Embrace Of The Lucifer
Chapter 32

I went back to my work again while Master Ebenezer and Ela were talking. She told me to help Alexa in the library. I went there and found her cleaning the shelves and arranging the books. I approached her. She noticed me and passed me a warm smile.

"Hey August, I bet Ela sent you here." I nodded my head in agreement. She got me right there.

She chuckled. "I could tell, I am almost done with my work. Whenever there's any family member of Knights, she always 'shoos' us away so that none of us would make ourselves look like idiots."

That was pretty weird, we were not kids anymore. I shrugged it off and asked Alexa if she needed my help with anything. "I am done with almost everything actually, you can just help me with those books." She pointed at the pile of books lying on the table right ahead.

"Can you please put them back on the shelf?" I nodded and picked up half of the books while she picked the other half. I started sorting out the books in their respective sections according to their serial numbers. There were books of numerous genres. One of them was about Sherlock Holmes. I wonder how it is.

I've always loved reading and curious to try out different books. When I lived with Caroline I would often go to the nearby library to read the books I liked. I couldn't take them home or buy them as I did not have enough money back then. I kept that book in the section and went for another one. It said "Five Feet Apart" I remember that one. I had read that in my local library. I truly loved the story. I became nostalgic for a moment, but I brought myself back to reality, stretched a poignant smile, and put it back.

I was almost done organizing the books and finally came down to the last book. I took a look at it. It looked strange. The cover of that book was different than all the other books. It was bold, dark in color, and quite heavy. I frowned but put it on the shelf standing in the corner of the library.

"August! I'm done! Come outside when you're finished up. I will be waiting for you", Alexa yelled and got out of there.

"Yeah, I will be there", I yelled back to her hurriedly putting the book on the shelf. My finger hit the shelf and I whimpered, dropping the book on the floor. I sighed and bent down to pick those up.

I noticed that some of the pages of the exceptionally odd-looking book I mentioned a while ago were not perfectly lined up with the rest of the pages which were all tied together by a string on the edge. My eyebrows furrowed. What am I going to do with these now? I don't even know how the pages were organized.

I picked it up anyway and noticed that the writings on the pages were handwritten. "Strange", I thought to myself.

I looked at the pages. The handwriting was so clean and the words were so beautifully written. I couldn't help but stare at it. I didn't even read what was written, I just allowed myself to remain awed at the sheer beauty of each letter. All of a sudden, while flipping the page over, a photograph slid down on my knees. I picked it up, and without a second thought figured out who I was looking at. It was Master Lucifer. The picture looked older, Master looked younger than he is now.

I didn't know what was in that picture that forced my eyes on it, I just couldn't look away. He looked different. He looked different in all of his older pictures.

It was true, his eyes still held that same coldness in the pictures that sent shivers down my spine. But his face structure was different, his eyes were cold but sorrowful at the same time. I put the picture back and continued to look at the pages again.

"12th March 2008."

It said on the first page. Before I could look at anything, someone startled me from behind making me jump.

"August!" Alexa was coming to me.

"I was waiting for you, August. What are you doing?" I put the pic and the pages inside the cover and stood up.

"Sorry, I dropped these so..." She noticed the book in my hands. "Oh this book doesn't belong here", she said pointing to the book.

"Oh, where should I put this?"

"It's always in Master's private books section. No one takes the books from there, I don't how it got there, maybe someone accidentally put it with the other books. Give it to me, let me put it back." She grabbed it from me and went to the other side of the library, there was a small table with few drawers, and she kept the book in one of them. We exited the room after that, closing the door behind us.

"Oh by the way August, Ela told me to grab something from the store, do you want to come with me?" I looked at her and frowned. Are we even allowed to go?

She raised her eyebrows at me. I shrugged away the thought and asked her. "Can we...go outside? I mean, wouldn't Master get mad?" She chucked. "Hon, don't worry, we are not running away, we are going to the store to buy essentials."

"B-but will Ela let me come with you?" I asked her. "Well, I hope so, come on let's go and ask her." She rushed out of there to Martha. She was still with master Ebenezer in the living room. We approached her there and Alexa asked.

"Miss Ela, I am going to the store now." Ela looked up to her and nodded her head. "Okay, be back early." She stated.

Alex shook her head yes. "Erm, can August come with me?" I gulped. I didn't know how she asked her so calmly.

"Why do you want her to accompany you?" Ela asked. Master Ebenezer wasn't there with us that time, I saw him near the window, talking to someone on phone.

