. . .
Date: April 4, 1994
Location: Lee Song’s Residence
. . .
I have no idea for how long I had been standing there staring and gaping like a fish but even so, it couldn’t have been that long (or at least, that’s what I wanted to believe) because I swear to God, I very nearly jumped right out of my skin when I heard the sudden sound of the front door being unceremoniously slammed open then shut. W-why… why on earth did Aunt Lee have to come back so early?!
I… I would never be able to get back in my bedroom on time–and even if I did, who’s to say that she wouldn’t be suspicious if she saw me hovering anywhere near her room when I’m usually fast asleep in my bed during this time?
Should I tell her the classic excuse that I actually had a history of sleepwalking? Or maybe I was on my way to the bathroom but somehow got the hallways mixed up since I was still half-asleep? How about I got hungry and was on my way downstairs to having a midnight snack?
What if she doesn’t even believe any of my excuses?!
With my heart nearly leaping right out of my throat, I hurriedly slipped inside her creepy bedroom before I could even think of any better ideas and with shaking, fumbling hands (because I can hear her footsteps were now rapidly coming closer, louder and louder–!) and by some miracle I have managed to close the door without making any sort of noise behind me.
The room was dim with only the scattered candles settled about serving as my only light source and there’s no other furniture (except for the table) and Aunt Lee will definitely notice me if I tried to curl right on the large windowsill because I’m definitely too big to hide in there…
So there really was only one place to hide.
Frantically making my way over the candles, trying not to knock a single one of them down lest I set the room on fire, I somehow managed to crawl in under the only available furniture in the room rather successfully and immediately curled into a fetal-like position with my hands curled into tight fists in front of me to keep them from shaking (and in that one moment, I was so thankful that I’m skinny enough) until I managed to make myself fit underneath the large table despite the uncomfortable but still tolerable position I put myself in… I’m definitely going to get pins and needles for this aren’t I?
I tried to shift some more just to keep myself smaller but only felt the wooden surface digging on my cheek rather painfully. I froze just in time to hear the door being slammed open.
…And then, there was a somewhat ominous click.
It took my brain a few seconds to realize what it meant.
She… she locked the door!
How can I get out of here now?! I don’t want to be trapped in here all day until my grouch of an aunt leaves for one of her stupid, nightly walks again. I don’t even want to be in here!
Holding my breath to keep myself from freaking out because I am totally freaking right now–wait, what is she doing? I squinted in confusion as I made out Aunt Lee’s pale, bony feet slapping loudly against the floor, almost hurriedly through the slight tear of the cloth.
Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice her unwanted audience or seemed to suspect anything was out of order because without further ado, she suddenly kneeled right in front of me.
Dread instantly pooled in my stomach.
No, she…
She’s…!
Aunt Lee was on her hands and knees in front of the table–maybe it was supposed to be an altar or was it the weird stone–and seemed to be praying if the mumbled gibberish would-be words she kept on repeating on loop can be even considered as a prayer.
Shadows splayed over one side of her face.
Then the mumbling grew louder.
…Louder and louder until I was so sure that my eardrums are about to burst any moment now. But even as my aunt continued to scream the words out (if this is what she had been doing after all this time, how could I have possibly slept through all this?!), I still couldn’t understand what on earth she was saying or what could it even possibly meant.
I gritted my teeth to stop myself from making any noise and desperately tried not to be weirded out too much by her behavior–I was so sure my aunt was seriously crazy there and then–when I suddenly noticed a squirming bundle she had placed beside her.
I had been too distracted by my aunt’s strange antics but then I realized that the bundle was also making some noises. It reminded me of that one time I was asked to look after for a…
I held my breath.
No.
No wait, it couldn’t be…!
She wouldn’t–!
Without a warning, Aunt Lee suddenly rose up into her feet like a wave with a speed that looked far too unnatural to be even possible and without hesitation, stomped on it, once, twice, thrice–
And I instantly felt sick to my stomach.
Very, very sick especially when I heard a bone-chilling crunch beneath my aunt’s foot that was now smeared in a dark, sickly red that looked too stark against her pale skin in the dim light.
…Because it had been crying.
A baby, I realized, numbly, that was a baby.
“May the oceans run dry,” Aunt Lee was saying in English now, in that same sing-song tone, gathering the broken bundle to her chest, now cradling it almost lovingly as she eerily swayed side to side, blood steadily dripping down her arms in thick rivulets, “… may the earth shatter as the sun extinguishes itself. May the distant stars fall upon Your Name!”
Then, she hurled it down to the floor.