Chapter 1

Hana was not someone whom many would refer as extraordinary. She was abandoned in an orphanage in a small town in Kentucky shortly after she was born. From the stories she had heard from her caretaker, there was a note indicating that her name was Hana, with no other information about her parents �" or when they were coming back for her. From her appearance, her caretakers assumed she was Asian, with no strong indicators on which country her parents could have come from, specifically. Hana grew up to be quiet and distant from other children in the orphanage. She was not very good at making friends because of her timid and shy attitude.

 When Hana turned 9, she was adopted by an infertile couple that was hoping that bringing a child into their relationship would improve the dynamics within the family. It was a surprising choice made by the couple, not only because Hana was older than most of the children and because she didn’t really stand out, but also because the couple were both of American birth; referred commonly as, White. James was in his late thirties, a stoic software programmer who spent many hours in the office, rarely coming home. Lauren, slightly older than James, worked as a clerk in a small Bank in the town. As a “doting mother-material” as she would call herself, she tried really hard to make Hana blend in as a family. Despite Lauren’s efforts, it took a while for Hana to open herself up to her new parents. She was not confident that her parents would love her, and so she was scared of losing them. Lauren and James tried their best in making Hana feel at home. Even when she had been given expensive toys, good food and constant affection and attention from Lauren, Hana started addressing them as “Mom” and “Dad” only after couple of years.

Shortly after Hana started her 6th grade, Lauren had developed a suspicion that James was cheating on her. Several weeks of yelling and fighting followed, which on those days, Hana would quietly curl up in her bed, hoping it would end soon. By the time Hana was in her 8th grade, Lauren had turned very cold and indifferent to the occurrence in the household, and sadly, to Hana as well. Lauren started coming home late, and as months went by, Hana was mostly alone at home.  

Hana was not doing well at school either; although she was doing well on written work, she had “poor verbal skills”, as her teachers would say, she would hardly recite and refused to do any kind of public speaking. She was still not good at making friends, as few barely tolerated her passive personality. When she got to 9th grade, she started getting bullied by other students at school. Her locker was often filled with trash, and during lunch, students would push and trip her, laughing at her making a mess on the cafeteria floor and her clothes. However Hana never fought back, nor said a word about how the students treated her. Her teachers tried to approach her and talk to her about it, but she always remained passive during the consultations, hoping the teachers would do something about it. She would often get bullied until she would resign into her safe haven - the library. She was often left alone in the library by herself, as she pretended to read books she wasn’t really interested in.

Hana constantly reminded herself that Lauren loved seeing her read, the only time Lauren didn’t have to try pleasing me, she thought. Library was not really a happy place for Hana; she was always hungry because she skipped lunch, and she was often dwelling on the mistakes she made when she was forced to recite in her Biology class prior to lunch, and she was not very interested in reading any of the books in the library.

Yet she stayed, because she was not bullied and nobody was interested in her there. However, it wasn’t such bad place because it was also there where she met a boy named Anthony, a tall boy with short wavy blonde hair, with bits of freckles on his nose, sweet smile and soft voice. Anthony was two years older than Hana, and he was an avid reader. He also spent most of his time in the library, and he was also the first one to approach Hana and tried socializing with her.

 At first Hana avoided Anthony for few weeks, and observed him from few tables away. She realized that Anthony was genuinely a nice person, friendly and warm. He always left sweets on her table, as he left the library, which Hana gladly devoured as she was always starving from skipping lunch. Hana gradually came to an understanding that Anthony wanted to be friends with her, and so she stopped avoiding him.

Upon realizing that Hana was somewhat opening up, Anthony started greeting her whenever he saw her, and eventually Hana had let him sit down on her table, letting him read beside her. Occasionally, Anthony would recommend a book to Hana, and he would find her reading it the next day. Anthony still brought her sweets, and left them on the table whenever he left. 

Hana felt like she had finally made a connection with someone.

