#alzenapass

[theotter99]

Uncovering Fables

Chapter 1 Part 3.5 

Penelope slowly sat down on her stool and started shaking a little, hugging herself. The story was becoming overwhelming for her and she began muttering to herself about Maria. Drew straightened himself up and watched in worry while Mr. King slowly stepped back, not knowing what to do since he was a stranger in all of this.

 Alzena quickly went over to Penelope’s side and gently took her shoulder in encouragement. “H-Hey… hey… it’s okay. Maria was your friend, right? And you can’t just say you did nothing. Why would you think that? You probably did a lot more then you think? R-Right?”

“No… you don’t understand… y-you don’t…” Penelope spoke softly, holding tightly to her clothes.

As the two talk, Penelope’s rising voice was getting the attention of other customers who was there. And it only perked Clayton’s attention more for he was already watching this. Slowly, he took out the ring that was still laying in his pockets and he considered something. As soon as he thought about it though, the sooner he dismissed the idea and quickly put his ring away.

Alzena hugged Penelope tightly as tears swelled up in her eyes, and Penelope slowly hugged back, shaking a bit as she muttered. “Th-The story… I need to continue with the story…”

“No… take a break for a moment. No one is rushing you. It’s fine.” Alzena gave Penelope an encouraging smile, but Penelope didn’t see it as she stared at the floor. “My friend… Maria, I would do anything for her. W-Why did she… I loved her. I loved her so, so much. S-She was great and loving and I want to protect her…. B-but I failed. I failed.”

Mr. King stepped back from them when he heard this and stayed a reasonable distance away from the two as Alzena softly spoke to Penelope. “Hey, hey… what are you talking about? I’m sure Maria still loves you even if you couldn’t do a few things. You don’t have to say that.”

“But… But…” Penelope was unable to speak as she pulled her hair a little.

Mr. King felt tears swell in his eyes as his teeth grinded together when he listened. “Do anything for them...” He mutters something softly as he buried his hands into his pockets and looked behind him, trying not to get attention towards himself but this was all in vain.

Suddenly Drew was next to him, patting his back a little. “You alright there, mate? You look a little sick… or upset.”

“Nah… I’m fine. I was just reminded of a few things.”

“Oh… sorry to hear about that. If you want I can-“

“You don’t have to do anything. That was a few years ago, I’m mostly over it.” Mr. King shrugs and brushed his fingers through his hair.

“That is exactly what someone who is not doing okay would say.”

“Oh? And if I was really okay what should I say some no one mixes up my being okay and my really not okay but trying to cover it up?”

“That is a good question but I can see it on your face. I own a bar so I can see when someone is here to have fun or when they’re in a runt.”

“And what are you going to do with this information?”

“I’m going to offer you a drink for free.” Drew pats Mr. King’s back and walks over to the bar to start making a very fruity drink for him.

“You’re too kind. Thank you so much.” Mr. King smiled weakly and slowly sat onto a stool closest to Drew and the two talked softly as Alzena tried to encourage and comfort Penelope.

Alzena was speaking softly and tell Penelope about the time she went camping with Daniel, saying how they almost got lost on a trail and had smores at a campfire. Penelope smiled a little at these stories. “Whenever we visited each other at work, we came up with so many excuses to say there longer so we can see each other. We spent so much time together and I love her so, so much… s-so much.”

“You two sound like very good friends.”

Penelope smiles slightly. “W-We were. Yeah… we were the best.” She slowly wiped the tears away from her eyes. “I think I’m ready to continue the story again… if that’s okay.”

Alzena glanced over at Drew and Mr. King who were talking for a bit but at these words, glanced over. Drew looked between Alzena and Penelope for a moment before he sighed and nodded a little, allowing them to continue. Mr. King quickly finished his drink and was moving the tip of his finger along the top of the glass, staying quiet.

Penelope took a moment before she sat up straight, her thumbs circling around each other. “O-Okay… alright. I’m ready. The story is almost over so… you don’t need to stay here for longer. I promise.”

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[theotter99]

Uncovering Fables

Chapter 1 Part 2.3 

“Your friend is an idiot.” Drew suddenly interrupted the story to say his peace.

