*In Ruven's mind.
When I was sleeping, I was back in my village, again. With a faint sense of déjà vu
I wandered around.
This time the houses weren't intact. The whole village was in rumbles, like how it was when I left. I looked for the mysterious person who I saw that day, the one who was holding the strange lock in his hand.
I looked at the tree where he was at, but I didn't see anything. But when I turned back to look at the village, I saw a door. It was out in the open, without no other side to go in.
One peculiar thing I noticed was that the same lock which was in the mysterious man's hand was on the door. Around the door was the body of the beast that had slashed me.
The lock had a skull face on it. When I held the lock, it's eyes started glowing red. I dropped the lock, hesitant at first, but the skull's eyes stopped glowing. I worked up the courage and grabbed the lock, but I noticed that there was no keyhole to it. I looked at both sides of it, but I didn't see a keyhole.
Just then I saw a hat fly last by me. When i looked back, I saw someone grab the hat and wear it. It was the figure I saw that day.
The winds were gushing, and his hair started flying with the wind. Holding his hat on his head, he look at me in my eyes. Grey eyes, the only thing I could see on his face.
He said to me,
"Hey there kid, you're here again eh? seems like you've made quite the discovery too. I see you've found out about your ability. Thunderburst is it?"
Yeah, but how'd you know?
"I know everything. Go back kid, something's waiting for you."
I felt as if I got dragged out of my rest, but it was just Dr. Ray. I asked him what he was doing here, and why I was woken up.
The words that came from his mouth changed my life forever.
"Ruven, I realise that you've nowhere else to go, and that you wouldn't do well with other "normal" people. With what you've experienced, I know you feel that you can't be normal anymore. But I understand what you're going through. And so I've decided. I'm adopting you, I'll give you a place to stay, food to eat and I'll teach you the ways of our world, if that's what you wish to do."
I've never felt this much at peace ever before. But one thing's for sure, I was speechless. I couldn't say a thing, nor could i think of anything to say.
"Ruven, are you okay? Have you decided yet?"
My mouth froze. I couldn't say anything, so I nodded and pointed at him.
"I see. Once you're well, I'll take you to your new home. Till then, rest well."
He says that as if I'll get the least bit of sleep by the way I've had these back to back incidents.
But to be honest, those words calmed me down. I could only trust Ray for now and Jian as well, since they're the ones who saved me.
*around 3 days later.
"Good morning, Ruven. It seems like you're all good and ready to be discharged. But are you ready for your new home?"
"Yes, Mr. Ray, I'm ready. Can we go and explore the city later? If I'm going to live here, I might as well know every nook and corner of this place."
"Sure thing, Ruven. Although, after a week we'll begin with your training. It'll help you control your ability and to regulate your voltage."
I agreed, and looked out the window as he left. I never really noticed that we were pretty high up near the mountains. It seems like the medical centre is built on a hill, and the rooms were made so that it showed the view of nature outside.
It really helps one to calm down, maybe it's some sort of therapy? Apart from that, I never really looked at Mr. Ray so clearly before. Most of the time I was too tired to open my eyes or my eyes were blurry, enough to see him but not enough to clearly notice his features.
Now that I could clearly see who's my new caretaker, it seemed like he was in his mid 20's, he also seemed really tired and had eyebags as if he couldn't sleep for days. His hair was very long, it had to be tied up, he also had silver eyes like mine. Must be pretty common in VoltenCrowns.
I noticed that I didn't have anything to wear other than the clothes the doctor gave me. It wasn't really a bother, as I ringed the nurse and asked if I could get some clothes my size. When they heard my request, they got me my new clothes. It was plain, grey and black, but it was clothes so I didn't really care. Then Mr. Ray escorted me out to the carriage we were supposed to ride.
Upon entering the carriage, I brought up the question of new clothes. Mr. Ray said that we could buy some clothes for me after we reach the residence. He said that I should get to eat "real" food and to take a bath.
And so, that's what we did. The residence was pretty big. A 1 acre land, but the actual house itself looked like the average house. I asked Mr. Ray what the rest of the land is used for.
