Kissing The Wind

But she had decided and she would not put any more pressure on Anthony.

Maybe, he would come back to his hometown soon after she leave.

She curved her lips into a faint smile and then turned towards the entrance. Her foot took a step forward, then another, and then she was completely out of the gate.

The sun was high in the clouds but the wind was cool, blowing into her, touching her skin.

She walked back home.

It was only three in the afternoon when she stopped walking forward. A few meters away from her, she saw the small nipa hut which seemed familiar yet unfamiliar to her. It was months since she last saw the hut and seeing it again, she could not describe her feelings.

She breathed deeply and then continued taking steps forward. She had been walking under the sun for nearly five hours and occasionally stopped at waiting sheds to drink water she bought at the store and to shed from the sun.

When it come to perseverance, she stood in the rank. She was used walking to where she wanted to go so it was not a difficult task to her. Also, she wanted to save money and to move her limbs. Ever since she live in Anthony’s house, she had been riding car and she thought that it was not a good habit for her.

The wind blew pass her.

Not long after, she reached the entrance of the nipa hut. She listened for any noise but there was only the sound of rustling leaves nearby. Was anyone home?

Her brows knitted but she still walked inside, not minding the strange silence of the nipa hut. What on earth was happening?

She saw her mother in the kitchen, slicing garlic and onions for cooking. Her mother’s back was facing her so the woman had not yet realized that she came back home.

Sydnee roamed her eyes around but she did not see her father. Where was he?

A loud bang was heard when her mother accidentally broke the wooden board she used to cut meat and vegetables. Sydnee swallowed hard and cleared her throat.

“Mom,” she called.

The woman froze for a few seconds, before she hurriedly turn around and looked at the girl who was standing by the kitchen door. Sydnee could see how horrified her mom was when their eyes met. Her brows knitted in confusion. She did not expect that kind of expression from her mother.

“Y-You…” Her mother murmured while pointing her fingers on her.

“Uh…” Sydnee swallowed and then looked around again. “I’m back,” she whispered.

There was a moment of silence between them. She waited for a few minutes for her mother’s scolding but the woman in front of her remained silent. She could not help but ask, “Mom?”

Her mother looked away and then turned around again to continue what she was doing earlier.

Sydnee was even more confused by her strange behavior. As far as she knew, her mother would scold her until there’s no words to utter anymore. But why did the woman stay silent?

“Where’s Dad, Mom?” she asked.

Then, her mother froze again. Sydnee had noticed that her mother would froze on the spot which was weird. Her mother was decisive and not someone who would cower immediately.

A cold voice asked her, “Why are you here?”

Sydnee blinked. What happened to her mother? But even though she was curious, she ignore it and answered her mother. “I’m… I’ll live in here again,” she whispered the last word.

There was a pause before her mother said, “Go back to where you came from.”

A pang made its way to her chest. The rejection from her mother was more than she could bear, but thinking about it, she should expect it. Her mother was not fond of her as if she was nothing in her eyes. Sydnee sighed.

Instead of arguing with her mother, Sydnee asked her again. “Where’s Dad?”

In fact, she did think about it when she was away. Her father was imprisoned for many years and now that he was freed, she should stay with him and try to mend the broken relationship she had with her father. Her mother was right when she wanted to let her father live with them, but because she was blinded by the anger and hatred in her heart, she did not think of it that way and even ran away from home.

She could not help but to sigh again for a few times. Sydnee wanted to apologize to her father but she did not see him around. It had been months when he came out of prison and she thought that it was impossible for him to find a job right away. At least, it would take him a long time before he could find a decent paying job.

Maybe he was working?

So she did not say anything to her mother again and just walk towards her former room. Strangely, there was a faint smell of blood lingering in the air as she walk towards her room. Her brows knitted again.

When she entered her room, she immediately stopped in her tracks.

For she was horrified to see her father’s mutilated body lying in the center of the small room. There were blood everywhere and it was still fresh. When her eyes roamed swiftly across the room, she saw a butcher knife stuck on the wooden wall.

She took a step back. What happened?

Sydnee closed and opened her eyes, only to see the same scene again. So it was true. Her father was murdered!

Her knees wobbled and she almost tripped if not because of her fast reflexes. She stood by the door and when she collected her thoughts back, she immediately ran back towards the kitchen.

“Mom!” she screamed. “Dad is dead! Someone killed him!”

Panting, she stopped by the kitchen door. But to her surprise, she saw her mother cutting meat. It was not a meat of some animals because she saw the tattoo in the skin of the meat. And the tattoo was similar to what she had seen printed on her father’s skin.

Sydnee gasped.

Her mother stopped cutting those meat and slowly turned around to face her. It was only then that Sydnee realized how cold her mother’s eyes were. There was no hint of emotion seen in those eyes, just like a dying man’s eyes. It was as if she had lost her life.

Sydnee instinctively took a step back and her mother noticed that subtle move of her. She smiled at her. “What? What about your father?”

“M-Mom…” Sydnee could not even breathe properly while facing her mother. The sudden realization took a big hit on her senses and her mind went blank. “W-Why… Why?”

Her mother opened her mouth and burst out a high pitch laugh. Sydnee grimaced at that noise.

“That bastard could not stay in his place.” Her mother smiled maniacally. “He hit me and wanted to find that woman. HAH! If he could not wait to find that woman, then I should cut his legs so he could not leave this house!”

“M-Mom…” Sydnee’s voice was dry and hoarse. “Y-You killed him. You killed Dad!”

Her mother glared at her and pointed a finger at her. “You! Bastard! What right you have to yell at me? Hah! I should not have raise an ungrateful wretch like you!”

Her words made Sydnee shut up for a few seconds. Sydnee opened and closed her mouth but she could not find the words to utter.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Seeing her like that, her mother laughed again. She reached for the knife she used to cut meat and walked slowly towards Sydnee.

Sydnee saw her making a way so she took a step back. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Sweat beaded on her forehead. What would her mother do? Why was she holding a knife and pointing it at her?

“That face of yours,” her mother said and stopped walking forward. They stood face to face with each other. There was a meter distance between them and Sydnee secretly sighed in relief. But her mother continued. “The face of that woman.” Then, she swung the knife towards Sydnee.

Sydnee shrieked. “What are you doing, Mom?!” She immediately stepped back for a few times to create an even longer distance between them. Her eyes were glancing at her mother and the knife she was holding from time to time.

“Don’t call me mother!” The woman yelled. Her eyes were bulging that it might actually fall from their sockets. “You are that woman’s child whom your father slept with! Hah! A good for nothing daughter like you should die! You are the reason why my marriage was broken and why he was imprisoned! If not because of your useless father, I really killed you back then!”

Sydnee’s heart skipped a beat. Her lips went pale as she stared at the crazy woman in front of her. “You’re not my mother?” she whispered, disbelief was evident in her voice.

The woman grinned. “That’s right! I just raised you so I can vent my anger to you! I love seeing you so pitiful in front of my eyes. And now that you come back home, I should do what I should have done back then. Fortunately, you bring yourself in front of me. You saved me from finding where you’ve been hiding!”

Then, the woman lunged towards Sydnee with eyes full of hatred and anger, those raw emotions that was more than what she felt for her own father.

It was then that Sydnee realized that the woman raised her like a pig made for slaughter.