Anne and Carlo

Cupcake strides to the office with her purse and coffee cup. She drank the coffee while waiting for the elevator to the first floor. She entered, and the elevator rose to the working floor. It was her turn to go out and be in the office typing the new stuff on the Rock Community page.

She put down the coffee and purse on the table. She sat down and turned on the computer. She had a message saying, “Let’s meet in your office, from Anne and her brother.”

“What? Is it about the evidence that I showed from my computer?” Her mouth moved faster than she processed her thoughts. I am not ready for this reality show. If her partner comes, she is fine. She should be fine. Nothing will change except how she explains the story.

There was a knock on the door. Cupcake paused and saw the reflection in the mirror. It was them! She turned the chair around and reached for the door. “Hello, may I help you?”

She asked politely.

“Are you the creator of the Rock Community, and your name is Cupcake?” Anne asked

Anne had yellow-brown hair and wore a bubblegum shirt with green shorts, white knee socks, and brown shoes. A pink bow on the left side of her hair. In contrast with her lighter skin and dark green eyes. She was sixteen years old.

While her brother explored the hallway, While her brother explored the hallway, Carlo had purple-red bushy hair with light green eyes. He wore a sky-blue shirt, light green pants, and blue-green shoes. His lighter skin was similar to his sister's. He was thirteen years old. He was amazed by the plain design. It was pure white walls and carpet floors. Nothing’s interesting, Cupcake has thought. For him, it was the opposite. It was so pure that he felt like flying in the clouds.

“Yes, I am the creator of the Rock Community, and my name is Cupcake.”

Anne said, “Anne.” They shook hands.

Her brother was on the railing looking at how the previous floor was busy with workers and computers. “More people,” he sounded excited.

“Meet my bro-” her eyes found he was not close to her, but he hung over the railing. She rushed to put his foot on the floor. “Carlo!”

Cupcake rushed to help her brother to stay on the floor. She said, “Is he like that all the time?”

“Meet my brother,” she was catching her breath. “Carlo.”

Both stared at his odd behavior. He looked so happy on the floor with his hands clapped. He smiled at Cupcake.

“Carlo! Do not scare me. Do not scare your sister. You are about to--”

He interrupted, “Not going to die. I am just exploring the world of pureness.”

“This is not heaven. It is a building with a plain interior design. Not to offend Cupcake.”

“I like the color white,” he said. “I like to be in the sky.”

“Yes, you do. But not right now.”

“Are we meeting someone?” his face was unsure.

Cupcake extended her hand to him. “I am Cupcake, the creator of the Rock Community.”

“Ah, you are smart. I do not believe your story about ghosts.”

“Do not mind him. He was talking stuff to offend anyone,” Anne explained.

“So, what are you two here for?” Cupcake asked.

“Let’s talk inside.”

They were in Cupcake’s office, and the door was closed. No one will barge in and interrupt the story about ghosts except Carlo. He interrupted a lot before Cupcake say about what the ghost looked like, but she was nervous already.

Anne was trying to cover his mouth with her hand. “I do not want to hear a single word from you. I want to hear what she has to say.”

“She is smart. I can tell. But I want to be smart like her.”

“Stop interrupting her. She is at the top, and you are at the bottom.”

He cried, and he walked out of the room. Anne said, “I will be right back in a minute.” So she dashed out to find him on the floor. She was running after him in the corner.

Cupcake wrote in the notebook about the incident between them. Prince Flame replied, “Something with Bubbles?”

“Bubbles the ghost?” she wrote.

“Bubbles! Come over here. Cupcake needs your help with the siblings.”

Bubbles burrowed the pen and wrote on the mirror. “My relatives are supposed to be Anne and Carlo. They were often nice, but now, it feels broken due to my existence. I was never there with them.”

“Hang in there! I will get them to my office room.”

Bubbles waited while Cupcake found the siblings at a corner. She said, “Bubbles is your father.”

Anne gasped, “How do you know that?”

“Let’s get into my office. People are staring at us weirdly.”

The siblings obliged, and they were in Cupcake’s office room. Carlo sat on the chair playing a game with nobody. Anne crossed her arms, “Carlo, do not play games on her computer.”

“I want to play more and do not care.”

Cupcake wrote back, “Carlo is playing a game on my computer. What do I do?”

“Give him the notebook and pen. He would understand my handwriting.”

Cupcake gave the materials to Carlo, who paused and said, “Is that our father’s handwriting? He cannot be alive.”

