Luke woke up the next morning in a daze, still processing whatever fever dream scenario happened last day.

What was that? A spectre? A ghost? A hallucination? A bad prank? Luke was confused, all that aged man brief talk about the other realm made him overthink.

"Was it a ghost?! It can't be. I need to act like that encounter never happened"

He decided to take a stroll out of his home, clear his mind and head to a close public garden, maybe morning breeze would put his mind at ease.

He told his parents thats he's going out, asked them if there is any errand he can take care off, ate a quick made breakfast, and headed outside.

The streets of Dove town were calm, it was a nice day, doves flew in the skies, hanged on windows and roof tiles, cooing and pecking everywhere.

As people can obviously deduce, Dove town was named after the high dove numbers that ruled the city skies and building peaks.

For luke, to reach the city public garden, also called Fountain garden, he must cross the main road from the side of his house to the other side after a little walk of 200 steps from his door the main road was always full with rushing cars and trucks, especially on morning when people usually raced to be at their work places at time.

Luke felt his suit pulled from behind, "Uncle, can you please help me cross the road?"

There stood a little girl, dark bob haircut, wearing a grey sweater and pants, looking up to him with black abyss eyes large as orbs and slightly frowning as her thick eyebrows made a V.

"I am too young to be called uncle, and why are you giving me such a serious look if you are asking for help?"

"I'll call you mister then."

"That's better."

"Mister, if you re not going to help me cross the road instead of arguing with me, i'll go ask another adult to do mister."

"You look cute but you are one cheesy annoying brat, hold my hands , we are crossing the damn road."

The girl took his hand then, and luke checked right and left then stepped on the crosswalk.

"Where are you going little lady? Heading anywhere special alone this early morning?"

"Yes, i'm visiting the Fountain garden."

"Oh, seems like i have a companion, im going there too."

"Creep."

Luke flinched and looked at her annoyingly "What do you mean by that little brat?"

"Mom used to say single guys who go to places with kids playgrounds are creeps."

"When you're back tell your mom she's wrong, people can go there to breath some fresh air too, and if you repeat another single word to annoy me, im leaving you in the middle of the road without a single regret."

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"I can't tell that to mom, she's dead."

Luke paled and felt regret and embarassement hearing her sudden words "my bad , i'm sorry to hear about your loss"

The girl nodded, they crossed the road, but as their destination is the same they continued to walk together, and she said "you are quite naïve mister, believing whatever a little girl like me telling you, mom is alive and well,in fact, she just made for me a nice peanutbutter sandwich for breakfast before my departure"

"In fact missy, you are one annoying cheesy brat who don't respect her elders"

"You're no elder , you told me not to call you uncle."

"You got a point, but you still lack some manners"

They arrived at the fountain garden, a shady road covered by an arc of trees from both sides guided them to the playground, a number of wooden benches surrounded it, Luke left the girl and sat on one of them, took a large breath, and enjoyed the scenery before him.

Vibrant green trees, a colorful playground with many toys and games for children, a medium sized fountain in the middle with a statue of serene looking guy playing flute, this guy was the founder of dove town, Alex The first.

Today the parc was full of cats of all sizes and kinds, running and going everywhere that pleased em, "they call that the zoomies or something" thought Luke, some cats were meowing,some cats were still sleeping, the parc was lively with them, the only humans there where the girl and Luke.

A black cat with a white patch on it back came near Luke, he carressed it, petted it, and smiled, then the feline got back to his friends.

The sight of the fluffy creatures messing around filled Luke's heart with warmth.

Luke loved being with cats and observing them, one of the few things that could make the grumpy guy feel joy.

The girl came toward Luke from the playground and stood facing him "Thank you mister, the road felt safer with you."

"You can be quite charming when you want to, now those are some good manners"

"My mom always told me to thank strangers if they lend me a helping hand, even creeps"

"I withdraw my words"

"You seem to like cats, i didn't see you smile since we met till you saw them, you didn't smile even after seeing such a cutie girl like me"

"You're quite humble i give you that"

"I'm humble and know a few things, like the fact that you can see ghosts"

At that moment, Luke felt a sudden difficulty to breathe, and found it hard to say a single word to the girl.

"Did the cat got your tongue mister?"

"What do you mean by i see ghosts?"

"By your face i can guess that you just unlocked your ability to see the other realm recently, or you are some sinister guy who knows about the other realm and plays dumb, but you are too naïve for the latter option"

"What other realm? What nonsense are you saying brat, go play there and leave me alone, i didn't go out to hear any of that supernatural talk, i dont even want to see anything out of the norm, i just want to live my life as i always did without seeing whatever hallucination, and how the hell do you even know what i see, who are you"

"My name is Helena Shovelfield, Call me Helena, i'm just a sweet girl who happens to pass by you today, my family just moved from the neighboring city, i'm still new here so i don't know much, what's your name mister?"

"My name's Luke"

"Mister Luke, dont panic, i see them too"

"I am not panicking!" retorted Luke.

"You are mister, you are" she smiled.

"All i saw was an old guy yesterday, i didnt see more than that, and i dont wanna see anything more"

"Old guy? There are a lot of old looking ghosts, and i'm still new to the town, i can distinguish ghosts from living creatures, but i dont know the ones residing here yet, but Mister Luke, you saw more than that"

Luke was at a loss of words" what did i saw else brat?"

"Today i came because i heard from a certain peculiar guy that there are some ghosts in the fountain garden that appear in mornings, and he asked me to check them out, so i came to investigate the matter and make sure if there are just peaceful roaming souls"

"Peaceful roaming souls?"

"Ghosts that mind their business without haunting sites or doing any bad mischief before departing to the afterlife"

"I dont know about that, dont wanna know too, wont even come close to a ghost again if i sense or see one"

"Mister, you contradict yourself then"

"Elaborate brat"

"The cats you're seeing are all dead mister, not a single cat is alive"