Chapter 9%
I felt a pang of guilt, but in the end, I still spoke. “Dad, Mom… I think you have the right to know the truth.“%
So I told everyone the whole story.
“Back then, my mom was pregnant with twins. Since my dad was busy with work and couldn’t take care of her, he sent her back to their hometown so my grandma could look after her. The plan was for her to return to the city before giving birth, but she went into labor early:“% “There wasn’t enough time to get her to a clinic, so she gave birth at home.”
“The labor was fast… but my twin sister was born a stillborn.“”
I paused to let that sink in. “My grandma didn’t want my mom to be heartbroken, so she buried the baby next to the family grave that same night.”
My parents‘ faces went pale. Heartbreak flickered in their eyes as they recalled about the daughter they never got to meet. But the crowd surrounding us didn’t share their sympathy. Murmurs began to rise, cutting through the air like thorns./
“Why is she telling this weird story now? Is she trying to say the girl in the video is her dead sister?”
“She really dares to make up anything, huh? Might as well say it was an Al face–swap. Ha! Ghost stories in broad daylight?”
“She’s delusional. Just arrest her already and end this farce.”
That was when Laila, who had been standing quietly at the edge, finally stepped forward.”
“It’s true,” she said. “Her mother was pregnant with twins. She was so careful about it every day, it got on everyone’s nerves. That’s why the headmaster approved her maternity leave early.”
“But when she came back to work… we only heard she gave birth to one daughter.“}]
The moment those words left Laila’s mouth, my mother’s eyes welled with tears. She looked at me, voice trembling. “Maya, why are you suddenly bringing this up?”
I held her gaze and gently signaled for her to let me finish.
“After that incident, you and Dad decided not to have any more children. You poured all the love meant for my sister into me.“}
“Every year when we returned to the village to pay respects, we’d always burn an extra offering.“”
“Since elders aren’t supposed to give offerings to the younger generation, I was the one who did it every year.“}]
“And every time, Grandma would stand nearby murmuring, ‘I was wrong, I was wrong. I’ll apologize when I see you in the afterlife.” “I was too young then to understand what she meant.”
A knot formed in my throat as I continued. “Until years later, when Grandma passed away and we returned for her funeral. That’s when I overheard something…”
In the rural villages up north with a strong patriarchal tradition, there was a disturbing old custom. If a family without sons continued to have daughters, the newest baby girl would be declared stillborn and buried near the ancestral graves. They would place old boy’s clothing and some offerings in the coffin, in the hopes of conceiving a son next.}
My grandmother, as it turned out, had been a well–known midwife in one of such villages.
“After remembering Grandma’s words… I couldn’t help but suspect. What if my sister wasn’t actually stillborn? What if she was alive when she was born–and Grandma…“}
Before I could finish, my mother’s knees buckled beneath her. My father caught her just in time.
She clutched his sleeve, her voice breaking. “How… how could this be…”
“Darling, tell me this isn’t true. Please tell me this isn’t true…”
“Why would your mother do something like that? That was her own granddaughter. How could she be so cruel?!“}
My father held my mother close, trying to calm her. But I could see the shock in his eyes too as he turned to me.
“Maya… you can’t just say things like this. How can you be so sure your sister wasn’t stillborn? Maybe this is just… coincidence.“@
Seeing my mother unravel like that tore at my heart. But I knew I had to keep going.W
“Before today, I wasn’t sure either. Grandma is gone and my sister’s been buried by the ancestral graves for years. There was no way to prove anything.”
“But now I know for certain–she wasn’t dead when she was born.“”
“The girl in the video… her mannerisms, her expressions, her face–everything is exactly like mine.”
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