Carlo looked at Cupcake. She said, “He is a ghost that you do not see. He is your father.”

“I want to talk to him!” Screamed Anne.

Carlo wrote a chicken scratch. In his mind, it reads, “Hello, ghost. Are you dead? You cannot be alive.”

The ghost wrote, “You are a pain in the butt. More like the evil prince in the castle.”

Carlo frowned, “What he means by that?”

Cupcake looked at the sentence. She laughed gently. “I will write him back.” She wrote while Anne was getting impatient. She wanted to write, too. Cupcake wrote, “He is not like the evil prince. He is your son.”

“He sounded like one,” the ghost wrote.

She sighed, “He is your son. He is not himself, you know.”

Prince Flame read what Cupcake wrote and said, “Bubbles, you have a family that was alive. Respect the living. Or else you will be living with the obsidian prince. This time, I am not going to save you if you keep with the bad attitude.”

Bubbles glared at him and said, “Do not get involved with my family. It is my fault I died in the hands of the obsidian prince, or my natural death catches me off guard.”

Prince Flame was in his bedroom playing with Scruffy and the fireball. The fireball was hot and burning across the bed, but it did not damage the blankets. It was sliding.

Bubbles wiped the mirror and wrote a new sentence. “Sorry for the delay.”

“It is Anne, your daughter. I want to say ‘hello.’”

“Hello, Anne. How is life?”

“Pretty hectic with life and death. I have a feeling that we are going to move out.”

“To where?”

“To somewhere else because we do not pay the rent for this month.”

Bubbles was silent while Carlo stole the pen to write. “Also, the neighborhood started to feel bad for us living in their area. They cannot help but stare at us with concern.”

Bubbles do not reply.

Cupcake snatched the pen and flipped the page. “I can help pay their rent. Does it sound okay with you, Bubbles?”

Silence.

In his memory, Bubbles was a servant to the obsidian prince all his life. He would care for and feed him with love. If he stopped doing it, he die of a natural death and still live as a ghost. Next thing, the prince finds him again. He would devour him for his invisibility.

“Hello?”

He lifted a pen between his fingers. He wrote gently on the mirror. “Do not trap my family with excuses. They were important to me before I was gone.”

“Also,” Anne wrote. “People were not helping us or feeling concerned. They were weird. One older person said, ‘Get a death sentence, and I have no time to look at your pity!’

Bubbles’ face tightened, and he continued to write, “Cupcake, take care of them, please.”

“I will try and do my best,” Cupcake wrote.

“Do not let them hurt my family.”

“Bye, ghost!” Carlo wrote.

“Bye.” Anne wrote.

Tears streamed down Bubbles’ face. “I will never say ‘bye’; just take care.’”

Their faces were sad enough for her to say, “I will take care of you. You can play on my computer, Carlo. You can sit on the sofa, Anne.”

The siblings looked at her, surprised. “Um, are you a neighbor from our neighborhood?”

“Probably, not. I am too far from your living headquarters. I was in the southside with Cherry and Roger. They lived in one house. I lived next door. We are neighbors.”

“Sounds good to me,” Anne smiled.

Cupcake stood to get the notebook and pen and put them in her purse. She told them that she would get lunch. Carlo said first, “I want a burger and milkshake.”

Anne looked at him shockingly, “Do not give him that. He would never finish eating it. I had to pick up his mess every time.”

“Everyone is getting lunch equally,” Cupcake said.

When she closed the door, she went into the elevator to write the notes to Prince Flame. He replied, “I am eating with my sister in two minutes.”

“I will get to you later.”

Cupcake stepped out of the elevator. She dropped her notebook on the floor. She paused as the man, who had chopped hair bangs in black attire and shoes with black gloves, noticed her notebook and picked it up. He gave it back to her, and she turned around. She froze. Is that the obsidian prince looking at me? She shook her head and said, “Thank you, sir.”

“You are welcome, lovely lady.”

She grabbed her notebook and walked away quietly. Her heart was pounding so quickly. Do not let me freeze here.

He tasted his gloved fingers. “It was the amber rose pen. How did she even get that? Also, she is lovely to me.” His eyes glowed purple. Then, he smirked. He went into the elevator with the crowd.

Cupcake found the restaurant and picked the menus for herself, Anne, and Carlo. She paid for the food and went to the office across the street. She immediately saw the door opened by the same person earlier. She said, “Thank you, sir.”