Alzena was leaning towards Penelope this entire time, listening intently to the story. When Drew spoke, she frowned at Drew and playfully punched his arm. “Hey. Don’t say that.”

Drew sighs. “Kid… doesn’t that sound extremely dangerous to you?”

Alzena blinks as she thinks through this question before she starts twiddling her thumbs. “Um… well, yes but… It still sounds so cool.” Her eyes sparkled a little as she speaks with a sense of adventure. “Giving the man the middle finger and running off. Doing whatever you want. It sounds exciting.”

Drew looked extremally worried at this. “Kid, no… You can still get very hurt but doing that…”

Penelope glanced between Alzena and Drew and softly spoke up. “Um… I, well….” She quickly started to think about what she’s going to say. “I… I knew from the start that the journey could be dangerous… I knew but… As I sat there, and admired the sea, I couldn’t help but think what Maria would think of me if I said no… Would she be mad at me? Would she think I’m a loser? Would she not want to be friends with me?”

Drew softly added. “If she was going to think that of you, then she isn’t your friend.”

Penelope rubbed the back of her head before she started playing with her empty glass. “I… I know that now but back then… I was even more of a mess then I am currently and I didn’t want to disappoint my friend.”

Penelope sighed and looked away. She hugged herself as her body shook a little. It looked like her mind was going a million miles a minute as she was thinking of something. She looked like she was trying to figure out what to say next but was unable to find the right words. 

What happened next? What happened? She needed to think quickly. Crap. It shouldn't have been this hard. Penelope hugged herself tighter.

Alzena, sunk down a little as she watched her new friend in worry. She slowly walked over to Penelope and gently took her shoulder. “Hey… It’s okay. We all make mistakes we’re not proud of but… At least you made it out okay.”

Penelope flinched at Alzena suddenly touching her and she took a step back. After a few moments of putting her thoughts together, she slowly nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. You’re right.”

“Are you okay with continuing the story?”

“O-Oh. Of course. Just give me a moment to get my words together and think this through.” 

“Okay…” Alzena backed away and sat down on the counter again to be next to Drew.

Drew sighed at this as he watched Alzena. “You really need to stop sitting on my counter. What if you fall off and hurt yourself?”

Alzena smiled slightly and booped Drew’s nose. “Admit it. You loved it when I did this. Even as a kid.” 

Drew chuckled softly and looked away at this. He wasn’t going to admit anything but it was plain on his face. He really adored his kid’s little silly actions, even when she was an adult. After a bit, Penelope finally built up the courage to continue her story.

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Uncovering Fables

Chapter 1 Part 1.4

    Thankfully, Alzena didn’t hit her head when she fell off the seat. But, Alzena was still shaken up and felt out of it when she fell. Her head spinned as she stared up at the rafters in the bar. What just happened? Did… Did a girl just say hi? Crap, why did she do that so close to Alzena’s ear. 

Alzena rubbed the side of her face, before she slowly used the stool to help get back on her feet. Penelope, feeling guilty, quickly grabbed Alzena’s arm and did her best to help Alzena up. It wasn’t much for Alzena almost lost her balance again when she got to her feet. She still felt very disoriented.

Drew watched all of this, worried, but when he saw Azzy get onto her feet, Drew couldn’t help but sigh in relief.  He then glared at Penelope for hurting his kid. He still had a smile on his face. “You almost killed someone who’s practically my daughter.”

Alzena looks in between Drew and Penelope, who quickly started defending herself. “I-I’m so sorry. I just saw Alzena and I got a little too excited. Isn’t she the one who wrote that book? I’m so sorry if it’s not… You know what, I’ll just go.”     Penelope turned to walk away but Alzena quickly tapped her shoulder. “Wait, no. You don’t have to leave… I… I actually am Alenza Pass if that’s what you were wondering.”

Penelope’s brown eyes sparkled. “R-Really?” When Alzena nodded, Penelope did her best to hold back a squeal. Penelope started messing with her hair. “Oh… That’s cool. Um, well I was just sitting over there… and I heard you say something about getting inspiration and I might have a story-”

Alzena gasped in excitement. “Wait, you have a story to tell us?”

Penelope nodded. “Um, yeah. This happened about a year ago…”     “Are you saying that you’re going to tell us a TRUE! scary story?”

