It’s uncertain if it’s the influence of her child, but when Aoife can’t sleep at night, she always feels like there’s a child sitting at the foot of her bed. She reaches out to embrace her, but the weight is heavy on her, and she gasps for air. When she finally gains the strength, she realizes she was just dreaming, and those physical reactions she experienced are what people commonly refer to as “sleep paralysis.”
Aoife has always been afraid of ghosts, as the village elders often tell ghost stories. Stories of ghosts they had encountered that walk through walls, unable to leave the village hills in the dead of night.
Afraid after hearing these stories, every time she sensed something amiss, she would cover her ears and walk far away.
The year her grandmother passed away, Aoife suddenly wasn’t as afraid of ghosts anymore because she knew her grandmother had always been her guardian angel who would protect her.
Now, holding her child’s ashes, Aoife is even less afraid. She even hopes that there are ghosts in this world, so she can see her beloved grandmother and child whom she constantly yearns for.
Perhaps knowing her fear of ghosts, her grandmother never appeared in her dreams, while her child appeared for two nights, but now is nowhere to be seen.
Aoife thinks that her grandmother must have taken the child to heaven to watch over them.
Finn thought Aoife would carry the urn with ashes for the rest of her life, and he didn’t dare to advise her, fearing she’d be more annoyed with him.
After being discharged, Aoife returned to her run-down apartment that she hadn’t visited in nearly eight months. Upon opening the door, dust was everywhere.
After opening the windows for some fresh air, Aoife began cleaning with Finn joining in. He followed her every move, not minding the dirt, wiping away the dust. The clear water in the bucket quickly turned murky, and he kept changing it back and forth, getting his clothes and hair dirty and soaked with sweat.
Once the house was cleaned, Aoife carefully placed the urn in the closet.
She couldn’t find a place to bury her child; a plot in Chiwood cost around one to two hundred thousand dollars, and Aoife didn’t have that kind of money. She thought of burying the urn next to her grandmother in the village.
“You mentioned taking me to see Dr. Mason at the prison.”
The lifeless Aoife regained some spirit when she mentioned “Hattie,” and after some contemplation, Finn thought it would be a good idea to take Aoife to see her.
Recently, Aoife was not in a good mental state. Although alive, she hardly spoke, her face devoid of any expression, resembling that of a living dead person.
She cared about Hattie, hoping that meeting her might offer some solace.
“Let’s head home to shower and change first.”
Finn drove Aoife back to North Bankshire, where the house remained the same as when she left, with one noticeable change: all the red dresses in the closet were gone, leaving only a small white dress.
Aoife looked at the closet, feeling a bit dazed. Even though she hadn’t been back for so long, she knew exactly where everything was and what to do without a second thought.
Her time in North Bankshire had been so long, longer than living in her own purchased house.
Aoife casually picked out some clothes from the closet and entered the bathroom. It had been a while since she had looked in the mirror, knowing what a sight she was.
Back when she was an actress, she was sometimes mocked for being just a pretty face, but now she didn’t even have that.
Inside the bathroom was a hand mirror, and it was hard not to look. In a hasty glance, she saw the scar on her face, the stitches removed and the wound healing well, showing a faint pink color, a grim reminder of the injury.
This was a face even Aoife herself found repulsive.
She didn’t understand why Finn still clung to her despite her appearance.
After she showered and changed into clean clothes, Finn took Aoife to the prison. The journey was quiet, with neither of them speaking.
They arrived at the prison quickly, and as Aoife gazed up at the building, the wind blowing in her eyes made her tear up.
Her eyes were completely ruined, sensitive to light, causing pain even from a gust of wind. Her vision was no longer as clear as before, and her sense of hearing deteriorated after her eye troubles emerged.
After Finn signed some documents, a police officer led Aoife to the meeting room. During the wait, Aoife sat nervously on a nearby bench. Soon enough, the officer brought Hattie out to meet her.
Hattie’s waist-length hair had been chopped short, her doll-like face still remaining, albeit with a bit more maturity and weariness. She looked pale but appeared to be in good spirits.
Upon hearing she had a visitor, Hattie wondered who it could be, never expecting it to be Aoife.
At the first sight of Aoife, Hattie didn’t recognize her.
Aoife’s face used to bear a striking resemblance to Elisa, but now a long scar on her right cheek had altered her appearance.
Nevertheless, in Hattie’s eyes, this version of Aoife was still beautiful.
Their acquaintance had been brief. They had last seen each other seven months ago. Reuniting now in this place revealed how time had changed everything drastically in just a few months.
As Hattie sat down and looked at Aoife’s face, she asked, “How did you get that scar on your face?”
“I accidentally got hurt.”
Hattie pursed her lips and sighed internally, realizing that Aoife being here meant Finn had found her, feeling reassured that Aoife had been discovered sooner than she had anticipated.