The scene outside right by the flower path faintly appeared…
lush flowers, some trees shedding leaves…
some trees completely withered away…
the petals floating gently through the air also slowly shriveled up…
everything went dark…
Out of nowhere!
Ersak snapped wide awake.
“AH…”..
“O..?”.
Ersak stared around the house as a loud yawn echoed out.
Ersak rubbed his eyes with heavy exhaustion and stood up, taking slow steps toward the stairs to go up a floor.
CRACK!
“Ohr?…”.
Ersak looked down below his foot with worn-out eyes.
Under his foot was a dried-up, crisp flower crushed to pieces beneath his step.
A confused look surfaced on Ersak’s face as a thought crossed his mind: “Huh?
Why is there a dried flower inside the house?..” Ersak ignored it and kept heading up: “Whatever…”.
Step by step up the stairs…
“Ahhhh”…
Ersak leaped onto his bed, his eyes slowly shutting close…..
Signals, static lines, everything in front of him looked just like an old broken television right before his eyes….
An image of a person showed up….
a person wrapped in a cloak with a face so dark it could not be seen.
The broken TV static returned again, and when the picture cleared up right in front of him, it was a round table with many people whose faces could not be made out…
More static, then everything became clear.
Right ahead was that uncle….
in Ersak’s eyes, Ersak could see the uncle holding him, running away very fast..
The static lines kept going….
nothing was clear anymore…
just a black color with absolutely nothing there…
Voices rang out non-stop, speaking a language that could not be understood at all…
Everything brightened up just a tiny bit.
Within Ersak’s sight, hands stretching out from the darkness were reaching toward him..
One after another, chaotic scenes flashed by with constant static disturbances…
The images grew more and more!!
Faster and faster!!
More and more static!!….
“AAAAAAA…..”…
a scream burst out….
Ersak jolted awake, sitting straight up on the bed with his hand placed over his heart, breaking out in heavy sweat..
His heart thudded rapidly and hard…
Questions popped up inside Ersak’s head right now: “What the heck was that…..
What did I just dream about!?…”.
Ersak let out a long breath to catch his breath, then stepped down from the bed.
Ersak checked around his room and glanced at the time on the clock.
“It’s only 7 AM….”..
Ersak wiped his face and walked over to the bathroom.
The sound of running water echoed.
Ersak reached out his hands to catch the pouring stream, SPLASH!
a slapping sound rang out as the hands holding the water smacked straight into his face.
Heavy breaths leaked out, one after another…
his face felt loose, chilled and cold.
As his eyes stared down into the sink, a thought surfaced: “I guess I’m just a little tired..?”..
Ersak’s eyelids drooped slightly, and droplets of water dripped down from his face into the basin, drop by drop.
He raised his head slightly, looking straight ahead with eyes full of deep exhaustion.
His eyes shut close along with a long sigh, blowing out a faint white mist.
Ersak turned around, grabbed the towel hanging on the wall, and draped it over his face.
(5 MINUTES LATER) The refrigerator swung open, causing the food and milk containers on the door shelf to wobble.
Ersak peered inside the fridge, pulled out an apple, stared at it for a moment, and then shut the refrigerator door.
He bit into the apple in his hand while walking, stepping slowly toward the sofa right ahead.
“Huh?…”.
A puzzled expression formed on his face, bringing up a question: “Wait, who left this here?”.
His hand reached out, grabbing the envelope resting on the sofa.
His eyes locked onto the writing across the front of the envelope: “Happy birthday Ersak, I don’t have much, but I hope you accept this”…
Signed: “….Uncle Jie”.
A question raced through Ersak’s mind: “When did Uncle Jie come over without me knowing?”..
….
Frozen..
everything went dead silent…
“Let’s see what he got me,” Within Ersak’s sight, one hand held the apple while the other hand tried to open the envelope, which was sealed tightly with glue.
Fumbling around without being able to open it made his face go blank, totally stuck.
He stared at the hand holding the envelope and the hand holding the apple.
