The school being empty after the dismissal of the students, Sachen stood by the stables. She hummed to herself and held her gaze to the ground. She had sent a paper message to the doorsteps of Neha’s house, to which it stated that she needed Neha right away to discuss some important matter. The matter that Sachen had picked up last night, became all so terrifying for her to remember. As much as she wanted to forget about the conversations of the soldiers, it continued to cross her mind every second. Sachen couldn’t deny that soon, danger would erupt the village into chaos once again.

She took a gander inside the stables. The animals were rolling around their haystack, they slept and wailed. The horses had clouds in their eyes, they let out a faint neigh. Sachen wanted to comfort them; only a few of the animals in the stables had survived the onslaught of the first raid, and the unfortunate deaths of some afflicted almost everybody in school. It felt to them that they had lost great friends, as such creatures would always provide the kids solace and peace in times of uncertainty.

Sachen stopped her tunes. She saw somebody in the hallway hallway. The person arriving at the back door, Sachen called out for her.

“Neha! Over here!” Her friend approached her slowly. Neha’s eyes were in a daze, her cheeks sunk into her face.

“What is wrong? Did you fell asleep when you arrived home?”

Shaking her head, Neha slipped her tongue. “No, it’s nothing. I’m fine, that’s all.”

“I see.”

“By the way. Why did you send me a message? Do you have something urgent in mind? Like homework or projects? You better tell me. Tulisen gave me a curfew.” Neha twiddled her fingers. She looked at Sachen’s head, then her tunic, then her feet.

“It’s very important, and I want you to hear it clearly.”

“Oh...”

“And you must cooperate with me in this matter. If you-”

Sachen bit her lips. Before she could say anything more, Neha grabbed onto Sachen’s hands. The latter sprang back, she gasped for breath. As soon as Neha eclipsed her eyes with gloom, Sachen calmed herself down.

“What is the matter? You are definitely not okay.”

Neha looked to the side. Her friend could sense something dreadful had happened to her. “I just want to tell you something first... something that might make you sad.”

“Well? What is it?” Sachen asked. Neha came close to her right ear, and she let out a puff. The hair on the back of Sachen’s neck stood up, a crimson hue bloated her face. Her chest ached.

“Don’t do that!”

“I’m sorry...”

In a whisper did Neha tell her right away about the issues she was dealing with. Sachen anticipated that her friend might have got involved in some petty confrontation with a classmate, and also it could be that Neha wanted to depend on Sachen after keeping herself in a distance from her friend for some time. Sachen would have burst into elation, feeling that she could help her again. She held her chest, and listened to everything her friend was saying.

But alas, it was not the way that Sachen expected. The words coming out of Neha’s mouth, with quivers of her voice occurring every time she stopped, all came to be so heartbreaking, so gut-wrenching, that Sachen didn’t know what to say back. Neha’s voice fluctuated, it then descended into a low tone. Her fists rattled and her lips went cold, and she scowled. This display of her friend made Sachen ever so sorry for her, and at first she didn’t know what to do. To see her like this, that she was about to burst in tears, it gave Sachen a load of anxiety. It was only a matter of time before she would cry too, something that would be embarrassing for her at the very least.

Sachen hugged her. A surprise move coming from a strong-willed girl. But no doubt this was a way to soothe the pain of her friend. She tightened her arms around Neha, she squeezed and suffocated her with all her condolences. Their hearts seemed to touch each other, and it caused them to feel butterflies in their chests. It was to Sachen that Neha had witnessed and experienced so many things that she herself could never imagine. It became already difficult to put herself in Neha’s shoes, attempting to comprehend the madness of her circumstances, but nonetheless, Sachen knew she was suffering.

When Neha told her that she had met Azukunika, Sachen sneered. The latter also briefly described her encounter with the woman, and both of them agreed that she was dangerous to be around. More than that, they dismissed Azukunika as a fool.

Afterwards, Sachen loosened her arms and fanned her face. She took her time to digest the broken words of her companion. “I didn’t know Neha, that Usheniko was part of the spiritual mission by Ozughen. I didn’t know this at all. No wonder she told us to go find Kuraizang. It must be that she knew everything bad about it.”

“Y-yeah, but Tulisen didn’t go through it in depth.”

Sachen blushed. “And I’m so sorry about your dad! He did the right thing for Usheniko, only for him to get killed... how horrible! How unfortunate! I can’t believe it! Why did they do such a thing?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know at all.” Neha buried her face on Sachen’s chest, and infused herself with her companion’s warmth. “It hurt to know all of that. Tulisen is a meanie. He should have kept his mouth shut, he made me cry. But it’s okay. Besides, you have your mom right? I bet she will understand your pain-”

Neha stiffened her face. Her pupils rusted. A fleeting giggle from Neha, Sachen stroked her cheeks and could not help but worry even more. She wanted to cry for her.

“You don’t have to say anymore if you’re uncomfortable,” Sachen said. “It’s all right, I understand.”

“Sachen...” Neha groveled her face on her own palms.

“Don’t worry about it for now. More importantly, I should say sorry for pushing you away these days. I didn’t want you to feel my burden, because I was so focused on Kuraizang’s disappearance and Usheniko’s death, that I couldn’t say anything much. I thought it would be better if I dealt with those things myself—clearly, it was hard.”

