A very busy street and renaissance architecture. If the people were wearing normal modern clothes Cindy would have believed that she was in France. But she wasn’t. There were various types of animals in the street pulling carriages, along with people as pets or their rides. These types of animals did not exist on Earth. Cindy felt she might have crossed over to a fantasy world. Or she was dreaming. It has to be a dream. How can there be blue horses or a wolf with wings? Cindy felt a headache.

She was just in the jungle with her so-called friends getting attacked by hyenas and here she was in the middle of the city. The man that took her was nowhere in sight. At least leave a name behind. If she was some damsel, then the hero must stay to at least hear thanks. But guess Cindy was comparable to some mutt. Her outer appearance was anything but that.

Cindy dusted her clothes and looked around. There were many shops on each side of the road. The names on the signboards were in languages she had never seen before. She was not the best in her studies. However, she could recognize most languages. She had never seen such language before. It looked more like ancient Egyptians languages or cave drawings.

She looked further and found a signboard in English. It read ‘Janet’s Antique’. She decided to go there and ask where she was.

As she pushed the old oak door, a small bell jingled. An old man was sitting on the counter, reading a book. The shop was filled with a variety of things. Every article looked old, as typical of an antique shop. There were a few things that were new as well. Pretty much it served as a miscellaneous shop than just an antique shop.

The old man was engrossed in his reading. She was embarrassed with her ragged appearance. It was already gratifying that the man didn’t shoo her away. She smelled her clothes. Indeed they were rotten. She gathered her courage and tried asking.

“…Ex_”

“Did you ran away from home?”

“Huh. Ah. No”

“….” The man looked at her from top to bottom.

“You don’t look like you came for shopping”

“…No. I came looking for work.” Cindy blurted out what first came into her mind. She has to rely on herself. After all, she was all alone. She can no longer trust anyone. After her friends turned their backs on her, she felt she had lived wrongly. She had made all the wrong choices and trusted the wrong people. She felt that she was to blame for that.

She gripped her hand tightly and said,” Please give me work. I can do anything.”

“… But I don’t have any work for you.”

“…. Please, I can do anything. I can sweep the floor, clean all the articles on the shelf. I can even help you manage the shop.”

“… Haha. First, go upstairs and clean up. You are driving away all my potential customers.”

“I’m sorry”. Cindy was flustered. She climbed the stairs and went up. There was a living room with normal household appliances. She headed to the left side. There were too many rooms. She stood there confused as she had forgotten to ask which way was the bathroom. She assumed it had to be the first room. The first room was a very well maintained bedroom with an attached bathroom. She went in and cleaned herself.

When she finished, she found a clean set of woman’s clothes on the bed. Wearing it, she went downstairs.

“Aren’t you a pretty lady. I could hardly tell if you were a girl or a ghost”, the old man laughed at her. Cindy found herself relaxed at the old man’s light-hearted jokes.

“Now young lady, grab a seat and sit. I won’t ask you why you ran away from home or why you looked like a destitute before if you are not willing to tell. You can stay here if you wish but you have to put food on the table on your own. I won’t provide you with that. Is that clear, Miss.”

“Yes Sir”

“Sir? Just call me Edward or Uncle.”

“Ok”

“And as I said I don’t have any work for you here or in my home. You have to find work on yourself.”

Cindy was grateful for the help. And as for the work, she had to think about it. She had bluffed when she said that she can do everything. She had never done any work in her life, hadn’t even made noodles for herself. She knew nothing about household chores. Maybe Edward could tell that she was pretty much useless. Instead of cleaning his house, she would end up creating a mess.

Her eyes fell on a box of colours. There were art supplies on the shelf. She asked Edward if she could use the art supplies. After Edward permitted, she prepared the board and started painting. Soon the paper was filled with a plethora of colours. What she was making was not clear. Cindy was focused and kept stroking the brush. Soon a blue sea appeared, then a sky. The brown-black dusky colour turned into a cliff. The sky had a white celestial object. On the edge of the cliff, a girl in a white dress was standing. Her dress was fluttering. The painting was enchanting.

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“Amazing,”

Edward, who was standing behind her, was pleased to see the painting. It was a masterpiece.

“This place, if I’m not wrong, it is Sanka. Right?”

“….” That should be the name of the place they crash-landed. Cindy thought to herself.

“Alright, I will buy this picture. It’s a beauty I won’t like to give it to anyone. You will sell it to me, Right?”

“…Ok.”

“So. How much are you selling it for?”

Cindy thought for a while. She had already realized that she was not on Earth. She knew she was pretty much dumb but not to the extent of a retard. Now, how to price her artwork? Back on Earth, her pieces could fetch very high prices. It was the only talent she had. She never bothered about the prices back then. She would donate all her earnings. She never totalled how much she had ever earned. That was very taxing work for her.

“…How about a month’s food?”

