It felt long and eternal before Nick thought he saw a figure in front of him. But his eyes were too blinded by the pain to see who it was. He remembered only that a dark, black sac had quickly shielded him from the terrible pain. He remembered the figure carrying him and running rapidly towards the rising sun on the soggy wet leaf litter before he lost consciousness.

"Nickolas, we're almost there. Hold on." The figure spoke harshly between short , deep breaths.

Nick awoke in his coffin, but it was a different coffin in a different room. His skin was a deep red. Nick tried to touch it, but was too hurt by the sensation. He didn't dare touch his skin thereafter.

He heard voices in the room nearby. He jumped off the box and walked towards the voices. There was a large scuffling of feet to and fro, and there was shouting. The room held coffins in it, the cemented walls were covered in cobwebs and dead rats. It was dimly lit with small candles, but Nick could see a body on the table, and there were people all around it. He walked towards the table to see who it was.

"Nickolas, please don't go in yet. We need to anoint her so that her skin would heal. It is burnt real badly," someone spoke to him. Nick stood outside.

"Did she save me?" he asked.

"Yekari? Yes. She followed you to the cabin to see if you were all right. Oh my, look at you! You're so red. Come, let's have a look at that skin of yours." Nick followed the woman out into the other coffin room.

"Are you Uque?" he asked.

"Yes." She took a liniment and began rubbing it over his sore body. She sighed at its rawness.

"Let me do it." Nick was conscious of the lady's touch. She handed the bottle over to him before she took out the bandage.

"Here, I can do it as well." Nick said.

"No, I will do it. Sit down." Uque said firmly. Nick still stood on his legs. He was very reluctant for anyone to see him like this.

"Nick, I am not going to hurt you. Now give me your hands." Uque demanded. Nick's hands slowly stuck out for her to bandage. He began to cry, and his tears started to fall down his cheeks. Uque was saddened by the scared boy's feelings.

"Oh, Nick. I'm sorry if this happened to you. Maybe it was better if Yekari never saw you at the woods then," Uque remarked. She paused a little. "Yekari was always a mischievous girl. Even when she was alive in her father's castle. Her father is the duke of Treyton, you know. A very prominent and respectable man. But that was four centuries ago."

Nick could not help but be intrigued by the castle's history. "What happened after? Why was the castle deserted then? Why are you here?"

"I'm Yekari's caretaker. Soon after the duke of Treyton was beheaded by the late Queen Kintoria, the whole family was ordered to be beheaded by noon the next day. Yekari and I managed to hear the death sentence in time before we left for the woods. That is, until we found ourselves in a vampire's cave. Since then, we had not come back until two centuries later, when the feudalism system was no longer here, and no one lived in the dilapidated castle."

Nick thought quietly to himself. "Could I see Yekari now?"

Uque looked at him carefully.

"I promise. I would be very quiet."

"All right. She's over there in the next room."

Nick walked quietly to Yekari's coffin. She was indeed a young girl. A badly bandaged young girl. He felt guilty for running away from the castle. He wondered if the voice he heard behind him was hers. Nick felt her forehead, and she opened her eyes.

"Feel better already?" Nick asked.

"Please don't go away, Nick. I'm so lonely in this castle. I want a friend." Yekari pleaded. Her eyes began to water.

"You killed me," Nick accused her.

"But I saved you after that," she answered.

"I'm still dead. You stole my presence on this Earth," he accused her again.

"But I made you alive in my world. FOREVER. Don't you like it?" she answered again.

At this question, Nick pulled back his hand and walked to the paintings on the walls. He was again saddened and turned silent. He never wanted this to happen to him. But it was now too late. He turned around and saw Yekari with her tearful eyes.

"I'm sorry, Nickolas. But what's done is done." She did not say anymore. Nick stood at the corner in the back. He stayed silent.

>>>>>

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