Bella’s Halloween Red

Bella’s Halloween Red.

Under the Red sky, Bella, a girl, walked along a path where stars scattered elegantly, shining like scattered diamonds. She followed a pumpkin ghost emitting a faint violet glow in the night sky. The cloak of the pumpkin ghost glowed like the Milky Way stretched across the night sky, enticing Bella’s eyes. However, she was a shy girl and didn’t want to anger the pumpkin ghost, so she only lightly grasped its cloak. As she followed the pumpkin ghost, Bella couldn’t take her eyes off the invisible, multicolored lights that illuminated the ghost town.

She couldn’t see the path she had traveled. It seemed like she found lights brighter than the Milky Way in the cloak of the pumpkin ghost. But soon she realized that the lights shining in the cloak of the pumpkin ghost and the lights shining in the ghost town were different colors but shone in the same way. Bella understood that the light of the Milky Way in the cloak of the pumpkin ghost actually shone because of its own light. And she felt a strange thrill realizing that there was still a mystery she hadn’t grasped. Pumpkin Ghost knew that a child had been following him since before he arrived in the village. The child seemed to have a liking for Pumpkin Ghost’s cloak.

Pumpkin Ghost briefly considered whether he should eat the child, but he remembered the rule in Pumpkin Ghost Village that forbade eating outsiders. Pumpkin Ghost had memories from long ago.

However, he lived without speaking, leaving behind only legends and rumors as the rules that were passed down, inexplicable to anyone except Pumpkin Ghost. Upon arriving in Pumpkin Ghost Village, Pumpkin Ghost quickly separated from the child and headed towards his own house. He was afraid that if he stayed with the child, he might end up eating him.

However, the child persistently followed and eventually reached the front of Pumpkin Ghost’s house.

‘Pumpkin Ghost, I can’t go without you, right? Isn’t that right?’

‘Why aren’t you saying anything?’

‘Don’t leave me here alone.’

The child said a few words to Pumpkin Ghost, but seeing no response, the child seemed to give up and decided to explore Pumpkin Ghost Village on his own. Pumpkin Ghost debated whether he should hide the existence of the child or simply let him be and leave. However, realizing that it was the Halloween season and there were no other pumpkin in Pumpkin Ghost Village, Pumpkin Ghost quietly observed the child wandering around the village. In the deserted village, it seemed like it would be permissible to eat the child. Bella looked at Pumpkin Ghost Village, contemplating where she should go.

Wherever she went, the village would surely captivate her with its elegant lights. While Bella was organizing her thoughts, she noticed a large black paper airplane not far from Pumpkin Ghost’s house, and decided to ride on the bluck paper airplane. The black paper airplane had a note on its wings that said if a jewel was placed on the wings of the bluck paper airplane, it would automatically fly to the next stop. Bella didn’t need to despair, as she didn’t have to personally pilot the bluck paper airplane or find a pilot. Excited, Bella tried to take out a jewel to place on the bluck paper airplane’s wings, but soon realized that she didn’t have any jewels. Disappointed, she sat down for a moment, feeling helpless.

That’s when something amazing happened right in front of Bella’s eyes. Among the small shimmering lights floating around Pumpkin Ghost Village, one of the lights turned into a jewel in Bella’s hand. Watching this scene, Bella suddenly became curious whether this jewel was the one that needed to be placed on the wings of the bluck paper airplane. She brought the jewel closer to the wings of the bluck paper airplane, filled with curiosity. Then, as white smoke emerged from the bluck paper airplane and melted the jewel onto its wings, the jewel took its place on the wings of the bluck paper airplane. The bluck paper airplane began to move, spreading its wings as if ready to take off.

Bella sat in the only seat inside the bluck paper airplane, watching as the black paper airplane’s wings unfolded and it started to move. Lost in thought, Bella remembered that the shimmering lights floating around Pumpkin Ghost Village turned into jewels when touched. The Black Paper airplane was flying through a very cold and vast space. In the black background, there were faint but sparkling lights shining from far away. The place was so vast that it seemed to be in the same spot no matter how far it traveled. Suddenly, it seemed as if a projector had been turned on in front of Bella, and a very wide screen passed by. Bella was still staring at the screen, unaware of how much time had passed since it appeared.

On the screen, Bella saw a man committing suicide. Despite seeing it, she remained still. She did nothing. She just kept looking. Witnessing such events had become a common or occasional occurrence for Bella, so she didn’t feel any emotions. Bella forgot about the man for a while.

Until one day, she saw a boy in a wheelchair. Bella knew that place very well. It was the place where a beautiful building and an apple tree stood, and a boy had been observing apples falling. Bella had also seen the boy fall from his wheelchair through the screen. For some reason, she wanted to help, but Bella couldn’t lift up the boy or make her voice reach him. Even when she heard that the boy didn’t have much time left, or when she found out that his writings had turned into a book that could be read even now, after he had lived for a longer time, Bella was always there, in that same spot.

Chapter 1. Can you hear me?

Whenever Bella saw the boy in the wheelchair on the screen, tears would inexplicably well up in her eyes.

‘Why? Why do tears come when I see that boy? Why does he make me cry?’

Curious, Bella searched for the only function of the black paper airplane, which was the library of memories. As one of the black paper airplane’s wings began to turn transparent like flowing water, she was able to retrieve books submerged in water.

‘I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere. Where have I seen it? Where?’

While wandering through the library of memories and reading several books with recorded memories, Bella finally managed to find a single line.

‘I saw warm eyes.’

Bella tried her best to remember when she had seen warm eyes. Following the path of her memories, Bella encountered a black hole that was floating on the opposite side of space, just like herself. Bella tried to approach the black hole, but she felt as if a considerable amount of time had passed. However, in that moment, she remembered the scene. Sometimes, while flipping through channels on the screen, she had seen someone who resembled him in a movie.

“Warm eyes.”

Bella wrote down the title and synopsis of the movie on the opposite wing of the black paper airplane and asked it for an answer. Finally, the black paper airplane placed a book in the library of memories, containing all the recent memories and answers. Afraid of forgetting once again, Bella quickly picked up the book and started reading.

Bella realized that she had seen the story of the boy in the wheelchair as a movie. Afraid of forgetting once again, she watched the movie several times.

•

The pumpkin ghost, who could feel a chilly breeze in the village, watched as Bella, riding on a black paper airplane, flew away. Lost in thoughts, the pumpkin ghost reminisced about the time when rules were first established. There was a child who unilaterally came to find the pumpkin ghost and stole its cloak. Since then, the pumpkin ghost had spent many years vowing never to have its cloak taken away again. Despite this, Bella’s existence posed a threat to the pumpkin ghost.

Nevertheless, the pumpkin ghost anticipated Bella’s departure on the paper airplane. It hoped that things would be different this time, that the child might be different, and that the paper airplane might not be ridden.Tired of these expectations being shattered every time, the pumpkin ghost became angry once again when the same thing happened. It feared being robbed once more. Knowing where Bella would go after riding the paper airplane, the pumpkin ghost’s anger grew just by thinking about it. The final destination of the black paper airplane was a place where the pumpkin ghost’s cloak could be stolen.

Determined to take revenge and not take away his precious cloak, the pumpkin ghost decided to step up first before Bella stole it. Deciding to wait and then kill Bella, the pumpkin ghost quickly set off to find her.