Cindy knew she was selling herself short but let’s be modest here. This was the person who was giving her lodging for free.

“…That’s it”, Edward tilted his head and soon agreed.

She could now live in Edward’s house, eat to her heart’s content and paint for the rest of time.

At dinner time, Cindy met Janet, Edward’s wife. She hardly looked like she could be his wife. She was a young and beautiful woman of around 30. And Edward looked like he was in his 70s, if not more.

On the living room, there was a picture of their wedding. They both were of the same age in the picture. One could say, Janet aged well or she didn’t at all.

They talked to each other. Janet was a very kind lady, just like a mother. She took care of Cindy as if she was her daughter. Cindy thought back to her life on Earth. She remembered the dinners which she spent alone. Her mother passed away when she was barely five. Her father was always busy. She never had a normal family. She was quite happy with the environment.

After dinner, Janet went to the end of the hallway. There was an old grandpa clock. She pulled the lever on it making it to turn around. There was a path behind it. She went inside. This was her secret room.

It was very dark inside. But she had no trouble walking inside. She leisurely walked inside. There was someone else in the room. A man, covered in blood was tied up, his hands were tied together and were hanging from upside. He was breathing shallowly. His eyes were shut and bleeding.

Janet ran her beautiful fingers on some metal tools kept nearby on a table. She pulled out a plier and ran it through the man’s skin.

“Milos Tudor. Why don’t you tell me what I want to know? Let’s end your sufferings.”

“…..Thu”

Milos spitted blood and turned away.

“You don’t have to act tough. There’s no one coming to save you. So speak up. I don’t want to spoil my fingers.”

“Go to hell”

“Haha… keep acting this way. You can very well go to hell. You can stay silent forever. We can just catch another SOUL officer and get what we want. There isn’t just you.”

“You b%*&^_”

Janet slapped the man with pliers still in her hands. The pliers dug into his cheeks and scratched his face a bit. Fresh blood poured out dying the dried blood.

“Yawn. You just keep wasting my time. I will just leave you to die. I can find someone else to get that info. Enjoy your rest.”

Janet washed her hands with water. Arranged her dress and sprayed some perfume on herself. She then went out of that room like nothing happened.

Few days passed by, Cindy very well adapted into her new house. She got along with the folks. She had started painting in the streets. This way, she could attract customers and paint according to their wishes. She pretty much spends her days the same way.

One day like usual, she was on the streets painting when a masked man came to her.

“You paint well”

“…It’s you. You are the one who saved me back then”

“Yes, I did. You have a good memory. You can even recognize my voice.”

“Thank you for that day.”

“I won’t take your thank you.”

“Huh?”

“Instead, I want your help.”

“Help? What kind of?”

“Spy someone for me.”

“Spy?”

“You know what this mask means. Right?”

Cindy had learned about those who wear that black mask with golden patterns. They were special agents from an agency called SOUL. It worked the same way as the CIA.

“Yes.”

“You have to spy on those you are currently living with.”

“What? You mean Edward and Janet”

“Yes. Particularly Janet. You don’t have to be wary. I only have some suspicions. Who knows they might be innocent. You just have to report their daily activities. I will find you after a few days.”

With that, the masked man vanished without waiting for a reply. Cindy was perplexed. She had to spy on that benevolent couple.

He said that he had some suspicions which can be false. She just had to note their daily activities and prove him to be wrong.

One night, Cindy woke up in the middle of the night. She wanted to drink water, but couldn’t find any in her room. She was coming out of her room when she heard a slight noise. A noise of something moving. She peeped out of her room. She saw Janet coming out from the end of the hallway. When she got out, the grandpa clock went back to its position. There was a secret room behind the clock. She remembered what the masked man had said to her.

She felt unsettled. Next day, when Janet had gone out for some work and Edward, as usual, was staying downstairs minding his shop, she went into that room.

She was enshrouded with darkness. There was a damp feeling in the room. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see blood everywhere. There were all kinds of torture types of equipment in the room.

At one corner of the room, there was a fireplace, had ashes in it, along with some bones and skull. There was a bag nearby it. She was afraid to see what was inside it. Her hands shakily reached for the bag. She opened it. She dreaded to see inside it.

She daringly took a look. She fell backwards.

The bag was empty. She didn’t find what she was afraid of. She closed the bag and hurriedly left the room.

She ran back to her room and emptied her stomach into the commode. She was disgusted by all the blood. She felt sick. She felt all that blood was moving and reaching for her. The blood was alive and moved towards her as if to engulf her into itself. She kept throwing up whatever she ate that morning till yellow bile came out. She forced herself to stop and got back to the bedroom. She opened the windows for fresh air. She was thinking about how Janet could do such atrocious acts and pretend to be nice and kind. She felt disgusted thinking about her. God knows how many people she killed in that room.

Now she feared for her life. She was all by herself. If she killed her, nobody will ever know.