6 Books_Dakara who?

Chapter1.4

Leon gaped in disbelief. The words struck Leon hard, in his face. How there be another book guardian like him could be so close and yet he knew nothing?

Dakara? I used to be a loner, she was the only one I confide my secrets in. She was my friend, my best friend all this time, since five. Why did she hide these secrets from me? Does she know my identity?Is she spying on me? If she wanted to kill me, she could have done it long, long time ago. But why did she kept me alive? Suppose because we were best friends?Or maybe there is another reason? Perhaps she doesn't know she's a guardian, just like me? Now, that make sense.

*

Questions, questions, clogged up Leon's mind. He could no longer think straight. ENOUGH!!! This is just TOO MUCH!!! Dakara is a dear angel, she would not use him! Not when she is his best friend. No, she WOULDN'T! Leon tried to convince himself, yet reality seems pretty contradictory...He pinched himself to make sure he's wide awake. Ouch! He tries to fool himself but he knows it is impossible to say that all this is a nightmare now. Suddenly the force field weakens, and then disappear. Everything resume to its normal state. Here he is, in his room, still awestruck by the incident, not knowing how to respond. He muster up his courage, trying to grasp in mind, not to mention, to stay sane. But, he is lost in the midst of confusion. In the end, he shove the book underneath his bed in terms of frustration.

*

That's the last time I'm going to see you, book. Your journey ends here.

*

Stubbornly, he doze off on his bed, determined to forget his wild encounter. Sleep, to him, is the best solution. And by tomorrow, everything is going to be fine, just like the tune his mother used to hum to him before he fell asleep in his blue teddy bear pyjamas.

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"Leon, promise me to behave okay?" she spoke, nearly out of breath. She was bleeding profusely. The blood stained on Leon's tee. She smeared traces of blood on his face as she caress her son's face."You must not give up easily, the road will be hard, my dear, especially on you." She tries to embrace him the last time. Sadly, she wasn't able to.

"Mom, don't leave me!!! I want you to be by my side forever!" wails little Leon.

She didn't have to die. Something or someone made her. The background seem so blur. Leon could not see anything aside shadows who were just waiting to mock on his mother's death. His heart instantly fell into a billion pieces. the brokenness he felt was much more a kid could have handle for his age. Observing the gruesome death of his mother right in his arms.

"It's your destiny, son. You can't hide from it forever. "

He turn to his right, there stood a stranger. A familiar stranger. He observed carefully. It took quite some time before he recognize that was his late father. His father which had aged, and look nothing like he used to remember. His father looking frail. Leon was speechless.

"That amulet saved you, son." his father utter, pointing his finger towards Leon's chest. Leon look down his collar. He held his amulet tightly, it was the last gift from his mother, before she died. Silence. The pain was unbearable, agonizing, excruciating, too much for him to bear.

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Leon sat awake immediately, falling short of air. He remembers this incident some time ago...but when?As he gasp uncontrollably, his eves began to fill with misery. He felt depressed. He held the amulet even harder. That was what he was trying to avoid. That incident. He sworn to forget, although he never knew the truth behind it.. The nightmares stop for almost 10 years ago. It never occurred to him that these incidents will come back to haunt him. He thought it was long gone.

All is still, the night, the atmosphere. It seems like he's the only one going berserk. Time was the thing he needed most now. Time, to understand, to digest all the details. He hold back no longer and broke down. As soon as Leon got to his senses, he tries to stay calm.

He has no one to count on now, even Dakara is a major lie all this while. He can easily picture Dakara, smiling, coaxing him to make an effort to come out from his past as if it was yesterday. He was an introvert before she arrived. Socializing used to be his greatest nightmare, until Dakara appeared in his life. She was his major breakthrough. He recalled how he met her the first time...

The first sight of Dakara

It was during the Summer when Dakara transferred here. Leon was at the school secret backyard which he discovered alone, few days after his arrived here. He call it his secret lair, hidden from prying of all sorts. He stumbled into the woods in the backyard coincidentally, and manage to find a small field, enclosed by the thick forest, barely visible from the outside,k and the hustling crowd. Leon marveled at the scene, because it was breath-taking. Soon, he began to make frequent visits after classes. Sometimes, he would also come during short class breaks.

He was day dreaming, as usual. His small, little world complete, excluding the ever abundant questions about his family from his classmates. In his own world, he drifted far away from reality, the way he likes it too. He was smitten by the sun, the trees, the wind, the nature. It cannot be that hard to picture the scenes when his father and mother used to go picnics in the summer breeze in a paradise like this. He closed his eyes. And sure enough, the images formed felt as if he could feel his mother with his bare hands. Her warmth, was pleasant. Although merely hallucinations, it was enough for Leon to cope with the loss of his dear mother.

"Now, this is an interesting place!" He was shook out of reality by a light tap on his right shoulder.

Looking sideways, He was astonished to find another girl, in a blue frock, standing beside him. Her face lit with a wide grin. That must be the new girl from my class, he thought.

"What are you doing here?" He fumed, slightly raising his tone. "You're not welcomed here. BUZZ OFF! This place is taken, go play somewhere else!"

"How rude of you to treat a lady like that! Haven't you proper manners?" She exclaimed."And besides, who gave you the ultimate permission to be here? Do you think you own this property?"

"Well, nobody gave you the permission either! And i rightfully own this place, since I found it first. This will make me at least HALF the owner of this place!"

"Don't yell at me! I manage to find it too," she yelled back. "Which in turn," she paused to ponder a while, "makes me the another half the owner of this place! Fair?"

"Fine, stay. Just make sure you don't make any noise and stay away from my boundary!" He drew a line in the middle of the field with a fallen branch he found nearby.

There they sat, by the border. They were next to each other but facing opposite directions, sulking. Ten minutes passed, not a word. Both were determined to win each other. Finally, Dakara broke the silence.

"Okay, I give up. I'm sorry. I know how you feel right now," She blurted softly. "I'm an orphan."

Leon stared at disbelief, he did not know whether he should feel sorry for her. "It seems I'm much luckier. I guess we could be friends, right?" He extended his hand to her for a handshake.

"Ha! You crossed my boundary, I win!" She shouted with excitement, and shook his hand, feeling victorious. They laughed at once. Leon will never forget that glow on her face, which so promptly brighten up his day. All his burdens were lifted at once when she smiled. Hours passed, days, months and years too...

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Leon stared hard at the ceiling, hoping he would eventually fall asleep. No matter what problem he's facing, as long as he is thinking of Dakara, it is almost impossible to not calm down to his senses. He dozes off, soundly.