All Strings Attached

Chapter 12

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Bright gently closed his fingers around Win's hand and escalated him towards the cemetery again. Win let out a frustrated sigh and glanced at the old graves covered with dead leaves.

He almost stumbled over something and tightened his grip on Bright's hand to refrain himself from falling. He turned back to look and saw he had tripped over an old skeleton of some kind of bird.

"Don't stop" Bright tugged his hand without looking back when he felt Win's pace getting slower. Win quietly followed him and saw him going deep further in until there was a huge fence of wild bushes.

Bright used his free hand to push away the thorny brushes, making room to walk over them. He put his hand over Win's eyes to avoid him getting poked.

Win blindly jumped over the bushes and felt a steady soft ground under his feet. As soon as Bright pulled his hand off of Win's eyes, he saw a view he didn't expect.

Bright let go of his hand and Win moved forward, looking around. There was a steadily flowing stream in front of him with a huge old tree on the bank, bowing over the stream, few of its branches touching the flowing water. There were big rocks inside it but the flow of water was a bit too fast. The rest of the area was covered with wild grass and small trees.

"Why is there such a place near cemetery?" Win asked, his face no longer angry.

"There is an abandoned mental hospital near by " Bright spoke, coming closer to him "They built this place for the patients. The cemetery was never planned. They had to close the place in 1976 and buried all the deads here"

"So you didn't kill those?" Win asked, turning to face him. Bright smiled with a sigh and looked down, shaking his head in a no. Win's tensed body relaxed a bit.

"Not all of them" Bright added and Win looked at him, horrified. He snickered and walked passed by him, muttering "Just kidding"

"That's the problem with you! I can't tell when you're being serious" Win whined, walking up to Bright who was crouching down to sit on the bank of stream.

Win stood by him for few seconds, observing Bright staring at sea. He looked around and from a distance, he could see the top of mental asylum building.

He sat down besides Bright and asked "You seems to like water"

Bright blinked once and nodded "That used to be my favourite place. We would go fishing every weekend".

Win looked at Bright and wondered what he meant when he said 'we'. Bright looked down at Win's hand and took it, softly caressing his thumb on Win's palm and extended it, dipping it in cold water.

Win immediately pulled his hand back, moving back abruptly and falling on his bum. Bright looked at him with a frown.

"D-Don't you dare!" Win warned, his voice a little shivering"I don't like any water body"

Bright looked at him confused. Win sat back on his previous place and explained "I was almost drowned when I was a kid. I guess thats when my pretty body decided to say no no to the water ever again"

As the word 'body' escaped Win's lips, Bright's eyes immediately went to Win's covered chest but he retreated and faced the stream once again.

"I've seen such idiots. A kid almost drowned back  when I used to go swimming to the local lake" Bright casually replied.