Solflare: The Painter's Secret

Chapter 287: The Silence in Room 514

A loud thunder cracked the dark skies of Bastion City, gracing the ghostlike leaves dancing in the air to see light one more time.

The thick darkness behind the glass walls gleamed when a bolt of lightning flashed through the skies.

Wood-cracking sounds resonated the moment two of the lightning strikes hit the fig tree. Fire snaked from the root of the tree and caught up with the dried, dead leaves pointed toward Li Mei’s window.

A long shadow stretched from the side of the bed and conquered half of the ceiling when the curtains frayed upward.

Sharp air, like a last exhale, flew out of the sunken center of the bed.

The blades of the Hi-no-Kami gleamed from the left side of the bed when they caught the flaming fig tree outside the window. The flames moved like hell screams in the golden drift shield when a gust of wind sent the curtain bar falling.

Wet coughs resonated and shook the springs in the bed when Leon’s chest heaved. "What have they done to deserve this?"

His own voice echoed in the voices of Tiger, Jade, Vera, Overlord Luo Fang, and Lord Hayes when it bounced back to him.

Cloth-shuffling sounds resonated as he increased his grip on the yellow duckling socks and wiped them across his face.

The small spiders standing on their cobwebs blinked at the human as they watched him lose himself to sleep.

...

The dark clouds in the sky reeled side-by-side, forming one big cloud that covered the entire Bastion City.

Tiny drops of tears fell from the clouds and wet the ceiling of the Storm mansion with their drumming sounds.

The dead leaves in the fountain’s pool moved to the side when the rain’s pressure intensified.

Sounds like machine guns filled the air when the rushing droplets slammed on the iron gate of the Storm mansion.

The discarded polyethylene bags, wrappers, and all foamy substances floated upward when the level of the gutters rose.

Frog hums escaped from the dirty waters of the gutters that were flowing toward Dusthollow. They harmonized with the sound of the rain as if they knew each other.

Vehicles with their windows raised drove through the Bastion City highway. Their tires slammed into low and high puddles when they reeled by the front of the Bastion hospital.

The dirt on the ambulances trailed down as they attained their second nature bath. Faces gleamed on the window sills of the rooms when the kids at the children’s wards walked toward the windows and placed their faces on the glass, watching the natural tears fall.

...

Inside the nurses’ change room, Edith sat beside a white round table, sobbing. "Why take the lives of all the good people?"

Tears trailed down her blood-veined eyes when she lifted her head and watched the falling rain outside the window.

Beside her, a white bag with an identification card carrying a smiley face and the name of Thess on it rested calmly on the table, as if waiting to be lifted by its own.

"You took Nora and now!" Edith clenched her fist and slammed it hard on the table, sending a shockwave of pain through her bones. "Now you have taken the only friend I had. WHY?!"

Lightning tore through the skies as if confirming the cries and screams surging out of the nurses’ changing room.

The hallways toward the mortuary remained empty with a faint clicking sound resonating whenever light flashed on the pale windows.

"I still do not believe it."

Voices rose from inside the mortuary as Doctor Mike and two other citizens of Bastion City stood there.

"My daughter is not dead." A man with grey hair, a beard, and wrinkles on his face said while shaking his head. "Thess cannot die like that."

He turned a blood-veined gaze to Doctor Mike and held the collar of his robe. "You were supposed to take care of her. WHY DID YOU FAIL TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER!"

"Mr. Parker, take your hands off me."

"Do not Mr. Parker me!" The seventy-six-year-old Mr. Parker shoved Doctor Mike off his feet and pinned him against the wall. "I ACCEPTED YOU TO BE HER FUTURE HUSBAND. WHY DID YOU FAIL TO PROTECT MY DAUGHTER? My only daughter."

His grip on Doctor Mike loosened when a seventy-year-old lady holding a walking stick moved forward and placed a hand on Mr. Parker’s shoulder.

"Parker." Julyn said as she placed her head on Mr. Parker’s back while tears trailed down her own wrinkled cheeks. "I have missed our daughter."

Tears welled up in Doctor Mike’s eyes when he saw his in-laws embracing themselves yet crying.

’I knew you loved helping others,’ he said in his head when he shifted his gaze from Mr. Parker and his wife and focused on Thess’s still white body lying on the metal plate bed as if asleep. ’But you should have listened to me, Thess.’

He gestured at the two mortuary attendants to take the body back and helped the two grown man and woman out of the room.

...

The hallway of the VIP floor remained empty, yet clicking sounds resonated from the walls.

Weak plasters peeled off from the walls with every soft beep that resonated from Room 514.

Green flashing lights lingered in the room as the heart-monitoring machine remained rigid at the side of the bed. A thin cable traveled from the monitor and remained tugged on his new friend.

Sharp air spasms from the side of the window when Zoe shifted her gaze from the curtains and focused on Little Athena’s sleeping face. "I will never forgive myself when Leon comes and finds out his mother and little sister are in an indefinite coma state."

Bloodied veins lingered in her eyes when the last tear in her fell off her chin and landed on the floor like a curse.

Lily’s joyous screams and Li Mei’s sweet humming reeled in Zoe’s head when she collapsed in the chair.

Her silver-grey hair lost its warmth and swiped through the chilled and sterilized air in the room when she cupped her face in her palms.

The single yellow duckling sock on Lily’s right leg glowed faintly when a gold lightning tore through the sky.