“...Yes.”

Alzena squealed as she hopped onto the bar counter to sit and hug Drew’s arm. “Did you hear that? We’re going to hear a real life scary story. This is like the campfires we used to have all the time! Aren’t you excited?”     Drew took a moment to examine Penelope before he sighed, “Yeah. I am, kiddo.” 

Alzena smiled a lot. “Tell the story, um…”

    “Oh, I’m Penelope.” She said, “And… I guess this is what happened when I went scuba diving with a friend.” 

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Uncovering Fables

Prologue: Part 4 

Finals for college can be tough. Dylan knew that well. For the past several days, he and his girlfriend were buried under piles of papers and was suffocating through pen ink and pencil shavings. Why did they both have to be English majors? This only meant hours of research and  writing papers.

It was late in the evening when Dylan decided to take a break. He and his girlfriend were planning to stay at the college’s library all night. Their plan- study, outline and write until they passed out. There were some sofas. They were hard are super uncomfortable but it would have to do. 

So, it was basically an average day for college students. 

During his break, Dylan bought some coffee from the next building over before the place closed down. He then accidentally talked to a bunch of people. He didn’t mean for this to happen but it did. So, Dylan’s ten minute break accidently turned into a 45 minute break. When Dylan realized how much time has passed, he almost cursed so loudly that the third story of the building could hear him.

There was a line to the elevator, so Dylan quickly took the stairs to the third floor. His hands were full of coffee and sweet treats and surprisingly he was able to not spill any of it when he tripped up the stairs. It was probably because he was awesome. 

When Dylan reached the third floor, he passed the tables with students that were discussing math and biology and made it to his little corner of the floor.

“Hola! ¿Me extrañaste?”

There, Dylan found his girlfriend- Alzena. She was still at the desk they were working on. The surface was covered in papers and textbooks were spread across the ground. Dylan was about to hug Alzena when he realized that almost half her body was laying on the table as well.

Dylan placed the coffee next to his chair and checked up on Alzena. He couldn’t help but smile when he realized that the girl was already asleep. Her softly snores was like a perfect song to him. Dylan grabbed one of the blankets that he brought and he gently wrapped it around his girlfriend, humming softly. Alzena has been working so hard over the past few weeks, she deserved a well rested sleep.

As Dylan wrapped Alzena in the fuzzy comfortness of the blanket, he noticed Alzena phone lighting up next to her as a notification went through. Dylan glances at the phone and all he could tell was that several people were messaging Alzena through her small blog. The blog wasn’t big or anything, there were only a few dozen people following it, but whenever Alzena wanted to update people on her writings, she would always post there. 

Dylan tilted his head at this and he took out his phone, to check on Alzena’s blog quickly before he went back to work. As Dylan read through it, he froze and looked at Alzena with worried eyes. The post wasn’t long but it had a lot to say. 

‘Hey, all you great fans. Thank you so much for all you love and support as I make it through college. I don’t know how I would have made it this far without you. That’s why it pains me to say that I have to take a break from writing. College is difficult and with finals coming up, I need all my attention on it. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back to writing but I promise that when I do, I’ll be better than ever.’

Dylan didn’t know what to think of this. Of course he knew about how stressed Alzena has been lately and this news didn’t surprise him but… Damn, it still hit hard. Alzena loved writing stories and now she was going to do it less. Gosh, he hoped she would be okay. That’s all he hoped for at the moment.

Dylan strolled down the post to read through the comments and he smiled a little. The comments were nice. Despite the few mean spirited ones, people usually left encouragement for Alzena. They all wanted the same thing for Azzy. They wanted her to be happy and to take care of herself. That’s it. It was a simple thing to want but it went a long way.

Dylan glanced over at Alzena again and he frowned when he saw a small tear rolling down his girlfriend’s cheek as she started muttering to herself. He leaned over Alzena and gently hugged her. He whispered something into her ear before he pecked Alzena’s cheek softly. After a moment, Alzena slowly relaxed.

“It’s okay, Azzy…” Dylan whispered softly. “We’ll figure this out.” Dylan sat down next to Alzena and continued to work on his essay. 

