489: VIII.
Anna’s Burial Site 489: VIII.
Anna’s Burial Site Traveling alone through the wilderness at night was not a good idea.
Lu Li had encountered troubles during several of his past journeys, to varying extents.
This ti, his luck was slightly better.
Lu Li managed to arrive at Himfast before midnight without any setbacks.
The continuous drizzle from the previous days had stopped for a full day, but the streets, lit by streetlights, were almost deserted.
The holess individuals who usually sheltered under the streetlights were nowhere to be seen – perhaps the local governnt had arranged shelter for them, or perhaps …
The crisp sounds of horse hooves echoed on the damp cobblestone road as a carriage stopped at number 66 of the Champs Elysees District.
The finely constructed building was lit up.
A female silhouette appeared behind the curtain, lifted a corner, then gently let it fall again, and shortly after, the white wooden door opened, revealing Aunt Mary.
An ethereal Anna floated into the house, as Lu Li tied the reins to the railing and entered the warm, bright ho, carrying his suitcase and the oil lamp.
After he entered, Aunt Mary closed the door behind him and padded to the kitchen in her soft slippers to get coffee that had been kept warm.
Lu Li placed his suitcase next to the sofa and turned to sit down.
Aunt Mary returned to the table with two cups of coffee – one she handed to Lu Li, the other she extended toward Anna, then suddenly rembered sothing, looked saddened, and kept the coffee in front of herself.
“Warm yourselves up, the recent temperatures feel as if autumn has arrived early,” Aunt Mary said, quickly regaining her composure.
“It pretty much has,” Anna replied.
There’s no difference between now, when the plants have stopped growing, and the autumn when plants wither.
Aunt Mary smiled softly, her gaze tenderly resting on Anna and Lu Li, “Are you really planning to co with to the Lennon Islands?”
“Yes, it’s safer there,” Anna answered.
Aunt Mary, as if trying to connect emotionally, asked a few more questions, which Lu Li chose not to respond to, leaving Anna to uncomfortably accept Aunt Mary’s elder-like kindness.
But when Anna asked if she was ready to pack, Aunt Mary looked astonished and shook her head, saying, “You want to leave now?
It’s not possible.
Himfast has banned leaving the city alone at night.”
Lu Li, who had been an observer until then, spoke up, “What’s happened?”
With a worried tone, Aunt Mary answered, “Well … lately many residents who went out alone have gone missing.
The police haven’t found any culprits.
Those residents likely encountered sothing bizarre.”
In that mont, Anna understood why the guardsn had looked at Lu Li so oddly as the carriage entered the city.
“Is there no other way to leave the city?” As a detective, Lu Li could easily ignore the prohibition, but he now needed to know the severity of the ban.
The more severe it was, the more dangerous it was outside.
“You can join a rchants’ convoy – that’s currently the only free way to leave here,” Aunt Mary hesitantly said.
It seed like there wasn’t a big problem.
However, Aunt Mary still thought it would be better to leave the next day after sunrise: “We can rest tonight and leave in the early morning.
It’s safer during the day, and easier to buy boat tickets.”
Anna answered for Lu Li, “The boat tickets have already been purchased.
The ‘Avitanis’ ocean liner will dock at Rhodest Port tomorrow evening, and once we get back to the Detective Agency, a postman will deliver them.”
Aunt Mary looked in astonishnt at Lu Li.
Although Lu Li had been quiet and had not shown emotion since coming in, she faintly sensed an urgency in his actions.
“Well, there’s not much luggage to pack, when shall we leave?” Aunt Mary no longer insisted.
Anna and Lu Li had no reason to harm themselves, their urgency must have had good reason.
Lu Li replied, “Being in Belfast by early tomorrow morning would be fine.”
“I’ll go pack right away,” Aunt Mary nodded, then looked at Anna, “Anna, are you coming with ?”
Aunt Mary seed to have sothing to tell Anna.
Anna followed Aunt Mary, leaving Lu Li in the living room to warm up with his coffee.
As Aunt Mary had said, everything she needed had already been prepared; there wasn’t much to pack.
A few minutes later, steps sounded from upstairs, stopping at the stair corner.
Lu Li looked up, peering through the gaps of the stairwell at Anna and Aunt Mary talking.
“Want to go back to the manor and see?”
Aunt Mary’s soft voice fell into the quiet living room.
A sowhat indifferent voice responded, “I forgot many things during the ti I was dead, there was nothing there worth my longing.”
“Ah…
Anna, you have changed a lot…
more than at the beginning, more than the last ti you were here.”
“Perhaps so.”
The conversation ended hastily, and they returned to the living room.
Aunt Mary changed into a loose light gray dress that was easy to travel in, carrying a dark red suitcase.
The kitchen still had so bread and chicken soup mashed potatoes; Aunt Mary packed them in a leather paper bag.
The corner’s seat clock’s hands pointed to 10 o’clock; if they left now, they were likely to arrive at Belfast by the break of dawn.
However, before leaving, Lu Li had so questions and so matters to attend to.
“Did Anna die of the epidemic?” Lu Li asked Aunt Mary.
With slight awkwardness, Aunt Mary replied, “Anna was frail, so when the contagion ca, she quickly fell critically ill and could not be treated in ti….”
“Where is she buried?”
“In the cetery of the church west of the city, together with her mother.”
…
Not far from the cetery, Aunt Mary stood in front of the carriage, holding an oil lamp and quietly observing.
The towering black church silently stood as a backdrop behind the two figures, one solid, one ethereal.
A cluster of low, slanting gravestones enclosed them, seemingly like a series of silently standing figures.
[R.I.P]
[Anna Bessie]
Anna, long since decayed, lay buried under the gravestone
High and pointed, the gravestone bore glaring inscriptions that caught Anna’s eye.
“Why co here…”
Anna couldn’t comprehend and felt indescribably uneasy.
Seeing one’s own gravestone was not an amusing affair.
“Just taking a look on the way.”
Lu Li sensed the entire cetery, where tranquility flowed in the darkness.
The deceased were undisturbed and still in slumber.
“Let’s go.”
Lu Li turned around, the oil lamp swaying, casting his shadow over Anna’s gravestone.
It was not just a casual visit.
Anna thought to herself, Lu Li was never one for aningless actions.
Did he want to know if her death was accidental, or had it been for so other reason?
Or perhaps…
To remind her of her once-human life, urging her not to lose her true nature?
Following Lu Li along the path leading out of the cetery, Anna thought and then gently shook her head.
Lu Li had still made a mistake.
Anna knew very well that she had always been herself, with no foreign entity intruding and vying for her consciousness—though there had been one, the resentful spirit in the alley, but she had willingly given up in the end.
All of Anna’s changes were subtle, just like soone who becos profoundly different due to continuous suffering.
If the wood of a ship is replaced bit by bit, is it still the sa ship?
Reviews
All reviews (0)