What Lies Beneath

Chapter 2

The Secret Garden

Cloud did not know why he was dressing himself to go out today. He had a ton of unpacking to do and he needed to go grocery shopping because his cupboards and refrigerator were bare. Yet, the moment he saw the church in the distance he felt drawn to it. In Midgar, it just seemed so out of place to see such a thing. After he pulled on his clothes, he headed down the stairs. No one was at the front desk of the apartment nor were there any other tenants around. It was early in the morning but it still seemed odd to Cloud that someone was not up yet.

Outside, he found his bike where he had parked it. He wiped the seat with the back of his hand since the rain from last night left droplets on it. Sitting comfortably he started it and sped away. Cloud did not even bother to ask directions. He could see the church peeking above the smaller buildings and managed to take the most direct route to it.

As he could see the church becoming clearer, he noticed that the area he was in was not as pleasant. It looked old and quite possibly the wrong part of town. However, he was no afraid of this place. He was tough and brave. Yet, when he stopped in front of the church he was shocked to see how good condition it seemed to be. It was old, of course, but looked as if it was in good shape. All the windows in front were intact, the stone steps were still perfect and the doors, despite being old, were not cracked or broken.

Cloud turned off his bike and got off. It was weird to be drawn to such a place yet he wanted to go inside. He walked up the stairs and grasped the brass door handle. He pushed the door open, which took a little effort on his part. The door made a soft squeak as he opened it. He took a step inside and looked around. He expected the church to look rundown but much like the outside the inside looked well kept.

The floorboards creaked as he walked across them but they did not seem flimsy. The pews in the church were lined up nicely, except for one section where a beam had fallen on some allowing light to come from the ceiling. As he walked toward the center of the church he saw light peering down where an alter should have been but instead there was a large patch of dirt where floorboards had once been but were now removed. To his surprise, Cloud found a large patch of yellow and white flowers.

"Flowers?"

Cloud stood at the edge of the flowerbed and noticed that the patch was quite large. There had to be dozens upon dozens of flowers within. Why were these here? It was not possible that these could have just grown here by themselves. No, someone had to plant them but why? Why plant flowers indoors?

"Hello," a voice said from behind. Cloud turned around to see a girl in front of him. "What are you doing in my garden?"

The girl was wearing a white and blue sundress that came down to her knees, a pink camisole, and wedged heels. Her hair was long and brown twisted into a braid and kept together with a pink ribbon. She smiled at Cloud, her eyes bright green were sparkling.

Cloud was taken aback at first, surprised that this girl was not frightened by a stranger. She walked past him to go closer to her flowers. Cloud watched her seemingly unafraid of his presence, even when he was only a few feet. Was she too naïve?

"This is your garden?" Cloud asked.

She nodded, "Yes, and who are you?"

Cloud wondered if maybe this church was actually hers and he was intruding. If it were so, the girl did not seem to mind.

Shyly he answered her question, "Cloud… my name is Cloud."

Her smile grew, "I'm Aerith.'

She knelt down to touch one of the flowers, cupping it gently. "So, what brings you here, Cloud?"

Cloud did not know what to say without making himself feel foolish. How could he tell someone he just met the reason he was intruding in on her was because he was drawn to this place. He could just see this girl, Aerith, laughing at him or finding him to be completely loony. However, remaining silent seemed to cause Aerith to look up at him, she frowned slightly.

"Is something wrong?"

Cloud looked at her, his sapphire orbs meeting her emerald ones. He wondered if maybe now he offended her in some way. How more awkward could this get for him? Cloud lowered his gaze trying to figure something out when he noticed Aerith was moving closer to him.

"Hm…" she studied him.

Cloud swallowed hard. He was taken aback by her sudden closeness. She stared into his eyes causing Cloud to stiffen.

Her smile reappeared on her face as she clapped her hands together. "Beautiful!"

Beautiful, what was beautiful. Cloud looked around. Did she mean the flowers or maybe the church? What could possibly be beautiful?

"What's beautiful?" he asked.

Aerith giggled curling one of her hands in front of her mouth to cover up her continuous laugh. Cloud arched and eyebrow. Another giggle or two escaped from her.

"Your eyes," she finally admitted. "They're beautiful."

A tinge of red appeared on Cloud's cheek. Aerith noticed the embarrassment. She held her hands behind her back and Cloud found himself unable to look away from her, despite the embarrassing compliment. He wondered why he was drawn to this place when he came but he found it hard to leave when he met her, as if she wove some spell over him. He took a step toward her.

"YOU! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The two turned toward the door to see a man with silver hair hanging over his face and two jade green eyes glaring at them.