“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Justin immediately wiped the smile off his face and took Rachel’s hand to check. “Were you injured when you climbed the tree? Where are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing. I bumped into something when I was inside. I didn’t get hurt from climbing the tree.”
“Let me see.”
“It really is nothing. It is all Jolly’s fault for startling me.”
Paying no mind to her protest, Justin carefully rolled up Rachel’s sleeve, where he saw a bruise on her forearm. “Don’t do something so dangerous anymore,” he nagged with his eyebrows pulled together.
“I didn’t expect this place to feel so spooky as well. Jolly’s nonsense only added to my anxiousness. I kept recalling the scene when Amber fell off the cruise ship.”
Rachel began to feel upset after she brought this up.
She didn’t feel sorry for Jefferey and Amber. Amber had done a lot of evil things, but since the dead would remain dead, there was no need for Rachel to continue holding a grudge against them. Besides, she didn’t have much resentment toward Amber. After all, it was all in the past now.
But in the end, they were still cousins.
“Don’t think too much. They were bound to get hit by karma because of their own actions.” He took her hand then. “Let’s go. We will go home and apply some ointment for you.”
“Wait! I have to go in again.”
“Hmm?”
“My mother’s photo is gone, and the table used for worshiping is missing as well. I have to go in again and see what is going on.” She then added with a frown, “It doesn’t make sense, though. Who would move those things?”
“In that case, you don’t need to check it anymore. Let’s leave here.”
Rachel froze for a second as she cast an odd look at him upon hearing that.
He seemed like he already knew about this.
Justin then drove her to Westhill, where the peaceful chime of the church bell could be heard as evening approached.
“Why did you bring me here?” Rachel asked.
Instead of answering her, he only asked in return, “Didn’t you want to look for the photo?”
As he explained, he nodded to a priest in the church as a greeting.
Seeing him, the priest put his hands together in humility and uttered, “May God bless you, Mr. Burton. May I know who you have here with you today?”
“Rae.”
“Hello, Miss Hudson.”
Miss Hudson? Rachel shot Justin a surprised look. Has he mentioned me to the priest? And he seems familiar with the people here. A few of them have greeted him since he entered the gates.
As they were on blessed grounds, Rachel could only follow the priest while he guided them inside as she knew it would be inappropriate to ask too much.
They walked all the way to a hall where prayers were offered, the light from the candles giving the space a sense of solemnity.
The priest proceeded to point at a candle on the table as he held his rosary. “Amen. Miss Hudson, your mother and grandmother’s candles have been lit up in this hall.”
Candles?
He then continued, “Their belongings are over there.”
On the left side of the hall, there was a multi-grid glass cabinet which housed different things in each grid. On it were pieces of clothing, jewelry, or even a mere photo.
As Rachel looked on, she saw her mother’s photo and her grandmother’s silver bangle in one of the grids.
“Why are these here?” she gasped, flabbergasted.
“I went to the manor before the court sealed it off. I thought that it might be better to leave some things undiscovered, so I moved it all here on my own discretion.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I…” Justin stopped even before he started.
“Thank you,” Rachel remarked. She didn’t press on as she understood his intentions.
She knew Justin was afraid their relationship would turn stiff, or worse, deteriorate.
Presently, it was very quiet in the hall lit with candles. There were also no other visitors who were here to burn incense.
Justin offered to let Rachel have some alone time with her family while he went out.
After he left, she pressed her hands together and respectfully asked the priest, “Father, may I know which candle is my mother’s and which one is my grandmother’s?”
The priest smiled. “There are a total of 1500 candles in here, two of which are the ones you are looking for.”
In Christianity, the human soul merely separated from the body at death, and would be re-embodied on the future Day of Judgment.
However, the reality of it was that humans turned into dust after death, and would return to be one with the universe. Everyone would turn into dust particles that coexist with each other in this abyss of a galaxy. With how humans would end up relying on each other at some point, there was no need to draw clear lines between who was who.
Rachel paused after hearing his words, and without asking anything else, she kowtowed toward the thousands of lights illuminating the hall.
Her grandmother was the only one in the family who was a Catholic. She would have been elated to know that she was to rest here, with Rachel’s mother by her side.
“Father, does Jay come here often?”
“Mr. Burton is not very diligent compared to other worshippers, but he has been giving alms.”
To put it bluntly, Justin wasn’t a religious person by all means, but he had donated a lot of money.
Rachel quietly chuckled to herself at the roundabout manner religious persons spoke.
“It probably hasn’t been long since my mother and grandma’s candles were lit, yes?”
“Oh, it has been some time.”
“Is that so?”
“It has been six years now.”
Startled, Rachel repeated, “Six years?”
“I had just joined the church that time and was in charge of the affairs here. Mr. Burton came to me with a bangle then, but your mother’s photo was just put in just last year.”
“Has he been here in the past six years?”
“He has. I always saw Mr. Burton here before the new year every year, but he had never come in.”
Hearing that brought Rachel complicated emotions.
Surrounded by the ringing of the bell, it was already evening when she headed out.
She was greeted by the sight of Justin standing outside the door, quietly watching a priest ringing the bell on the bell tower some distance away.
He turned around when he heard the sound of her footsteps. He didn’t ask her anything that happened inside, and only gently tugged her by the hand. “Does your hand still hurt?”
Rachel quietly shook her head in response and stared at him for a long time before she suddenly threw her arms around Justin, making him freeze in place.
Even though he didn’t know the reason for her abrupt action, he still placed both hands behind her back and lightly patted. “What is wrong?” he murmured.
“Thank you.”
All Rachel cared about was drowning in her sorrow when her grandmother passed away six years ago. A lot of things then were settled with help from others; even Janice was the one who helped her arrange the funeral. It took a long time for Rachel to remember that the bangle was gone, but she was never in the mood to ask about it.
She finally realized after years had passed that she was not as meticulous and strong-willed as Justin.
Coming back to his senses, the man gently caressed her back with his big palm without uttering a word.
They soon walked downhill, hand-in-hand.
As they were still some distance away from the place the car was parked at, Rachel asked, “Didn’t you not remember anything before? How did you still remember to come here every year on the anniversary of Grandma’s death?”
“I can’t say for sure.” Justin sounded confused. “I always had a feeling I had to drop by, but I never understood why even when I was here.”
“Didn’t the Father tell you?”
“No.”
People who were religious usually believed in fate. Justin and Rachel probably were not meant to cross paths during those few years, but now it seemed that they had accumulated enough fate to be in each other’s lives.
They had unconsciously reached the entrance of the hill then. As she looked at the familiar path down the hill, Rachel suddenly remembered something. “I was here for Old Mrs. Holt the last time I came here.
“How is she doing?”
“Her Alzheimer’s disease is at an advanced stage so she can no longer live here. She was sent to a nursing home a few years ago, and her life there seems pretty good. I went to visit her once.”
“When did you do all this? How come I don’t know anything about it?”
“It is nothing. I did it when I was free.”
Rachel then held Justin’s hand. “Bring me along next time.”
