Chapter 9
Before Samuel got a call from me to plead and bargain with him after he’d blocked my supplementary credit card, news from the private investigator arrived. The private investigator had sent him plenty of information, including screenshots of news articles from local media accounts.
The headline in one of those screenshots read: “Shocking! Mother and Son Found Dead in Residence by Neighbors!”
The article that followed was considerably short, and though it did not list the address, it did name the town where the incident occurred. A picture of the cottage that Lucas and I had lived in was also included.
Samuel recognized the cottage. He froze, staring at the screenshot, but still didn’t believe the story.
He called me again, only to be told by a mechanical voice that my number did not exist. He then called me on WhatsApp, but I still did not answer.
A sudden thought must have crossed his mind, for he pulled up his banking app and tapped into the supplementary credit card account.
When he saw the balance in the account and the transaction records for the past six months, he began to tremble. He realized that I hadn’t spent any money in the past six months, and judging from the account balance, it had been three years since I used the card.
The private investigator sent him two voice notes.
“Mr. Hawthorne, after looking into this case for the last two days, we can confirm that Ms. Calla Zimmerman has passed, and so has her child. Almost all the local townspeople know about this, and the local town council was in charge of the cremation for Ms. Zimmerman and her child.
“Their ashes are still being kept in the columbarium. I’ve asked the town council, and the staff told me that they’d tried reaching out to Ms. Zimmerman’s husband, but to no avail. They’d sent him messages, but even those have gone unanswered.”
Samuel was losing control over his emotions. Shuddering, he asked, “What caused her sudden death? She was fine before, so how was it that no one knew that she’d died in her house?”
The private investigator sounded sympathetic as he sighed and said, “The incident occurred so long ago that there isn’t much information on her. According to the town council, Ms. Zimmerman died of a full–body infection after she donated her bone marrow.
“As for her child, he died of starvation. He had stayed by his mother’s corpse for several days. It’s quite the tragedy.”
Samuel’s eyes widened, and his phone slid out of his hand and clattered to the floor. He muttered under his breath, “How did this happen? How is this possible?”
Lucas had already fallen asleep in my arms, so he did not have to witness this cruel scene. How did this happen? Indeed, I also wished to know.
After I died, I watched Lucas call out for me over and over, holding my hand as he begged me to wake up. I then watched him pour himself water to quench his thirst, only to end up knocking over hot water and scalding himself. He’d been so terrified that he burst out crying. Even as my soul circled him, desperate to help him, there was nothing I could do.
In the end, he curled up in my cold embrace and wept as he called out for me, then fell into a deep slumber. Three days later, he feebly lay in my arms and drew his last breath.
Before his passing, Lucas had grabbed my phone and called Samuel repeatedly until the phone battery died. But Samuel did not pick up once. If he had, even if just once, Lucas might have lived. After all, Lucas was Samuel’s biological son, even if the latter refused to acknowledge it.
I had hugged Lucas in limbo after he died. He had no idea that he’d passed, for he happily leaned against my shoulder as he innocently asked, “Mommy, why did you ignore me when I called out for you the last few days? I thought you’d died! I was so scared…”
Souls did not have tears, only endless sorrow. I had planned to go into the light with Lucas as soon as possible, but our attachment to the mortal world kept us bound, trapping our souls in this prison–like space for the last three years.
