three of us were walking in the street, I also noticed a lot of mannequins inside the houses and stores too." Hiroshi replied.

"Ok now that's creepy." Meldy said.

While looking at the old things around the room, I heard a sound of piano playing outside.

"Guys, you hear that?." Hiroshi asked.

"Yeah loud and clear." I replied.

"There's someone in this town." Hiroshi said.

"Are we going to follow the sound?." I asked.

"Yeah, I'm curious because this town was supposed to be a ghost town in a middle of a jungle hidden on the top of the mountain" He said to us.

Slowly, we descended towards the ground floor.

"I'll follow the sound for you." I suggested.

"Yes please." Hiroshi said.

The sound of piano wasn't that far. From what I've heard, it was a sound of an acoustic piano.

"Right here in this corner." I said to them.

"I'm scared." Meldy said while following me.

Based from the echo of the sound, it was a bit muffled when I went to the east street so I went to the west area to follow the sound. Then there in the west, I discovered that the sound was coming from a doll shop in the corner of a street in the west side of the town.

"See that doll shop? There, the sound of the piano was coming from there." I said to them while pointing towards the mentioned shop.

"Come, let's check that out." Hiroshi suggested.

In the front part of the shop, there was a big window and inside was a lot of handmade wooden puppets and some creepy looking vintage dolls.

"Hello?! Is anybody here?!." Hiroshi knocked through the door.

By the time Hiroshi knocked, the sound of the piano stopped.

"Hello, we are not bad people. We just want to talk." Hiroshi said while looking at the window in the second floor.

When I tried to open the door, it wasn't locked so I convinced them to go inside.

"Hell no." Meldy said.

"I'll go inside, who wants to come?." Hiroshi asked.

"I'll go with you." I replied.

"How about you Meldy?." Hiroshi asked.

"Ok fine, I'll go." Meldy with no other options, agreed.

Inside the store was a lot more of dolls and puppets, almost all were creepy looking. Surprisingly unlike the other houses and establishments, it was not covered with cobweebs and dusts. In fact the place was so clean that everything there including the wood carvings and walls were all shiny.

"I think there's someone living in this place." Hiroshi said while walking towards the stairs.

"Let's go to the 2nd floor." I suggested.

"Okay"

In the 2nd floor of the store, there was a big room there. Inside of it was a big acoustic piano. So old, yet so shiny and marvelous.

But what shocked us the most was the fact that there was no person inside in the room.

"Well that piano didn't just play by itself, I'm sure someone was recently here." Hiroshi said while holding the handle of his Katana.

"But how did that person disappear?." Meldy asked.

"I don't think you can escape through this window, so there must be a secret exit somewhere here." Hiroshi said.

"Let's just go, there's nothing here. Maybe that person doesn't want to talk to us, let's just respect his privacy." I said to them.

"Yeah you're right, It is almost 4 am too so I suggest let's go back so we can prepare our dinner." Hiroshi suggested.

Without a choice, we went back to our new base to cook our dinner.

*****

"Tommorow, Let's find that person again." Hiroshi suggested.

"Ok sure." I said while stirring the pot full of pork and beans.

"I still can't believe that there's someone out there living in this old abandoned town though." Hiroshi said.

"You know what. How about we find that person tonight?" I said to them.