88 Grief (2/2)

”What? What do you mean, Mr. policeman?” I said with a desperate chuckle, trying to conceal the rising anger within me after hearing what he had just said. ”WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAID, MAN!? COME ON, GUYS, COME ON! No... come on, please... this joke is not funny anymore... COME ON! TELL ME THE FUCKING TRUTH! I DON'T NEED MORE OF THIS SHIT RIGHT NOW! FESS UP!” I pulled my hands away from Aunt Gela, making her squirm in shock. ”Was it you, aunty? Is this your idea? This is fucked up, people. FUCKED UP!”

I gazed at the policeman once more as I gritted my teeth with my spit rolling towards my chin. I screamed as clenched my fist, shaking it hard because I couldn't throw some shit and break it onto the floor.

”I'm sorry, son.”

That broke me. That line is enough to fucking tear me to so many tiny little pieces like a sheet of wet paper, waiting to be dry only to find out that I could never be fixed even if that happened.

”We did what we can do.” The doctor finally uttered after a few minutes of silence. ”But she's already gone when we took her in.”

I finally couldn't take it anymore. I didn't even have enough energy in me to be angry; my feet shook so hard that I could no longer use it to support myself. My knees fell onto the cold concrete floor with my eyes wide open as I tried my hardest to breathe appropriately. No. I can't breathe; nothing is coming out. What is happening to me? I can't think properly; what is this? I started scratching the floor, making my fingers bleed a bit as I tried to chew the air in my mouth.

Aunt Gela finally realized that I'm purposely trying to hurt myself, so she swiftly ran towards me, grabbing both my hands tightly as she embraced me in her shaking body. She doesn't have her usual sweet smell, so she probably also came here without showering.

”Why is this the first time I've heard this? Why did no one inform me last night?” I mumbled as I tried to get angry, but I could only muster a weak string of exhalation, accompanied by a few words.

Luckily, aunt Gela heard it. ”The police tried contacting you last night. You weren't answering, so we thought that maybe you changed your number. I had to take care of some paper works and talk to the police officers last night till morning, so I could only inform you about... the situation personally in the afternoon. I...” I then heard aunt Gela try to conceal her sobbing as she continued with a shaking voice. ”I'm so, so sorry, little bunny.” That was the silly nickname she gave to me when I was young, but she gradually stopped calling me that as I grew older. I cried after remembering the memories I had with my aunt and cried even further when I realized that my mother is always a part of those memories, whether good or bad.

”Hey... Doc...” I said with my usual businessman smile, but the snot coming out of my nose and my continuous sobbing would probably enough to stop anyone from believing my happy facade. ”Look, I have a hundred thousand dollars. I've saved it up while I was still working, so please, please, please! I beg of you please, cure my mother! She's sick... She's so sick... She's probably just sick, so she's not breathing anymore, but maybe... you know, ahaha... maybe my savings can fix that, you know? Hey, aunt Gela, it's true, right? No need to cry anymore! Look, I'll even sell my kidney, no, MY ENTIRE BODY! JUST PLEASE! Doc... DOC PLEASE! Save my mother, please... no... It can't be like this, no...”

The doctor looked at me with a panic-stricken expression as he readjusted his glasses. ”There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry.”

My face finally turned grim. I'm not gritting my teeth anymore, I'm no longer shaking, and I've finally stopped shedding some tears. I stood up weakly like a mannequin who's being controlled by a ventriloquist. Aunt Gela supported me, which I am very thankful for because I would have definitely fallen if it wasn't for her.

”So she's dead...” I said with a blank expression along with a darkened pair of eyes. ”My mother... dead...”

Nobody replied vocally, but with the way the policeman lowered his hat, the way the doctor took his glasses of with a sigh, and the way my aunt tightened her hold onto my arm, I knew already that the answer is 'yes.'Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

”I can't accept that...” I said with a forced smile once more as I pulled my hair, trying my hardest to snap my scalp off of my skull. ”I can't...”

”It's gonna be okay, sweetheart. Aunty will be here for as long as you need.” The timid voice coming from my side said as the owner of the voice patted my back.

I looked at the body. The light shining on it, the cold caressing it, the blanket covering it, the darkness swallowing it, and the sadness corrupting it.

”... see... I need to see...”

”What?” My aunt said with shock.

I then darted towards the metal body, and swiftly grabbed the blanket, jerking it away from the body on the metal bed. Since the blanket covered my line of sight, I didn't manage to see my mother right away, but slowly, as if the time had started to freeze away inside of this Antarctic-like room, the blanket gradually fell from my sight, revealing a naked corpse filled with bruises all over.

”No... This is not real.”

It was true. She really is there.

”This is not my mother.”

It was my mother, laying down lifelessly with her pale body on a metal, gray table.

”She's not dead...”

She's dead. This is my mother...

But well...

I'm not sure anymore...

”This is not my mother.”

I mumbled weakly to myself as a look of disgust crept into my face. The policeman rushed into my direction to prevent me from looking further, the doctor covered his mouth to conceal his shock, and my aunty promptly looked away to stop herself from seeing what had happened to her sister.

This all happened too slow—way too slow like time would never catch up to me if I so desire.

My mother... is dead with a few sharp slices all over her now bloodless and soulless dead flesh formerly embodied by a nagging woman's spirit.

It is my mother... or at least I know she is, but I'm still uncertain, but I know this is her; I can feel this is her. That's my mother...

That's my mother, although her head is filled with so many bruises, wounds, and a massive chunk of her face is sliced off, making it almost impossible to identify if that is really her, but I am reasonably sure without an ounce of a doubt that this woman is my mother.

I couldn't imagine anymore what she looked like while she was still alive because I could only see a chopped off face like the ones I would often see in a butcher's counter.

Nonetheless, she is my mother.

And she is dead.