Decisively, he shoved the apple into his mouth and bit down hard to keep it from dropping.
Both hands worked together to tear the envelope open.
He focused so hard on ripping it that the apple in his mouth slowly started to slip down.
“Aak!!”.
His teeth clamped tightly together right as the apple was about to fall.
The massive living room right now…
grew quiet without a single sound left…
a stillness so suffocating it felt like there was no air left..
“Ah?!..” an exclamation slipped out in the silent space, his face filled with total confusion and his eyes opened wide.
Looking into the envelope now, there was a necklace with a strange symbol.
Ersak pulled the necklace out and held it up right in front of his face.
His face looked completely dazed with his eyes still wide open, as a question popped up in his head: “Why would Uncle give me something like this?”.
Right before his eyes was a necklace made of a mix of white-gold, deep blue, and purple.
The chain looked like tiny chains interlocking with one another.
The pendant had odd shapes on it, two uneven circles that looked twisted and woven together.
Very strange…
a question surfaced in his mind as Ersak thought: “It looks really weird…
but it’s pretty nice too”.
Thud, thud, thud..
fast, hurried footsteps echoed, coming from the staircase.
He snapped his head around to look.
It was Ersak’s mother, running down in total panic, rushing toward him.
Ersak spoke up, completely puzzled: “What’s wrong, Mom?”.
Ersak’s mother approached in absolute terror, speaking in breathless, broken words: “It’s bad!.
Uncle Jie..
the police said he got into an accident!!”.
“WHAT!??–” a heavy, sharp pang, like a tight squeeze, rang out inside Ersak’s chest.
His eyes filled with panic, his pupils trembling non-stop.
Ersak shook his head in total panic, completely on instinct: “No way…
it can’t be like that…”.
Ersak used his hands to grip his own hair tightly….
“I’M GOING WITH…
‘You stay home…”.” Ersak snapped his head up in complete surprise.
“Ah?…”.
Ersak’s mother gently grabbed his hands and spoke softly: “You stay home.
If anything happens, I’ll let you know later.” Ersak stopped talking, his face softening up.
As soon as his mother finished speaking, she rushed out of the house.
The space went dead silent.
His face lowered with deep worry, staring down at the necklace in his hand…
looking closer…
looking closer at the chain…
Darkness took over…
silent, to the point of being freezing cold…
His body, which was standing straight, wobbled and shook before he popped right down onto the chair.
His body went limp and completely empty.
Everything slowly turned dark…
leaving a blank sheet of blackness: “Uncle…”…
“Uncle, please don’t let anything happen to you…”.
Out of nowhere, images flashed by, one after another…
Uncle Jie leading Ersak along, both eating ice cream and laughing on the street, Uncle Jie taking Ersak to the park to play on the slide, Uncle Jie with Ersak…
moments with his uncle flashed up…
“Uncle…” “You absolutely cannot let anything serious happen to you…”…
“WHOOSH—” outside the window, the sound of a heavy downpour poured down…
A body was curled up sitting on the bed.
The room was dark, full of gloom, and cold to the point of having no color…
so dull it looked lifeless…
His head, which was tilted down, suddenly looked up slightly, showing eyes full of emptiness and loneliness…
his sight…
his bright blue eyes had…
The glowing bright blue eyes from before…
right now only a weak blue color remained…
his eyelids felt heavy and drooped down, full of exhaustion and hopelessness….
“RING RING–” the sound of the clock behind him rang out.
He turned his head over heavily to look at the clock that kept ringing non-stop.
“Sighhh–..” a heavy sigh breathed out.
He climbed down from the bed and walked over to turn off the ringing clock.
(WHOOSH–) outside, the rain grew larger and larger.
Inside, the light was switched on, casting a soft orange-yellow glow.
Footsteps approached gradually.
An arm pulled a chair out, the sound of the chair dragging echoing out (screeech, screeech).
He sat down on the chair and stared out the window without saying a word….
the only thing left in the silence was the sound of the rain falling heavier and heavier.
His shoulders, which were sitting straight, dropped down heavily.