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Uncovering Fables

Chapter 1 Part 1.3

The moment a new person wandered into the bar, Clayton Ward couldn’t help but glance over at them. That’s when it happened. It always happened. Clayton gasped as visions flashed before his eyes. 

More memories. More tales filled his mind. Swinging in a playground, writing late in the evenings and being held by a loving editor. Crying long hours as they had to stop what they loved. An entire person’s history was told in just a split second.

Clayton could have prepared for this but whenever someone walked in unannounced, that was when the real troubles began. He couldn’t prepare mentally for that. Grabbing hold of the table, he heard the woman in front of him ask something but Clayton was unable to understand her. His ears were hearing the bartender giving encouragement to talk to someone.

Clayton twitched and he curled up on his booth seat, as he grabbed his pounding head. A tingling sensation spread across in skin as something grabbed hold of his shoulder. Clayton looks over to see a black, inky hand grab hold of him tightly. No. No, not this again.Not another panic attack. He was doing something important. He couldn’t be back here. He couldn’t!

Clayton tried to stand up but he was pushed back to his knees by a figure of ink like substance. He looked around and he froze as he realized that he was no longer in the bar. He was nowhere. His spine chilled as he realized that he was in a darkened area. Was it a room or an area that went far out in every direction? It was too dark to tell.

Clayton tried to hide in his jacket as he put on his hood but another hand ripped it off his scalp, pulling his hair. Clayton squeaks out and his shaking body began to sweat. His stomach twisting onto itself, Clayton looked around and almost sank into himself. Surrounding him was five dark bodies that towered over him as Clayton wasn’t allowed to stand. One of the body’s stood behind him, holding him down. Clayton tried to stare at the ground to allow the attack to pass but another body stood in front of him. His hand pinched Clayton’s chin and he was forced to look up at them. Clayton stared into the figure’s eyes, shaking.

The three other body’s, circled around, almost giggling. They looked at each other before they turned their attention to Clayton. Their voices echoed in his ears. 

“Clayton. Where is your friend?”

“What happened when you left to explore those caves?”

“Did the snow kill him?”

Clayton felt tears swell in his eyes as he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could say anything, the middle figure’s voice boomed and echoed throughout the room. “Why do you lie?”

The other figures joined in. “That isn’t what happened.”

“What really happened?”

“Did you kill him.”

Clayton shook his head. “N-No… No. I didn’t. I-I could-” A figure slapped him across the face and tears started to roll down his cheeks. 

That’s when a golden light shone from behind Clayton as a door creaked open. Clayton glanced behind him and saw a dark creature standing at a doorway that wasn’t there a minute ago. Clayton tried to get a closer look but he was forced back to looking at the figures. They continued to taunt him as Clayton closed his eyes. 

He needed to get out of here. This wasn’t going to end anytime soon. These images was only starting. He couldn't take it anymore. He glanced down at his left hand to spot a golden ring on his index finger. Before any of the figures could stop him, Clayton grabbed the ring and ripped it off his finger.

Everything was back to normal. Clayton was at the bar once more. 

As he sat up, his shaking hands took off the chain around his neck and Clayton put the ring on it, like a charm. Clayton was an African American with a lighter skin tone and was very skinny. He looked to be in his mid-20’s but he might have been older. He had a square nose and his brown eyes were staring at the the ring still. He wore jeans and a green jacket. He tended to mess around with the string for the hoodie. He has small ear gauges as the ends of his brown hair was a lot lighter than the rest.

The woman that sat in front of him was still talking. “Hey! Ya alright? The hell is going on?”

Clayton looked over to see Ms. Wolfe standing as much as she could in a booth. Her face was a mixture of annoyance and concern. Ms. Wolfe was fairly attractive and cared about her looks, even if her taste was a little weird. Her black hair was put in a messy bun with her bangs that were growing out being tossed to both sides of her face. Half of her bangs were dyed a light green while the other half was purple in color. She had a fit body, a pointed chin and a flat nose.  She wore dark sunglasses that made it difficult to see where she was looking, purple pants, golden earrings and a green jacket that seemed to be popular in the 90’s.

She continued to speak, “Dude. You were just curled up on your seat, shaking. You good?”

Clayton slowly nodded, still trying to get a hold of reality. “Yeah, yeah… Let’s just ignore that and get back to business. What… What were we talking about?”