After few weeks of timid “Hello”, to Anthony’s surprise, it was Hana, who first greeted him when they saw each other in the Library one cloudy afternoon.  Hana bravely invited Anthony to sit down across her and anxiously brought up a conversation about the book she had read the other day.

“I have really enjoyed reading The Bellmaker. Thank you for recommending it.” Hana whispered.

“It’s my first time hearing you say more than “Hi” and “Thank you”.” Anthony answered her with a face in awe, and flashed his sweet smile which made her heart skip a beat.

“I.. thought I should try talking to you this time.” Hana smiled, relieved of Anthony’s reply.

“Great idea. Here, I got something different for you today” Anthony fidgeted through his jean pocket and pulled out some sweets for her and laid them on the desk.

“You like them right?” He carefully asked, as if to confirm his worries.

“Yeah, I do. Thank you.” Hana timidly grabbed a sour candy and popped it in her mouth.

“But they’re not allowed in here, Anthony.” Hana reminded Anthony.

“Oh, crap.” Anthony quickly hid the rest in his pocket, quickly signaling Hana to be quiet about it.

Hana smiled a bit and covered her face with the book. No, she wasn’t reading the book, as she was consumed with replaying the conversation in her head over and over wondering if she said anything silly, or if she was making a stupid face. Feeling her stomach churn, she glanced by the corner of her eye and saw Anthony reach out to grab a book from the shelf, and settle down in his seat to read. As she sat still on her chair, she mind was going wild, imagining how her relationship with Anthony would develop from this point onwards. She wondered if this short exchange meant they were ‘friends’, or if Anthony had felt something else for her. Maybe he likes me? Her head was filled with questions she did not dare to ask.

Days went by quickly with Hana spending her time in the library sitting across or next to Anthony, reading. She was beginning to enjoy school a little bit more. Once in a while Anthony invited her to eat lunch together, although the bullying didn’t stop, at least the girls did not blatantly tried to make her trip and fall whenever she was with Anthony. Hana was not sure if Anthony was aware of the fact that she was being bullied. Anthony was not really a popular in school, but he was good friends with many. Probably they don’t want Anthony to think badly of them Hana thought. She could still not stop herself from hearing them snickering at her, commenting how awkward and scrawny she looked in her clothes she probably wore in hopes of impressing Anthony. Hana could not help herself but to feel extremely self-conscious of herself whenever she was with Anthony.

One sunny afternoon of early April, Anthony as he always does, sat down across Hana. However that day instead of a small talk, he handed her a slip of paper.

“I am going to apply for some volunteer work in the library. We won’t get paid for this, but I thought you might want to join me, since you love reading books?” Anthony asked Hana, smiling.

Hana was ready to gladly accept the offer, delighted with the thought of being able to spend more time with Anthony.

“My girlfriend will also join us by the way. I thought it would be great if you could be friends with her too. She’s really nice, I promise.” He added.

 Hana’s stomach sank, but she accepted his offer. She spent the day thinking that she was stupid to think that Anthony may have been interested in her in any romantic way. But he did say that he wants us to be friends too, I guess that means he considers me as a friend. She comforted herself with the thought of making a new friend. I hope she’s nice. Hana thought as she walked down the packed hallway to the library. Her classes ended early today, and she wanted to see what she can do in the library before she headed home. Ignoring the scoffing of other students in the hallway, Hana entered the library. She was not surprised to see Anthony standing by the counter, going through some list, with a short girl standing next to him, who turned to look at Hana. She had short bob hair, beautiful olive skin, with pretty big eyes and nice figure. She smiled at Hana and nudged Anthony, and Anthony turned to see Hana approach them.

“Olivia, this is Hana. Hana, this is Olivia, my girlfriend.” Anthony introduced the two.

“Hi Hana. Nice to meet you!” Olivia came around the counter to hug Hana.