His back went soft as he slumped down over the table.
He lifted his head to look outside.
“Everything will be fine…
right?…” BOOM–!!
A clap of thunder shook the sky, suddenly tearing the silence to shreds.
…
The thunder and heavy rain rang out louder and louder.
Ersak, who was sitting there looking up, seemed to grow smaller and smaller…
moving further away…
Darkness appeared again, covering up everything…
(ZZZ…
ZZZ…
“Huh?…” ZZZ…) the phone vibrated in bursts.
His hand reached out and gripped the vibrating phone tightly.
Ersak picked up the phone and held it right to his ear: “Who is it?”.
On the other end of the line, a voice full of worry spoke: “Ersak!
Where are you right now?”.
Ersak was surprised, his eyes widening slightly as he relaxed a bit: “Ava?…”.
Ersak stood frozen, not knowing what to say, …
…
…
Ava spoke up: “I heard Uncle Jie got into an accident, is that true?”.
“Ah?…” Ersak started: “Ah…
yeah…
my mom said he got into an accident…
I think she just left 10 minutes ago, maybe?…” His eyes darted away, unsure.
Ava kept talking, her voice sounding bad: “Uncle…
why did this happen to Uncle Jie…”.
Ersak slumped his head down on the table, speaking with deep exhaustion: “I don’t know why either…
he’s usually very careful, but…” Ava replied with a puzzled voice: “That really is strange..
he’s normally super careful, right…?”.
Ersak looked out the window and kept talking: “I think it’ll probably be fine, don’t worry too much”.
“Sighhh” Ava let out a sigh and spoke in a very low voice: “You usually get really worked up over things like this, don’t you”.
“Why didn’t you go with your mom?”.
Ersak answered slowly, mixed with sadness: “To be honest, I’m really shocked too, but if I go right now, it’ll just make things more chaotic…” “So whatever, just letting my mom go is fine…” Ava suddenly softened her voice, speaking with deep sadness: “I feel…
so worried for Uncle…
He’s a good person, I hope the gods will bless him.” Ersak’s eyes softened a little bit right now as he said: “You really are something, you’re this old and you still believe in gods and stuff?” Ava snapped right back, raising her voice: “Hey, hey!
If you show respect to the spirits, they’ll bless you, and staying safe means staying careful—you’ve gotta believe too!” Ersak spoke in a relaxed tone: “Well, it’s not like I said I didn’t believe either.” “Let’s face time, it’s too hard to talk like this,” Ava said, and right after finishing her sentence, she tapped the video call button.
Ersak’s phone flashed to life, showing (Accept) (Decline).
Ersak sat frozen.
Both of his feet used force to nudge the chair forward, his toes turning red as they pushed hard against the floor.
The room suddenly fell quiet without a single sound, as if the air was being choked right out…
His finger stopped right next to the decline button.
Then, his finger suddenly switched directions, stretching out to tap accept.
The sound of a finger pressing onto the phone screen echoed (click).
Ersak accepted the video call.
Right away, Ava appeared on the screen…
A girl with sleek, glowing red hair, warm orange-red eyes, wearing a pink and red pajama set.
Ava looked a bit annoyed as she said: “Hey, hey!
Why did you make me wait so long?
Tapping a single button takes that much time?” Ersak kept his head slumped down on the table, moving the phone further away, chuckling as he spoke: “You’re being too difficult now.” Ava crossed her arms and turned her head away, her face tightening up with annoyance before relaxing, turning back around to say: “Wait, so your mom still hasn’t come back yet?” Ersak’s eyes darted away as he said: “Ah, well…
she really did leave a long time ago, but she’s still not back…” “Ava, where are you?” A voice rang out from Ava’s side.
Ava turned around toward her room door and replied: “Yes, what is it, Mom?” Ava turned her head back to the camera talking to Ersak: “Ah, never mind, you should get some rest, I have to do something for a bit.” Ersak answered back: “Yeah, you get some rest too, bye bye.” “Bye bye!” The call ended.
