Afterlife Dream

Our original newspaper ad went like this : "Dear fellow Afterlife Dream players, if you are stuck, please contact us at XXXX-8172636 or message us at [email protected]."

After we changed it, it sounded like this : "Dear Cecilia, if you are stuck in time, please contact us at XXXX-8172636 or message us at [email protected]. Otherwise, please log into Afterlife Dream using your full name with an underscore and your birthdate."

If the lady who usually took our submission gave us suspicious looks before, this time she went as far as pushing the glasses up her nose to give us sharp looks.

"Uhm, thanks," I quickly said while leaving the ad money on the tray. We knew how much it cost after paying for it so many times before.

"Wait," she stopped us. "It is twenty dollars."

"Why?" HellWitch demanded. "It is usually fifteen dollars."

"Usually?" the newspaper lady shot HellWitch a look. "I have never seen you here before. I don't know what you are talking about. It costs twenty dollars."

I pulled HellWitch closer to me and whispered into her ear, "This ad is longer. Maybe the size is bigger too."

HellWitch pursed her lips. Wordlessly, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a five-dollar bill to add to the fifteen dollars that were lying on the tray.

"I wonder if it will work," HellWitch said, sending a puff of white smoke into the air.

I grinned at her. "Hey, we have to try. We had already written the same ad for days but she did not respond. Maybe she thought that it was a prank. This last ad is quite personal. Besides, it doesn't hurt to try, does it?"

HellWitch shrugged.

We made it to St. Louis Academy's high school building before we parted ways to go get some lunch. In the afternoon, I told Mom and Jaden that I had some extracurricular lessons. Mom muttered that it was not good for me to overexert myself on the first day of school.

I put my arms around her and cheerfully said, "Relax Mom, it is good for us high school students to get busy. I want to take my studies seriously."

Mom exhaled and smiled at me.

"Alright, then Danny. Please come home in time for dinner, alright? Or better yet, just get your teacher to call me so I can pick you up from school?"

"He will drive us all home, Mom. Don't worry."

"Oh. Remember, dinner at seven!" she shouted before she drove off with Jaden.

I could not start to express my guilt at lying again and again with every passing day. My family was so great, unlike HellWitch's. I felt bad betraying their trust. After Mom's car disappeared, I strolled out of the St. Louis Academy area in the direction of the cafe that we often frequented.

In the afternoon, the cafe had warm blueberry scones fresh from the oven. We were there so often that we even knew what time the scones were out for sale.

When I arrived at our usual table, Alice and Allen were already there. They were chatting animatedly over two steaming cups of hot chocolate and two plates of a warm blueberry scone each.

"Hey, Antares!" they greeted me cheerfully.

"Hey, you guys."

I took my seat and my order came not long after. We made it a rule to order for five people at once, but the orders should only be delivered once the person came through the door so that the food and drink wouldn't get cold.

HellWitch and Lazarus arrived shortly after with the afternoon newspaper in their hands. Together, we pored over the newspaper and read the advertisement that I modified to address Cecilia specifically. It was easy to find because it was the only thing we could read from the newspaper. The other news articles remained obscure.

"Neat," ZhaoYun praised. "Now all we have to do is wait."

"Anything new?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. "Although we are back into the game, we could not proceed either. The missions are locked. We might need to find Cecilia in order to proceed."

I gazed at the grey dot next to Cecilia's name.

Cecilia, where are you? We need you back badly, right now.

A waiter came by to bring us two more plates of scones and two more cups of hot chocolate for HellWitch and Lazarus.

"This world is very vivid," HellWitch praised as she bit into her scone. The thick blueberry jam dripped onto the front part of her yellow blouse.

"Oops," she said. "Hey, does anyone have a napkin?"

A round of headshakes went through the table.

"Waiter! Some napkins, please!" ZhaoYun shouted.

At that time, the entrance door to the cafe opened with a delicate bell sound and a girl entered. The first thing that I noticed was the long auburn hair that extended to her waist. The second thing was the greetings that the waiters exchanged with her.

"Miss Elliott, you did not tell us that you are coming today!"

"Please, please take a seat. Can we bring you anything?"

Miss Elliott held a gloved hand up and stopped the staff from chattering. "I am here to look at the books. Bring me those, right away."

"Alright, Miss Elliott."

The girl took a seat next to our table. She set her small beaded handbag on the table and beamed at us.

"Hello," she greeted us. "My name is Sheila and I own this place."

Our jaws dropped open.

"Oh my gosh!" Livina rose to her feet in excitement. "You are so young! I mean, aren't you a high school student???"

Sheila Elliott grinned at us. "I am, but so what? Just because I am still in high school it doesn't mean that I can't open my own business."

Livina tapped at HellWitch's shoulder impatiently. The latter was still fussing over the dark purple speck of blueberry jam on her blouse. "HellWi... I mean, Lara! Weren't we just saying that the blueberry scones here are the absolute best???"

Sheila Elliott beamed with pride. "Why, it is my own creation! So nice of you to compliment the scones!"

"No way," Livina's eyes were as round as the moon. "You created the recipe???"

"And made the first batch and taught the staff how to make it," Sheila replied with a wink. "I also like it very much. It is best when it comes fresh from the oven, you know."

"Oh, it is the absolute best," Livina could not stop gushing.

Sheila's eyes drifted to the speck on HellWitch's blouse.

"Oh my," she said. "Can I help you with that one?"

HellWitch looked embarrassed.

"Oh, yes, sorry, can I use the restroom?"

"Not only that. We have a small laundry machine at the backside. Why don't we get it washed and dried right away? We don't want the stain to settle."

Sheila arranged for a waitress to take HellWitch to the backside of the cafe while she and Alice continued to chat animatedly about the delicious baked goods that the cafe had to offer. The boys did not have much to say. We enjoyed the food, yes, but not to the point of fangirling about it.

Judging from the way Sheila talked, she was brimming with confidence. Having established a successful business at such a young age was definitely an accomplishment.

"Meanwhile, we are just playing games," ZhaoYun whispered to me and Theo.

We giggled.

"To our defense, we are dead," I whispered back to them.

The giggle became louder. Livina shot us a look that said "Don't embarrass me, you guys," while Sheila just smiled. Her eyes were drawn to the folded-up newspaper on the table by chance.

I took the chance to strike up a conversation.

"Do you want to read some newspaper?" I asked, offering it to her.

Sheila didn't take the newspaper. She merely shook her head. "I don't like reading newspapers."

I was a little disappointed. I was hoping that she could read it and maybe we could ask her about the content. That might give us further clue to end this time loop.

HellWitch came back after an hour, and it was soon time for dinner.

"I already promised Mom to go back in time for dinner," I excused myself.

"I guess we should go. The waiters look quite busy," ZhaoYun remarked.

To be exact, they were busy serving Sheila Elliott who came there to inspect the books. They really did not have time to serve the customers.

"I am so sorry," a waiter regretfully said to us.

I wanted to take the newspaper to throw it away, but the waiter stopped me.

"No, no. I will tidy up the table later. You can just leave it here."

"Well then, thank you very much."

Before we left, I threw one last look at Sheila Elliott who put on her reading glasses and started to go through the numbers one by one.

What a hardworking girl, I thought. I just hoped that the nice cafe staff were not in trouble.