AEPOB 19

Chapter 19

Just as we were talking about Kiki, the vase containing the flowers we had picked together shattered?

……Isn’t this a bad omen?

‘Surely nothing really happened.’

I shook my head and quickly shook off the ominous thought.

Come on, what was I thinking.

Dad said I could see Kiki tomorrow.

So I’ll definitely be able to meet her tomorrow!

Helping Dad clean up the broken vase, I also wiped away the anxiety that had suddenly poked its head out.

The next day.

Finally, I can see Kiki!

I woke up early in the morning, excited to see Kiki, and waited for her.

But.

‘Why isn’t she coming?’

Even after checking the medicinal herbs with Dad and returning home, Kiki still hadn’t shown up.

‘Surely something hasn’t really happened?’

I stretched my neck out the window and scanned the path leading to the mountain.

“Sigh.”

She’s not here again, not here.

Even after checking several times, Kiki didn’t appear.

As I let out a series of sighs, Dad, who had been watching me, finally spoke up.

“Bell, Kiki sometimes disappears during the rainy season.”

“But she said she was coming today. And the vase broke yesterday too… Surely nothing happened, right?”

I kept thinking about the ominous sign from yesterday and grew worried about Kiki.

Besides, Dad seemed to suddenly recall something at my words, muttering softly.

“We got through last year’s rainy season relatively well. Could it happen again this year……”

‘Again this year’?

Had something happened before?

Just as I was about to give up and tell Dad I wanted to go see Kiki.

Suddenly, Dad grabbed the outer coat he had draped over the chair and put it on.

“Bell, stay by yourself for a moment. Dad’s going to run over to Kiki’s place.”

“I want to go too!”

“No. It’s almost lunchtime, and it might pour with rain.”

“Kiki is my only friend. I want to go too. Please, Dad? Please?”

I tugged at the hem of Dad’s clothes and whined. Because of yesterday’s incident, I felt uneasy for no reason.

I had to see Kiki with my own eyes.

Only then would I feel at ease for a while.

Since I wouldn’t give up my stubbornness, Dad eventually allowed me to come along. But the condition was that I had to wear boots and a raincoat.

Walking back and forth to the herb field with Dad had apparently built up my stamina, so the journey to the mountain wasn’t difficult.

After passing the house of Uncle Prib, the hunter who had delivered things before, we soon saw the mountain.

‘Huh? Is that it?’

As soon as we entered the mountain’s entrance, a small log cabin came into view.

But why, even though it was the same log cabin as ours, did it feel somewhat dreary rather than cozy?

I felt a chill for no reason.

I rubbed my arms and followed Dad toward Kiki’s house. Finally, we arrived at the front door of Kiki’s house.

That was when it happened.

A strange sound lingered in my ears.

“Hic, huuuh……”

Why was the sound of sobbing, like something you’d only hear in a haunted house, coming from inside?

I absolutely hate things like this.

I pressed close to Dad.

“Huuuh, huuuuh……”

But the sound continued.

I grabbed his arm and said.

“Dad, I hear a strange sound from inside.”

Dad, seemingly unafraid, patted my shoulder reassuringly. Then he knocked on the door with his other hand and called out.

“Kiki! It’s Uncle Holtz.”

But even after knocking for a long time, the door didn’t open. Only occasional sobbing continued, and the house was as quiet as a tomb.

‘What on earth is happening inside here?’

Frustrated that the door wouldn’t open, I impulsively grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

*Click.*

Huh, the door opened?

I was flustered by the easily opened door, but checking on Kiki was my priority.

Dad seemed to think the same, as he took my hand and led me inside the house.

And then, a moment later.

We were struck speechless by the desolate scenery inside the house that met our eyes.

“What in the world……”

A bed in the left corner, a table and two chairs in the right corner. And a box placed between the bed and the table.

Without saying more, anyone could easily tell how sparsely furnished this place was.

‘No, she was living like this and said she’d help me……?’

If a young child in their early teens was living here alone, just taking care of herself would have been incredibly overwhelming.

The space we faced looked terribly lonely.

Looking to the side, Dad was also dazed, turning his head here and there, examining the house.

He looked extremely flustered, as if seeing this scene for the first time.

‘So Dad didn’t know either.’

I thought he was the one she was closest to around here.

Besides, I thought Kiki liked Dad?

So was that why she couldn’t tell him?

I scrunched up my face.

It seemed Kiki had been handling her pain alone, without sharing it with anyone.

Somehow, it made my heart ache.

‘By the way, where is Kiki?’

I quickly scanned the room for Kiki.

Since there was hardly any furniture, finding her was fast.

The lump of blanket on the bed was strongly asserting its presence in the stark space.

I rushed over to the bed.

The moment I hastily pulled back the blanket, the faint sobbing became clear.

There, curled up in a fetal position as if to protect herself, was Kiki.

Even with her eyes closed, she was sobbing and crying so piteously that it made the onlooker feel sorry for her.

“Hic, huuuh.”

Her lips were chapped from fever, and between the cracked lips, blood had formed in spots, through which feverish breaths and sobs painfully escaped.

Moreover, her face, covered in cold sweat, was flushed red and streaked with tear tracks, making her a complete mess.

The traces of Kiki’s long, solitary struggle were starkly visible.

‘Sigh, how long has she been sick?’

How heartbreaking and difficult it is to be alone when you’re sick.

I should have rushed to you yesterday when the vase broke, instead of brushing it off. Then would you have suffered a little less?

“Mom…… no. Don’t…… come near me. Please.”

Kiki muttered in a voice so hoarse it was full of rasp.

Even while delirious, Kiki was pushing her mother away.

The story I’d heard from Uncle Prib the hunter hadn’t sounded ordinary either.

Her backstory seemed quite complicated.

‘Damn……’

Seeing her agonizing alone felt somehow so familiar that my heart pounded violently.

But there was no time to get emotional. Her condition was more serious than I thought.

I urgently called out to Dad.

“Dad, Dad! Please take a look at Kiki.”

And then, just as I reached out to lay Kiki flat—

*Crackle!*

“Ow!”

“Bell!”

The moment my hand touched Kiki’s shoulder, a small spark flew up. I clutched my hand from the stinging pain.

In an instant, Dad rushed over and pulled me back.

“Bell, don’t touch Kiki and step back!”

“Dad, what was that just now?”

“……Sometimes this happens when the fever is very high. Dad will look after Kiki, so you stay back for a bit, okay?”

Sparks fly because of a fever?

It wasn’t a situation I could easily understand, but I reluctantly nodded.

In this world, such things are said to happen often, so I was at a loss for words.

Besides, nothing happened when Dad touched her.

I just stood back and watched them silently.

Dad examined Kiki’s condition by touching her body here and there.

Seeming to find even the diagnosis quite taxing, beads of cold sweat formed on Dad’s forehead too.

Was her condition that serious?

Worried, I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

Soon, Dad wiped the cold sweat with his sleeve and wrapped Kiki in the blanket, cradling her in his arms.

“Bell, Kiki’s condition is more serious than I thought. I need to take her to our house and treat her.”

As Dad was about to leave the house with Kiki, I hurried to the door.

I opened the door wide, and already, dark clouds were piling up heavily in the sky outside.

‘If it rains like this, we’re in trouble.’

There was no more time to linger here.

We had to get home as fast as possible.