Ms. Wolfe sighed at this and growled a little. “You were trying to convince me to work with you or something.”

“Y-Yes that... “ Clayton stuttered a little. “Miss, I understand why you don’t want to help but… Do you want someone else to go through something like that fire?”

Ms. Wolfe froze. “How do you know about that?”

“I…” Clayton began sweating. He didn’t mean to mention that so soon.

Ms. Wolfe stepped out of the booth. “Whatever you were going to say, screw it. If you really cared, you wouldn’t have said that to me.” Muttering under her breath, Ms. Wolfe left to find another table, leaving Clayton behind. 

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I did it! I made a cover! Yaaay

Uncovering Fables 

[theotter99]

Here it is! The cover to the first part of chapter one!

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Uncovering Fables

Prologue: Part 5 

When Alzena woke up in the morning, she found her breath was heavy as she grasped hold of her chest. Still trying to figure out the difference between fantasy and reality, she quickly looked around her room. There wasn’t much to the apartment that Dylan and her lived in and the same went with their room. It was fairly small and it didn’t have much walking space with the bed in it.

Alzena didn’t remember much of her dream. It was a nightmare, she knew that much. But she couldn’t remember anything else. It was strange since she never dreamed, let alone have a nightmare. 

Still glancing around the room, Alzena stared at the clock and froze when she noticed that it was almost noon. Did Alzena have class? Wait, no. She graduated a few months ago. She didn’t have to worry about that… 

Instead, she had to worry about getting a job.

Alzena looked next to her and wasn’t surprised that Dylan wasn’t in bed. He didn’t head to bed at all last night since he was busy editing a manuscript for a client. He’s been so busy over the past few days and Alzena couldn’t help but think that she should make lunch for him.

Dylan was drinking another cup of coffee. How much did that make it since last night? Dylan had lost count. That didn’t matter though. He was editing the last page of this stupidly long manuscript. He was sick of his red pen and if he had to see red ink for another hour, he would be sick. 

He was on the last paragraph now. Yes. Almost there. That’s not how you spell canvas. A comma isn’t supposed to be there. Move that sentence in front of this one. He was on the last sentence now. Capitalize this name. Put in quotation marks. He was at the last word.

And then he was done.

Dylan cheered and slammed the whole printed manuscript onto the table. He then couldn’t help himself as he jumped onto his chair. He took out his phone and started playing, “We are the Champions.” as he sung along to it. Needless to say, Dylan felt accomplished. Halfway through the song, Alzena walked into the room and Dylan walked over to her. Dylan took Alzena’s hand and spun her around before he hugged her from behind. Dylan continued to sing as he swayed back and forth on his feet. Alzena’s face turned red as she blushed. 

The two didn’t change much over the few years of college. Dylan now wore nicer clothing and had cut his hair but that was the major differences to him. Alzena on the other hand, was a little paler and had shadows under her eyes. Her hair was usually messy and she often wore the same dark beanie. 

When the song came to an end, Alzena smiled softly at Dylan. “I made pasta for lunch.”

Dylan smiled widely at this. “Thank you so much, dear. I was getting hungry.”

“...Were you working all night without eating…”

Dylan, panicking a little but still trying to stay smooth, gently laid his finger on Alzena’s lip. “Shesh. It’s time to eat.”

“That only makes me worry more.”

“It’s time to eat!” Dylan picked up Alzena, who squeaks loudly, and jogged into the kitchen. 

All throughout lunch, Dylan was talking about his struggles during work. He talked about how the author didn’t know how to spell and how a random plot line was also dropped in the middle of the story. Overall though, Dylan liked the story, he just got frustrated during parts of it and being sleep deprived didn’t help with his struggles.

As Dylan talked, Alzena listened as she ate. She smiled a lot as she listened to Dylan talk about something he loved to do, even if he complained about it a lot.

Towards the end of the conversation though, Alzena frowned as she slowly looked out the window. They were on the second floor of a building, so Alzena was able to watch the cars drive through the city that they lived in.

Dylan noticed Alzena drifting off and he tilted his head. “Hey, you alright?” 

Alzena looked over at Dylan and nodded a little. “Yeah… Just thinking.”

