The Odd One Out

Chapter 9

Summer's body was numb with cold and on the verge of losing consciousness when she finally arrived back in her own neighbourhood. Her black low-heeled shoes were filled with water and her socks had long been soaked through. Her feet felt like two large frozen iron blocks, so painful and cold that she could barely lift them up. Summer's face was blue, her lips were purple, and she was walking home with a small, ragged umbrella that was as good as nothing, dragging her heavy feet, figuring she was close to being crippled.

The time was already past nine in the evening, and it seemed that all the residents in the neighbourhood had gone to bed very early, and when I looked around, the neighbourhood was dark. With all the lights off. If she hadn't seen the lights on in her window, she would have thought she was the only one left in the dead silence of the pouring rain.

Summer looked at the only white lighted window in the pouring rain, thought of her parents waiting for her at home, thought of a hot meal and soup and a hot bath when she got back, and a little strength came back into her exhausted body to keep her going.

"Summer?!"

A torch suddenly pierced through the rain and struck Summer's half-closed eyelids as her mother's voice rang out in surprise and distress, "Why are you soaked? I told your father to pick you up, but you refused. Go home and take a hot bath, and I'll make you a bowl of hot soup."

Summer closed her eyes at the light, and when she opened them again she was pulled by her mother into the stairwell, where the voice-activated lights in the hallway came on. Summer felt guilty that she had worried her parents after all. When she got home, her parents didn't ask her much about what had happened tonight but urged her to take a shower. Summer took a steaming hot shower and felt like she was alive again as the hot water washed over her and her blood seemed to freeze. The bathroom was filled with a white mist, and Summer wiped her hands on the mirror to remove the vapour that had clouded the surface, looking at the red flower on her left breast in a daze.

When had she gotten this tattoo?

A blood-red flower bloomed enchantingly on her white, delicate skin. The flower was shaped like a dragon's claw, with no stem, and its petals were blood-red, resembling a manzanita. The legendary flower that blooms in hell, a demonic and dangerous beauty. The tattooist was so skilled that the flower bloomed so vividly over her heart that it gave her the illusion that it was blooming from deep within her heart. She rubbed her thumb over it with a frown of discomfort, causing the skin to glow red, which in turn made the flower look even more demonic. The tattoo gave her a very uncomfortable feeling, and she wondered why she had gotten such a symbol of death tattooed on her body in the first place.

Summer thought about getting the tattoo cleaned sometime while changing into clean clothes and leaving the bathroom. Her mother was in the kitchen heating up the food, and when she came out, she brought her a bowl of freshly cooked ginger soup: "Quickly, drink the soup and then eat."

The hot soup slid down her throat and into her stomach, making Summer's cheeks flush and her forehead sweat. The molten warmth gradually spread from her belly to her limbs, forcefully expelling the invading cold and dampness from her body. Compared to being wet and cold outside in the rain, half-dead, it was the difference between being in heaven and hell.

It was better to be at home.

Although she had called back beforehand and told them not to wait for her to eat, she would eat first. But her parents were so worried that they didn't eat much. Now that they saw that she was fine, they felt relieved and realized that they were starving. In a short time, the food was heated up and the family sat around the table to enjoy their belated dinner. Naturally, Summer was still not allowed to eat any meat.