6
Tonight was bright with the twinkle stars. Cool air caressed everything it could reach.
What happened today made me unable to sleep. The birthday song, the screeching sound, and the dark image at that time made me scared. I got out of the bed and found something to do to distract myself from thinking of those things.
I walked to the computer, turned it on, and looked at the frame placed beside it.
Since I found these photos, my life had changed. I felt as if there was a scream from within, calling for my soul, leading me to the abyss, before gave me death as a reward.
Those screams were still calling to me. I might give up on finding the truth, but my heart was still restless.
However, if I decided to pursue the truth, I might be unable to step back again…
I lowered my head, recalling everything once again. My intuition was whispering that what I involved myself at this time was far different from everything I’d faced. There was something dangerous out there. I should believe Ton’s advice. However, if I didn’t know the answer, I felt that I wouldn’t be free again.
I shook my head to get rid of the nonsense thought. I shouldn’t put myself in danger without any proof. I agreed with Ton about this.
While I was waiting for the computer to start a program, I noticed the glowing orange light from outside the window. I walked to the window, stood behind the curtain, and put out my head a little to have a better look.
The warm flame was burning down there. A man took a paper and fed it to the flame.
Dad was burning the photos. Memories lost in the smoke reaching to the sky.
I tiptoed downstairs, walked to the back of the house, and stopped at the door. Dad was standing outside, looking at the photo for a while before threw it into the fire. His eyes revealed deep emotions.
That was right… Today was mom’s death anniversary …
Dad looked at the bright flame before took another photo and looked at it.
“You… you should see how our daughter is now.” He smiled then threw another photo into the flame.
“Can you remember? It was when Dream cried for the first time, and I handed her my hand to hold on, Dream squeezed my finger fiercely as if she would never letting go, then she laughed. At that moment, I vowed to myself that I’ll take the best care of our daughter.” Dad smiled, his eyes reflected the past. “Now you might be unable to see Dream. It’s okay. I’ll try to send you as many photos as possible. So, you can see how adorable our daughter is.”
Dad took more photos from the album. He paused at this one longer than the other. His hand was shaking. His face twisted from the sadness. A tear dropped to the ground, broke into tiny pieces like the heart of the man who carried the torment on his shoulders for years.
“Don’t worry.” He said with a shaking voice. “There might be some problems between us but our child has grown up strong. I’ll send you more photos as often as I can… I promise…”
Since I could remember, Dad had never revealed his sadness, or cried, for me to see even once. What he’d always done was smile broadly to comfort his only daughter, telling me that everything would be fine.
I stepped back and tried to hold back my own tears. Even though I’d knew how much pain Dad had to endure, I’d always cared about my own problem. I saw only the small stain on the large, clean cloth. The cloth that had someone else’s tears stain on it. The tear stain belonged to the man who always there to give me love and hid his own pain at the same time.
I walked back to my room slowly and threw myself on the bed. It was the same old bedroom, but tonight, it felt so much different.
I looked outside. The orange glow from Dad’s fire made the cold night felt warm. It reminded me that with so many troubles in my life, I wasn’t alone.
While I was closing my eyes, I heard a notification sound from the computer. I got up and walked to look at it with curiosity.
There was a white box in the middle of the screen, a box from the chat program I left open. I looked at the top of the box to see who it sent the message.
…
No name appeared there.
When I was about to read the message, it disappeared.
I sighed and closed the chat box, thinking that it might be sent to the wrong person.
Suddenly, I received another message, a timed self-deleted message.
Four limbs.
Two eyes.
Seven blades.
I look at you with my two eyes and slowly stab you with a knife. Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! I want to cut off your four limbs, but now you are beautiful as you should be.
Four. Two. Seven…
427…
The number of my old house…
I tried to take a photo of the message, but they were deleted too fast. Everything disappeared in a blink. So, I tried to remember every message and wrote them down on paper instead.
Suddenly, a new message appeared.
That night I killed…
That night I kill…
You died…
You died…
You died…
This message was repeatedly sent several times before disappeared. The screen scrolled down so fast that I couldn’t keep following them. Everything happened in just mere seconds.
Suddenly, the chat box disappeared too. The program sent me a notice that the person sent me messages had deleted his or her account.
I looked out the window, confused with what just happened in front of my eyes. I couldn’t make sense of the messages I just received.
My thought turned into suspicious then suspicious turned into fear. What if the person who sent the message related to my illusions and dreams? If that person was somewhere nearby…
I looked around to see if anyone looked suspicious. Dad still sat there burning photos to my mom. Nobody else was near my house, not a single one.
Then, who sent me the message? Who else knew about my dreams and what happened that night?
Who…?
I wrote the rest of the message down in a hurry, took the paper, and called one of my most familiar numbers.
“Ton. This is Dream.” I said. “I found evidence that can prove my illusion.”