A Garden of Echoes
She found herself walking in a garden which was filled with beautiful flowers. As she walked through the garden in her long flowery white gown, she felt the air brush through her, blowing her long dark curled hair, which was dangling on her shoulders. She was pleased with the serene in front of her and she closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh air and beaming with joy. She was busy appreciating the nature around her, when she had the giggling of a little child nearby. This laughter disrupted her admiration and she decided to trace where the sound was coming from.
The more she walked, the closer the laughter became. After walking for a while, she stumbled on a woman, holding a little girl in her arms. The laughter was coming from the little girl the woman was holding in her arms. Although their backs were turned on her and she couldn’t see their faces, they both looked happy judging from the laughter of the little girl and their body movements. She watched as the duo played, while the woman, whom she assumed to be the little’s mother tickled her, which made the little girl laughed heartily. The little girl tried to get out of her mother’s hold and when she finally did, she ran around the garden, with her mother running after her, trying to get a hold of her. She watched as the two ran after each other and couldn’t be more pleased with the scene in front of her. She also ran after them, trying to see the faces of the mother and daughter.
“Ivory, stop running. You might fall and get hurt,” the woman said, running after her daughter and trying to make her stop running.
“No, I won’t mummy,” the little girl said, turning around, revealing her face. Ellie was shocked at who she had just seen. It was her daughter, Ivory, who was running around the garden. Ellie wondered what she was doing in the garden with a strange woman, who she had called “Mummy”. Both Ivory and the unknown woman kept on running after each other, with Ellie joining the race, trying to see the other woman’s face. As they kept on running, Ivory missed her footing, making her fall. She fell to the ground and the unknown woman hurriedly dashed towards her.
“I told you to stop running, now you have hurt yourself. You need to listen to me whenever I instruct you. If you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened to you,” the woman, who was still turning her back on Ellie said, getting worried while examining Ivory’s ankle. As she pressed her ankle, Ivory whined in pain, which broke the woman’s heart. Seeing Ivory in pain seemed to have broken her heart, as she began to shed tears.C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
“Now that you are hurt, how do you want mummy to feel knowing that you are in pain?” the woman said, still shedding tears, while carefully examining Ivory’s hurt leg.
“I am sorry, Mummy. I won’t defy your orders again. Please, forgive me,” Ivory said, bursting into tears, upon seeing the woman she referred to as “Mummy”, also crying.
“It’s fine, baby. You will be fine. So, stop crying. It hurts mummy seeing you cry,” the woman said, hugging Ivory tightly. She patted her back to stop her from crying, while also gently rubbing her sprained ankle, to relieve her of the pain. By that time, Ellie was already behind them, watching as the duo shared an admirable mother and daughter moment. She wondered who the woman was to have really cared about her daughter, Ivory. She quietly walked close to them, stretching her hand forth to touch the woman’s shoulder but before her hand could land on her shoulder, both the woman and Ivory vanished right in front of her. This got her scared and she began running around the garden, calling out Ivory’s name. Ellie continuously called her name, but Ivory was nowhere to be found. When she had tirelessly walked around the garden for hours, in search of Ivory with getting a sight of her, she slumped on the floor, while still calling out ivory’s name.
Just at that moment, she heard Ivory’s voice, which jerked her to get up from where she had collapsed.
“Mommy, I am here. Catch me if you can,” Ivory said, waving at Ellie, while running around the garden, repeating the same activity she had done with woman from earlier. Ellie ran after her, trying to get hold of her, but no matter how hard she ran, she couldn’t catch up with her. She continued to run after her and suddenly, she found herself transported from the garden to the front of their house. She wondered how she had gotten there and while in the middle of her thought, she saw an ambulance parked in front of the building. She noticed the door of the ambulance opened. She decided to move close to it and peep into the ambulance. Upon peeping in, she couldn’t believe what she had seen. The sight she had stumbled on, made her hands and legs tremble and she fidgeted with fear.
“NO, NO!!!!!! This can’t be. This is a lie,” Ellie yelled amidst her cry, upon seeing her daughter lying lifeless in the ambulance, with her face half burnt.
“NO, NO, NO!!!!!!” Ellie yelled, waking up from her sleep. She looked around and she realized she was in the hospital. She set her eyes on Kevin who was sitting beside her bed.
“Baby, are you ok?” Kevin asked, upon seeing that she was awake. When he got back home from where he had gone, his neighbors had narrated what happened to him. He ran off to the hospital, only to find Ellie in the emergency ward.
“Mr. Smith, due to the shock of the news of the death of your daughter, your wife lost her pregnancy. I am sorry to announce this to you. Accept my condolence” the doctor had told Kevin, upon seeing him. Kevin was happy with the news the doctor had broken to him, but he couldn’t show. He had been finding a way to get rid of Ellie’s pregnancy, since she told him about it. He thanked the doctor and went ahead to stay beside Ellie. He stayed beside her for a while, waiting for her to wake up. She finally woke up, shouting from her sleep.
Ellie didn’t respond to his question and sat on the bed for quite a while, as if trying to remember what made her land at the hospital. When the memories finally came rushing to her, she hurriedly got up from her bed, removing the drip from her hand.
“Where is Ivory?” Ellie asked, facing Kevin, ignoring the pain she was feeling underneath her belly.
“Calm down, Ellie,” Kevin said, trying to calm her down, when he noticed she was bleeding.
“Where is ivory? I need to see my daughter now!!!” Ellie yelled, ignoring Kevin’s advice. When she realized Kevin wouldn’t respond to her question, she headed for the door, wanting to go in search of her daughter. “She is dead,” Kevin said bluntly, which made Ellie halt in her steps. She turned around, looking at Kevin. It was as if she had been brought back to reality of her daughter’s death by Kevin’s statement. When the reality of the situation hit her, she collapsed to the floor, losing consciousness. Kevin watched as she laid on the floor unconscious. He put on a satisfying smile, before going in search of the nurses for help.