Reactions and Repercussions

Uncle Traffer neither warned me, advised me, and asked me anything else to express his concern, nor did he reprimand me or rebuke me as I was expecting.

He seemed to be preoccupied with something else entirely. When he was done pondering, he gave us another quick look but when I looked back at him, he instantly shifted his eyes. He told me to follow him again and started walking towards 27th Street. His pace was quite quick, perhaps he was afraid that I would walk closer to him and impose my curse on him as well. It was as if I was carrying some sort of plague.

Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn't have walked as fast as him. I also had to drag Sister Hin, after all.

All this time, she was still able to walk somehow, even after stumbling and shaking like a fallen leaf, even after giggling and acting mindlessly. I merely had to hold her close, but by that time, her legs had begun to stiffen as well. It was making me more and more frightened but there was nothing I could have done. The guilt of my mistakes was far heavier than the weight of her body.

Perhaps, in an effort to compensate for that guilt, I decided to carry her on my back for the rest of the way.

It was already past dinner time, therefore, we didn't meet anyone else on the way. In the small town of Silvermore, the community of people was used to greeting each other early in the morning. If someone came out of their house later than usual the next day, a cluster of their concerned neighbors would crowd at their doorstep. Simply put, people were used to the life of sleeping and waking up early.

Both of our families, however, were bound to be looking for us instead of following customs like that.

When we reached there, I found my mother standing together with Sister Hin's mother in front of the entrance of my house. It was a dimly lit area but concern and worry was apparent on their faces. Both of them were talking in whispers, as if they were afraid of voicing their own thoughts out loud.

The light of the living room was up, which made me realise that my father was tending to a guest inside, who most likely was Sister Hin's father.

Uncle Traffer stopped in front of his house and gave our mothers a shout, "I've found your daughters!" After that, as he walked inside after giving me a slightly menacing look, he didn't forget to shout, "BEWARE, THEY'RE CURSED."

Though I knew that there was a big chance of that being true, having it shouted in front of my face still made me feel like a convict about to hear his punishment from the judge.

Our mothers turned towards us, their faces reflecting their concern. Similar to how I behaved around Uncle Traffer, I looked down at the ground and traced the movements of the ants while my companion hid her face behind my back like a 5-year-old child. This was the first time since the sun set that Sister Hin had stopped giggling for so long.

Even though Uncle Traffer had shouted the second part of his sentence louder, our mothers ignored it, as I heard their steps stop a couple of steps in front of me.

Still, with my head down, the first thing I heard was Aunt Nefaly, Sister Hin's mother, crying and whimpering.

She took her left arm and examined her forcefully, while Sister Hin acted as if her mother was a stranger, and tried to scratch her in defense.

My mother took this chance to come closer to and touch my bruised face and arms as she mumbled, "...just where did the two of you go this time?"

Then, I heard her voice crack a little as she whispered to herself, "How could this happen…h-how?"

Unlike Uncle Traffer, she didn't immediately look upon me with wariness and uncertainty when I told her we had gone to Crimson Lake but the concern and panic in her eyes were at least ten times more intense than before.

She sneakily looked at Sister Hin's missing arm and saw the little patch of darkness still gnawing on her flesh slowly, she quickly peeked back at my body to see if I had been infected by anything like that.

After making sure that her daughter was fine, she shifted her body between me and Sister Hin, who had stopped panicking by now, and her mother, who was crying loudly while tightly hugging her daughter.

Like an infant beast with no sense of awareness, Sister Hin tried to bite her mother's shoulder, a movement that my mother forcibly stopped.

Aunt Nefaly's loud whimpering cries had attracted our fathers from within the house. Uncle Manto, Sister Hin's father, was a fit and tall middle-aged man who had retired from the town guard a few months ago and was now living on his pension.

The town guards were supposed to retire when they turned 40 years of age because in a small town like us, if they kept their jobs later than that, it would make it impossible for the new and stronger recruits to choose the job.

Anyway, with the trade we had, we were considered well-off, and therefore, were able to allocate sufficient funds for the retired guards. Moreover, they were free to try their luck at anything else they wanted to do, and since they were aware of how things were done from the beginning, there were no complaints.

When Uncle Traffer had mentioned to me that my father was planning to ask the town guards for help, I knew that it must be due to the suggestion of Uncle Manto.

When the two of them came out and saw the state their daughters were in, they found it hard to believe their eyes.

I could understand why they were so doubtful of the truth. After all, it wasn't the first time that the two of us were returning late. They were already aware of our drive to adventure but that we could encounter life-threatening dangers or visit Crimson Lake was beyond their wildest expectations.