"I was thinking she could help me carry the stuff we're going to buy." Ela didn't say anything for a minute then sighed. "Okay you can take her, but do not take time, go to the nearby store and come back quickly." Alexa shook her head and grinned at me. I smiled back at her.

We then left the living room and was going out of the house. "See? I told you. It's nothing." I thanked her. I guess I needed to come out.

"Did you grab everything we need?" I asked her. "Yeah, I already have the money Ela gave me, we just need a few more things. We will go to the store down the road. Come on, we can walk there." I followed her behind. Thankfully the shoes weren't that uncomfortable, neither the outfit. I was feeling pretty cozy.

After 15 minutes or so, we reached the store, it was big. We entered and bought everything that we needed, it only took us 10 minutes.

"I told you, we only need a few things." She said. Few things included some dishwashers, some cereal packets, and slices of bread. She handed the money to the cashier. We picked the bags up and left. "So what do you wanna do now?" I looked at her with a confused look. "What do you mean? We have to get back." I said quietly.

"Yeah! But, look we still have some time, do you wanna grab some coffee?" My eyes became wide. "A-are you crazy? Ela will get mad, Alexa."

She rolled her eyes. "Come on August no one will replace out. It won't take us long, please. It's been so long since I had coffee outside!" She whined like a little kid. Everyone was staring at us. I looked down, blushing.

She sighed and said, "Fine! We will grab it and go home right away. Is that fine with you? We are not going to sit there." I finally gave up and said yes. It wasn't like I had a choice.

The cafe was not close by but we managed to catch a bus and reached there within 15 minutes. I was scared. All the way I couldn't stop thinking about the consequences we could face if Ela found out, but Alexa assured me nothing would happen. I tried hard not to think too much about it.

We got off the bus. The cafe looked expensive, I nervously looked at Alexa who was continuously grinning. "Alexa...this looks so expensive, how are we going to buy anything from here?" I whispered to her. "No worries August, I've got my saved up money with me, my family sends me money for extra expenses. I have enough, August. Don't worry." She dragged me inside without giving me a chance to say anything. I gave up.

The cafe looked picturesque. I mean, it wasn't tremendously big or overly stupendous but it wasn't for people like me. It was packed with customers. Some were seated with their friends, family, and spouses. My eyes traced to a family who was seated at one of the family tables. They looked so happy. I felt disappointed and realized how much I yearned to spend some quality time with my parents. The thought of my parents clenched my heart. I didn't want to break down in tears in front of so many people. I followed Alexa to the counter. She asked me what I wanted to order.

The prices might not be high for other people but for me, those were high. I looked at Alexa.

"Alexa, these all look so expensive!" I muttered to her. She rolled her eyes again.

"Please love, don't look at the price. Just order. I told you I have enough." I looked at the menu hesitantly. I wanted to get something cheap. I didn't even know what to get. I went to the dessert option and saw donuts. I have always liked donuts.

"How about donuts?" I asked her.

"Hmm. Let me see. Oh, they look good. Which flavor do you want?" I spotted the chocolate chip flavor. I didn't want to look at any more options since there were more on the expensive side. I decided to get that one. Alexa ordered a chocolate cold coffee for her. She paid for our order and we were seated on one of the empty seats. They told us to wait for few minutes. Alexa told me about her previous life, her life before coming here, to this hell-hole. I couldn't help but smile. I was glad to have found another friend after Vanessa.

The staff lived up to their words and we received after about 10 minutes. I picked up my donut box. It smelled incredibly good.

We were done and about to leave. Just at that time, Alexa's phone rang.

"Oh August, wait a moment. Ela is calling. Stay here I will talk to her." I gave her a nod as she rushed to the other side of the cafe as this part was too noisy. I started to look around and observe the place. The cafe was absolutely gorgeous and well decorated with small tubs of flowers, plants dangling from three of the aisles providing a scenic atmosphere inside the cafe. The waiters were bustling around taking orders from the customers and serving food.

My head started to ache from tying my hair up in a bun the entire day. I pulled out the rubber band from my hair and let it fall back over my shoulders and back.

I was so deluged in my thoughts that I almost didn't notice a figure heading towards our table. The footsteps, I heard them coming from where I was sitting. All of a sudden, I started to feel anxious, I didn't know, my heart started to beat faster. That was when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I frowned and got up from the seat. Turning around, I saw the person I'd never expected I'd see there.

Master Lucifer.

My throat was getting dry. My breath hitched when I saw him, standing in front of me. I didn't know what I should've done that time. I stood still, not uttering a word. He looked angry, and I knew why he was angry.

"M-master.." I muttered out.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