Two days later, I found myself driving the long highway back to the old mansion in Preston City with nothing but the suit I wore the day before and luggage worth of three days' change. The moment the song ended on that night of the concert back in Paris, I jilted without a word, leaving my brother clueless to my sudden exit as I made a dash to the nearest airport to book the fastest flight back home.

I could no longer endure it. It’s as if I was running out of time. And the longer I fail to find the girl, the harder it will get me to ever really accomplish it.

My phone kept ringing for the nth time now. Yet I still ignored it, forwarding all calls to the voice prompt. I can almost imagine the worried and angry faces of my mom, dad, and brother, but I forcefully pushed them all away from my mind. I didn’t need the trouble of making myself anxious about them for now. I needed some time away. On my own.

The time I’d finally entered the borders of the city, it was already afternoon. The sky has gone darker than it should be, showing signs of an upcoming rainstorm. The weather forecast on the radio even said that there will be strong rains coming. Yet, I still continued to drive through the freeway going straight towards the mansion.

As soon as I passed by the entrance of a nearby village, the rain started to fall buckets on my windshield as I slowed down at the checkpoint waiting ahead. When I rolled the windows down, the police officer immediately directed the flashlight he’s holding towards my face, making me squint my eyes to the sudden brightness.

“Sorry, sir. But we have a zero-visibility situation here. I’m afraid that you’ll need to take a turn back, it’s dangerous to drive on the road from this point,” He told me.

I clenched my hands on the steering wheel as I began to feel the helplessness seep into me. What to do now?

“How long will it be closed down?” I asked, while I mentally tried to think of other ways on how to get to the mansion as fast as I can. It will be another long drive back to the nearest hotel I’ve just passed by on the way now.

The rain got stronger as the police officer tried his best to cover himself and the opened window of my car. But we both still got soaked.

“Might be tomorrow noon. But as soon as the rain subsides, we might let it operate again.”

I nodded at his words, finding no other choice but to let the rain recede down first. I quickly reversed the car back and took a turn. But before I could even leave the area, I rolled the window down again and called out the police officer.

“Is there any place closer here where I can stay while I wait for the rain to stop?” I asked him, wondering if I can still be as near as possible to the mansion so I don’t have to waste so much time driving back here and there.

“Yeah,” the officer immediately answered back, “I think there’s a motel just by the entrance of that village you’ve passed by. There could still be vacant rooms there. There ain’t really any people visiting that place, anyway.”

I thanked the officer for the information and finally left, driving straight towards that village.

AVIAN HILLS.

It’s what all it said on the signboard, and some kind of a bird was drawn above the name like a symbol. There weren’t that many streetlights on the road, so I have to squint through the darkness and over the brightness of my headlights to see where I was heading. As I drove under the violent weather, the fog continued to get thicker and I immediately felt weird by the sudden strange atmosphere. But I soon finally found the motel the officer had just told me a while ago on the side of the road, with its blinking signpost of vacancy welcoming me. It’s not three-star worthy... But it was okay.

I eventually parked by the empty driveway and took as much stuff as I could bring before running my way through the heavy rain into the glass doors of the place. As soon as I’ve finally met the warmer air of the motel inside, I sighed in relief.

“Room for one?” I heard someone asking me from behind and I quickly turned around, finding a tall, skinny guy behind the counter. He looked at me under the thick black-rimmed glasses he’s wearing and studied me from head to toe. After a moment, he slowly met my stare and blankly gave me a questioning look.

“Hi,” I greeted him back, smiling sheepishly. “Yeah, I’d like to book for a room.”

“Not a local, huh?” He said with a subtle smirk on his lips, “Must be because of the weather then.”

“I need your biggest room here, the most comfortable one, please,” I requested back, approaching the counter from where he stood from behind.

“Okay,” the guy just said with a shrug. As soon as he checked me in one of the empty rooms, he handed me the keys and asked me if I still need anything else.

“Is there a place I can eat out nearby?” I asked him out of curiosity, just in case.

The guy hesitated at first and took his time to think about it. He opened his mouth then closes again as if he’s trying to talk himself out of something. But after a few more seconds, he finally answered.

“There’s a pub not too far from this place. It’s a two-minute walk from here. It’s still open until midnight, but it’s up to you if you still wanna go under this weather.”

I paused for a moment, trying not to overthink the strange tone in his voice when he said those words. I only nodded my head back, thanking him before I headed up the stairs beside the reception area. As soon as I finally reached the floor above, I found myself entering a narrow hall with long rows of doors on each side.

Stopping at the room with my number, I quickly turned to the door. I immediately rushed to open it, ignoring the sudden chill I just felt while I stood there turning the doorknob. I forcefully shrugged the weird feeling off of my mind and soon entered the room, sighing in utmost relief to finally get some rest.

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