Chapter 3- The Path You Choose To Take

I sit in the bedroom my aunt set up for me. I´m hot and sweaty. My face is bright pink of shame. I knew the death of my mom and sister was my fault. I heard the bombs. I should´ve warned them. Mom asked me to play with them, I neglected her. I was so angry about this so called holiday that I was awful. I cry now. I hug myself desperately trying to comfort myself. I cling onto my most vivid memory of my mom and sister.

We´re at the beach. Eun-Ja is building a sand castle. I´m wading in the water with my mom, Bae-Cho, laughing and spraying water at her. She sprays me back. I trip on seaweed and fall. I´m going down, down, down deep into the bottom of the water. My world goes black and dark. I feel drowsy and weary. Mom reaches in and pulls me up. She carries me to shore. I feel all her strength pushing down on my stomach. I feel her cold, dry lips on mine. Oxygen floods my body. I feel the small strength of Eun-Ja press my stomach too. I feel a sense of relief. I see a giant, bright, white light of emptiness and then suddenly a flood of my surroundings. I open my eyes and smell the fresh air. I feel Eun-Ja wrap her arms around me making me smile.

I lay in bed crying hard now. I want to vanquish. Aunt Hae-Won rushes in with a worried expression on her face. I want to hug her. I want to wrap my arms around and pull her close. I want to cry to her. To tell her everything. I don´t though, I´m not a baby even though right now I want to be. "When you cry it doesn´t mean your weak, it means you´ve been strong for too long," was what my mom would always tell me before she hugged me and sat holding me as I cried it out. 

" You okay?" asks Aunt Hae-Won.

I nod before I remember Aunt Hae-Won doesn´t tolerate silent answers.

" Yes. Just a little tired, that´s all." I weakly respond

" You sound tired, but also sad."

" I just don´t feel all that well. I´m fine. Queasy stomach."

" Ya know, your mom used to pull that trick with me. What´s really up?"

" It´s all my fault!"

" What´s your fault?"

" That my sister doesn´t get to live to be nine, that my mom´s not around to go to Paris next week, and you´re stuck with me. I´m so sorry everything happened. I shouldn´t have ignored her. I was angry. I´m sorry."

" Your mother loved you dearly and your sister. She texted me before she died. She was going home to find you. Said she wanted to make sure you were okay. She was worried. It´s not your fault. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens."

" Now it´s even more my fault. You´re acting like you don´t even miss her!!!"

" I miss your mom, my sister very much. We were very close when we were kids. We played dolls a lot and sneaked candy bars and soda at midnight and had sugar sleepovers. I miss her very dearly. You of all people should know that. She was my best friend. When she and your father got married I was the Maid of Honor. You know that. Speaking of your father, he called today. Wants to check up on you. He was dead in tears. You should give him a call."

" No thanks. Tell him I died too. I don´t want to speak to anyone. Not even him, the man my mother married 19 years ago. Forever ago. Forget it."

" Very well than. It´s your choice. I´ll leave you alone than. Let me know if you need anything."

" Bye."

I felt better now. I knew at once what I had to do. It was fate, my path. The path you choose to take. Mother´s words whirl around in my head.

Reviews

[Syddykitty12]

Oooh! I can't wait to find out what happens next. Is she going to go back to the ghost shack or what? I'm intrigued by this writing and want to know more. YAY! I hope that she goes into the forbidden forest so we find out what's so forbidden about it, and I also hope that she helps to fix Nightmare. More chapters to come. Things are getting HEATED!