CHAPTER 1783: CHAPTER 1777: CLOSED GROCERY STORE

Ariana wanted to say something, but she looked at Dairya in the room and simply kept her mouth shut. She realized that this child did not go straight into the small compartment and refused to come out, as she usually would upon returning. Although she opened the door, she stood at the entrance looking outside. Ariana knew she wasn’t looking at her, perhaps discovering, just like herself, that this world suddenly became a little less likable.

"Dairya?" Before long, Ariana called out to her, but after that call, Dairya directly retracted her gaze and went into the compartment.

"Wait a moment! There’s something on top..."

"Thank you, Auntie. I’m very tired now, and I want to sleep."

"Sleep...?" Hearing Dairya’s words, Ariana was taken aback. Her footsteps paused at the door, and she looked up at the sky outside. The sky was even gloomier, but it was barely past seven o’clock!

"Sleeping so early..." She muttered to herself, but it sounded more like she was talking to herself, and Dairya, who had already locked the door, did not respond.

Click, click~

The sound of the lock cylinder turning echoed, and Dairya’s figure was completely swallowed by the darkness. With the faint light coming through the crack of the door, she could see her graffiti on the small wall. It was a forest sketched out with simple lines. In the forest, there was an extremely abstract little figure, and not far from it, there was an equally abstract "adult," representing who, perhaps only she herself understood.

This painting had not yet been completed, but today she did not want to continue. She remembered Mr. Pillay had promised her that at their next meeting, he would take her to the place she wanted to go, that fairy tale world described in books.

She was looking forward to it, but she was also more afraid. She was scared it might really be an adult’s trick on a child. Compared to direct despair, she could not bear the despair after an unattainable hope, just like having everything in a dream and waking up abruptly, only to find herself left with nothing.

Placing her backpack to the side and pushing away the table, she lay down on the big spider leaning at the corner of the wall. Although it was pitch black around, it was very quiet, and it was in such a narrow space that she could feel fully safe; only at this time could her body and heart relax.

In the darkness, she looked at the neatly arranged plush toys she had placed on the shelf. Suddenly, she spoke, not knowing to whom she was talking: "Do you think Mr. Pillay will open the shop tomorrow?"

After speaking, she made a gesture of listening, but there was no sound around her, yet she looked extraordinarily serious, as if there really were a sound!

After a while, she spoke to herself again: "...Is that so, then let’s go to bed early."

"Good night, my friends." She smiled, closed her eyes, and the narrow space filled with darkness settled into complete silence, akin to an endless starry sky to her, while the rows of toys on the shelf remained motionless, staring blankly at where they had been looking.

Time flew by, dusk turned into night, and as the pedestrians dwindled, the night grew deeper. The street musician did not appear today, so there was no beautiful music from his performance, only the howling wind passing by, as chilling and desolate as his music.

Without realizing it, it began to pour outside. The rain quickly soaked the ground, and the dim yellow light from the street lamps cast a hazy glow on the ground. A sudden clap of thunder woke her from her sleep in a groggy state. She wanted to continue sleeping but remembered something, so she opened her eyes again, stood up, went to the door, and cautiously opened it. The house was quiet, except for the pattering of the rain on the roof tiles outside and Bick’s snoring from the second floor.

Looking back, Dairya then remembered she hadn’t done her homework, but... she didn’t care anymore.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder and went to the door, gently turned the doorknob, and opened the door. It was still dark outside, but she knew she couldn’t stay here any longer. She turned to look at the umbrella behind the door but hesitated and ultimately did not reach for it.

Stepping out the door, she closed it carefully as before, stood for a moment in the pouring rain, and finally mustered the courage to run out with her backpack in front of her. Bending over, her clothes soon got soaked through as she ran in the rain, but she did not stop. She ran faster and faster until she dashed into a small alley and hid under a shelter.

She found a somewhat clean step to sit on and then checked her backpack. Despite her best efforts to protect it, it got soaked by the rain.

This should have been a minor issue, but looking at the wet backpack, she couldn’t help but break into tears. Too many grievances had piled up, and the soaked backpack was like a glass already filled to the brim with water, with yet another drop causing it to overflow.

She didn’t dare to let go of too much emotion, only sobbing quietly for a while before quickly stopping. She touched the part of the backpack that wasn’t wet and hugged it tightly.

She was just a child, not possessing the resilience of an adult to face life. Forced to learn how to befriend anything in her prolonged solitude, including the backpack in her arms.

She naïvely thought these things also had feelings, but they just couldn’t talk or didn’t know how to express them. Because of this, she feared they might hate her for sharing her grievances. So, she kept repeating "I’m sorry" to the backpack.

"I’m sorry... my friend... I will definitely take better care of you in the future, please forgive me, I’m sorry..."

Perhaps she hadn’t slept long enough, and as she spoke, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep once more, listening to the sound of the rain falling.

It was unclear how much time had passed, but when the sky brightened and the rain stopped at some point, she woke up, brought back to reality by the footsteps of passersby outside dragging her out of a beautiful dream.

She hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, slung the backpack over her shoulders again, and made herself walk out like an ordinary person. She, however, failed to notice her own damp clothes. But it seemed no one would pay attention to what she was wearing because no one would pay her any heed.

Today’s city had even less of a vibrant atmosphere than yesterday. She couldn’t hear people’s conversations. Everyone seemed to have their souls extracted, or an invisible hand had covered their mouths, plodding forward. The silence was eerily unsettling, and she kept her head down, not saying a word until she reached a familiar street where she finally heard someone speaking.

"Mr. Pillay didn’t open the door today either..."