Adori knew her day would be weird when her cat named Emis started giving her life advice.
"Adori, know that you are still too young to be fretting about a minor inconvenience like this," he had said, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but near her. "Life is all about going with the flow."
Adori had scoffed at his annoyed face. Though that did not seemed to bother Emis as he continued to lick his black fur, yawned and then nap under the morning rays of the sun.
Adori couldn't believe her cat. She had just finished discussing about her dream of opening a cafe in Ime Island. She was expecting to hear words of encouragement or even a bit of advice from Emis but to think that was all he had to say to her...
He can be so mean sometimes.
"Well, whatever. Just know that if the money I took from my father dries up, you will be living in the streets chasing after rats!"
Adori believed she saw Emis' ears slightly twitching at that, indicating that he heard her loud and clear inspite of his indifferent attitude.
Adori smirked, feeling like she had somehow won an invisible battle she partook solely on her own.
This was what her daily life consisted of these days---exchanging verbal blows with Emis and feeling a sense of accomplishment later on when Emis got bored with her. This time as well, she was feeling great as she hummed to herself.
She went to her wardrobe to change her nightgown for something more appropriate to wear outside and chose pants and a long coat. Her curvy auburn hair was tied up in a ponytail, leaving small strands to frame her delicate face.
As she watched her reflection in the mirror, she felt satisfied with her overall appearance. Her amber eyes shone with excitement when she thought of what she was going to make for breakfast, after all, food was one of the greatest pleasures in her life.
Before walking out the door, she looked back at Emis who was lounging at the chair in their common room to address him.
"Emis, I'm going to the market to get some groceries. Look after the house for me," she said.
The door was slammed shut and her footsteps disappeared into the pathway. With that, their small cottage turned into a quiet and serene place.
"Just the way I like it," Emis muttered to himself.
***
The market was busy as always. There were several stands which had displayed a great collection of foods and Adori looked through each of them with great excitement. The items that caught her interest the most were the spices imported probably from the southern kingdoms.
However, those were quite hefty in their prices. Taking into account her present monetary condition, Adori knew she couldn't splurge in those, especially when she was dead serious about opening her own cafe.
I have to start saving money, she thought, grimly.
With bittersweet acceptance and a heavy heart she went to another stands that were more friendlier in terms of their pricing.
The stands were filled with fresh vegetables and meat. Adori carefully picked them up and searched for the ones which were the bulkiest and freshest of them. While she was nitpicking about her vegetables, she heard the hush whispers of the women next to her stand.
"...Cale disappeared."
"I heard it was in the Whispering Forest..."
"He returned last night...'
"...he was injured..."
Even though Adori strained her ears to keep on listening, she couldn't hear the rest of what they were saying as the women moved onto another food stands. But from what little she heard from their whispers, Adori knew something was off.
The Whispering Forest? And he came out alive?
Cale. Cale Varn, the elder son of Rebek and Tobias Varn. Adori was good friends with them, as they were the first people who befriended her when she initially moved on this island.
To think Cale had gone there...
That forest was infamous due to the fact that anyone who entered had almost always disappeared, vanishing into thin air. Or even if some did came out alive, most of them had their memories erased. It were as if everything that made them their own person had been stripped off.
This was why the Whispering Forest was notorious as one of the five Forbidden Zones.
Why did he even go there?
Adori found that to be absurb. Even though it was only recently that she moved in Ime, she knew better than to dive into the forest even if to satisfy her own curiosity. The reason was plain and simple---it was not worth it.
If someone like her, who was not native to the place, knew to stay out of the area then why did Cale---someone who lived in Ime his whole life---went inside there?
Many questions were formed inside Adori's head. She was so deep in her own thoughts that she did not notice the boy standing in front of her.
"Um.. Adori?"
Adori snapped out of her thoughts immediately. She looked at the boy in expectance only to get instantly surprised.
"...Cale?"
The pale skinned boy with wavy black hair stared Adori, his grey eyes almost as piercing as a dagger.
The boy shifted on his feet, cleary anxious. "Have you seen my friends?"
"Huh?" Adori was stunned as the exact person she had been thinking about suddenly materialized out of nowhere; almost as if it was the work of a supernatural.
They did say speak of the devil and he shall appear. But it's strange...
"Cale..." Adori started, "You remember me?"
Cale was fidgeting his fingers, clearly contemplating on how to answer her question. "Yes... I know it's strange and you might want to ask questions, but I'm in a hurry and I need to know where my friends are."
Adori tried her best to stay composed. "Okay, okay, you said you need to look for your friends, right? Cale, what happened?"
"That's not important right now! I need to know where they are. Have you seen them or not?" Cale exclaimed, clearly frustrated. The two of them had garnerned some attention from the people that were nearby.
Adori looked around suddenly feeling embarassed. "No, I haven't seen them-"
Immediately as she said those words, Cale turned around and disappeared into the market.
That was weird.
***
It was early afternoon when Adori tended to her small garden on the backside of their cottage. Summer had just started so she was in a fervor to try planting some warm-season crops---those seeds which she had not tried planting before.
To Adori, gardening was another one of the pleasures of her life. She had picked this hobby when she first moved to Ime island; introduced to her by Rebek, Cale's mother, saying it was such a soothing hobby to have. Strangely enough, it had worked wonders on Adori. Soon it became a sanctuary to her and one of her favourite pastimes.
However, that afternoon, she couldn't enjoy planting her seeds as much as she did before. It was because there was something else which had been gnawing at her thoughts ever since that morning.
Why did he look so anxious?
It was Cale. Adori couldn't help but be alarmed by his overall demeanour when he asked her about his friends that morning.
Should I go inform his parents about what happened this morning?
Adori bit her lips as she contemplated. But what if it was not that serious and just all in my head?
"I should visit them tomorrow just in case," she said, making up her mind at last. She dusted her clothes and took some seedlings with her to give it to Rebek Varn.
When she returned to her kitchen, she was met with the act of Emis secretly trying to have a bite of the meat she bought that morning.
"EMIS!" She shrieked, "Have you any idea how expensive that piece of meat is?!"
"Oh shit," Emis said as he jumped from the kitchen counter and away to the safety of their bedroom.
Adori took a deep breath. The universe truly had tested her that day. First, it was Cale, then Emis...
She sighed and checked the meat which Emis had tried to sabotage. It was meant to be their dinner after all, and Adori was not about to have half-eaten meat as her supper. Her shoulders relaxed a bit when she saw that the meat was unharmed.
Without wasting another time, she started preparing their dinner. Since it was just the two of them, there weren't much that needed to be prepared. Though, since Adori was still in the early stages of learning how to cook, time seemed to move in a blur and the sky had already darkened when she finished their dinner.
Just when she was about to call Emis, someone knocked on their door.
"A moment please," she called out.
Adori quickly tidied herself and went to answer the door. Adding to many of her surprises that day, it was Rebek Varn.
Her black hair which used to be so silky and tidy was all disheveled and there were lines on her cheeks where she previously shed tears. Her expressions and mannerisms were all screaming troubled.
"Adori," she crocked, "Cale, my son... We can't find him."