Resonance of the Lost

On the summer evening, sun was going down and weather was warm. Sarah didn't want to miss such a lovely time of the day.

Still disturbed by the nightmare she was having for a few days now, yet couldn't remember the moment she was opening her eyes.

"I can't ask for help if I don't know what's wrong with me," she mused.

All she knew was that whatever is happening to her is not real at all but in her mind only.

Suddenly, she saw a group of children were running through the very street in front of her lodge.

Two of the boys ran away when she started imagining one in her house as well.

"Wait for me!! ...Slow down please" a girl was calling those two as she was left behind.

She saw Sarah and rests beside her to catch a breath.

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Sarah remarked, her gaze fixed on the sky.

"...oh you're talking to me?", The little girl was surprised, not anticipating sarah to notice her.

Sarah extended the cup of coffee she just made for herself that she totally accepts.

"Left out?" She looked at the lil girl.

"Maybe... Its a forever goodbye", the girl confessed feeling abandoned.

Sarah giggled when she felt the hopelessness in her words and voice, "Dont worry, I'm sure they're just playing in the park Two blocks away."

Lil girl stood up, thanked for the cup of coffee and a 'pep talk' and ran towards the play garden.

'Well that's weird...', Sarah wondered if she said anything wrong.

Abnormalities were increased – dead bodies of birds, and squirrels littered her surroundings, and her nightmares persisted, leaving only fragments upon waking.

Simultaneously, the little girl became a consistent presence in Sarah's evenings, a companion in the absence of Matthew.

One day, the lil girl held Sarah's hands and decided to take her to the play ground and introduce her to everyone.

She was excited to meet her friends as she was bringing a new life herself. However, nobody seem to be interested by the new presence in the play ground.

She introduced Sarah with three kids in the playground, the twins and the other one sitting in thr corner, looking at the ground, playing xylophone.

Sarah found the tune he was playing, very... very ...peculiar, but she wished to keep listening.

"I see you're fond of this tune as well, ma'am," the girl remarked. Sarah, despite the joyful introduction, she couldn't even talk to the kid sitting all by himself. She presumed that he was shy.

"I had a great afternoon meeting your friends. Although they're all busy playing by themselves", Sarah said it with a smile.

Behind her back, silhouette of a woman from a tall building appeared. She was using binoculars to observe Sarah in the park alone.

"Oh poor woman, I'll make sure to put you out from your despair."

"Your misery ends now," she declares, orchestrating a sinister plot.

******

"I will have a beautiful little girl by the next week, and when she will grow up, i want you two to be best friends with her." Sarah said to the lil girl.

"Play together, laugh together... Cry together, support each other. Will you do that for me?"

"I will, definitely, mam" girl replied.

"So its a promise, then" Sarah smiled

"I promise, mam" girl replied proudly.

"Whats the big idea with calling me 'mam', sweetheart?"

Sarah was confused as she noticed that the girl addressed her with that word ever since they have met.

"This is because it's closer to calling you 'mom'. ", girl said it without any hesitation but while hiding a smile.

Sarah felt her stomach twist instinctively, an unusual euphoric feeling.

It was like she knew from that moment, she was never going to get enough of that word.

When the dusk begin, they both left the park in the last.

While coming back, a voice from behind interrupted her. "Seeing you upbeat lights up everyone's mood, darling "

It was Satoshi, her elderly neighbour.

"Kids in the neighbourhood are the sweetest, i can't help but cheer up!" She replied, masking her inner happiness.

"So much so, that I'm concerned about your mental health even more", Satoshi's worries, however, delved deeper.

"Why are you worried about my mental health when I'm happy to spend time with the kids in the neighbourhood?" Sarah expressed a little disappointment in her voice.

"Because there aren't any... There are no kids in the neighbourhood, dear,"

"And why Im concerned is because I've caught you talking to yourself awful lot since past week. In your terrace, the hospital park, and even on the streets"

Satoshi further asked sarah if she needs to share anything regarding her situation.

She was frightened, her symptoms from old disease were started to reappear. Constant dizzyness, weakness and mini strokes were also becoming a common problem now.

Sarah relentlessly tried to sought answers. Desperate for closure, she approached Matt repeatedly, questioning the depth of his knowledge about the paranormal activities that has been occuring.

