"Should we go check his diary once for confirmation?" Allan asked.
"Didn't you see his notes? they were all translated like Anna did. We wouldn't be able to figure it out Anna's not here" Nora spoke.
"Whose Anna ?" Zuv asked.
"Mike's friend , she translated few things for us. Now she is abroad. If it doesn't work out we can ask then." Allan spoke.
"ok." Nora replied suddenly reminded of the the hug they shared when Allan opened up about his fears and hugged her tightly.
"It's three hour journey. we will be there around midnight." Zuv turned on his bright phone with 16 missed calls from Stacy.
"Wow look at those missed calls, shouldn't you get back to your friend." Crystal asked in a sarcastic way from the back seat.
"nothing more important than my dear friend" Zuv turns off the phone.
"Are you sure?" Crystal asks.
"Yes mam. And who was that young boy you were talking to?" Zuv asked.
they kept each other on toes, and I was drifting to sleep. My head banged my arms were pulled out and my body started to heat up. A little girl was crying, don't do it -if you do you will never find the answer. don't do it.
"Don't do it" words were getting clearer, It was Allan's voice .
"please" Crystal spoke.
the car door was opened and closed.
"Wake up" a sharp loud voice woke me up.
"It was here again, they knife it was bleeding, Crystal's hands were bleeding and Nora had chest arks.
"thank god you woke up." Zuv spoke.
"I'm so sorry" Nora looked at Crystal's hand.
"No , I'm sorry. I should have woken you up. I lost rack of time." Crystal panics.
"It's ok crystal, she is fine. now let's go there fast."
Zuv went back to his front seat and passed some water. The ride became cold just the weather.
You have reached the destination.
They all say straight and looked at each other as the car halted.
They stepped outside. To the big architecture, the biggest in they has seen in the town.
Beautiful with intricate details and symbols carved to it. The structure itself look unique with fire breathing dragon on the top of the building.
" It says open all the time." Zuv says being surprised.
"Yes. The fire always burns. They have security system to look after it." Crystal replies.
"So what's the plan? Are just going to go and through it into fire." Zuv asked.
"Yes. You need a ticket to burn things. People usually write their desire and burn it in the fire to make that wish come true for eternity." Allan explains as he led us to the ticket counter.
"Oh wow. Then let's all write one." Zuv got excited.
"Yeah. Since we are already here we can do that. I'll go get the papers" Crystal went to the opposite side.
Allan got the ticket for four of us.
They all wrote wishes on the small paper and went inside.
At the center of the close space was fire pit. Unlike the fancy intricate structure this was very simple. And nothing around, only the fire burning calmly. We all prayed for it and Nora threw away the knife. The calm fire now started to waver.
Now they started to offer their wishes written on paper.
Stood there watching the fire now calming down after crackling. Knife nowhere to be seen. It was impossible to melt it at this temperature but somehow knife disappeared.
"That was easier than I thought." Zuv spoke.
"Yeah." Nora replied she couldn't take her eyes off of the fire.
They all headed back to the car.
"Trying sleeping with everyone is here. Let's test it out." Allan spoke as we approached the car.
"Should we find a room and stay?" Crystal asked.
"No. I will sleep in the car. I want to sleep at home it makes me feel little safe." Nora replied.
"True. Can't trust a hotel there's always a ghost or two roaming. Crystal I will be in back seat , can you look at the map for him. The roads are tricky." Zuv asked.
"Yeah. Sure. Be careful." Crystal spoke.
Allan started to drive slowly, with less vehicles and darkness Nora slept as she held herself tight.
They turned on the timer. After two hours Nora woke up on her own by sharp horn sound.
"So nothing happened right?" Nora asked.
"Yeah. Looks like it worked." Zuv spoke with weird tension in the air. Everyone was relaxed physically and mentally. With another hour of driving they reached Crystal's place.
"Stay safe. I will be busy next few weeks so I might be able to only text." Crystal made a sad face to Zuv.
"That's fine. Just facetime me." Zuv replied.
Allan then drove Zuv and Nora to their house. And left saying.
"Good night. Call me if there's anything."
"Yes." Nora and Zuv replied in sync.
Strange feeling of returning home as if they had left it for years.
"It's finally over, we should get some sleep. " Nora spoke to Zuv hoping for an answer but there he was lying on sofa and snoring.
"Look at you sleeping with your mouth open. Well thanks for being there and for helping me to stay alive." Nora spoke to her self and went to bed.
There it was again the creaks and shadows in the house. Nora's eyes started to twitch. Unable to open while she missed out hours of sleep. The bedroom door made a small creak of unlocking. For a split second Nora opened her eyes slowly a dark shadow exited the room with hairs down. She could only make of the outline.
"It's just Crystal." She thought to herself and went back to sleep.
Then next noon she woke up to the thought of seeing someone in the house. Nora's heart sank thinking the unpleasant outcome. She rushed to the stairs and sat down with heavy sigh. Looking at Zuv still snoring.
Nora took a minute to gather herself up. All her strength had gone with that run, her legs slightly cramped.
Nora starts to check each room one by one. Nothing was odd. She walks up to Zuv. And a soft smile appears on her face. Nora notices orange lip print on his T-shirt and neck.
"Maybe Crystal did drop by. It's already 4pm she must have been worried."
A strange sense of relief like all the clutter in her head was suddenly disposed. Sudden calmness, scary yet exciting to move forward.