October thirty-first.
The atmosphere throughout the East End was clearly different from usual.
Even a poor place like St. Blaise Street was livelier tonight than usual.
Children ran wild in the streets wearing paper masks.
Some had hollowed out pumpkins and lit candles inside them.
The pubs were also much noisier than usual.
Londoners didn't actually celebrate holidays in the true sense.
Especially those at the bottom.
They simply needed a reason to temporarily forget about their lives.
After returning to the attic from his bath, Ryan felt considerably more comfortable.
The hot water had washed away some of the fatigue accumulated over the past several weeks.
His new uniform finally didn't smell of mildew like his old, tattered clothes.
He hung his old clothes by the bed and sat back down at the desk.
The remaining money sat on the desk; after deducting the two pennies spent on his bath, there was still quite a bit left.
At least he wouldn't have to survive on church soup for the foreseeable future.
Outside the window, the sounds of the street drifted in continuously.
Laughter.
The clinking of bottles.
And children screaming.
Ryan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.
He suddenly had a very strange feeling.
He hadn't lived a normal life in a very long time.
For the past few weeks, he had either been worrying about money or stressing over extraordinary pollution.
Only now did he finally feel a bit like a human being again.
Laughter from young girls drifted up from the courtyard below.
“Don't cheat!”
“I wasn't peeking!”
“Hurry, hurry! The nut is about to crack!”
Ryan opened his eyes and stood up in slight confusion.
Then he slowly walked over to the window.
A small brazier was lit in the courtyard, its fire casting a red glow on the damp brick walls.
Irene was squatting beside it with two other young girls.
All three of them had clearly had a bit to drink.
Their faces were flushed red by the firelight.
One of the blonde girls couldn't stop laughing.
And Irene was also a bit different from usual today.
She had changed into a dark red dress.
Over it, she wore an old gray sweater.
Her hair wasn't tied up like usual but was let down.
When the firelight illuminated her profile, she looked almost excessively beautiful.
Ryan leaned against the window and watched for a while.
Only then did he remember.
Halloween.
In many parts of Britain, people played ancient parlor games.
Especially young girls.
For instance, roasting nuts.
It was said to divine relationships and the future.
In the courtyard, the blonde girl tossed two nuts into the fire.
“If they crack open together, it means we'll get married!”
Laughter immediately erupted around her.
Irene laughed as well.
She rarely laughed like this; she lacked her usual cold demeanor as a landlady collecting rent.
Instead, she finally felt like a normal young girl.
Just then.
The blonde girl below suddenly looked up.
She spotted Ryan by the window at a glance.
“Irene!”
“Your tenant is peeking!”
Irene immediately turned her head.
As a result, she locked eyes with Ryan.
The air fell silent for a second.
Ryan felt a bit awkward and was about to pull the curtain back.
But Lucy downstairs was already laughing and shouting:
“Come down and play with us!”
“Don't stay cooped up inside like an old man!”
Irene glared at her.
“Stop shouting nonsense.”
Then she looked up at Ryan again.
After a brief hesitation, she spoke up:
“The brazier was just lit anyway.”
“Come down and sit with us for a bit.”
Ryan had intended to refuse.
But on second thought, he had indeed been too tense lately, so he threw on his coat and went downstairs.
The courtyard was slightly warmer than the attic.
The brazier was burning brightly.
The air was filled with the smell of nuts and coal smoke. Lucy was clearly very bold.
The moment Ryan sat down, she began staring at him.
“Do you really work at the archive?”
“Yes.”
“Do you just write all day?”
“More or less.”
Lucy immediately wore a look of disdain.
“That sounds so boring.”
Irene spoke up calmly from the side:
“At least he has a proper job.”
Lucy immediately protested:
“I'll have one too in the future!”
The short-haired girl beside her laughed.
“Last month you said you wanted to join the theater.”
“Those two don't conflict!”
The girls instantly fell into a playful banter.
Ryan sat quietly to the side.
The firelight reflected on his face.
It had been a very long time since he had felt this kind of ordinary, human atmosphere.
No extraordinary elements.
No pressure of death.
Just neighborhood girls chatting in a courtyard.
It even gave him a sense of unreality.
And just then.
Lucy suddenly lowered her voice mysteriously.
“Roasting nuts is boring.”
“Let's hold a seance.”
Irene frowned immediately.
“Where did you learn this stuff again?”
Lucy instantly grew excited.
“People on the next street over were playing it!”
“They say Halloween night is when it's easiest to succeed!”
The short-haired girl next to her was clearly a bit frightened.
“Maybe we shouldn't...”
“What are you afraid of?”
Lucy was bubbling with excitement.
“It's not like it'll actually be haunted.”
Ryan had remained silent until now.
But at this moment, he suddenly spoke up:
“It's best not to mess around with things like that.”
The girls all looked at him at once.
Lucy immediately laughed.
“Do you actually believe in that?”
Ryan fell silent for a moment.
“...I just don't think tonight is a suitable time.”
He spoke very tactfully.
After all, this was not an ordinary world.
Especially now, he was absolutely certain.
A time like Halloween was naturally prone to anomalies.
But Lucy didn't care at all.
Instead, she grew even more enthusiastic.
“Look, Irene!”
“Your tenant is actually more superstitious than an old nun!”
Irene sighed helplessly.
“Just don't take it too far.”
In response, Lucy had already dashed back into the house.
Before long.
She rushed back out clutching an old wooden board.
Letters were crookedly written on it.
Along with numbers.
She even brought a small glass cup to go with it.
“Come on, come on!”
“We'll definitely succeed today!”
Martha was already starting to regret this.
“Lucy, maybe we should—”
“Don't be a coward!”
The flames in the brazier flickered constantly.
The light in the courtyard waxed and waned.
Ryan, however, slowly began to frown.
Because just now, he had started to feel a subtle chill in the courtyard.
It wasn't a normal drop in temperature, but rather...
A coldness like the air being sucked out of the space.
Lucy had already lit the candles.
The three of them sat around the wooden board.
Irene clearly didn't want to play, but she couldn't resist Lucy's persistent coaxing.
In the end, she reached out her hand, and the glass cup was placed in the center of the board.
The candlelight flickered gently.
Lucy lowered her voice:
“If there is indeed a spirit nearby—”
“Please respond to us.”
The air grew quiet.
The brazier crackled.
In the distance, the singing of a drunkard on the street could still be heard.
A few seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
Lucy immediately curled her lip.
“Like I said—”
“Pfft.”
The candle on the left suddenly went out.
Everyone froze at the same time.
Martha's face instantly turned pale.
“The... the wind blew it out, right?”
But Ryan slowly sat up straight.
Because he had seen it very clearly.
Just now.
There had been no wind at all.
And.
His eyes were starting to grow slightly warm.
The air in the courtyard suddenly grew much quieter.
The laughter from the street just now seemed to instantly drift far away.
The charcoal in the brazier slowly collapsed.
Making a faint popping sound.
Lucy clearly stiffened for a moment too.
But for a young girl of her age, what she feared most was not danger, but losing face.
So after pausing for only two seconds, she immediately spoke stubbornly:
“It was definitely the wind.”
“Keep going, keep going.”
Martha was already starting to feel uneasy.
Her fingers kept twitching.
“Maybe we should stop...”
“Stopping now is even scarier, alright?”
Instead, Lucy grew even more excited. She repositioned the glass cup.
Then she lowered her voice:
“If there is indeed a spirit here.”
“Please move the cup.”
Irene sat beside them, frowning.
She was clearly already starting to regret playing along with their nonsense.
Rate on N.U.
