Pools of Blood

Chapter 40

I have never shared my early life with anyone. Once Alfred had asked me about my parents and siblings. I couldn’t provide him an answer. I didn’t have one. I was born in the small town of Damyang. I still remember the small flashbacks of my home. It was surrounded by the mountains of Chuwolsan and Byeongungsan. A small stream glided smoothly behind the gardens full of flowers and trees. That was a paradise for me. I can't remember how my mom or my dad looked. Sometimes in my subconscious mind, I could see the flashes of a beautiful woman smiling down upon a child. A man with rich brown hair was hugging her from behind. Those may be my parents. 

I was eight years old when my paradise turned into hell. I can still recollect that day’s event very clearly. I was playing near the stream trying to catch the grasshoppers flying above the flowers. Suddenly there was a huge blast. My home burst into thousands of pieces. Smoke and debris flew everywhere as I ran back crying in fear for my mom. I cried for her, but I couldn’t find her. 

At last, I saw a body lying near the kitchen wearing a red kimono. My mom always used to wear traditional dresses. There was no head just the body. Shredded into bits and pieces laid my father a little distant from her. He was too brutally shredded to be identified except for his brown pants and his floral print shirt which he was wearing that day. I probably blacked out because I didn’t remember anything after that. When I woke up, I found myself in the army hospital nearby. My father worked in the army. Probably they had come to the rescue, found me, and took me away.

For a year, I could not speak in trauma. My hearing was impaired and I lost my voice. Every night I saw the same nightmare, of my mother lying in titbits. It took two years to overcome the pain and loss. Then came Alfred. With his friendship, Amiya’s compassion, and their Mother’s love, I finally came out of my shell. Alfred’s mother never favored her children over me. She knew what I had lost and she did her best to provide that warmth that I craved all these years. She is the mother I have always known. She may not have given birth to me, but she has fulfilled all responsibilities of a mom. 

After so many years old injuries started to itch again. That pain in my heart which I buried a long time ago was slashed open by a flick of a knife. It's all Frank to blame. Who was he? I didn’t remember having a brother. I was my family’s only child. And that day, both of them left me alone forever. How can frank be related to me? How? Nothing made sense. I tried to focus my structuring thoughts to pick out any hints or memories that I might have passed by without thinking twice about it. Nothing came. The name Frank Timing was completely new to me. Never had I in my dreams or school or training stumbled over this name before. Then why did he say that there is a lot of catching up to do? Why?

Khwajim called me from inside.

"What should we do with these two? ", he asked.

I thought for a while and then took the notepad from jasmine’s hands.

“ Take them to the lodge where I am staying with jasmine. Do not let anyone know about this. Do not talk to them or let them know their location. All are bugged by Frank. No risk. Until further orders come. We have to keep them alive.”

Khwajim nodded. He pulled them up, blindfolded them, and together we hauled them into his car.

" What now?", Jasmine asked me.

I was thinking the same thing. First, we needed to remove the bugs from our bodies. Then we have to plan our next move.

" Have you read Harry Potter? ", I asked her.

She looked at me in bewilderment.

"We are in the middle of nowhere, trying to solve a murder mystery and here you are asking me about a kid’s book? Of course, I have read it when I was young. Who hasn’t read Harry Potter, silly? "

I smiled.

" Remember what Harry did when there was no way to locate the Horcruxes of that guy- what's his name- oh yeah- Voldemort? "

She rolled her eyes and said," Yeah Duh! He went to Godric’s Hollow."

I nodded and smiled at her.

"Yes. That’s where we are going."