Part of her didn't want to accept the conversation of the old man. So she decided to ask other people in neighbourhood. Hesitance in people's voice scared her even further.

Sarah wanted to share it with her husband but he used to be preoccupied due to office work.

Before going to the bed she was thinking about sharing it with her husband again but she chooses to sleep that night instead, unaware about what was happen.

She was having a peaceful night after a long time when at 3 a.m., the wind chimes started ringing again. And like all the times, it was in rhythmic melody, enough to wake sarah out of her sleep.

Tun tididin, tididin tin tin,

Tin tididin, tididin tin tin...

She was done with the fears of her nightmares, when she decided to check what is the matter and face it finally.

She stopped before she even got off the bed and immediately hid under the blanket. The reason was that she had a glance from the window that wind wasn't even blowing.

The trees were not moving at all...

'How are wind chimes are moving without wind... What is going on?' She decided to stay and sleep under the blanket instead.

Tun tididin, tididin tin tin,

Tin tididin, tididin tin tin...

When she opened her eyes, she realised that she was lying in living room. Her heartbeat started increasing again and voice got heavier.

She gathered all of her courage and decided to go back to the bedroom. Suddenly the voice breaks...

"Weird night, isn't it... Ma'am"

Sarah was shocked to hear this familiar voice. She knew who it was.

"So you... You weren't real afterall", Sarah understood that confronting her fear is the only way at this point.

"What do you think?" Girl said and looked at other children.

Twins were fighting and the quiet kid seemed to have his head down, playing xylophone like always.

"You never told me you name, what is it..." Sarah asked her.

"Emma..." She replied.

"John, if its an boy", sarah remember her conversation with Matthew when they were on their way to Tokushima few weeks ago.

"And if she's a girl? It could be a girl as well", he asked

"Emma" Sarah replied, the name carrying the weight of an enigmatic smile.

She snapped out of her memories and looked at the twins, "Alex... Marie..."

Picture was coming together when she realised that they all were her kids that died before being born.

Her mind was already messed up but one big twist was yet to come. Chimes were still ringing,

Tun tididin, tididin tin tin,

Tin tididin, tididin tin tin...

When she moved towards the quiet kid,

"His name will be... Carl", Matthews words took over her mind, from 9 years back. Her steps were getting heavier when going closer to him.

Tun tididin, tididin tin tin,

Tin tididin, tididin tin tin...

She realised that the 'peculiar' rhythmic melody of wind chimes that was continuously haunting her nightmares was Carl's xylophone all along.

"Carl... Baby, its your mama" Sarah moved towards her son. She held her shoulder to see his face, only to find his decapitated fragile body.

The gentle chimes that once played during peaceful nights were now a ghostly refrain, a macabre reminder of the son she lost.

He suddenly stops playing the xylophone and fell on the ground like a dead body.

Sarah was horrified and crawl towards the wall by covering her mouth as far as she could. Sarah recoiled, her horror intensifying.

Memories flooded back—her son's decapitated birth, concealed by unconsciousness.

'I remember... I remember everything, i remember that headless body... when he was delivered... Everyone, EVERYONE thought i was unconscious after delivery.... Why God... Wasn't the first time enough, that your making me going through this again'

Suddenly an unbearable pain starts in her stomach when emma, alex and marie comes closer and held her hand.

This made Sarah confused regarding their warm behaviour towards her. Because the truth was, they were not there to hurt her in any way possible, but for a heartful goodbye.

"We'll miss you mom, we are waiting for you..." Emma speaks in heavy voice.

Sarah's unbearable pain in her stomach woke her up from the supposibly nightmare when she saw that shadow creature in the night for the first time.

Everything, until this point, had been either in a realm of dreams or subconscious torment.

Now, in the stark reality, she confronted the embodiment of her enduring anguish. She was looking at a the reasons of her sufferings.

That shadowey figure, its eyes were glowing bright in the darkness of room. Unearthly, the objects in the room began levitating.

Fear gripped Sarah as she felt the huge movements in her baby's limbs and then whole infant inside started to move, causing the immense pain. She thought 'it' was ending the very existence of her child.

One thing was sure, it was the end of the beginning...