Chapter 85 - Abandoned church - Part 1

With the moral support Luke gave me, we walked into the church, using the lantern in his hand to light our way. After exerting a little force to open the entrance, it creaked open, allowing us to enter the church. As soon as I stepped inside, I realized it had been a mistake to come here so late in the day. 

Despite the darkness, I was able to see what was in front of me thanks to the lantern. Inside, it was just like any other church, with all of the essential amenities—except that this one was particularly creepier than others. 

The fragments of the decayed ceilings and walls on the ground, as well as the amount of dust in the area, indicated that this location had been unoccupied for a long time. I ȧssumed that because religion is such a huge part of society, churches would always be a popular site for people to visit, but that must not be the case with the people in this village. 

Many statues were found throughout the church, intact but somewhat damage. I didn't dare to look at them for too long, in case I found their eyes following mine. I had enough other-worldly experiences happening to me. 

"Hold this," Luke said, handing me the lantern. He must have thought that it would be better for me to be closer to our source of light, which was true. I wondered if he had trouble seeing in the dark with that supernatural vision of his. Maybe not. 

Having the light so close to me had both its advantage and disadvantage. The advantage would be that I wouldn't trip on something on the ground, but the disadvantage would be that I might see something I shouldn't. 

If it wasn't so late in the day and the sun was still shining brightly, I would probably be admiring the beauty of this church right now. It was just that the darkness that surrounded me made everything seem unsettling.

Despite its small size, the church was built with great care and attention to detail. I found many intricate sculptures, murals, stunning stained glass windows—though shattered. It would be the perfect place for worship if it had its worshipper. Now, all that remained was ruins, rats, and unknown entities. 

There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that could possibly lead us to the witch. Did they only use this location for their meeting place and nothing more? Or did the witch know we were coming? 

"Rabbit, you are going to break my hand," Luke said, leaving me confused as to what he meant. Knowing that I didn't get what he meant, he raised our entwined hands, showing how I was squeezing his hand hard.

"Sorry," I replied, a small chuckle in my voice as I relaxed my grip. I was too preoccupied with my surroundings to notice that I was clutching his hand too tightly.

We went back to exploring the church, searching every nook and corner for anything that might belong or might be related to the witch. It wasn't until Luke broke the silence with a surprising question that I came to a halt.

"Did you hear something?"

I felt shivers all throughout my body, feeling the temperature in the place suddenly went lower than before. It was not because I heard something, but because I didn't. That just meant there was something in here that couldn't be seen or felt by just anyone, right? I was even more terrified now because I had no idea what I was supposed to be afraid of.

"I-I didn't," I gulped down, "W-what did you hear?" 

"I'm not sure," he shook his head, frowning. "The sound was very subtle and faint, but I think it was a female voice. Do you think there might be someone else here besides us?"

I didn't dare to respond and instead stared at the man in front of me. Given that this site had been abandoned for a long time, I didn't want to admit that there might be someone else here besides us. We really should make haste with all of this exploring and get out of here as soon as possible. I'm starting to miss my bed a little too much. 

"Let's hurry and leave," I urged. 

Continuing our search, I found a book, though again, it was not in a language that I understood. It appeared to be identical to the inscription I saw near the top of the entryway, and all of the words were foreign to my eyes. Is this the native language of this village? 

I was going to ask Luke, who was also looking through the same rack, when he suddenly shouted, leading me to scream in response to his shout.

"AH!!"

"AHHH!!" I jumped back, my eyes closing. I felt my body tensed up, with my fist clenched tightly to hit whatever comes out. "W-what? What's there?!" I asked, still with my eyes closed.

Seconds went by, but I didn't feel anything coming. I begrudgingly opened my eyes, opening them ever so slowly, little by little. When I opened them, what I saw was not a ghost but a laughing Luke. He had his hand covering his mouth, trying his best to hold back his laughter. 

I glared at him, and my hand, which I had previously clenched into a fist to hit the ghost that appeared, landed on Luke's ċhėst. I can't believe he teased me like that! 

"Ow! Hahaha," he continued to laugh, but when he felt my glare still on him, he stopped. "I'm sorry," he apologized as he lowered his head, "It's just... you look so adorable when you are focused that I can't help but want to tease you." 

"Do you think this is the right time for your jokes?" I huffed, tossing the book I was holding back into the rack. He tried to hold my hand, but I stopped him from doing so. "Don't touch me," I said, walking away to search elsewhere. 

I was annoyed, as what he did scare the life out of me. I could even feel my heart jumping out of my ċhėst! Just wait—I'll be sure to get back at him. One day, I'll scare him so bad that his fur would start falling from his body. 

Just a second after I announced my plan for vengeance, a loud smash came from my right. One of the many statues in this church fell and broke without even anyone touching it. This made me stop in my tracks, slowly going back to where I came from.

When he saw me turning around, going back to stand beside him, a huge grin appeared on his face. I tugged on his cape, asking, "A-are you not coming?" 

"Didn't you just say you didn't want me to touch you?" he raised one of his brows, glancing at my hand on his cape, "How come you're the one who's touching me now?"

It seemed that his guilt for teasing me before was already gone when he saw me return to him in a split second after I left him. I wouldn't have to toss my pride away like this if it weren't for this stupid place. 

"I'm not touching you," I reasoned, "I'm only... touching your clothes." 

"Is that so? Then," he started to remove his cape, handing it to me, "Here, you can touch it all you want." 

I stared at him, dumbfounded by his antics. Why is he so annoying today? Now I can see why Lisa felt the need to punch him in the face. I've never felt compelled to punch someone before, but after seeing him tease me like this, I suddenly felt very compelled to do so.

"Stop teasing me!" I said, causing another wave of laughter coming from the man. "You are so annoying," I glared at him. 

"Annoyingly handsome?" he said, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I knew that being confident is good, but what about being too confident? He chuckled when he saw my reaction, reaching out his hand when he asked, "Can I touch you now?"

I bit my lips, wanted to say yes, but also wanted to save the last bit of my pride. I couldn't believe I couldn't even stay mad for more than five minutes. I hesitantly extended my hand, which then he accepted with a smile. 

"Come, let's see what's behind that door and then we'll get out of here," he said, pointing at the door by the corner.

When I heard that we would be out of here soon, I couldn't help but smile, walking a bit faster to quickly end our search in this church. We have been here a long time and haven't found anything related to the witch. There had better be something, or otherwise, all my efforts here would be for naught. To think that I went into an abandoned church for nothing made me feel dizzy.

Pushing the door opened, there revealed a stair leading underground, with nothing but darkness to see. Just when I thought this would soon be over, a new problem presents itself. I swallowed the lump in my throat, bracing myself to dive into the darkness. There better be something!!

...by something, I don't mean ghosts. 

"Oh, good God."