Chapter 3 - We did not go home.Silly insisted.
I wanted to laugh at her.
Then I saw her face.
She wasn't afraid of going home.
She was afraid of what might follow us there.
We stayed at an abandoned roadside shop.
It had been closed for years.
The owner lived somewhere else.
We sat on the floor behind the counter while rain began tapping against the rusted roof.
I couldn't stop thinking about the photograph.
“Tell me everything.”
Silly hugged her knees.
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
She stayed silent.
I waited.
Finally, she began.
“When I was twelve, I had a friend named Mai.”
“What happened?”
“She lived three houses away.”
“We played together every day.”
“One night, she disappeared.”
I listened.
“Everyone searched for her.”
“Police.”
“Neighbors.”
“Relatives.”
“They found nothing.”
“Then someone found her doll near the tree.”
“What did that prove?”
“Nothing.”
Silly looked at the rain.
“But the next night, her mother heard Mai calling from outside the house.”
I frowned.
“That's impossible.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
“She opened the door.”
“And?”
Silly's voice dropped.
“Mai was standing outside.”
“Alive?”
Silly shook her head.
“No.”
I felt a chill.
“How did she look?”
“Like she had been standing in water for weeks.”
“Her skin was pale.”
“Her eyes were open.”
“And she said one thing.”
“What?”
“I'm hungry.”
I stared at Silly.
“What happened after that?”
“She disappeared again.”
“And her mother?”
“She died three days later.”
I swallowed.
“You believe the tree did it.”
“I don't believe.”
Silly looked at me.
“I know.”
Lightning flashed.
For one second, the entire shop was illuminated.
I saw something standing outside.
A small figure.
Barefoot.
Hair covering its face.
The lightning disappeared.
The figure was gone.
“Silly.”
She turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I didn't want to tell her.
Then something knocked on the shop window.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
We both froze.
The window was dark.
Nothing outside.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Then a child's voice:
“Brother.”
Silly's face changed.
I whispered:
“Did you hear that?”
She nodded.
“Don't answer.”
The voice came again.
“Brother.”
My chest tightened.
It sounded exactly like Silly.
I looked at her.
She shook her head.
“That isn't me.”
The window cracked.
A black hand pressed against the glass.
Five long fingers.
The nails were covered in dirt.
Silly pulled me backward.
“Don't let it inside.”
The hand slowly dragged downward.
Then disappeared.
The rain stopped.
Complete silence.
Silly took out the yellow talisman.
She placed it on my chest.
“Don't move.”
“Why?”
“Because it's looking for the mark.”
“What mark?”
She didn't answer.
I pulled off my shirt.
A dark bruise covered my chest.
It wasn't there earlier.
The bruise formed a perfect circle.
Inside it was a symbol.
It looked like a tree.
Silly stared at it.
Her lips trembled.
“It chose you.”
“What does that mean?”
She began crying.
I'd never seen Silly cry like that.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That you were the reason it found me.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you do?”
Silly wiped her tears.
“When I was twelve, Mai disappeared.”
“You know where she went.”
Silly nodded.
“We went to the tree together.”
“Who is we?”
“Me.”
“Mai.”
“And one more person.”
“Who?”
Silly whispered:
“You.”
I laughed nervously.
“No.”
“You were six.”
“I don't remember.”
“You were there.”
I stared at her.
“You're saying I was at that tree when Mai disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Why don't I remember?”
“Because they made you forget.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the cracked window.
“The people who live under the tree.”
I laughed again.
There were no people living under a tree.
There couldn't be.
Then something scratched the floor beneath us.
Slowly.
From underneath the building.
One line.
Then another.
Then another.
Until five bloody letters appeared between the floorboards.
M A I.
Silly stood.
“No.”
The floorboards shifted.
A child's hand pushed through.
Then another.
May you like
A voice rose from the darkness beneath us.
“Why did you leave me?”
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