“Nice to meet you too, Olivia.” Hana awkwardly wrapped her arms around Olivia. Hana remembered Olivia by face. She was sometimes with the students who snickered when few of her friends bullied Hana in the cafeteria. She was in the same grade, and Hana had no hard feelings against Olivia, since many students aside from her laughed when she tripped or fell, and thought she shouldn’t let herself bothered with the fact. Olivia was indeed seemingly nice person; she constantly actively engaged conversations with Hana, and she always smiled, laughed, and made jokes with Anthony, making Hana laugh.

Although Hana was disappointed with the fact that Anthony had a girlfriend, she was relieved that Olivia was nice and was willing to be friends. She firmly believed that if they became good friends, maybe Olivia would stop her friends from bullying Hana. The three of them spent their after class hours in the library, tending to the books. Olivia and Hana became good friends; Olivia’s had that sensitive yet welcoming personality that eased Hana whenever she was with her. Hana went back home much later than she did usually, and it did not bother her or her parents at all; it even filled her with strange excitement that she was doing something out of ordinary.

When Hana thought nothing could get even better, she met Mahya by the bridge. Several blocks down the street from her house, the bridge was made way back before Hana was born, back when the town was expanding the residential area back in late 1970s. The bridge had no name; it was old and no longer used much than by stray cars passing by. The streetlights on the bridge were old and placed very distantly, so Lauren warned Hana not to cross that bridge, but Hana never listened.

One night when Hana was rushing to get back home for dinner, she decided to take her time and explore the view from the middle of the bridge. She saw the patches greenery that was scattered alongside the river banks, and the black river that was flowing very calmly along its path. Although she could not see much, she admired the moon and stars that shined brightly in the clear dark sky. Feeling a strange sense of relief, she dropped her bag and stretched while yawning. Feeling like a cat who has found her favorite spot, Hana leaned on the parapet and closed her eyes. She briefly thought of jumping off the bridge, wondering what would happen to her. Will I die? Will it hurt? What then? What about Anthony and Olivia? What about Lauren and James? Will they miss me?

Hana opened her eyes when she heard footsteps from the distance. She got scared, knowing she would not be able to identify the stranger until it was too late for her to run away. She quickly grabbed her stuff and briskly walked away from the bridge. She suddenly felt a hiss of cold breeze on her face and someone yanked her arm violently and made her turn around. Shocked, Hana struggled and threatened the offender that she will scream, but when she saw the stranger, she was struck with wonder and she just stared at her stranger.

The stranger was a tall beautiful woman with brownish copper hair that glistened by the moonlight. Her skin was glowing white as snow. Her eyes was most ethereal, they had a color of molten gold, a very distinct color that stood out in the darkness. The stranger seemed as struck with wonder as Hana was, assuming by the expression on her face. She was definitely older than Hana, probably in her thirties, and she was wearing what seemed like a huge dark colored oversized cloak, with leather boots that seemed out of style. Hana wasn’t sure if it was her clothing or her appearance, the air around the woman was different; she seemed almost ephemeral.

The stranger’s pretty copper brows creased and her eyes formed clear teardrops. She was staring into Hana’s eyes, with pain radiating from her expression. Hana felt bad for the stranger. The stranger kneeled in front of Hana and cried her eyes out that night. Hana awkwardly sat beside her, gently patting her shoulder. The stranger did not respond to any of Hana’s questions, she curled up beside the bridge and cried her eyes out. When Hana realized it was getting late, she stood up and the stranger looked at Hana with tear-filled eyes, silently begging her not to go. Hana, not knowing what to do apologized, then left her coat around the stranger and hurried back home.

The following evening, Hana lingered around the bridge late at night hoping to see the stranger again. When she was about to give up, she felt the breeze once more, and this time, without a sound the stranger appeared from nowhere and surprised Hana by putting her cloak around her. When Hana turned her head to see the stranger, she looked somewhat shorter, smaller and younger. She now only seemed slightly older than Hana, maybe in early twenties. She was wearing different clothes that night, simple thin knitted long sleeves with dark jeans and plain white sneakers. Yet she still had that ephemeral quality in her.