“Sighhh…”.
A heavy sigh echoed within that large room, his shoulders dropping completely loose.
His heavy eyelids, full of deep exhaustion, slowly shut close…
A body curled up over the table gradually drifted into sleep…
everything shrank away, the room…
…everything shrank down into the deep darkness, leaving only the sound of the heavy rain pouring down non-stop…
slowly fading out…
(A period of time later) BOOM–!
“AH!?…” A clap of thunder roared out, causing Ersak, who was lying on the table, to jolt wide awake.
His eyes filled with panic as he stared outside…
A dark, gloomy gray color…
“Something’s not right?…” He stretched out his arm to grab the phone on the table.
The screen displayed (9:12 AM).
“Huh?…” His face was full of sheer panic and worry as he thought: “What…
is Mom actually okay or what?….”.
Suddenly he snapped his head around, his face looking rushed as he popped straight up to run off.
“Something is definitely wrong!” Fast, heavy footsteps echoed out as his feet hit the floor, his heels pressing down hard.
Grabbed his coat…
put on socks…
grabbed an umbrella…
The sound of his rushed running hurried down the stairs, heading straight out.
He pulled his shoes down from the rack, plopped right down on the floor to put them on, his eyes and his pupils trembling with deep anxiety…
He jumped up with force, and right as his hand clamped tightly onto the doorknob…
The sound of a phone ringing burst out.
The hand that was about to open the door yanked right back, reaching into his pocket to pull the phone out.
Looking at the phone screen, a name popped up: (AUNT ELVA – Ava’s mom).
Ersak’s eyes locked onto the screen, and he decisively tapped to accept the call.
“Aunt Elva, is there something wrong?” A moment of silence without any reply…
“Auntie!…’Ersak’.” Ersak hurriedly opened the door and ran straight outside, popping his umbrella open as he dashed off, asking while walking: “Is something wrong, Auntie?” The rain grew larger and larger, and Ersak with his umbrella ran along the street.
Aunt Elva lowered her voice, speaking in a heavy tone: “You have to stay really calm when you hear this.” Ersak was caught off guard, thinking: “Stay calm??
Did something happen??.” His rapid running paces suddenly slowed down…
slowed down.
He stood dead still…
Everything went absolutely quiet, the sound of the rain completely disappearing.
Ersak’s face right now.
His eyes.
Blank.
Lifeless.
His pupils shrinking tightly….
Ersak stood dead in his tracks…
the umbrella in his hand dropped down…
the phone, still in the middle of the call, fell straight into the mud beneath his feet.
Aunt Elva’s words from that moment echoed back…: “Your mother…
the police found her car crashed into a large tree…
right now she is in the emergency room, very weak…”.
A voice rang out: “What?.
Mom?.
Everything.
What does this mean?.
His pupils dilated into blank round holes, you’re kidding me right?
Mom…?”.
“Sob.
Sob.”.
Ersak ran off.
Running faster and faster, rainwater streaming all across his face.
“Mom.
Don’t play with me like that”…
“Sob” Mom is fine, she’s definitely fine…” A forced smile with blank, completely hopeless eyes ran through the downpour.
“Mom…
don’t leave me…”.
Tears fell down drop by drop…
his lips trembled as he tried to hold back his emotions…
screaming out: “MOM!!–“…
…
(Beep, beep, beep) the sound of the heart monitor made continuous beeping noises inside the room.
A completely drenched person sat outside the room, hair soaked flat along with clothes dripping with water…
Drops of water from the tips of his hair dripped down onto the floor, drip drop, as a wiping towel was draped over his head.
Ersak lifted his head slowly…
revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes…
a gray, lifeless face.
The person who draped the towel sat down right next to Ersak.
Speaking up: “Are you okay?…”.
…
Ersak said nothing.
He raised both hands to grab the towel, wiping his own head, and looked over at that person.
It was Aunt Elva…
Aunt Elva’s eyes were full of deep worry as she stared at Ersak.
