Chapter 15.4 - Li JingHua's Past (Part 3)

Sun Xiao who was confused by what was happening started to have short, labored breathing while tears streamed down his cheek as he continued crying. Li XinWen noticed that their younger brother is having a panic attack and his sister is still in a daze.

"Jing Hua!" Li XinWen shouted, which pulled Li JingHua out of her daze. "Ah'Xiao is having a panic attack!" he informed her.

"Ah'Xiao!" Li JingHua quickly ran to Sun Xiao and held his shoulders, looking right into his eyes. "Ah'Xiao, listen to me. Listen! Take a deep breath, calm down…" she told the boy before reassuring him that madam Li was going to be alright. She led him out of the bedroom and went with him upstairs to his room.

"Hush now Ah'Xiao… mom's going to be fine… go to sleep okay? Stay in your room until I come get you okay? Promise jiejie that you'll be a good boy…" she said as she mustered a smile in order to assure her younger brother. She then kissed his forehead and left for downstairs.

She took with her the first aid kit from the upstairs bathroom and ran back to madam Li's bedroom. Li XinWen was hurriedly wiping madam Li's forehead and her arms with a wet washcloth in the hopes that it would lower down her temperature. When Li JingHua brought Sun Xiao upstairs, he rushed to get few bottles of water to use. He did not even care that he is wasting the water as long as he could keep his mother's temperature down. He tried to be gentle but the motions were rough and hurried as if willing the moisture from the washcloth to envelope madam Li until her temperature dropped. He couldn't stop his tears from falling.

"Mom… please wake up…." he kept whispering while Li JIngHua rummaged through the medicine kit to find the fever medicine, but it was too late. Deep down, in both their minds and hearts, they knew that madam Li had breathed her last, in spite of the persistent high temperature.

Li XinWen and Li JingHua exchanged glances.

"Ah'Wen come over here…" Li JingHua beckoned Li XinWen.

"But… what about mom? There must be something we can do Hua-jie…" he responded, barely a whisper, his throat constricted.

"Come her Ah'Wen… we need to leave the room…"

"No Hua-jie… no…" Li XinWen did not wish to accept it but faced with Li JingHua's broken expression, he knew there is nothing they can do. Li XinWen let go of the washcloth and caressed madam Li's face and kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry mom… I love you…" he whispered, wishing in his heart that madam Li was able to hear him. As if hoping that those words were enough for her to stay as she was.

As he stood from her bedside, madam Li's hands twitched involuntarily. Her arms jerked as Li XinWen made his way towards Li JingHua. Madam Li's body contorted as if subjected to a lot of pain, it spasmed and started writhing until it stopped. Madam Li let out a gurgling sound before her eyes opened wide with only the whites visible. Her skin quickly turned ashen, a shade of sickly gray and the veins on her face clearly visible as if they were going to pop out and explode at any minute.

Li XinWen and Li JingHua watched the entire transformation wide-eyed, shocked silent, tears running down their faces. Li JingHua was the first to come out of it, as if her protective instincts suddenly kicked in after witnessing their mother turn.

"We need to leave the room XinWen… Now!" and she jerked Li XinWen out of the bedroom, leaving their mother locked inside.

The memory was too painful to recall even though the apocalypse was still a long ways away from happening, Li JingHua vividly recalled all the emotions associated with that future. She closed her eyes as she bit back the tears that threatened to fall.

There were so many things she regrets doing during the time of the apocalypse. The most unfortunate of which was that she could not change their mother's fate. No matter how she thought about it, she knew their mother would not have been able to survive the transition. Her old age had not allowed her to survive the fever. Before coming back to the now, Li JingHua's dying wish was to be given a second chance to amend everything, and now that she was here she was not going to waste it and make full use of the opportunity.