well...okay, a really
Wind
Azure was dead. His coffin lowered into the ground as the requiem played on. Once the lone violin trailed off, everyone dispersed like ants in the rain - all except for one. Her name was Stella Maya, Azure's sister. As drizzle turned to downpour, she stood by her only family's grave, never uttering a cry.
"How could he have gone so fast? Why did the whole medical procedure go all wrong?" She thought silently as hot tears soundlessly slid down her cold, white cheeks. "Yet I could not ever blame 'him'."
Azure was a professional sky-diver until he met with a freak accident which landed him in a wheelchair. He could not move his legs and had difficulty breathing. The doctor who personally took care of him was his childhood friend, Roy, a staff in the medical facility.
But the most joyful thoughts that Azure was still alive were dashed horribly when he started coughing blood. Scans revealed that he had internal bleeding undetected by the surgeons and Azure succumbed tragically to the bleeding. Fingers pointed at Roy for incompetence.
The rain stopped and Stella trudged though the muddy path out of the cemetery. Her eyes were void of life, as if she had died along with her brother. It was all because of Roy, the one whom her brother trusted with his life, and he betrayed both of them.
But something deep within her conscience did not allow her from turning this anger into hate. Stella clung tightly to her handbag, dragging herself through the fast-paced streets. As she turned to what used to be a home for the two siblings, a sudden gust of wind encircled her in a spiral of autumn leaves.
"Not his...not him," a soft, airy voice whispered at the back of her head. "Brother?" Stella jerked back violently to see an empty alley. She shrugged and guessed that her mind must have been playing tricks on her.
Stella looked at the house, the dark corridors used to be filled with laughter. She wandered into her brother's rooms, reminiscing the old times, wishing he would just walk through the threshold of the room, saying, "Sorry for making you worry!"
Stella opened up a parcel sent by the medical facility which contained her brother's possessions. He did so many beautiful drawings even though he could not walk. Most of them were of Stella and him frolicking in the meadows as kids.
As she gazed intensely at the drawings, the stack of papers in the box flew out as if someone threw them like confetti. Stella stood silent and alarmed; coldness gripped her like a vice.
Soon as the eerie feeling came to pass, she peered into the box to discover a small box with the words 'To: Roy Lee' written in a quick scrawl. It was time to pay Roy a visit.
Roy Lee was at home writing the report of Azure's death when the doorbell chimed.
Annoyed and not quite in the state-of-mind to receive guests at unearthly hours, he disregarded his shabby attire and vowed to give his visitor a piece of his mind. He pulled open the door with all his might but before he could shout, he came face-to-face with Stella.
She strained a polite smile and greeted him. "Oh Stella!" Roy was taken aback. "Why...what are you doing here?" She passed him the box and walked away. As soon as she did, a strong wind forced her to turn back.
Reflecting on the window pane of Roy's house was something that made goose bumps crawl up her skin, and she stared wide-eyed. "Is there anything wrong?" Roy asked, looking in the direction Stella was looking at and saw nothing.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" countered Stella, awakened from her stupor.
"Depends on the situation." He stated, looking at her solemn face and in a space of a few uneasy seconds of silence, he blurted out, "For-forgive me, about your brother."
She stiffened. A very pregnant pause stilled the air as both of them looked at each other, one with guilt, one with grief.
"But was never his fault..." Her eyes widened at the familiar voice that seeemingly hauted her mind. She gave in.
As if a burden had finally been lifted, Stella said to him, "I was never mad at you." With that, she walked away into the darkness of the night before Roy could reply. Roy closed the door behind him, his shoulders felt seemingly lighter.
As he sat down to write the report, a stack of papers flew off his desk. "Blimey...must have left a window open!" He slowly picked up the papers, as he smiled slightly, "I didn't tell her what you told me before you left. That you wanted me to take care of her. Maybe later, Azure," he mumbled silently.
Then he felt someone placing a hand on his shoulder. Roy turned his head to his side but saw no one. "I must be imagining things," he muttered to himself, shaking his head, before turning to the window and he saw his own reflection on the glass.
Wait. His reflection?
"I thought the windows were open..." he stopped his thoughts when he felt goose bumps rising on his skin."Oh gawds..." he groaned miserably, feeling cold all of a sudden as he heard the sound of paper rushing towards him.