“About?”

“It’s nothing. And besides, your talking about your edits.”

“Dude, I’ve been talking for the past 30 minutes about my work struggles. It’s your turn to talk so what’s on your mind?”

Alzena placed her hands on the table and stared down at her palms, trying to think. “It’s just… I’m still unemployed and you’re doing most of the work while I’m trying to find a job. I’m sorry…”

Dylan slowly took Alzena’s hand. “Hey. There’s no reason to be sorry. Work can be hard to find. I’m sure you’ll get something.” He gives an encouraging smile. 

Alzena slowly breathed out and looked over at Dylan. “Do you remember all those years ago… When I used to write a lot. You remember that I said I would eventually come back to it. Remember when I told my fans that I would come back better than ever?’

“Um… Yes, I do remember that.”

“Well, all those fans probably moved on by now but, I haven’t. That post that I made still lingers in the back of my head everyday. And, um, maybe it’s time to get back to writing?”

Dylan’s eyes sparkled a bit at this. “Azzy! That would be so cool… But… Are you ready to do this?”

Alzena nodded. “I have no idea what I want to write about but I know that I want to get back into it. I remember writing being such an amazing thing. I kind of regret falling out of it.”

Dylan smiled and hugged Alzena. “Well, whatever you come up with, I know it’s going to be the best.”

Alzena flustered at this and quickly returned the hug. “Th-Thank you, Dylan… Just thank you so much for your support.” 

“It’s nothing.” Dylan brushed Alzena’s hair a little. “So, do you have a plan.”

“Not really…” Alzena thinks for a moment before she remembered something. “But, I do know that Drew owns a bar now in Tennessee. He’s always texting me about weird stories that the patrons have told him. Maybe I could visit him and see for myself. That way I can get all the inspiration I need. Gosh, I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Oh, that would be cool. When do you plan to go?”

“Now.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well, you need to rest since you’ve been up for a while. So, I’ll be out of the house so you can rest. Right? You’re going to sleep.”

Dylan sighed and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I’ll rest.”

“Good. It’s time for the busy beaver to become the lazy cat.”

“Azzy?... What did you just say?”

“It’s nothing.” Alzena hugged Dylan more.

“Good luck on your adventure. I’ll call you later to see how things are going.”

Alzena was driving through the beautiful mountains of the southern part of the country. The sun was setting behind the outer parts of the forest making the mountains glow. The trees that grew just along the road was covered in leaves and vines making it was impossible to see the bark of the trees. The other side of the road dropped off into a steep, rocky cliff that fell straight down into the bottom of the mountain below. 

Every time Alzena turned, it almost felt like she would fall off the mountain and tumble to her death. It wasn’t a really nice car ride. 

Alzena tried to distract herself as she thought through her plan. After a minute or two, her mind lingered to an event that happened to her when she was a kid. She could have chosen any genre to write about. Fantasy, sci-fi, comedy. So why out of all of them did she chose thrillers?

Well, the answer seemed dumb to Alzena now but when she was a kid the answer was a big deal. One day, she was at a playground in a park. She didn’t have many friends at the time, so she was swinging on the swing set by herself. And that’s when she saw it.

It was most likely some kind of an animal, but all the ten year old Alzena saw was a dark blob with white eyes- eyes that seemed to be staring straight at Alzena. It was deep in the woods, covered by the shadows of the trees but Azlena wanted a closer look at it. 

Alzena jumped off her swing and stared back at the animal. The animal took a few steps deeper into the forest and Alzena started to walk towards the woods, curious. The animal didn’t move and soon, Alzena was only a few yards away from the woods. Yet, Alzena was unable to figure out what the animal that was staring right at her was. 

And then her father called her, saying it was time to go home. Alzena turned to her dad and stayed that she’s coming before she glanced back at the woods. The animal was gone.

From then on, Alzena was always curious in the weird and creepy. She talked about it with many other people and they’ve had similar experiences. From feeling like they’re being watched to walking into a spiderweb in the middle of an open field.

There was probably a perfectly reasonable explanation to all of that, but these conversations only made Azena more curious. It only made her wonder what things other people have encountered and did they really see ghosts or not?

Well, what was the harm in asking? 

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