Ch. 5 Her Questions

Life could have never been so strange and problematic. He had only questioned once on each incident. First, when Mrs. Eve, or Auntie Eve, he'd  like to call her, had never come again after the New Year's Eve when he was six. She was found in a Pine Forest near the cliff that led to Old Pier Beach. Her body could not be identified because she was burnt to death.

The rescuer team found her necklace along with another body, assumed to be a man, also hardly able to be identified. Luckily, Rosaline, her daughter and then became his "sister", survived the accident.

She was found near the bushes.

Second incident was a blast which happened in the basement of their house,  destroying all of his father's new experiments and inventions, and worse it also destroyed their house.

The Falling Angel of Fire Part 8

Once her cell phone crashed onto the floor, her heart stopped beating. Her eyes widened and the cold from the floor crept through her bones, leg and up to her jaws, and suddenly... she froze.

Time stopped ticking and she barely moved, but her body spontaneously reacted. Her brain pushed her organs to work and her heart to start a pulse again, but it was too fast. She gasped. Her chest almost exploded. SHE MUST GET OUT!

"WHY?!" She sobbed. "Why?!" 


Her eyes searched for the sky, demanding a reason, but there was only silence -- no answer, no response, until finally she bowed down, helplessly. This is so cruel -- unfair.
 
Why is this had to happen?
Why?

Her tears fell out. Her shivering hands grasped her chest, trying to squeeze it to restrain an enormous pain inside. However, the pain was too strong. She lost it. She lost her strength. All she could do was resting on her shuddered knees -- crying for everything was too late.

She could never hear again her laughter,  her smile, and  her anger. Part of her  had gone and no one and nothing could ever replace it.

How could she? How could she not be there beside the person who needed her the most? What was the pain like? Was it hurt so badly?
 
Why it was so suddenly?

If they had not waved for goodbye, if she had taken the other way and changed her mind -- If she wasn't so stubborn-- this would not have happened, or at least she was there next to her when she was needed-- If only she wasn't that selfish.
 
However, it was too late… She could not turn back the time, no matter how bad she wanted to.
 
"Forgive me…"
 
 
Her tears fell like a rainfall, but the heat burned her face while those thoughts raced in her brain. 

She touched her forehead, holding back the fever. The surrounding ground was starting to shake until…

she could not hold on anymore. She staggered and fell  onto the floor.
 

***

Laying there for an hour that seemed like hours, she could feel the chill on her toes from the drops of the falling rain. It seemed as though they wanted to soothe her and to wake her up, but nothing… nothing could ever calm her soul. All she could think of was her mother's smile as she was leaning next to her on that warm and cozy afternoon, but even her image was slowly fading away.

"Don't worry, mom. I'm here with you." She whispered and reached out, trying to grab the images of her mother's hands. However, her mother wasn't there. She had already gone... 

She could not see her smiling face again, nor for her to say the words  she should have spoken to her: gratitude for all the love that her mother had given.
 

***

Faint footsteps in the rain drew her attentions away. It sounded faster and closer. Still, she was motionless. She thought that it was a pedestrian who forgot to bring an umbrella.

She was right.  The man did forget it and because of it, his uniform got soaked, his boot stepped on a puddle and there's no other thought in his mind beside a wish for the rain to subside. However, the rain was getting heavier and his vision became hazy. Some of the water had  seeped into his lower lip. It felt cold, but wait a minute!  Who's that? Was it his wife lying there? Why was she out here? And why she was lying down?  "Lila!!

She recognized his voice. Her body rose and soon, she stood with only her weak and shuddering knees.

 
She scurried towards him -- so fast, he nearly fell backward as she embraced him--  so strong that it made him stunned, looking at her burying her face into his chest. After a moment of shocks, his hands stroked her back, trying to fathom the reasons for her emotional turmoil. It was only this morning when he left her smiling, but now she wept uncontrollably in his arms.
  
"What's wrong, Lila? Why are you crying? What happened?"

With a squeaking sound as she pushed the sobs back down her throat, she cried: "Why didn't she tell me…Why? "

"What ? What she should say, Lila? Who's she?" 
 
"She's gone, Dave. She's gone …. My mother..."
 
Dave stunned. He could hear her clearly, but still... he could not believe it either.


***


After they went inside, he changed her clothes.  Her body shivered in cold. Her face seemed so … empty. He made her a cup of hot milk, but when he turned around, she had already curled up in the bed. 
 
As he sat on the side of the bed -- looking at her, the trace of tears was visible on her cheek that used to be blushed when she was smiling.  That night,  he could only see her sorrow as she closed her eyes and  mentioned "Mother"  several times.
 
 If only he could take away her sadness for his own was also torn into pieces seeing the tears on her face, but helpless as she was, he could not do anything to make them go away.
 
So .... he stroked her hair and wrapped his arms around her to make her feel comfort  and loved. Then carefully,  he kissed her on her forehead as his fingers wiped the tears away from her face. 

 
"I'm here, love. You're not alone…  I promise I will never leave you…"

The Falling Angel of Fire Part 7

 

When the clock struck for the ninth time, the lonely Unicorn was still dancing to celebrate the warmth of love that filled the room. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the face of her beloved daughter. Many years have passed, but for once, she felt she had done something right. Her heart had never felt so warm and peaceful. Even though Lila's eyes were still closed,  she was cherishing every second with her mother-- on the lap of the woman who once fought with death only to let her live.