BLOODY LOVE'S
Chapter 40's

Jose looked around, seeing the people gathered with curiosity lingering on their faces. “All of you, it's best that no one goes to the river across there!” he nodded while pointing towards the forest. “That place is dangerous!”

People looked at each other, then laughed.

“We go there every day.”

“What do you see, Young Master? The leech? It must have been terrible, huh?”

“For people who never go out of the house, the river current does look dangerous!”

One by one they were even mocking. Jose tried to explain that there were foreign masters who sniffed and were dangerous, but they just laughed louder, thinking Jose saw a ferret.

“Nolan, you saw it too, right?” Now Jose turned to the girl beside him.

Nolan looked into Jose's eyes, then at the people around him who were still laughing. His sister was there too. His playmate, his neighbor. They all waited with curious eyes at once amused.

“Nolan!” jose exclaimed again, returning the girl's eyes to him.

Nolan swallowed. He recalled the black figure reaching out to him, like he was about to catch. When Jose carried it, the creature threw itself into the river to catch up. He could even remember the sound of water in his ears.

“Don't tell me, Nolan is also afraid of ferrets?” exclaim those people with an amused tone.

“It's not a weasel!” ketus Jose's. The man faced her, gently touched her shoulder, “Tell them, Nolan! I don't see it wrong, it is .. indeed .. I don't know, something terrible! Dangerous creatures!”

No one would believe it, Nolan realized that. Although he supported Jose's statement and explained the details of the creature's appearance as well as the horrifying sensation he had just experienced, no one would believe them. Nolan will instead be mocked and ostracized. Maybe he was accused of contracting cowardly because he was found together with people from northern Bjork.

Nolan put both of his hands into his pockets, then shook his head slowly. “You only saw weasels, Jose.”

“What?” Jose let out a barrage of protests, but his voice was lost by the amused laughter and banter about the rich young master coming to the hard place.

Nolan bit his lip, feeling guilty for making Jose into a laughing stock. He turned his head to the forest, seeing that the place was still as usual.

Trees in the south are rare. The grasses were green, rather high in a part that no human had ever crossed. There were no signs of danger at all. But the forest now feels strange to Nolan. I don't think he can see it the same way anymore.

The white smoke infiltrated faintly out from the sidelines of the tree, making Nolan gasp in shock.

“Author!” quickly shouted. “Fog has arrived! Everyone evacuate themselves!”

People looked towards the forest, then immediately dispersed while shouting warnings about the fog. The children were dragged away from their games and the adults cleaned up the work equipment. Everything was done quietly and without any haste because it was common to calculate how long the fog would take to cover the entire place.

Often the fog comes scheduled, but there are also times where the fog comes erratically.

“Why is there fog?” ask Jose wonder. He stared at the leather watch attached to his wrist. “Now it's three o'clock in the afternoon.”

“Three afternoon sometimes mist out.” Nolan bit his lip, now understand why there were no people around the river. He let his guard down because the last few days there was no fog from two to six in the afternoon.

When the fog will come out or after, people are prohibited from approaching the forest. It's usually just said that it can be troublesome to get lost in the fog.

Nolan knows why in detail. Could it be that strange creature that took people away? Is that a creature .. human or not?

Nolan shook his head slowly, determined to forget for a moment the matter even though his legs were still trembling and the skin of his hands was still cold from fear. “Go home Jose, before the fog starts thick.” He looked around in embarrassment, watching the children his age point at the two of them blatantly. “And you better not come here again.”

“Why?” ask Jose wonder. “Because I left your fish? I'm sorry, but that time—“

“Go home!” Nolan exclaimed as he pointed towards the bridge connecting the two regions.

Jose looked at him with an offended face, then turned away without saying anything more.

***

Jose went straight back to the city. Unlike the cold south of Bjork and the gloomy people, the north is completely the opposite. He was almost relieved to see people dressed in colour, wearing makeup, with their hair combed and neatly arranged. The air is warm and there is no fog here. What looks stifling is only one: the presence of the patrol police.

The policemen were wearing donker blue uniforms, carrying official firearms. They are required to circle every corner of the city within the scheduled time. Jose doesn't know if there's a ban for them to chat, he almost never sees patrol cops chatting with each other while on duty.

He gave a fleeting nod at the two as they passed by, reciprocated with a similar greeting. Jose doesn't want to go home or go to college. While thinking about where to go, his eyes caught the Archive Center building.

The building looks old and ancient Greek. Two pillars support the front of the building, followed by a beautiful glass turnstile. The Archive Center was never a tourist destination or playground.

This time Jose decided to visit the place.

After filling out the guest book, which was apparently guarded by a police officer, Jose received a visitor's card and put it in his pocket. He had no particular plan of looking for anything inside the Archive Center, but decided to enter just so he wouldn't have to meet Marco.

People had been missing for a long time, long before Sir William came.

Maybe Sir William really had nothing to do with these people? Jose put the question to heart. He picked up two newspaper books at random. Newspaper books are collections of newspaper clippings with certain categories, such as criminal news, murder, rape, theft, combination cases, all neatly arranged by officers in the Archive Center.

The smell of the book she brought out was clear. The smell of old paper and also powdery mildew. Jose opened the clipping article haphazardly. He read most of it at home yesterday.

One news caught his interest, making his finger stop on page eighteen. News about the inauguration of the Discussion Building. There's a photo of Marco holding a pair of scissors. There was also a long ribbon that broke off, drooping on the ground. But what caught Jose's attention was not his uncle, nor were the people who smiled cheerfully at the photo, but rather the image of one passerby who was accidentally caught by the camera.

***