CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"So you're here, Ruth." Thalia called out to her.

She just nodded; she stared at Jasmin's picture. Another memory was trying to break free from her mind; she just flinched and held his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Thalia's worried question was directed towards her.

"Sorry, I've been experiencing these symptoms for a few days now." Ruth only said that back then.

"Sit down for a moment; it's sad that Jasmin is going through this now." Her companion said sadly.

Ruth simply nodded in response to Thalia.

"Sit down for now." She could still hear Thalia say.

She didn't answer anymore and turned away to find a seat. She scanned her surroundings. Greg caught her eye, sitting next to Ericka, seemingly chatting.

Greg smiled at her because even though he was still young, he already knew how to talk to his elders.

Ruth was getting closer.

"Greg," she called out, smiling at the child.

The child looked at her.

"Sister Ruth."

The child stared at her as if looking for something.

"Your older sister will follow." She sat next to the child.

Greg is still watching her.

"Sis Ruth, are they your friends?" Greg asked her.

So, she kept looking around.

"Who are they?" She then asked the child.

"Ah, nothing, sister." The child just smiled at her.

The silence fell between them as she glanced at the scene of Jasmin's murder, where traces of Jasmin's blood still lingered.

Jasmin. Mention in her mind that she is sad. She couldn't understand herself, and she couldn't understand the person who killed Jasmin either.

Her head hurt again; she thought it was just a normal headache before, so she took medicine, and they had a family doctor who took care of their family. However, she struggled to comprehend why the sudden headaches remained unrelieved.

Ruth looked at her wristwatch; it was almost midnight, and she needed to go home. She had someone to accompany her home, and their driver was waiting for her outside the gate.

"I'll go ahead of you." She said goodbye to the two of them.

Ericka just nodded, and Greg, she noticed, kept glancing back and forth between her and her behind. Greg noticed something behind her and waved goodbye.

She only ruffled Greg's hair, walked out, admired her appearance, and her head started hurting again, as if there were memories trying to break free from her mind.

She quickly looked for the driver, who noticed her, and she also got into the car.

"Are we going straight home, ma'am?" He asked her.

Ruth just nodded. She will take a break for now.

She closed her eyes to rest her aching head. She fell into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she saw a child crying; she couldn't make out its face; it was facing a coffin.

Mom, Mom. It called, sobbing in its palms that it could not be calmed.

Why? Mommy? You left us? She heard her say while she was sobbing uncontrollably.

She noticed a group of children approaching the crying child.

The little young girl hugged the crying child, felt the tight embrace, and was suddenly shocked as to why she was in the body of the child who was crying earlier.

"Are you okay?" A little girl asked.

She nodded, but the sadness that never left her heart was still there.

"Mommy left us back then too." The child standing before her uttered those words.

"We can feel your sadness right now." The little girl said.

She couldn't understand why the child felt so comfortable.

"If you're sad, we'll sleep beside you."

Ruth wept once more at that time, feeling as though it were all a dream, although she was so sad at the time. She didn't know the children, nor did she know the child who was crying because they had lost a mother.

Ruth experienced a sensation akin to a squeeze on her heart.

"---Ma----Ma'am Ruth?" She heard the driver's voice.

She closed her eyes then, touched her cheek, and it was wet with her tears. She immediately wiped it with her hand.

"W—when did we arrive?" Ruth asked the driver.

The driver just nodded. "I was just surprised, ma'am, that you didn't go out, and I found you crying. Are you okay?" Concerned, the driver asked her.

"Ah, I just had a sad dream." She held her forehead.

The driver just nodded. She felt it wasn't her home and that she wasn't born there, so she went down and looked at the whole mansion. Ruth had been feeling this way for two weeks now, ever since that incident during their camping trip.

Before, she didn't feel this way.

She asks herself why it feels like something is missing when she gets home to the house she stands in. She walked to rest.

Their mansion was quiet, and her parents were also absent because they were busy running the Dionson family business.

Ruth immediately lay down when she got to her room, changed her clothes first, and even though it was almost morning, she was still not sleepy. She was thinking about her dream earlier.

She also questioned why she was receiving medicine once a week, but she chose to ignore it because it was necessary for her health. She has only now become curious about what is happening around her.

She couldn't understand herself; even though she wanted to answer the question that was always on her mind now, she was scared, scared of what answers might change her life.

You need to sleep, Ruth. Scolding in her mind.

After closing her eyes, she travels on an endless dark road. She spotted a woman in pursuit. She couldn't make out her face, but as she approached, a familiar face greeted her.

A woman in her 20s or 30s is fleeing from something, and her eyes are filled with fear.

Child, I hope you are safe; I hope they don't hurt you. Chesca.

She heard the sound of a gunshot in the distance; the man was tall; she estimated he was in his 30s; she saw him limping, trying to escape death.

Mom! She heard the cry of a child.

Soon after, she was in the body of a five-year-old girl, the crying girl whose mother had passed away.

Please, no—don't take our child; have mercy on the little girl. The woman he slept with pleaded.

The gun shifted back and forth between them as it held them at gunpoint.

The man didn't say a word and shot the woman.

Run away, child. Forget what happened; run away. Save yourself. Ruth even saw it bleeding; it was already dying.

Mom! She shouted back then.

The man grabbed her and dragged her away from the dying woman. Subsequently, numerous gunshots followed.

He fixed his gaze on the child. He slapped the face.

"You will be next if you don't watch what you say. Do we understand each other?" He asked.

The child was crying then, fear and sadness mixed with what she saw. She followed the man's instructions.

"The moment you open your mouth, you will follow your mother."

She abruptly awoke from a terrible dream and began to perspire as if the man were threatening the young girl. She calmed herself, clutching her chest that was pounding with anxiety.