Chapter 49 (1/2)
Chapter 49
Translated by: ShawnSuh
Edited by: SootyOwl
Somebody was shouting .
Juho was looking at the stroller that was still coming down the hill . A stroller coming down a hill was not a problem in and of itself . However, this was different . A stroller was rus.h.i.+ng down the hill on its own, away from someone .
No one was holding the stroller's handlebar . No one was around the baby . The stroller was plunging down the hill, and with an ominous sound, it finally fell .
'Thud . '
It was hard to tell if the sound had come from the stroller or from his heart . Thud . The stroller that had been plunging down the hill toward Juho had suddenly changed its course toward the right . There was a wall there, and the stroller didn't seem st.u.r.dy enough to protect the baby from the cold concrete wall .
'I hear it . '
At that moment, he had heard the sound of the baby . It hadn't been the sound he remembered . The baby inside the stroller had been wailing . He saw the baby's red lips through the stroller's translucent cover .
He had run towards it without hesitation, getting closer to the baby . However, he wasn't fast enough . He had to be faster or he wouldn't be able to save the baby . At that rate, the stroller would ram into the wall . The sound of the baby's wail distracted him .
'Who was screaming earlier? It was probably the mother,' he thought . Her scream overlapped with the voice in his memory . ”I'm so sick of this!” His heart was pounding . 'What if the baby gets killed? What if the stroller rams into that rock solid wall?'
”Get the stroller!”
He recognized the words that jumped out of his mouth . ”Get it!” Who was he shouting to? He saw the baby's hands reaching towards the sky and lept . He fell on his side, holding the stroller . Then, he felt a strong impact against his back .
”Gah!”
”Wah! Wah!”
He felt dizzy and he was breathing raggedly . His heart was pounding, but he heard a cry .
'A cry . The baby's alive . The baby's not dead . '
He picked up the stroller . The baby was covered in a bundle of cloth, and there were no apparent injuries .
”My baby!”
The mother rushed down the hill toward the baby, who was still wailing . Juho leaned against the wall and collapsed .
”Thank you! Thank you so much . ”
”Oh, no . The stroller fell . You should go to the hospital to make sure the baby's OK . ”
”Yes, of course . Thank you . Goodness, I can't thank you enough . ”
He heard her thanks from the distance . His ears were ringing . It almost felt like he was under water, and he felt sluggish . When he snapped out of it, both the mother and the baby were gone, and he was standing on an empty hill by himself in a dazed state .
”I wonder… if the baby's going to be OK . ”
He looked at his hand . It was bleeding . The small wound was throbbing painfully . His palm started to heat up . It was slightly itchy and painful at the same time .
Soon and slowly, he went on his way, his pace picking up gradually . 'I must write!' His mind commanded him, 'You must write, now!'
He looked through his pockets, but there was nothing . No pen, nor paper .
He looked around . There was no paper, anywhere . 'I have to write before this feeling fades away . ' He couldn't find the tools he needed and clenched his hands into fists . The wound was still throbbing .
He ran through the hills with every bit of strength he had, up and down .
Gasps of warm air came out of his mouth .
'I have to go write . I have to write out what I'm feeling . I have to start my story while this feeling is still fresh . I have to write it out while it's still raw, before I start tr.i.m.m.i.n.g it with rationales . I have to embody this feeling in my writing . ”
”Ah!”
He tripped on a rock on the ground, but thankfully, he didn't fall . Juho restored his balance and continued running as fast as he could . Doing all of that just to write .
He was running out of breath and he felt water going into his nose . The water that surrounded that world was going into his body . The screams of the mother were still lingering in his ears . The fear of death was still raw in his mind . The wailing of the baby was still haunting him .
He finally arrived home and slammed the door open, taking his shoes off in a hurry and running into his room . 'Pencil, pen, it doesn't matter . Paper, paper, paper . Quickly, fast!'
”Sigh . ”
Juho swallowed anxiously . His mouth was dry . He needed to drink something . There was a water, a deep ocean, and he had to pull what he was looking for out of that it . He had to dredge it out . It had to come up nearly to the surface .
”Mother, baby, wailing, distance, death, wall, scream, hills . ”
'It needs to be more specific . '
”The mother looked young . She had a mole… two moles under her eye . She was red around her eyes and so were her eyes . Her hair was short, and she didn't wear any makeup . She was panting . Her chest was moving up and down . Her hands were shaking like her voice . She was wearing a navy blue s.h.i.+rt with blue jeans and sandals . Her lips were dry, and her tongue was red . ”
'More . '
”What about the hill? There were six telephone poles . There were also red bricks, a gray wall and the asphalt . Residential area . It wouldn't have been weird if somebody had been watching . It wouldn't have been weird to take notice after hearing either the baby or the mother . ”
It was exactly like how he remembered . He might not have been the only person who heard the scream . Of course, the people in that neighborhood probably heard it too, even if they had covered their ears . That's sound . One can't simply ignore it because he or she doesn't want to hear it . It's not like eyes . The ears listen until the very end .
”A little more, just a little more . ”
He moved his hand frantically . A trail of blood followed his pen .
*
When she came home from work, she realized that all of the lights in the living room were switched off . 'Juho must be home by now . ' She walked in as she switched on the lights .