Chapter 89 - Childhood (1)

12 years ago.

The sky was dark, small bits of rain came pouring over the small village, situated just behind a mountain. Luckily, it was not pouring hard or there will a landslide.

A little girl skipped happily over the puddle of water as rain poured down from the sky. She was on her way home from the village's local elementary school, which was the only school they have.

The little girl was wearing a green raincoat, with a design of a frog cartoon character, coupled with a green boots. She was holding a green umbrella with the same design as her raincoat.

"Little Ayami, are you going home alone? Where's your mom and dad?"

A villager asked out of concern. It wasn't that it was dangerous in the village, in fact, it was completely safe here. Still, seeing a little child going home alone, the villager couldn't help but worry.

"Aunty Su, I'm fine, I'm already a big girl. I'm going to surprise mommy and show her that I can go home alone." Ayami smiled brightly, showing her clean and white teeth. The villager also smiled and nodded her head.

"That's great. Be careful on your way home."

"Okay~"

Ayami waved her hand and started skipping on her way home. In her mind, after she got home she would be praised by her mother. She broke into giggles as she thought about that.

"Hm~ Hm~" She hummed a nursery rhyme, excited to go home.

She passed by a few worrying villagers as she went home. What Ayami didn't know was that she was being watched by them, worried that she might get lost even though the village was small.

In their eyes, Ayami was a cute little girl who was also smart and responsible. They liked this little girl very much.

After a few minutes, Ayami finally reached her home. Their home— well, comparing to her parents' house in the past—it looks like a doghouse. In reality, this was the average size of house in a normal family and this was the same size of the village chief's house.

Once the villagers saw that she was in her home, they sighed in relief and went back to whatever they were doing.

"I'm home~"

Ayami shouted, after opening the door. She waited for a while but there was no response.

'Mommy must not have heard me.' She thought. She closed the door and took off her raincoat and boots. She set aside the wet raincoat along with the umbrella, and yelled again.

"Mommy! I'm home~"

There was still no response. Ayami puffed her cheeks and stomped her feet towards the kitchen. It was where her mother was usually in when she went home with her father.

Noon was the time when her father took breaks from his job and on his way home, he would take Ayami back home to have lunch. After they were finish, he would take Ayami back to school. Since it was just near, they didn't have to worry about being late.

"Mommy?"

However, when she stepped inside the kitchen, there was no one there. Ayami tilted her head. "Is Mommy playing hide and seek?"

And so, she started her search on the first floor but she couldn't find her mother. She tiredly sat down on the floor while her stomach growled.

"Mommy! I'm tired and hungry. Please come out~"

Ayami pouted when her mother still didn't come out. She stood up and went to the second floor of their house.

When she stepped on the stair, she stopped. For some reason, she felt afraid of going up.

THUD!

She heard a loud sound coming on the second floor.

"Mommy?"

Ayami called out, however, she could not hear any noise again. Although afraid, slowly she stepped on the stairs and climbed.

*CRACKLE* *BOOM*

She flinched at the sound of thunder. The rain seemed to have gotten stronger.

"*hic*… M-Mommy…" Her voice trembled as she called out to her mother. Tears welled up on her eyes.

She reached the second floor, it was eerily quiet. The small raindrops knocked on the windows of the hallways.

Ayami called out to her mother in a soft voice. She couldn't even properly stand as her legs were trembling.

One step. Two step.

She took one step at a time towards her mother's room. Another thunder came down, making her stop for a second before continuing.

Finally, after what felt like years, she reached her mother's room. She opened the door, which created a loud creak.

Then…

Everything went black.

***

"Then, what?" Celine asked.

"Then…" Ayami furrowed her brows. She could not remember what happened after she opened the door. Beads of sweat started appearing on her forehead. "I don't know."

"It's fine if you don't remember."

"Let's continue, then."

***

"Honey, I'm home." Dennis shouted, but he didn't hear any response. Strangely, there was no kid running to welcome him home.

He heard from her teacher that Ayami went home by herself. He glanced at the raincoat and boots, sure enough, she had already gone home.

He saw both of his daughter's and his wife's shoes, so they must have not gone out. So, why was there no response?

"Honey? Little Sweetie?"

Something is weird.

He walked in the kitchen; No one was there. There was no sign of it being used, so he crossed out the possibility of them pranking him.

His heart thumped. Dennis had a bad feeling.

He hurriedly ran to the staircase and climbed to the second floor. He checked his daughter's room but she was not there.

Dennis ran to his wife's room, but before he could even near it, he saw his daughter lying on the ground in front of his wife's room.

"Ayami!" Dennis roared out, his footsteps quickening their pace. He hugged his daughter, whole body trembling.

Her body was cold, thankfully, she was still breathing. Before he could sigh a relief, he saw the state of his wife's room through the open door.

Her room was a mess. But what caught his eyes were his wife, lying down beside a shattered mirror, with cuts on her body.

Her eyes that were staring just right at him was lifeless. Her hand was positioned like she was reaching for them.

Dennis felt like the his world shattered just like the mirror, as he screamed his wife's name.

"YUE!"