An Enclosed Purpose

Chapter 8. The First Happy End

In our cruel world, there are still kind people.

Strong weakness, orientation loss in space, weak sight, absence of

any feelings. Sora's after-life begins with these sensations. Her life is

divided into the before and the after. Before and after that awful case.

Death passed Sora considering that the girl did not deserve such an end

to her life.

"My child, take your time. You are safe in hospital," the voice of

the old woman neighbor and the sound of a cardio machine make the

way through the noise in Sora's ears. "I have had time to call the police.

Those devils who have dared to offend you will never be free again. You

have been unconscious for two weeks. Everything that belonged to your

mother belongs to you now."

Sora interrupts the old woman with the only question she has the

energy to speak: "Where?...?"

"It seems I know about what you ask, more precisely about

whom." The old woman rises from an armchair near Sora's bed. She

moves to the curtain between the beds and opens it.

Nobu lies in the next bed. Bruises cover his face, hand, and neck.

The rest of his body is covered by a snow-white fabric. But Sora is

comforted knowing Nobu is close to her. He sleeps.

"On the third day he recovered consciousness. Your name was the

first thing he said," the old woman tells her. "But he needs this sleep, and

so do you."

The tension Sora's worry for Nobu has built up loses pressure, and

she feels as happy as when he made the proposal to her. She falls asleep.

In a week the young couple is discharged from the hospital. Sora

now has the right to all possessions and business that had belonged to

her mother. In three years, she sponsors her own research.

Sora has always wanted to solve all secrets that hide things from

people, and now she has the chance. She and Nobu go to Stonehenge on

one of their research travels. Stonehenge is a ring and horseshoe

construction made of wild, processed stone. The vertical stones are larger

than the horizontal ones. Sora and Nobu decide their wedding will be

here because they think it is the most mysterious place in the world.

"We will invite your parents, Nobu, the old woman neighbor from

my village, and three of our friends," offers Sora.

"And we don't need anybody else to be there with us. But the

wedding will take place after we return from Egypt," adds Nobu.

"You are right," agrees Sora.

The last place holding secrets they want to unravel is Egypt,

specifically its pyramids.

"For today, I think we've done enough. Tomorrow we will finish

up in this pyramid," Nobu's voice echoes and disperses into darkness. The

light from his head lantern shines on Sora.

"I need a few minutes to read this inscription," Sora uses a lantern

for work, too. "Look, there are drawings here. I didn't see them before."

Nobu approaches the wall and looks at the images. "We can scan

and look for them in the general database tomorrow. Somebody could

already have found the value of these drawings. We've been in this

pyramid long enough. We need fresh air, and tomorrow we will return

and complete what we started."

It's dark in the pyramid, but the ceilings are high enough that the

researchers aren't worried about hitting their heads. Leaving the pyramid

Sora and Nobu see that they are still in darkness.