“Who are y-“

“Mahya.”

“Mahya” Hana repeated the stranger’s name, feeling a weird sense of nostalgia.

“I’m Hana, Hana Williams.”

“I’ve looked everywhere for you, I wanted to return this coat to you.” The stranger’s voice was several pitches lower than Hana.

“Thank you. You look very different today. I mean, you look really good.” Hana hoped she had not offended the stranger.

“I thought this would make you feel less… distant from me.” Mahya admitted.

“But you look so much younger. How did you do that? Is that Magic?” Hana curiously asked.

“Maybe it is, or Maybe it’s not? I am glad we have finally met.” Mahya smiled and stretched like a cat she leaned on the parapet just like how Hana did yesterday.

Hana just stared at her admiringly, hoping to hear more about her. Mahya didn’t say anything, she just stared off at the distance.

“Why did you want to meet me?” Hana could hear her heart beating, she was getting excited.

“Because, fate?” Mahya reached out to hold Hana’s hand and smiled.

It was so surreal that such beautiful person said that they’re fated to Hana. She was confused, and overwhelmed with what she heard. Maybe she has something to do with my real parents?  Hana was determined to find out, and she was not going to let someone so strange, mysterious and supernatural disappear without giving her a satisfactory answer. She held Mahya’s hand firmly and asked.

“What does the fate has to do anything with us? This might sound crazy, but… do you know my real parents? Are we related?” Hana trembled in nervousness. Mahya turned slowly and faced her.

“I don’t know about your parents, I’m really sorry.”  

“Oh, please don’t apologize. It’s okay. I just thought…” Hana didn’t believe her.

“Your hand is really warm Hana, how old are you?” Mahya quickly changed the topic.

“I am 15, but I’m turning 16 really soon. How about you?” Hana fidgeted, embarrassed by Mahya’s comment.

“I don’t know, I forgot how old I was long time ago.” Mahya said sadly.

 “Uhm, please I hope this doesn’t offend you, are you a ghost?” Hana asked cautiously.

Mahya bursted into laughter and pulled up their adjoined hand.

“Do I seem like a ghost to you?”

“But… you change your looks and you don’t know how old you are, you look really different, your hair your eyes, it’s not something I see around here.”

“Is that bad?” Mahya sadly asked.

Hana was getting confused with the woman or girl, she seemed happy one moment and sad in the other. Hana looked down, frustrated, that the woman seemed to be avoiding all her questions.

 “No, you look really beautiful. Out-of-this-world-kind.”

“But you are very beautiful too Hana.” Mahya stood in front of Hana and smiled.

“I hope I was.” Hana quietly exclaimed, remembering how Olivia looked.

Moment of silence passed in between the two, Mahya not knowing what to say, and Hana bummed, envious of Mahya’s appearance.

“How are you doing at school?” Mahya asked.

“I am doing fine.” Hana looked around. It was dark, and strangely the street seemed unnaturally quiet.

“It’s getting late. Don’t you have to go home?” Mahya playfully asked.

“I have to but..”

Mahya could see Hana hesitating, not wanting to leave her. Such a sweet girl. Mahya smiled. “You should go.”

“Will you be here again tomorrow night?” Hana looked into Mahya’s eyes, hoping to see her confirm.

“Of course, so see you tomorrow, okay?” Mahya, grinning, waved Hana off. 

Hana reluctantly picked her bag up, and walked off towards her house. When she turned around to glance, Mahya was already gone. Hana stood there awhile staring into nothing with a dumbstruck expression.

Hana couldn’t sleep that night, thinking of the mysterious encounter she had with the pretty woman-girl person. She couldn’t wait for morning to come so that she could tell about Mahya to her friends.

Olivia was sure thrilled, but Anthony signed disinterested and went back to clearing the bookshelf. Slightly disappointed that Anthony was not interested, Hana promised Olivia that she would ask Mahya if Olivia could meet her. That afternoon, Hana bought some cookies and milk from the cafeteria, hoping to share it with Mahya by the bridge. As she expected Mahya appeared again out of nowhere, demanding her food from Hana.

