I insert the hairpin in the lock of the door. I'm well aware of what I'll see once I open it, yet I can't stop my body. Once I open it, I see my parents laying on their bed; the picture is as grotesque as always. I walk closer to the bed and lay my hands on the edge. I spend a few moments checking my parents' corpses until I feel something touching my ankle. That something pulls me with enough force to make me fall. First, my back collides with the floor, quickly followed up by my head, my vision blurry for a few moments due to the impact. When I come to my senses, I look over my legs... I can't see anything below the bed, it's the purest black. Actually, I can see something... Two eyes, a very clear gray, they lack pupils... I'm not even sure if they can be described as eyes, but I'm sure they are staring—they are staring at me. I can sense whatever that thing is... It won't touch me... It's there... waiting... yet I'm sure... That thing could kill me at any moment... It just decided not to.
It's 3 a.m... I'm all sweaty. I sit up, and I use my hands to support my head as I cover my eyes with them... I'm tired and scared... My hands get wet with something that's not sweat as I sob...I... I should have died that day too...
Since I found out about Jack, my nightmares are way more frequent and frightening. I wake up in the middle of the night almost every day, and when it doesn't happen, it's just because my body is so exhausted it can't do otherwise.
I feel someone sitting on the edge of my bed. I raise my teary eyes to see who it is.
"Nathae..." It's Victoria... She hugs me.
"You should sleep, not be here."
"Look who's talking..."
"Were you working until late again?"
"Yes, but I don't think it's a matter of concern right now."
I break her hug.
"No, I'm okay, don't worry."
"You clearly aren't... I told you... I mobilized every officer in the city to find information regarding Jack... It's a matter of time."
"He's probably laughing at you right now..."
"Nathae... In one way or another, we'll catch him... It's a matter of time..."
"The same matter of time that'll get even more people to die!"
"Nathae..."
"NO!" I stand up on the bed. "It's your fault too! It's your fault that this city is trash! It's your fault there isn't a single competent officer! You and the other nobles don't care if the law works or not! You just care if it benefits you! You don't care if people suffer! You get what you give! You all deserve to die!"
I don't even bother checking her reaction. I simply jump down from the bed, change my clothes, and walk away; she stayed silent the entire time.
---
I want some time alone. It's not safe to walk outdoors at this time, but if I don't go too far away, it should be fine. It's cold. With my wet hair, I'll probably catch something, but I'm not really in the mood to go back right now. I honestly feel bad for storming off on Victoria. What I said is true, but still... I shouldn't have. She was just caring for me.
After some minutes of strolling, I see someone trying to force the lock of a shop. It's a girl—I would say 15 years and some months. Her hair and eyes are both brown. She has ripped clothes, and she clearly hasn't taken a bath in days, but aside from that... She is terribly bad at forcing doors, and she even has a lockpick. I walk closer to her. I wouldn't say she is a real criminal—she just found it and wanted to make some quick cash. She isn't dangerous; I don't even see weapons on her.
"You shouldn't."
"Shut up."
Oh... I see she is also missing a tooth and has a scar on her lips.
"You're doing it wrong."
"I'm learning."
I genuinely want to show her how to properly do it, for the sake of it, but I don't think someone from the royal family should even know how to force locks in the first place. But... no one is around... right? I place my hands on hers and, by guiding her movements, the door opens.
"Done. Don't go in though, you might get arrested."
"Whaat? But no one is around..."
I close the door before she can do anything stupid.
"I'm Nathae Hanover."
"I know who you are, I'm not an idiot!... I'm Rhys... Rhys Eupone."
She finally stands up and faces me. "What's a big fish like you doing around at this time?"
"I wanted to walk alone, I happened to find you."
Brummm...
"Hungry?"
"Shuut uup, you wouldn't know." She sighs.
Well... If the city doesn't help these people... Guess someone has to...
"If you wait, I'll bring you something to eat."
"...Would you?" She dropped her gaze as if feeling embarrassed.
"Wait for me here." I jog back to the palace and prepare something to eat, no one is around.
Honestly, I like her. She kept our conversation informal and straightforward. She wasn't hiding under a mask just because I'm royalty... It reminds me of Patea. They are very similar in almost everything except for their brain, but it's okay.
I eventually come back to her. I find her sitting on a bench.
"Hey... I made this."
"What's that?" I sit as well.
"Meat and Potato Pasty. There's also baked apple and honey as a side."
She doesn't even thank me and directly eats. I bet she hasn't eaten in days.
"Iffs mgoot," she says as she chews almost half of the food altogether; it translates to 'It's good'. I thought she would have choked. She eventually slows down her chewing, and I can sense nostalgia in her eyes. I can't even imagine when it was the last time she had a warm meal like this. Honestly, she is strangely well-kept for living on the street.
"I saw the cooks doing it once or twice, but it's the first time I actually cooked."
"Mmmmmm!!"
---
"And 30! I told you I could make the coin end up on tails 30 times straight!"
"It's easy with a double-tails coin." I smirk provocatively as I say this.
"Eeeeh?! No it's not!" She puts the fake coin in her pocket quickly
"Suuure... Sure... It's not. Do you wanna see real magic?"
"Real magic...?"
"What if I tell you I'm capable of memorizing an entire deck of cards after you shuffle it and only show the cards to me for one second?"
"Hell nah!! I know only one person capable of this!"
"Try me." I say as I give her a new deck of cards.
She opens it and shuffles. After, she displays the cards to me only for a brief moment and hides them right after. "Go on now!"
I close my eyes and... "King of hearts... Ace of spades... Five of hearts..." I list all the 52 cards with precision.
"Aaaa Aaaa HOW!? How did you create a memory palace that fast?!!"
"I didn't."
"What?! The dude I know uses a technique called memory palace where uuu... It was something about memory... and stuff, you know. I thought you used the same shit."
I sigh. Honestly, I was surprised she even knows what a memory palace is.
"A memory palace is a technique used to enhance your ability to recall information. Our brain is incredible when it comes to memorizing, but it severely lacks when you have to recall. With a memory palace, you create a mental space where you insert the elements you need. The details vary from person to person. Usually, to recall the order of cards, people create a story. Let's say you established that the king of hearts is a cat. It must be done prior to memorizing the deck. You see the first card of the deck is the king of hearts, and so the story starts with 'A cat...'. Let's say the ace of spades is a sword and it's the second card. Then the story progresses: 'A cat with a sword...' and so on with all 52 figures. This works because our brains use links to recall memories and information. For example, you associate a face with a name, and your brain creates a mental link. When you see that face, you intuitively know the name too because the brain made this link that makes it easy to recall the second information once you recall the first—in this case, seeing the face. But if I ask you what you did on your 11th birthday, you'll need time to think and probably won't be able to recall a lot of information, even though your brain has them. That's because your brain doesn't have access to mental links—as they don't exist—to recall, and therefore it will be way harder.So talking about cards, you create mental links beforehand between cards and images, and when you have to memorize the deck, you create a story. Since stories are full of mental links as all events and elements are interconnected, it makes it easy to recall it. After that, all you have to do is just change the elements of the story with the actual cards, and that's it."
"UUuuuu... I think I understand? So you did all this stuff in that brief moment?"
"I already said I didn't."
"Then..."
"Well, I think it's a gift, but I can navigate in my memories freely, similarly as if I have infinite mental links. I simply displayed the memory of you showing me the deck of cards and read them. I don't know why I can do it, I just can. I can even recall memories like my birth or even when I was inside the womb.Well, this is magic, don't you think?"
"...Witch..."