Ersak lowered his head and said: “I’m okay.” Aunt Elva turned away, speaking with a very heavy voice: “The doctor said your mother is very weak…”.
The air felt heavy, with only the sound of the heart monitor inside the room ahead.
Aunt Elva turned around to look at Ersak…
it felt like all the air was sucked out around Ersak, his two hands interlaced and squeezing tightly together.
Ersak’s face right now did not have a single bit of emotion, his eyes wide open…
Ersak’s voice rang out inside his own mind: “Uncle Jie…
now Mom…
what on earth is happening?…”.
“Why is it like this?
What should I do now?” …
Aunt Elva stood up and said: “I’m going to fill out the admission forms, you sit here.” (Walking away).
Ersak’s face with darkened, wide-open eyes turned blank as a memory surfaced, the scene playing out with people crowded together talking loudly inside an alley.
“Oh my god, who would do something like this” “So cruel” “This is terrifying, I can’t believe something like this happened here” A police car parked close by, its lights flashing continuously, and inside the crowd, the police were doing something around a person lying on the ground, no longer moving.
From the feet…
then moving up slowly, very deep and numerous slashes…
more and more as it went up, reaching the head and then…
That face!
The eyes full of terror, eyes wide open!.
A field agent slowly turned his head around.
“Is he your uncle?”.
“He must have suffered massive pain before taking a fatal slash straight to the neck…”.
“Who could be so cruel…?” The person the field agent was talking to was Ersak, standing there completely soaked as the rain kept falling, left without an umbrella…
The cold sound of rain along with the blaring police sirens rang out, a heavy atmosphere pressing down on his chest, while the murmurs of the crowd kept echoing non-stop…
A face full of terror!
Eyes wide open, pupils shrinking tightly, the surrounding space turning pitch black.
The sound of the police car sirens and the whispering of the people suddenly faded into the darkness, Leaving only Ersak standing frozen in place, his own voice echoing inside his head: “Uncle Jie…
what should I do?…” The memory ended, and Ersak jolted awake, lifting his head to look straight ahead.
The heart monitor let out continuous beeps, one after another, inside the room right in front of him.
At the hospital reception desk, Aunt Elva was signing the admission forms.
The sounds of busy people constantly walking in and out, voices talking, and people chatting on phones filled the air.
While Aunt Elva was signing, a tall person wearing a hoodie with the hood pulled over their head stood right behind her, “Huh?…” Aunt Elva signed quickly and pushed the form to the receptionist.
“I’m finished signing, thank you.” The receptionist took it and smiled, saying: “Thank you, ma’am, the paperwork is all done.” Aunt Elva gave a quick grunt and turned around, but the tall person with the hood pulled up was no longer behind her.
Aunt Elva looked to both sides and saw that person walking toward the right hallway.
She watched the person’s back walk straight ahead and then turn left, vanishing from sight.
Paying it no more mind, she turned around to walk toward the left hallway, Thinking to herself as she walked: “Why does it feel a bit strange?” Reaching the intersection, she turned right while another thought popped up in her head: “Better get back and check on Ersak first,” (disappearing from the straight path).
(Beep, beep, beep) Ersak stood peering through the room window, looking into the pitch-black room where only the machine emitted those sounds.
Footsteps echoed right next to Ersak.
He turned his head toward where the footsteps came from.
“Huh?!”.
“Is that your mother inside?” Ersak looked over and saw a person wearing a white lab coat holding a hoodie in their hand.
That person stepped up next to Ersak, looking into the room.
Ersak immediately spoke up: “That’s my mother.” Ersak’s eyes drooped down as he looked into the room, “You love your mother very much, don’t you?” Ersak let out a soft chuckle, stepping back to sit down on the chair.
“Haha…
that’s my mother, how could I not love her…
right now I want to love her even more, but…”.
The person who looked like a doctor sat down right next to Ersak.
Ersak pulled out his phone, which was covered in mud and dirt, Smiling, he held the phone out to show the doctor, saying: “This is my mother and me when I was one year old.
Really beautiful, right?
