Chapter 9
Tilly was in the backseat.
When she saw me, she was first stunned. Then, she tried to shout.
I immediately said to her, pointing at Samuel and Dana by the riverbank, “Tilly, you see that? Uncle Samuel and your mother are going to be together.”
Tilly looked at them with widened eyes filled with curiosity.
I continued, “Tilly, Uncle Samuel will only love your mother now. He might not love you anymore but he will have more kids with her. By then…”
“You’re lying!” Tilly objected loudly.
I touched Tilly’s face and said, “If you don’t believe me, you should try it out. I wonder, if you and your mother were in danger, who would Uncle Samuel rescue first?”
Then, I got out of the car.
I could tell that Tilly loved Samuel to the point of perversion. She only wanted Samuel to be her father and only hers.
Soon, Tilly got out of the car and walked over to them.
Samuel and Dana were so caught up in their own argument that they did not notice Tilly coming up from behind them.
Tilly took a deep breath and pushed Dana into the river, falling into the river with her.
The Peace River was extremely deep.
Tilly kept yelling in the water while crying, “Uncle Samuel! Help me! Help me!”
Dana could swim, however, she could not swim fast enough to survive because Tilly was grabbing onto her shoulder, pulling her down.
Suddenly, Tilly lifted her leg and kicked Dana as hard as she could. Dana looked at her daughter in panic. “Tilly…”
Soon, they separated in two different directions.
“Samuel, save me!” Dana yelled in horror. Her voice was in despair.
Tilly was a monster. A monster raised by Dana.
Samuel immediately came to his senses and jumped into the river.
Tilly choked on the water. “Uncle Samuel, I’m here…”
Samuel suddenly paused for a while. He immediately changed directions and swam toward
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Chapter 9
Tilly.
+25 BONUS
He pulled Tilly up to the riverbank.
When he turned back to look, Dana was lost under the water, right under a huge whirlpool. Samuel dejectedly hugged Tilly. He muttered to himself, “Nina, it’s fine. Daddy’s here…”
At that moment, I could see the darkness form in Tilly’s eyes.
Dana died at the hands of her own daughter.
Even Samuel went mad too. He treated Tilly as Nina.
A year later on Nina’s death anniversary, a group of people gathered in front of Nina’s graveyard with reddened eyes.
When they saw me, the leader of the group, who was one of the firemen in Samuel’s team, said to me, “Rachel, I’m so sorry. We didn’t do our jobs well enough. We were wrong.
I said nothing and cleaned the photo on Nina’s gravestone. Sniffled could be heard throughout the group.
That night, I had a dream.
11
I dreamt of Nina. She was wearing the clothes I bought for her. It was her favorite floral dress. She called out to me, “Mommy, I want a hug.”
I woke up with tears in my eyes.
Nina, my daughter. How I’ve missed you.