Several days passed after that day that Lug and Hannah shared.

Every day was the same for Lug, tending to his plants, avoiding the old lady as best he could and spending time drinking tea with Gavan.

He thought of Hannah from time to time, but he didn't miss the hectic days he spent with her.

Lug was attached to the peaceful days he spent at the cemetery.

Still, he checked his phone regularly to see if he had received a message from her.

But was it hope or fear that drove his need to see if her name was on the phone screen?

This question was clarified soon after.

One Saturday night, Lug was reading a book on his bed and received a message.

It was her.

Lug gently slid his finger up to read the message he had just received.

"Good evening Lug, I'll come by in the morning and we'll go hiking in the mountains, how about it?"

The question was simple but it took Lug 20 minutes to answer.

In the end he decided to agree, not without battling his doubts.

"Sure, see you tomorrow." he wrote.

That night he didn't sleep much.

The next day was a sunny Sunday morning. Lug told himself that this augured well.

Hannah, like the last time, entered without knocking.

She had on a white beanie and boots and was holding hiking shoes in her hands.

"Hello, Lug. I brought you shoes, I think they are the right size, would you like to try them on?"

"Hi Hannah! What are they for? Are you really planning to go to the mountains, don't you want to chat over tea instead?" asked Lug worriedly.

"I have something to show you" replied Hannah, looking happy.

As usual, Lug couldn’t say no to Hannah’s smile.

He tried the hiking shoes, they were too small.

Instead he decided to put on his usual shoes.

Once Lug was ready, they set off together towards the mountains west of the cemetery.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"How long will we have to walk?" he asked.

"Two hours, I think."

Lug turned pale.

At no time had he anticipated such an ordeal, he was thrilled to see Hannah but she always brought too much movement for his liking.

"Can't we drive there?"

"No it's a bit of a complicated place to get to, we can only get there by going over the mountain and there are no roads."

Despite his desire to cancel, Lug took it upon himself to follow Hannah.

After two hours that seemed like an eternity, they finally reached their destination.

Beyond the trees and the thick shadow they cast was a large body of water buried in a crevice left by the mountain.

Lug recognized the place immediately.

It was the lake that Linette, Hannah's grandmother, thought was a treasure.

And she was completely right.

This lake was shining strongly thanks to the midday sun and this light made the water look like it was made of gold.

"Let's go!" Hannah said as she started running towards the lake taking Lug's hand.

A few minutes later they were facing the water.

It was much warmer in this tub by the water than in the forest they had just left.

Hannah took off her clothes and jumped into the water, much to Lug's surprise.

He looked away, embarrassed, when he caught a glimpse of Hannah's shape.

"Come on, the water is good!" she announced with a cheerful look.

Lug didn't dare go to the water and waited for her, sitting on the ledge.

When Hannah got out of the water, 20 minutes later. She saw that Lug had already started looking around for clues.

She saw him in the rocks near the lake about 30 yards away.

He was standing and not moving.

Hannah got dressed and decided to go see what was going on.

As she approached she got the impression that he was talking to someone, but as soon as she was close enough, Lug motioned for her to come closer.

"Look over there, I've had a good look around and I think we could find some interesting things near those rocks, it's just the kind of place where something could be hidden." he said.

Hannah watched him walk towards the rocks that were a few yards away.

She was pensive, did he have a good intuition or was he really hiding something?

She was slowly losing patience.

"That ghost told me that she often came here with a man... And they hid something around there…" Lug mumbled to himself in a low voice.

Hannah followed him closely and watched his every move.

He started to lift a few stones, here and there.

And after a few minutes he found a small metal box.

"Ooh! Look, Hannah! I found something!" he shouted.

Hannah looked confused.

Lug opened the box and took the contents in his hand: a battered old photograph.

It showed a woman who looked like Linette with a man by her side.

Linette, who looked so sober and serious in the photo used on her grave, looked relaxed, smiling, almost younger in this one.

Lug showed the photo to Hannah.

She barely looked at it.

"Lug, how did you find this box? I saw you on that rock talking to yourself and then you came here and like magic you find it..."

Lug's eyes were wide open, he had just realized that he had abused Hannah's gullibility.

"I need an explanation, because right now I just feel like you're playing games with me, placing clues all over the place yourself... Tell me the truth please."

Lug froze.

His head was spinning.

The lies he had created to protect himself had come back to devour him.

He could only see one solution: tell the truth.

But Hannah would never believe him, and maybe that was why he had lied.

Because for Lug, at that moment, anything was better than the truth.

However, when he saw Hannah's troubled look, he decided to face his fears.

He bit his tongue, gathered his courage, cleared his head and spoke.

"Hannah... You're going to think this is weird and you probably won't believe me... But... I can see and talk to ghosts."