Her face and her sparkling bright eyes…”.
Ersak pulled the phone back, scrolling through it while talking: “Oh, and this picture too.” He held the phone out again.
“This is my mother when I was seven years old.
That face is still exactly the same, it never changed, and those eyes too.
So beautiful!” The doctor said: “She really is very beautiful.” The doctor stood up, and a nurse approached out of nowhere, saying: “Doctor!
Come with me quickly, a patient is waiting.” The doctor turned to look at the nurse.
The nurse pulled the doctor away, and as she dragged the doctor off, she turned back and said: “Sorry to have bothered you.” Ersak snapped out of it, suddenly thinking: “Why did I just talk to that doctor like that?”.
Aunt Elva walked up in front of Ersak.
Ersak tilted his head up to look.
Aunt Elva spoke with a gentle voice right away: “Do you want to come stay at my house for a few days?” Ersak was caught off guard: “Y-yes?”…
Ersak lowered his head, his eyes drooping heavily as he said: “I…
I don’t know…”.
Aunt Elva smiled and said: “It’s okay, come stay at my place for a few days and then head back.
It’s late now, and you need to rest too.
The doctors will take care of things here, it’ll be fine.” Ersak stood up and said: “No, thank you, I can go back to my house.
You should go home and rest too, I’ll head back first…”.
After saying that, Ersak walked away.
Aunt Elva watched Ersak leave, then looked back into the room.
Aunt Elva thought: “If possible, please don’t let this boy take any more shocks…
you better hold on and keep living too…”.
(Walking away).
(ONE MONTH LATER) A glass of water tipped over, spilling water all over the table.
The window outside was dull gray and pitch black.
The room was messy, filled with a damp, moldy smell.
The room was freezing cold without a single speck of light, only the deep night darkness…
The air felt heavy.
A person was sitting on the bed…
his face blank, his eyes no longer blue, turning into the color of a despair so suffocating it made it hard to breathe.
Hurried thoughts came rushing in…
the scene of Uncle Jie dying horribly…
the scene…
of Ersak’s mother’s funeral…
“Everyone…”.
Aunt Elva…
Ava…
aunts, uncles…
scenes of every single family member passing away…
The laughing and talking faces gradually vanished, Ersak spoke with a weak voice: “Everyone…
why did you leave me…”…
“Everyone…
is gone…”…
“Mom…”.
Ersak burst out crying in deep pain: “Sob!…
I miss you, Mom!…”.
Weak crying sounds echoed within that wide room, everything completely hopeless, sinking into the deep darkness…
The sound of passing vehicles and traffic echoed without stopping, Looking down from a tall building at the city filled with beautiful lights, below, cars drove back and forth.
A hand gripped the railing.
It was Ersak.
His blank eyes stared up at the sky, the gusts of wind blowing hard against his body.
“What am I living for anymore?…”.
“There’s nobody left…
not a single relative anymore…”.
Streams of tears flowed down Ersak’s face.
“Sob!
Sob!”…
Ersak bowed his head, his tears falling non-stop.
“What did I do…
we were clearly living such a peaceful life…”.
“Mom…
I’m coming home to be with you…”.
Letting his body go, he fell down.
Everything seemed to slow down, his hair floating gently, his eyes slowly shutting close as he gave up on everything.
Ersak slowly fell…
Ersak fell down, the sound of the wind growing louder and louder gradually…
Ersak thought: “Everyone died within just one single month, and the death of each person happened without a single piece of evidence left…” “Even the way they died wasn’t normal.
Some were caught in things like this, while others died completely sudden deaths…
this is clearly not normal!…”.
Suddenly, a person appeared as if standing in mid-air right next to the falling Ersak, a person wrapped in a gold-and-white cloak.
“There is a hidden secret behind this!” That person slowly raised an arm, “Thud…” a hand struck down onto Ersak’s body.
Everything went pitch black…
not a single sound…
the sound of the wind vanished.
Leaving only a blank stillness with nothing left…
everything…
not a single sound…
everything went completely dark….