He said, “May I help you with that.”

“I am fine.”

She walked into the building without a second glance. She knew it was the obsidian prince. He smirked by looking at her butt. He wanted to meet her later that night or not.

She opened the door to her office. She gave one bag to Anne on the sofa. Another bag is next to Carlo. She had a bag for herself. Before she eats her food, she closes the door. Her heart skipped a beat. She sat on the sofa eating the meal.

“Finally, I got the burger and milkshake,” said Carlo.

“You better finish eating that. I am not cleaning the mess after you.”

Cupcake giggled on the side. “They are happy siblings!”

After lunch, she picked up the bags and put them in the bin. She told Carlo to wash his hands. They went to the family restroom to wash their hands. This time, the man in the black clothes noticed the room that led to Cupcake. She was typing on the computer. He approached and knocked on the door. She heard the knocks and then opened the door. He said, “Hello, lovely lady.”

“I did not invite anyone here.”

“Do you remember me?”

“Remember you?”

His eyes glowed purple. Then, he snatched her neck and closed the door. She gasped, and he put her on the sofa. He kissed her neck. She closed her eyes, wanting this to be over.

“Do you remember me, lovely lady? I will keep asking you until you realize that--” Before he reached the end of the sentence, Anne pushed the door. The siblings gasped at the stranger over Cupcake’s body. He stood quickly, and he walked past their senses. He went to the corner and vanished.

Anne came to the sofa and shouted, “Cupcake, are you alright?”

“Thought she asleep,” Carlo said.

Cupcake opened her eyes and said, “Where did he go?”

Their faces were confused. Carlo said, “You were asleep the whole time.”

“Am I sleeping? I am late for work!”

She sat on the chair and typed fast. The siblings thought she was insane, so they played tag in the office to make her feel relaxed.

After that, she wrote in the notebook. “Hello, Prince Flame.”

“Hello, Cupcake.”

“I finished my work.”

“Do I seem to care? Do not care what I said. You did great.”

“I do not feel great about someone, who was…”

“You mean Bubbles’ family?”

“The siblings. They were loud in the office. Right now, they are…” She looked at the glass windows. Hopefully, they were the guards, she thought quietly. “They are watching over me by the door.”

“Sounds good.”

“I want to mention that one man, who wore all black and his eyes were purple. He snatched my neck and put me on the sofa. Then, I closed my eyes.”

Prince Flame looked at the description with discomfort. It could not be his shadow. Did the obsidian prince feed his obsidian rock? How his shadow appeared in the modern world with Cupcake?

“Sorry for the silence.”

“Prince Flame, I am waiting. No pressure.”

“When you first see him?”

“During the lunch hour.”

“Is he still here around you?”

“No.”

“He likes to be alone with a woman. He may…” he was looking for words. “He may…”

“Do not worry about me, Prince Flame. I will be home with the siblings.”

“Okay.”

She put away the notebook and pen in her purse. She was out in the hallway when the siblings turned and played tag. Cupcake was ‘it’, so she ran after the siblings on the floor. She was happy to play a game.

After the fun, she sat on the floor. Anne and Carlo were saying, “Another game!”

“We had to go home.” She saw the window darkened with the sky. “Oops. I did not get home as expected.”

She turned on the button next to the elevator doors. The siblings went in first with excitement. She went last. He noticed her entering the elevator. He breathed in deeply at a corner. “I want to get her to myself, the obsidian prince. He will love her as much as I do.”

They were on the first floor. Cupcake ran after them to the exit door. She was getting tired of their speed. But if she stopped, she would be trapped by the obsidian prince’s shadow. She pushed herself to run after them. She did not lose them when she got home.

“It was fun!” Carlo said.

“Wait, where is Cupcake,” Anne turned her head.

Cupcake reached the doorstep. She said tiredly, “You need to calm down. Stop running fast. I am…”

“We won’t do it again,” Anne agreed.

“I want some fun!” Carlo said.

Cupcake unlocked the door with the key. They entered first, and she entered last. She locked the door. She shouted, “Do not mess with the furniture. Just get what you need and be in the living room.”

It was silence.

She went to her room and put her purse down. The gloved hand touched her back. She said, “I knew you were here in my room.”

“Do you recall me?”

“Not right now. I have things to do.”

“I will be back later.”

She turned around, and he was not there anymore. “When he will be back?” she thought.