Six Years Old (part 1)

1.7 - Six Years Old‎

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Nine years ago was when I first obtained the ability to see ghosts.

But, long before that, a much larger thing in my life happened. I had just started going to elementary school, and it was right when I started to realize the cruel state of the reality around me.

One week after I started elementary school, my parents divorced.

Even after living together as a family for six years, Dad found a woman who he fell in love with. The two secretly dated for years before the divorce happened, and Mom caught up about one year before the divorce.

Ever since then, they've been fighting with one another before the divorce happened, and I was in the middle of it all. Mom accused Dad openly of cheating, and Dad couldn't handle the blames and pressure that Mom threw at him. In the end, Dad called the divorce, which puts the six-year-old me and my Mom at a heavy position because Mom doesn't have a job.

Ever since the divorce, Mom has been losing her mind. And three days after the divorce, things are finally at their highest scorching moment.

Mom was stressed out by all the pressure that has been dropped on her. Not only does she have to find a job, she also has to handle the hateful messages coming from both her family and Dad's, telling her that she wasn't doing a good job as a wife. Thanks to both families not supporting her, she was left alone economically with me as her burden.

To top it all, I just started elementary school. A private elementary school, one where you have to pay lots of money for tuition. Dad was the one paying my entrance fee, but now that he has left, he completely disregards both me and Mom from his life.

To put it simply, Mom finally realized the heaviest burden in her life after three days of losing her mind… Me.

7 PM. Thursday evening, July 21st of 2014. I remembered that evening as if it was only yesterday.

The sun went down one hour ago. I just took a bath because I was sweating after coming home from school. And ten minutes ago, Mom just received a message that was sent by Dad.

He told her that he won't be paying for my school tuition, because he felt that Mom and I are no longer his family. He was already planning on starting a new family with the woman that he was already with, long before the divorce. And he has no plans on supporting even me, who is his own daughter.

That is when Mom realized the weight that she has to carry, the depth of effort that she has to put in, in order to live on. As a result, she lost control of her emotions and broke down in the kitchen.

By the time I found her, she was already kneeling by the stove. Her eyes were wide open from the insanity brewing, and she turned them sharply towards me as soon as I showed up in the kitchen with a towel on my head.

Seeing her losing her mind, I became afraid. But, she acted faster before I could.

She very quickly moved her right hand and grabbed a plate from the rack, right next to her below the sink. As quick as she could, she threw the plate with high precision towards me.

The plate shattered when it hit my head, but I had the wet towel protecting my head from being sliced in half. However, the impact of the throw still destroyed the skull of my head and rendered me unconscious.

Unconscious… that was a very light description of the experience I had that day.

Because, unbeknownst to everyone, I have died.

The doctors have done their best to bring me back, but it was a hidden fact that I have died. They did stitch the wound, but it doesn't remove the fact that I could not wake up again. My heart was beating, and my blood still flows on my body. But, I was comatose for a very long time.

Five months. It took me half a year to recover from the damage done to me.

It was a rather abnormal amount of time that a child needed to recover after getting hit in the head. Clearly, anyone can tell that something was wrong. But, unlike what everyone expected, the depth of the issue was far deeper than they had realized.

By the time I woke up, I noticed a small little change happening to my eyes. The one change that I was not expecting I was ever able to have.

I can see invisible people.

Spirits are basically dead people who wander around our world permanently, or until they run out of reason to exist and just disappear into the air. When I woke up in the hospital, it was crawling with spirits, mainly because people died every time in a hospital.

The dead, genies, souls-like beings that a normal person wouldn't be able to see unless they were like me. They were just aimlessly wandering around our world, watching as the events of the living unfolds.

Of course, these invisible people noticed my ability to see them. But since there is no way for us to communicate, they'd just leave me be. Most of the time, anyway.

Upon waking up from the coma, I started to realize the state of my environment after being absent for five months. Dad got remarried not even a month before I woke up. Before that, Mom was forced to have treatment at the mental hospital for about three months before she was finally released. To top it all, my mother's family did not assist us at all and simply left us on our own.

Living with the hospital debt, my life goes on under the care of my insane mother. Mom promised the authorities to raise me properly from then on, and the child protection agency kept a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't harm me any further.

Overtime, she grows to become better. During the beginning, however, it was rather rough. I always avoided meeting her in this small house, mainly because I was afraid of getting hurt by her again. Fortunately, nothing bad happened again after that, and she began to grow better mentally after years.

She grew a sense of guilt for nearly killing me and put me in a coma. But, as I grew up, I too began to understand the reasons for her actions that day. I still can't forgive her for that, but she did take care of me for many years now. Whether I like it or not, I still have to forgive her.

It was all thanks to her how I got these abilities. Putting me in a coma, causing me to be able to see the spirits, all her. But, the true villain in the story has been Dad.

