Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
“Let me finish.”
I started at the beginning.
Coming home for winter vacation.
That first meal.
The strange changes in “Mom.”
The night she'd stood in my doorway watching me.
My attempt to escape.
The doll in the wardrobe.
What I'd seen under the bed.
Right up to the moment I'd been frightened into unconsciousness.
I told them everything.
I didn't leave out a single detail.
When I finished, Uncle laughed.
“Ha ha...”
“Yiyi.”
“Are you writing a novel?”
“What a story.”
“If your mother's as powerful as you say...”
He pointed to the woman still unconscious in the bed.
“Why's she lying there now?”
I lost my temper too.
“I told you!”
“She's not my mother!”
I didn't understand.
Why wouldn't anyone believe me?
“Yiyi...”
Grandma, who'd been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
“I believe you.”
“But the woman in that bed really is your mother.”
“Even so... the person who was at home with you these past few days wasn't your mother.”
“Though... you could also say she was.”
Her expression had grown grave.
She looked at me, then at the woman in the hospital bed.
Then she lowered her head, apparently lost in thought.
“Grandma... I don't understand.”
“How can she be my mother, and not my mother, but still count as my mother?”
“What does that mean?”
“Mom...”
Uncle frowned.
“Why are you going along with this?”
He clearly hadn't expected Grandma to say that either.
Her words had left him completely confused.
Grandma looked at me and spoke slowly.
“Yiyi.”
“I gave birth to your mother.”
“I know where every mole is.”
“Every scar.”
“The woman in that bed...”
“She is your mother.”
“As for what happened before...”
“Something is very wrong.”
“But there are a few things I need to check.”
“Once I've found out, I'll explain.”
She turned to Uncle.
“Second Son.”
“Look after these two for now.”
“I have something to do.”
“I'll be back tomorrow.”
That was what she always called him.
After giving her instructions, she looked at me once more, then got up and left the ward.
Uncle went to the bathroom at the far right end of the corridor.
He'd been gone about five minutes.
Lying in bed, I began to remember what had happened before I fainted.
...
I'd been hiding under the bed.
“Mom” had found me.
She'd bent down and smiled.
“Yiyi...”
“So you like playing hide-and-seek?”
The moment her face appeared before me, I almost forgot to breathe.
I hadn't made a sound.
How had she known I was there?
Or was she going to kill me because I'd overheard her talking to the doll?
I scrambled farther under the bed.
But “Mom” got down on the floor too.
She began crawling beneath it.
Slowly.
As she crawled, she smiled.
“It's Mommy's turn to find you.”
“Aah!”
I screamed.
I scrambled out the other side, raced around the bed, and hurled myself at the door.
I yanked it open.
I was running too fast.
By the time I saw what was in front of me, it was too late.
Thud!
I crashed into someone.
“Mom.”
The woman who'd just been crawling under the bed was now standing in the doorway.
I slammed into her.
She didn't even step back.
Instead, she spread her arms and caught me.
Smiling broadly.
“Ha ha...”
“Mommy caught you.”
“So...”
“From now on, you'll have to be my daughter.”
...
That was more than my mind could take.
Everything went black.
I passed out.
When I woke, I was in the hospital.
Thank goodness Uncle had brought the spare key over when he couldn't reach us.
Since only Mom and I lived there, he'd kept a key in case something happened.
If he hadn't come that day...
I couldn't bear to imagine it.
But why had Mom fainted too?
At that thought, I turned toward the bed next to mine.
My scalp went numb.
It was a three-bed ward, but only Mom and I were in it.
Uncle had thought I was asleep, so he'd turned out the light before leaving.
I hadn't been asleep at all.
I'd just been remembering.
Bright moonlight poured through the window, enough to make out everything in the room.
The instant I turned to look at Mom, I saw she was lying on her side.
Looking at me.
...
When had she woken up?
I remembered what Grandma had said that day.
This woman really was my mother.
So I gathered my courage and looked back.
The night was silent.
So silent I could hear my own heartbeat.
But something was strange.
I hadn't heard the bed creak.
Mine creaked whenever I so much as rolled over.
We stared at each other.
Eye to eye.
Perhaps because this was a hospital, and I knew Uncle would be back soon, I didn't look away this time.
Then a quiet voice spoke.
“Yiyi...”
Very soft.
But I heard every word.
As though someone were whispering right beside my ear.
“Forever...”
“You'll always be my daughter.”
The woman in the bed kept her eyes wide open.
She didn't blink.
Her lips curved into a smile.
They barely moved as she spoke, each word slow and distinct.
“Please...”
“Let me go...”
“And leave my mother alone...”
“Please...”
“Give her back to me...”
I thought of Grandma's words.
The woman in front of me was my mother.
Yet she was doing things that could hurt me.
I broke down completely and cried out in despair.
“Yiyi!”
“Yiyi!”
“What's wrong?”
The ward door burst open.
Uncle rushed in, alarmed.
He stood between my bed and Mom's, looking at me anxiously.
Crying, I pointed behind him.
He looked over his shoulder, then back at me.
Bewildered.
“What is it?”
“What happened?”
I sat up and leaned to look past his shoulder.
...
Mom was lying still.
Her eyes were shut.
As though she'd never woken.
“She's pretending!”
“She was talking to me just now!”
I sobbed, desperate for him to believe me.
But he only tried to soothe me.
“It's okay.”
“Don't cry.”
“You probably had a nightmare.”
“The doctor told us.”
“Your mother's very weak.”
“She won't be waking up anytime soon.”
I gave a bitter smile.
“Of course...”
“You still don't believe me.”
I pulled the covers over my head.
I didn't want to say anything else.
Whatever I said, nobody believed me.
For the rest of the night, Uncle stayed beside me.
Grandma arrived the next morning.
Without a word, she went straight to Mom's bed and gently lifted her right hand.
She examined it carefully.
Then she looked behind Mom's ear.
Her brow furrowed.
“Just as I thought...”
She sighed.
“What a terrible thing...”
“Grandma!”
“What is it?”
From her expression, I knew she'd discovered something.
I pressed her for an answer.
She only shook her head.
“I'll tell you later.”
“For today, let's get you discharged.”
“Tomorrow's New Year's Eve.”
She came over and took my hand, stroking it, then my forehead.
Her eyes were red.
“Okay.”
Seeing her like that, I couldn't bring myself to ask again.
I'd definitely be safer at Uncle's.
Everything else could wait.