“Why are you always by this bridge, Mahya?”

“I just like it here.” Mahya was nibbling on the cookies Hana brought her.

“I really like this place too, it makes me calm.”

“It gets boring though. Waiting is such a boring thing to do.” Mahya sighed. Before Hana could react, Mahya quickly followed it up with a question. “Tell me what happened to school today.” Then she emptied the bottle of milk Hana brought her with a couple of gulps.

Startled with Mahya’s behavior, Hana made a mental note to bring her more milk tomorrow. Hana developed a bizarre relationship with Mahya, she brought her food whenever she visited her on the bridge, and she talked about her life, how she was abandoned and was adopted, how her new parents were and how they were now. Hana talked briefly about her being bullied, and talked mostly of Anthony. Mahya would eat the food she brought her, laugh and cry at her stories, giving her rather peculiar suggestions like confessing to Anthony. Hana would deny her feelings towards Anthony, reminding Mahya of Olivia. Hana became good friends with Mahya, and Mahya got younger and younger each evening she saw Hana, until she became to look the same age as Hana.

“I have been waiting for such a long time to meet someone like you Hana.” Hana glanced at Mahya who was sitting just next to her. Mahya leaned her head on Hana’s shoulder and continued “You have no idea how I feel right now, sitting next to you. It feels so unreal.”

Hana assumed that Mahya must have been lonely like she was, she was always eager to hear from Hana. It made Hana feel good, that someone actually ‘liked’ her presence and wanted her. Mahya needed her. It had brought Hana an extreme satisfaction she could not express through words. It soon became a habit to Hana to sneak out of the house late at night, hoping to see Mahya. She had become a different kind of friend, different from Olivia and Anthony, someone she could say everything and anything to. Although Hana was scared that Mahya would disappear one day and never come back, she pushed her fears down and reached out for her, she constantly convinced herself that Mahya needed her, and she needed Mahya.

April soon went by, and May came. It was almost time for prom in Hana’s school, and all the seniors and juniors were feeling frisky and thrilled to the upcoming event. Hana knew that she had nothing to do with this school event until she had heard the rumors behind her back that Anthony was planning to ask Hana out to prom instead of Olivia.

“Ridiculous rumors!” Hana exclaimed to herself as she reached the bridge with her backpack full of food she took from home.

“What rumors?” Mahya asked while setting the thin blanket Hana brought.

“People are talking about Anthony asking me out for prom! Unbelievable!”

“What is prom?” Mahya was digging into Hana’s bag, going through the food.

“It’s some sort of graduation party for seniors and juniors.” Hana sat down angrily on the blanket, just watching Mahya pull out a big bag of chips and bursting it open.

“Party?”

“It’s an occasion where people come dressed up, drinking and dancing?”

“So it’s like a ball?”

“Mhmm, I think they call it Prom Ball in some places.”

“So what’s the problem? Shouldn’t you be happy?” Mahya laid her head down on Hana’s lap and munched on the chips.

“Well, you see, Anthony is not interested in me in any romantic way, and he has a girlfriend that’s really pretty, and this rumor is so stupid that people are even talking about it.” Hana sighed and added “Plus, we’re just friends.”

“Girlfriend? They weren’t betrothed?” Mahya raised one eyebrow.

“Anthony and Olivia? No, they’re dating. Why would you think they were married?” Hana laughed.

“Because you told me before that they were ‘together’.” Mahya licked her fingers. “If they aren’t, I don’t think you should mind it. In fact, shouldn’t you be happy?”

Hana blushed. “That’s silly Mahya, I am not suitable for Anthony. I can’t even match up to Olivia’s looks. And Olivia is such a nice person; I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings or to make her think that I have feelings for Anthony. We’re all friends now, you know? I am sure people are just making it up to break our friendship. Or to make me look stupid.”