Unlike what I was expecting, the repercussions, the rebuke, the anger, the disgust, or perhaps even the beatings that I was expecting… never came that night, but the lack of it all only made it worse for me.

As we were about to go inside, my mother told the two of them that I had visited Crimson Lake.

Suddenly, every odd and bizarre thing that they were witnessing in and around us made sense to them. I could see the realisation dawn on their faces. It happened instantly but to me, every little change in their facial expression felt drawn out and crystal clear.

We… had made them worry. We… had troubled our simple and loving parents so much and I… couldn't even keep my friend safe.

The inner pain I went through in that instance was excruciating.

While the three of them talked, I noticed that Sister Hin seemed to have fallen asleep in her mother's arms.

She slept with a perfect smile on her face. She would only have that look after a satisfying adventure or a good night's sleep.

I was hoping, I was hoping furiously that it was all a dream as well, that she would wake up the next day and tell me that she had a strange dream as well. Or that she would rebuke me for looking back at the red-eyed monster when the green-eyed monster was in front of us.

But before any of that, I had to wait, and that wait was agonizing.

After talking to our fathers, my mother ran away somewhere in a hurry while the two of them came closer to me, scrutinizing the state of my body.

Since I was walking while managing Sister Hin the entire day, my legs were heavily blistered and sore. I only realized that when I stopped.

Lacking strength anymore, I fell to the ground, my legs numb and shivering.

My father and Uncle Manto caught each of my arms. My father crouched and embraced me as he began asking me questions about our journey.

It was the most normal question that he asked first, "How was your day? What did you do?", but the implications of that question were obvious.

Uncle Manto neither interrupted him as he asked me nor did he ask any questions of his own. He just silently stood to the side with a somber glance and listened as I answered.

Aunt Nefaly carried the sleeping Sister Hin in her arms, not minding the dark corroding blotch, which was most likely a curse, on her arm, exchanged a tearful glance with Uncle Manto, and left for her house.

Their family was small, they had a single daughter, one that now had an arm missing and was cursed. It was natural that the two of them received far more of a shock than my parents.

Uncle Manto didn't let any of it show on his face though. Perhaps he was still processing the shock he felt or perhaps, he did it for me. Whatever it was, his lack of reaction definitely unnerved me.

Before she left, however, Aunt Nefaly gave me a bitter and nasty stare, full of all the resentment in the world. Although it was gone in an instant, it hit me like nothing else. None of the two men that were engaged in my story noticed that, but I was aware.

I was extremely perceptive of it. It stung my very soul, made me shudder inside.

As that stare revealed a thousand emotions, it was bound to haunt me for days to come.

To avoid that abundance of emotions bubbling in me, that I could neither make sense of nor put to rest, I tried to divert my attention and sincerely began narrating our misadventure. I hid nothing and revealed everything there was to it, even our reactions to the extraordinary sights we witnessed.

When I was describing our walk down the cobblestone path, my mother came back with a bowl of sparkling water in her hand, and before I could see what it was, it was thrown over me while she chanted something.

My father looked on helplessly and when she finished chanting, told her to prepare a separate room for me within the house.

Uncle Manto didn't have any other kids and didn't believe in curses or superstitions. Therefore, the couple was free to provide the best care to their daughter. As for my family, my mother was superstitious, easily believed in rumors, and had to worry about her other two kids as well, which was why I had to be quarantined for some days.

Anyway, after my mother left, I continued with my story as the two of them listened with a stoic expression on their faces, so as to not scare me further.

But those expressions also melted away when I mentioned the presence of the red-eyed monster and the blazing mist. Uncle Manto even muttered, 'oh no' under his breath when I described the green-eyed monster eating his daughter's arm.

Because I was looking down at the ground the whole time, I didn't miss when his fingernails dug deep into his palms and a hint of red came out.

When I was done with my story, his gaze at me was the most complicated I had ever seen on anyone. There was regret, guilt, gratitude, blame, loss, anguish, misery, and a lot more that I couldn't perceive.

After a few minutes of awkward silence when I was done with the narration of our catastrophic journey, Uncle Manto sighed and said, "You did the best you could, Kid. It's fate being unkind to my family."

With that, he left me and my father there and walked towards his own house. My father also sighed bitterly and asked, "...why did you have to go there?"

Tears unknowingly came out of my eyes again as I kept mumbling, "I'm sorry."

He embraced me one last time after that and led me into the house, where my siblings were peeking out from inside.