A Woman with an Old Head on Her Young Shoulders

Miya was walking out of Lim's house.

"SIGH… What a joke! Now I have to take 40 minutes' walk only to go out of this house after being unhired by a gunman," she talked to the cold around her, wishing that it could break the silence of the dark roads she took.

She turned on the flashlight from her cell phone. Unfortunately, it was out of power 5 minutes later.

"What a perfect omen!" she cried. "Did I do something wrong? Do I?! I have tried my best. I did everything I could to make a living…"

She wiped her tears with her muddy hands, smudging her face with dirt that matched her wet clothing and messy hair. "Argh... Thank God, there's no single lamp on in this rich man's house, so no one can see me crying. Well, I forget, there's no one in this house," she grumbled while keep walking in the darkness.

The sound of frogs, crickets, and night owls became a perfect melody tunning into her sobbing. "What will happen to Su Nai if I can't afford her hospital bill?" Miya was reminiscing her moments with Grandma Su, her beloved grandma.

***

Miya was five years old at that moment.

She didn't have any clues of why her teacher, Ms. Tiffany, took her to a funeral. Her outfit was inappropriate to be in that place. Her pink dress, white jacket, and pink fairy backpack were too glowing in the midst of the mournful faces of people dressed in black.

Ms. Tiffany led her to stand in the middle of two coffins. Miya tried her best to have an old head on her young shoulders, especially in front of her teacher.

"Ms.… From what I know, when people sleep in a coffin, they will not wake up forever. Is that true?"

Her teacher was soothing her, "Yes Miya…"

"My dad used to be a strong man. He can carry me all night long only with one arm."

Miya was holding his dad's hands. It's frozen. "I think he lost his power, that's why he can't 

wake up anymore. But it seems like his arms are still as strong as I know. I can't move them."

Miya opened her bag. She took her glitter pink lip gloss, "Ms., my dad's lips are so pale. Can I put on this to him? Back then, he would kiss me goodbye after I put on this strawberry lip gloss to him right before he went to work."

"No… No… You cannot do that now, sweetheart…"

"Oh… OK. I just put it there, maybe he's going to need it later." Miya was smiling at her dad while tucking her lip gloss at the side of the coffin. She smiled but her eyes were empty. Even now, when she went to her mom's whereabouts, she could only stare at her mom's frozen body with her soulless eyes.

"Mom, look how beautiful you are! Is that a snow queen dress you're going to wear at my birthday party next week? Wait—"

Miya opened her bag once more, trying to find something.

Here it was!

She took out a pink band-aid. She put it to cover the opened scar on her mom's forehead.

"Is that hurt?" Miya couldn't take it any longer. Her five-year-old shoulders were shaking, couldn't bear a made-up-old head she insisted on having only to camouflage her sadness. "Ms.… Am I… Am I allowed to… Cry?" her tears bursting out, "They said that they love me, and will never leave me alone. They're lie—"

Her teacher hugged her, but it couldn't help to ease her pain.

Indeed, nothing could!

For someone who just lost her beloved, a hug was only a perfect sanctuary to call all their grief out of their heart, plus to make them feel safe and less alone.

A hug could never heal any kind of whatsoever pain this world gave, tho.

People come and go to pay their last respects to her parents. Some people were staying longer to hug Miya. Some tapped her shoulder as if it could make her understand that this wasn't a dream. Some were crying and nodding their head while staring at Miya, wishing that she would cry together with them.

However, Miya was standing there till night, soulless. Her world was empty.

Suddenly, her grandma showed up.

As if a grandma would always know what their grandchild needed, Grandma Su took out a black robe from a paper bag she brought to cover up Miya's pink dress.

"Miya… Sorry for making you wait here alone. It takes me a long time to get here. Are you OK, Miya? Um?"

"Su Nai, I have nowhere to go… I have no one… My chest feels so tight. I wanna cry. But my tears don't get out." She was thumping her chest as if it could pump her tears out.

Grandma Su couldn't help to hug her, "You have me… You have me, sweetheart… Just cry if you want to… I will be here for you…"

Miya cried bitter tears.

***

Back to the dark road at Lim's house, Miya sat on the ground and cried, "What will happen to Su nai? Huhuhuhu…"

Without her knowing, Lim kept his eyes on her through smart CCTVs that were installed every five meters on the roads of his home. Lim regretted his act which was overreacted towards Miya. He opened his drawer to put back his gun next to the fake gun he had.

"She's right. My unhealed wounds make me push away peoples' hands without even taking a look at what they bring for me."

Lim could hear Miya's sobs through the audio of the CCTV, but it was too dark to see Miya.

Lim took his drawing tablet.

He opened the folder 'DRAFT'.

He scrolled down some documents.

He found it!

He opened a document named 'SOLAR LAMP MOTION SENSOR'.

He copied the layer of the lamp.

Then he opened a document from folder 'REALM' named 'MY HOME'.

Appeared on the screen, the illustration of his house which exactly looked the same as his real house.

Lim was clicking the paste button to place the picture of solar lamps all the way to the gate.

He clicked the 'SAVE' button and chose the 'MANIFEST' button.

The lamps suddenly appeared on Miya's way along to the gate!

As Miya passed by, the lamp was lit up one by one.

At first, she was dumbfounded. Her alert mode pushed her to look around, just in case, there was another sudden attack from the weird gunman who owned this house. As she found nothing suspicious, she went back on her way out of the house.

After some lights turned on, Miya started to enjoy her night walk. Her teary eyes created an illusion of the lamps' light. Now they looked like the star lights. Miya put her hands in the air and smiled, "At least I knew! The lights look most beautiful from teary eyes! What do you try to tell me, Universe?"

Miya talked to the night sky, "Can I have a better life? HAHAHAHA… I just need to live! Don't bother to mention about living the best life life! I just need a simple life!" Miya started smiling. This was Miya's remarkable trait ever since her childhood, pretending to be OK.

On the other side, Lim staring at Miya through his CCTV monitor.

He zoomed in on the screen to closely view Miya's expression.

As Lim saw Miya was smiling, he smiled...