I've always despised him. He's a scum who left his family for the charms of another woman. To make it worse, he even convinced not only his parents, but also Mom's parents about how Mom isn't doing her job properly as a wife.

He is the true demon in my story. My sufferings, it all started from him. Not even god knows what I'd do if I ever met him.

Still, I'm thankful that I have this ability with me. Even though it has brought me nuisances, it still showed me the most beautiful parts of this world that I could never see with normal eyes.

Uncle Deve's family was an example. I wouldn't meet them if only I didn't have this ability. The wallet incident, Emil's dad would've lost his job and her family would be seeing some monetary issues.

And… Nico.

This entire evening, all that I could think of was how Nico reacted to today's events. I couldn't sleep, since that's all I can do while staring at my ceilings and laying my body on the bed.

The two of us talked a hell lot during lunch break, and we also went to see Uncle Deve who was very close to me. It's like bringing him to see my family.

And… bringing a boy to see your family is almost like asking for a blessing…

God, I'm so childish. But, I can't stop thinking about it!!

It's like I was forced to be conscious of him, even though I should be thinking of him like a friend.

A friend… A friend.

If we're friends, then we wouldn't be doing the things we did. Not even best friends introduced their friend who is the opposite gender to their family. Unless they were acquainted from childhood, most BFF relationships don't really introduce one another to their family.

Not just that, the fact that we've been going home together twice in two days now is simply implying that we are just that close. Or… maybe?

Am I just overanalyzing things?

Yeah, I'm definitely just overthinking this.

There's no way he is thinking the same way I did. In the first place, I had no reason to be hanging out with him. He just… forced his way in.

But, still. I'm very curious about it.

Just… how does he think of me?

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I woke up late.

And now I'm being scolded by the teacher.

I should've just drank sleeping pills last night. I ignored the piled up emotions inside me and that has gotten me into trouble. I just couldn't fall asleep, and now I arrived at school over fifteen minutes late.

My name has been written on the list of students that came to school late, and the teachers will remember my name forever since I'm still technically a new student. My school life just got a whole lot better.

Arriving in class, it seemed like the first lesson was just about to start. I shamelessly walked into the room and bowed to the teacher before taking a seat. But, to my surprise, my desk isn't what it seemed to be.

Ah… I knew I've been living too leisurely.

My desk is wet. So wet, that I'm not sure if what I'm seeing is even water.

I touched the surface of the table and realized just how sticky it was. As I thought, it was indeed glue.

I turned my gaze around the classroom and noticed a few pairs of eyes watching me. Some with a smile, some turned away as soon as I spotted them. And just as I thought, it was the same people as before.

Was this... a revenge from yesterday?

Or simply because they hated me?

"Miss Elizabeth. Is there any problem?"

The teacher called out to me, and I quickly turned to him.

"No, sir."

Carefully, I sat down on my chair. As I expected, the chair is also glued, possibly so much more than the table did. And since I have already sat on it, there is just no way of saving my skirt by getting up.

Now, then… it's time I solve things one by one.

First, I will have to clear the glue from my table. I can use water to do that, but that would make my table wet and I have no tissues with me. I could use paper, but books are damn expensive. I shouldn't waste them.

My skirt is sticky, anyway. I'll change to my school exercise uniform pants and use the skirt to clean up my table and chair. But, I can only do it later during lunch break.

Thank god I brought the exercise pants. I brought it because I thought wearing pants would be so good if I want to face demons later after school. Last time I fought demons, I was wearing a really long skirt that was my Monday uniform, and dear god was it difficult to move...

I also can't clean my table right now because the teacher will notice. I'd rather deal with this on my own rather than having the teacher involved.

And so… I just waited. With the glue gradually hardening on my skirt, I kept my desk clear and simply waited until the first lesson was over. I was being very patient even though I'm so close to exploding right now.

Yelling at me is one thing. But attacking me is simply waging war.

I will not let them off. Every single one of them.

Beforelong, the first lesson was over, and it's finally lunch break. To my surprise, sitting for over two and a half hours with glue on your skirt actually sips through and sticks to your skin. I had to painfully unstuck both my thigh and my skirt so that I could get up, and I brought my bag with me as I left the classroom.

I hurriedly went to the bathroom to change into my exercise pants. The school exercise uniform is an accepted fashion here, so even if you're wearing a normal uniform on the top and an exercise pants below, you'll be fine. And if I get asked by the teacher about it, I can always answer that it was an emergency. Because it really was an emergency.

After changing, I purposely didn't put my skirt into the bag because it was glue-ed. Instead, I just hold it on my arm until I can find a plastic bag to put it on. I also have to use this skirt to wipe off the glue from my desk, so I can't put them away just yet.

As soon as I arrived in the classroom, I was very startled.

Right… that guy always came to see me during lunch breaks…

And now, there he is.

Sitting on my chair, panicking, glued, surrounded by other students... and loudly crying for his life.

Haahh… you've got to be kidding me…

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