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Mysterious Carolers (6) : Caroling has been a tradition for years, so it’s not really unusual when you hear a soft chorus from outside. What is unusual is that it’s three in the morning, and the moment they start singing you feel a chill in the air. Maybe it’s a holiday song, maybe it’s not, but whatever it is it’s a song you know before--from this life? From another?--and something about this version makes you go cold. If you move to the window, you will find no carolers, but the song is loud enough that you know you should be able to see them. They sing one song, and then there is silence. An eerie chill lingers, and your dreams are haunted by strange voices. You’ll probably never be able to hear that song again without feeling unnerved.
For once in her recent series of adventures in Destiny City, Lianhua was not out and filming or out as Karakorum. No, she'd finished her nightly work as a Page and come back to her condo, and she sat in bed on her phone idly browsing new webtoons as she waited to feel tired enough to actually sleep. Honestly, it had been a quiet night--a small scuffle with a weird ratcat youma, but otherwise, nothing of note. The sort of patrol she loved.
She really was trying to settle down when she heard it. A strange...song? Outside her window?
Sure, okay, twas the season for caroling and whatnot, but surely not at three in the ******** morning. That was just ridiculous. One of her neighbors was sure to get pissed, and then it was going to be a whole thing, and Lianhua was not ready for a Whole Thing to happen to her at this time of night. But it seemed destined to, and so she huddled under her covers, waiting for the shouting to commence.
It did not.
The singing continued, but there was no response from anyone else.
Maybe all her neighbors were asleep? That seemed...possible. Maybe not likely, but possible. And maybe, the longer the singing went on with no one responding to it, the more curious Lianhua got. The song seemed familiar, though she couldn't quite place the lyrics; maybe they were in a language she didn't speak? That was possible, there were plenty of those, and holiday songs often came from all over the place.
She exhaled. Moved towards the window. Opened it, and leaned out.
She could hear the song clearly now. It didn't twig as familiar, and it certainly didn't twig as any Chjristmas carol she knew--and yet, she was sure she knew this song. Sure that it was something important to her, even; that if she could just understand it, she would know why it made her feel an aching sense of loss and longing.
She leaned out, looking for the singers--perhaps they would give her a clue--and frowned when she realized that there didn't seem to be anyone on the street. That was impossible--the song was far too loud for the carolers to not be nearly right outside her window, and there was certainly nowhere hidden from her that could conceal one person, much less an entire caroling group.
The whole thing felt...strange. Eerie. Uncomfortable.
And yet, she was frozen by the window, watching the street for any sign of the singers that did not seem to exist. And yet they must, because she could hear them, and...
Slowly, the song drifted away, and Lianhua was finally able to lurch away from the window and close it. Even with it closed, though, she felt cold--shivers running through her as she crawled back in bed. She...was definitely going to be thinking about that one for a long, long while.
It took her quite a while to fall asleep.
And when she did, strange music wove its way through her dreams.
[wc: 508 words]