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Neha nodded, she folded her hands and peered at her feet. The daze of her eyes had yet to go away. She seemed to be in more of low spirits than ever before, even when she spoke about the topic to Sachen. To further the topic might hurt the both of them, so it was better to keep it locked away for now. Having nothing more to add about the matter, Sachen apologized. She then switched the subject.

“Well, the reason that I called you here, is that during my attempt at finding Kuraizang throughout the village yesterday night, I overheard some soldiers talking at school. They didn’t catch me—but I caught their words. Would you believe it, that the soldiers were going to plan something heinous? They also said that they would conduct a surprise to the school!”

“What does that mean?”

Sachen put her hands on her hips. “They will plan to attack this place! It will happen in the afternoon, when the students will still be in class! I do not know what date they will commence, but I feel that it will come soon!”

“Attack the school? No way that can be true! What evidence do you have?”

“Um, I kind of have evidence. But it’s not what you think. They said that the operation will be led by some fat officer with a mustache. That guy is located in the northern gates, currently patrolling and talking about his plans to his comrades. We can go there, and find more of the evidence, haha.”

“Sachen, I cannot believe you much if you are giving me too little details. Have you listened to all the things they were talking about?”

“Of course! I wasn’t dozing off or anything, you know! Anyways, that is why I want you to come along with me to the gates, so that we may find out more about the man himself! Hopefully, we can get more of the details. We will arrive there by going through the cemetery.”

Sachen pulled Neha away to the school gate. Neha kicked her heels on the ground and moaned.

“Eh? What are you doing?” asked Sachen.

Neha lowered her gaze. “I just don’t feel like going.”

“Why is that? Could it be that you are scared of the cemetery?”

“No! It’s not that. Well, that place is a small concern to me. But, I don’t know if we can get anything out of this. Even if we do learn about their plan, then what can we do from there? Tell everybody? That’d be impossible, since nobody have enough understanding to believe us.”

“You have a point. I don’t actually have something in mind regarding to that, but we can think of a proposal as we go, okay? Come on, let us embark on this quest!”

“Ah! Sachen, wait!”

Unwilling to let Neha go, Sachen took herself and her friend out of the school. Sachen was willing to solve this problem right here and now, before it would be too late to fix anything. She could tell that at any point in time, the soldiers would commit their efforts to another act of terror. Being the one to act granted her more excitement than anxiety, and at least Sachen had the opportunity to get the bits and pieces immediately. Such was her disposition.

The girls turned left from the school and journeyed the streets. Taverns and liquor stores from both sides polluted a foul, alcohol odor. People crowded the area and bumped to one another with a scowl. Redness fleshed their faces, their limbs jittered in an uncontrollable manner. In their drunkenness, they formed a circle; in the middle of the circle, two drunkards were at odds. The short one raised his fists and hacked saliva, while the tall one cracked his knuckles. Getting close to each other’s noses, sparks flew in an exchange of eye contact, they were in for a nasty fight. The villagers screeched and clapped, none of them begged for the two to stop, for they wanted to see the spilling of blood as much as possible. The scene reminded Sachen well of her father.

The pair zigzagged through the left side of the crowd and headed to the alleyway next to them. They cooled their faces with their hands, they managed to ward off the smell in the air. Right as they trudged deep into the narrow space, stray cats and dogs flocked the ground. The cats purred and licked their paws, and the dogs whimpered upon the sight of the duo. Their stomachs constantly groaning, the animals ate the rotten scraps of food, they took no account of the health hazards. As the girls passed by, they showed beady eyes, and some of them yelped. They seemed to want company in the midst of this condition. Sachen wanted to save them all—but the priority in her plan was too important to ignore. Thus for the best of her interest, Sachen walked forth. She kept her eyes straight, shaking off the strays that clung onto her legs.

All came to bliss when the two girls headed towards the end of the corridor. Across from them, hills sloped and tilted above the ground. The flowers flourished, their petals sparkled and brightened the landscape. Before the hills was a flat tract of land. There, countless graves cultivated the earth with the chambers of the dead; most of the dead originated from the villagers who had died in the first raid. On the tombstones, birds pecked upon the inscriptions and names.

“It’s the cemetery.” Neha wrapped herself around Sachen’s arm, she shivered. “Whoa, there’s an open ditch in front of us.”

“Be careful not to fall,” Sachen said with a smirk, “or else you’ll turn into a skeleton!”

“No, anything but that!”

“Haha. Somebody must have been careless in forgetting to prepare a grave. Anyways, let us continue going.”

They walked and kept their eyes away from the graves. Neha whimpered, she attached herself to her friend like a lost infant. Gradually along the cemetery, the girls picked up the pace and skipped their steps. Arriving at the hills, they frolicked through the flowers. The petals tickled their legs. Up close, the color of the leaves and the activity of the insects radiated the flowers with life; it was as if the heavens had taken their time to paint the landscape in painstaking details. Lavenders, roses, lilacs, tulips, and much more, such things flooded the girls with wonder. They considered to pluck them for Usheniko’s mound.