"You'll see."
Is what he said.
We entered the house, took off our shoes and Mr. Ray told me to wait in the kitchen whilst he gets the bath ready. He asked me if I wanted the water warm or cold, I gestured towards hot water. Ataraxia had 4 hot springs, so naturally I was very fond of warm water, across all seasons.
Then I heard a door open behind me, I thought it was Mr. Ray, so I turned back to see if it was. It wasn't him, but it was a pretty lady wearing a witch hat, brown hair and a fair skin, with a dress that complimented it.
"You must be Ruven, Ray told me about you."
I was at a loss of words. I couldn't think of anything to say, I felt love, but it wasn't really romantic. I felt as if I was looking at my own mother, as she reminded me a lot of her. Looking at her, I could feel a tear roll down my cheek.
"What's wrong dear? you're crying? did I say something wrong?"
Mr. Ray then entered the room.
"Ray, my dear, what's wrong with Ruven, he started sobbing as he saw me."
"Oh, I see. You must have reminded him of his mother. Let's discuss this later sometimes, let's make something to eat for our little guest, As for you, Ruven, you may go take a bath."
I nodded and went into the bathroom, took off my clothes and folded it to seem respectful. I checked the temperature of the water and it was perfect, and so I took a step in.
I hadn't felt this relaxed in days. It reminded me of the hot springs of Ataraxia.
There was an unopened box of soap kept on a shelf, so I grabbed it and washed myself, but it was a terrible idea. The wound on my back burned so badly I almost started crying.
I held my own by biting a towel whilst constantly pouring on my back, outside the tub of course, I didn't want to have soap in in as well.
After cleansing myself, I grabbed a towel and wiped myself, I was particularly wary about my back.
There was a change of clothes kept for me right outside the door, so I took it and put it on and I started heading towards the kitchen, where I assumed Mr. Ray would be.
And I assumed right, along with him was Mrs... crap, I don't know, I should ask her.
"Oh! Ruven you're here" said the lady.
"Oh you're done having a bath? what's wrong, you look like you cried. Anyways, I forgot to mention, this is Evangeline, my wife."
"Oh, I see, I'm sorry for what happened earlier miss Evangeline, I was lost in my memories."
Before I could say anything else, Mr Ray said
"Ruven, you don't have to be so formal, you can call me Ray and you can call her Eva, it's ok."
And let out a small laugh.
Then Eva said to me
"I don't know about him, but you could call me mom if you feel like it."
I didn't know what to say. I was dumbfounded again.
I didn't say anything. In fact I just looked at the table where they were at, and I smelled something delicious.
"What's that smell, it's so good it's making me hungry"
Eva and Ray looked at each other and smiled. "That's just the food we made for you, meatloaf and rice with some omelette. You could flip the omelette on the rice and eat it too, it tastes better that way"
I didn't waste a second, and started eating like a gluttonous beast. The hospital food was so stale, just one bite could make me want to die from hunger. It reminded me of that one friend from Ataraxia. Her name started with S and ended with Z. She had a fight with the school's lunch lady and got the stalest food mankind ever saw.
I feel bad for her.
I looked at Eva and I asked her "Why do you keep wearing that witch hat. Don't you take it off sometimes?"
To which she replied "haha, of course I do! only when Im sleeping of course. You see, back when me and my husband were in highschool, when we kissed, we switched bodies. Turns out it was the hat's ability. I got rid of the hat, but on our wedding day, he gave me this same hat back along with these words, "If it weren't for this hat, I wouldn't have had such an amazing journey with you, I want to keep having this adventure with you forever, until we die." But of course, we got rid of the curse after the marriage. Any curse can be purified by love, it's the strongest of them all and the purest."
Those words were always in my head, rent free.
"By the way, Ruven, tomorrow we'll go shopping for more clothes. If I have an emergency, you may go with Eva."
I nodded and quickly finished up my food.
"You may go upstairs and sleep. Your new life begins from tomorrow, rest well for a new adventure."
I went upstairs and I thought to myself, Maybe one day I could experience love too. But for now, I'll just carry myself and move forward.