“Whatever you say Hana.” Mahya shrugged and started chugging the milk.

 

Hana’s premonition was soon found out to be true. Few days later, during lunch time, couple of girls dragged Hana out of the library forcefully to the school grounds, where she found several other students were waiting for her. She was then cornered to a small gap that was present between school buildings. The rear was guarded by two tall junior boys, and quickly enough the gap was filled with girls pushing and cursing at Hana, calling her s**t. A pretty blonde girl closest to Hana started slapping her, asking why she had flirted with Anthony, when Olivia had treated her so well. Hana raised her head to say something in disavowal and she saw Olivia among the crowd, quiet, staring at her straight.

This must be Olivia’s doing Hana thought. She didn’t really like me in the first place. Hana just stared at her feet. Annoyed with Hana’s silence, the blonde girl declared that Hana must be a s**t and that she didn’t even denied it. The other girls started spurting insults to Hana. She was further pushed into the corner, slapped, punched and kicked. One of the girls passed scissors, and the blonde girl started cutting Hana’s clothes. Hana did not resist, she just stood there, looking down, quiet as a mouse. As the blonde girl finished cutting Hana’s undergarment, the girls hushed in silence hearing the boys alerting that someone was coming. Quickly some of the girls opened way for Anthony to squeeze in to get to Olivia. Anthony saw Hana in the corner, now bending down to cover her tattered clothes with her small arms. She looked up to glance to the new person who arrived, and saw Anthony. Their eyes met briefly, and Anthony without saying anything, turned to Olivia, whispered something to her ears and left the gap. The rest of the girls snickered as they left with Olivia. In a matter of minutes, Hana was left alone in the dark gap. She felt her hot blood rushing to her face, a sharp twinge of pain in her chest. Her body tensed up but she didn’t cry. Soon enough the pain disappeared, and Hana felt nothing. Hana couldn’t feel the stones digging into her knee and calves, nor could she feel the cold walls touching her back. Her vision gradually dimmed and darkness came.

 

In the darkness where Hana couldn’t see nor feel anything, not even herself, she heard a low pitched voice of a woman. “I vaguely remember how you look.” She felt a soft touch on her cheeks. “I am sure you wouldn’t mind even if I changed it to how I remember you.” She felt the warm caress instantly spread to her whole body. Hana felt her body floating in a warm breeze.  “I yearn for your soft voice, whispering love to my ears. Your loving gaze, your sweet touch I can’t forget.“  Hana felt her hair being touched in a gently manner, lulling her to sleep. “It won’t be easy, but I trust you’ll do well.  I hope you’ll find what you’ve been looking for. I hope this time you’ll make the decision you won’t regret. It’ll take a while for us to meet… but I’ll always be waiting for the moment we see each other again.” Hana felt a gentle cool breeze, and slowly the warmth that was enveloping her body slowly faded away. “It pains me that you won’t remember our encounter, but I was none the happier to have met you.” The woman’s voice faded away, and Hana opened her mouth to respond but her mouth was rapidly filled with cold water, and in shock she choked and struggled for air but her limbs were being pushed down by the weight of cold water.

 

Hana opened her eyes in shock, screaming and kicking whatever was pushing her down. When her eyes adjusted to the dim candle light coming from the small table beside her bed, she saw a skinny young girl with straw yellow hair by her bed. Thinking she was not a threat, Hana stopped kicking the girl. The young girl did slowly let go of Hana’s arms and legs, and rushed out of the door before Hana could say anything. Hana tried to sit up but her head felt too heavy to lift. She felt dizzy, and she was feeling very weak. She could feel a dull pain on her arms and legs, and it worsened as she attempted to move herself. She was breathing heavy when she saw a figure of short middle aged lady slam the door open shouting unintelligible gibberish to the young girl who accompanied her and rush to her bedside. The lady placed her plump hands on Hana’s forehead and continued talking in gibberish Hana couldn’t understand. Then Hana lost her consciousness.

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

All corrections, comments and suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!