Are You Still Here, Olivia?

Chapter Three

           " Kate! Kate! Kate!"  The loud calling of my name brought me back to my senses. She was removing the wrapping of my body in the white blanket. "What did you do to yourself?" She asked me while crying.  I was so perplexed; I didn't even know myself.  

              I made her worried again. " Please, tell me who did this to you?" I just mumbled. "Olivia" She hugged me tightly, as she did to me when I felt frightened twenty years ago. She didn't leave me and stay at my side for a long time. We became closer than before, our trust in each other had grown stronger.  

            When she knew I felt better, she asked me again. 

" Who's Olivia?" At first, it was difficult for me to utter words. She knew me more than I knew myself. " I think you're really tired, take a rest now. "Mom, please don't leave me." She smiled at me and kissed my forehead. " You are still my baby." With a smirk on her face, until I found out that she slept like a log. I was sleepless when I checked the time it was half-past one in the morning. "Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate" Her voice was deep as a well. I hugged my mom tightly to wake her up. I was started to break out in a cold sweat.  

            I wanted to shout, but I couldn't it seem that something stuck in my throat. I couldn't even move my whole body. My eyes darted to the white curtain I saw the familiar posture of a woman. My room was filled with grief. I smelled the pungent smell of rotting body and the slimy blood. At this time, I was certain this was not a dream anymore.  

             She came closer to where I was laying.  Her bloodless face and the way she stared at me made my heart beat faster. The smell of the foul odor intensified. "Can you come with me?" My hair stood on end. She asked me to come to where she stayed. I was so frightened. She touched my head and hair. Its smell was nauseating. "Are you still frightened with me? With her piteous voice, she seemed to want to say something.  

            " Wake up! wake up! wake up Kate" I tried to convince myself to wake up, but when I look at my side I saw my mom. She was sleeping tightly. I closed my eyes because I knew everything was just a dream, but I heard the beating of my heart.  

            As time went on, the surroundings became cold, as if someone was beside me. "I'll tell you everything" in a whispering voice. I abruptly got up and stood up in terror. I shouted hard as I could, but my mom didn't hear me. I ran fast as I could, but I felt the melancholy that surrounded the place. "They tortured me for many times!" Her voice was full of enraged.  

           I covered my ears, I couldn't endure the burden that she had. " They locked me in the dim room without anything only the cockroaches and rats."  She was weeping that was the horrible cried I heard. I couldn't run and move my legs. My body was trembling.  

           "They went into the room to burn my back and feet." "Stop, please!" I was sobbing because of dismay.  "After seven days, my body was so feeble, the rats bit my sore feet. The pain I felt was even more doubled, like me they were very hungry too." I couldn't believe what happened to her. It broke and crumpled my heart into pieces.  

        "I begged them and almost knelt in front of them to spare my life, but I was pulled like a dog and beaten. I was so frail to fight. They were not contented they hung me!" Her voice was full of indignant and hatred. "They treat me like an animal. They mercilessly killed and buried my body in the backyard of this dilapidated house!"  I was startled. 

"I was alone and lonely in this house, I needed a companion." This was just a dream, I slapped my face three times. The more I did it the more pain I felt. I screamed, but no one could hear me.  

           The smell of a rotting body, the slimy blood, and the decaying wound intensified the whole place.  This time, one thing I knew, it was not a dream.  She even closer to where I was. I quickly crawled away from her.  

        To my horror, I hid in the shabby and dusty cabinet. My whole body was shivering. I covered my mouth so that she couldn't hear me. I was sobbing. I couldn't see anything, but darkness. Inside was so cold it seemed that someone accompanied me. I could smell the stench.  

" Can you stay here, for a while?"