Finding A Ghost (Completed)

Chapter 29

**| Past Sang's POV |**

I tentatively touched my neck where it was sore. I knew if I looked in the mirror, there would be bruising. I wrapped an old scarf around my neck to try to hide the bruising as I climbed out of my window.

Tears filled my eyes again at the memory.

At Mama shoving me to the ground. Of her sitting on top of me, her eyes crazed with anger and suspicion. At the feel of her hands as they wrapped around my neck. Of her breath as she screamed into my face, calling me a useless bitch, a good for nothing.

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. She was going to kill me. I could see it in her eyes. She didn't want me.

I really was nothing to her.

Then Papa finally acted like a father and pulled her off me. They went into a screaming match and then I heard what I never expected to hear.

"I don't want that woman's child in my house!"

They spoke in English, probably hoping I didn't know what they were saying, but I understood. I knew English well now, thanks to North and to some tourists I got up the nerve to talk to.

Her words froze me as all the air in my chest disappeared. My body didn't want to work anymore.

That woman's child...

Whose...

What...

"Sang," Papa snapped, looking at me. "Geh zu deinem Schlafzimmer. (Go to your bedroom.)"

I forced my limbs to move as I kept hearing her word.

That woman's child.

And I knew she was talking about me.

When I got to my room, I crawled into bed, curling around myself, my brain slowly making connections, like why she always favored Marie. My sister never got into trouble for anything. She was always quick to blame me instead.

And her treatment of me. Was it because I wasn't her child? Was it impossible for a parent to care for someone who wasn't theirs?

The yelling continued for a few more minutes before there was a slam of the front door. Papa took off again. I waited, my skin chilled, all my senses on alert. I waited for her to come up here, to finish the job.

But she didn't.

An hour passed before I got up the nerve to go check. All I had to to do was make it to the bottom of the stairs.

I passed by Marie's room, her door closed, her music loud. I went down the stairs, stepping over the two creakings steps, keeping my back to the wall and my eyes over the banister.

Nothing.

When I got to the bottom step, I peeked around the corner. Her bedroom door was open and I could see her in her bed, asleep. I heard a car pull into the driveway and rushed back into my room, my heart thumping hard.

Papa was back already.

I listened as he settled in the living room, turning on the TV. He would stay down there for hours and wouldn't bother with checking up on me. He never came up here and he never called for me. Mama would stay asleep for a long time and after she punishes she usually ignores me for a couple of days.

I shook myself out of my thoughts as I worked my way towards the road to head towards the docks. I had made plans to meet North there a little later but I could just wait around there for him. I didn't mind.

The walk was a little long and when I tried humming, my throat had hurt. When I tried speaking just to check, my voice was a little hoarse. She had damaged my throat that much. She had tried to silence me.

When I got to the docks, I smiled at all the other kids playing. Someone had brought a bucket of chalk and shared with the others, and now the sidewalk and roads were covered in scribbles and drawings.

I wanted to join too but didn't know how to go about doing that so instead I sat down on a bench and watched all of them draw.

"Sang?"

I looked over to see North walking towards me. My hands went to my scarf to adjust it. I didn't want him to see those bruises.

"North," I croaked and closed my mouth and tried to clear it a little. I winced at the pain and he frowned at me.

"What happened?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I might get cold," I said.

His eyebrows furrowed. "You feel cold? You should have worn a thicker jacket."

I shook my head. "No. Uh, sick. I might be getting sick."

"Oh," he said, sitting down next to me.

I smiled up at him and reached up, running my hand through his ruly dark hair to push it out of his face. He would need a haircut soon. I liked the way the strands felt in my hand. North's cheeks turned a little red and he stared at the other kids while I removed my hand and rested it back in my lap. I kicked my feet since I couldn't touch the ground and watched the kids with him.

"Did you want to draw?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I'm lucky if I can even draw a stick figure."

He chuckled and I loved the sound of it. "Your drawing will be in good company," he said and pointed to a drawing of something that looked like a combination of a unicorn and a bird.

We talked for a little longer, enjoying each other's company. The day would have gone great if a taxi didn't pull up to the road near us. A moment later, North's dad stepped out, his dark eyes hard as he scanned the area before stopping on us.

He stalked over to us, his massive figure looming over us.

"Let's go," he said to North. "The plane leaves in two hours."

"Plane?" North asked, looking confused.

But I wasn't. I knew what planes meant.

"We're leaving." He grabbed North and yanked him up to his feet.

"Let me go," North said, trying to pull away but his father was determined to take him away. I got to my feet and tried to hug North, to wish him well, but his father yanked on my scarf to pull me away.

"Leave us alone," he snapped at me and I flinched at the venom in his voice. I froze, his face overlapping with Mama's for a second.

"Sang!" North called out, his eyes wide as he stared at me. His eyes focused on my neck and I realized he could see the bruising there. His face was pale with panic and fear.

I did the best I could and raised my hand, waving goodbye to him.

That was all I could do.

This was our end.