Two Mothers

09

"Mark..."

I grasped Mark's hand in terror.

Mark gave me a reassuring look.

Our mother was gutting fish.

She held a knife that rose and fell with each surgical cut.

Maybe she exerted too much strength, and the fish's head suddenly toppled to my feet.

The air was filled with a faint smell of fish.

She turned her back toward me and asked, "Mia, could you please pick it up for me?"

I nodded and looked down, only to be stunned by what I saw.

It wasn't a fish head under my feet.

Instead, it was a human head.

Margot's head was lying on the ground, her eyes staring at me.

I screamed and took a few steps back.

Mark hurried over to comfort me. "Mia, what's wrong?"

Trembling, I pointed at the ground.

But at this moment, the head on the ground had disappeared.

Instead, it was a very ordinary white radish.

When I looked back at the chopping board, the half-cut radish was still there.

There was no trace of the fish or the human head.