Untold: One Shot Collection

Drowned

𝗗𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘𝗗
[Dedicated to: Hannah Charmaine Joy Endar]

I ran to the attic as I search for some books to read. But, as I'm searching, I saw something that caught my attention. It's my father's diary...

"Hannah, Year 1982." I read it out loud.

"I picked up a random seed at school. It's a shiny white seed. It seems beautiful so I planted it on the backyard. I don't know what to call the tree so I called it Hannah. I think it's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen." I smiled for I have not met my father once. So, reading his story feels like he's telling it to me.

"Yellowish leaves.." I continued.

"The day after it grew, I saw a dark blue round fruit that is as big as an apple. I climbed up, picked the fruit and bite it. I don't know what it was but I want to explore so I began chewing, still sitting in one of the tree trunks. Suddenly, a girl approached me. She's my age, I guess. Later on, we became friends.

I wonder why everytime she say goodbye, I'll find myself sleeping under the same tree I planted. So still, I will always come back, climb the tree and eat one of its fruits. As I chew, she will appear, and later on, I think I fell in love."

I stopped. Goosebumps hit me all over my spine. The chills it gives me feels like I need to discover something. Something is behind this all.

I closed the book and ran downstairs. I searched for my fathers autopsy report.

"Died of addiction, found under the roots of an unknown tree, approximately 6 to 5 days after being consumed by the tree."

There's a picture of me when my foster parents adopted me,  a baby sleeping gently under the shade of a dying tree. Then, I look closer at the picture. I saw my necklace opened like a pendant. So, I rushed into my room with my heart racing.  I don't know if I'm scared, or maybe excited, or maybe it's pain. I found the box and took my necklace out of it. It is rusty and stained but I forced it open. It held a letter inside. I opened it and it revealed my father's writing..

"Hannah, when time comes and you find this mystery out, know that I did not died of addiction. I will choose to be with your mother, in a world far from what we can see. And now it's your turn to decide... Hannah, this is your mother." 

I looked at the pendant as tears flow from my eyes, as if I am crying for something I don't know. I saw a seed, the same seed my father described on his diary. So I took it, packed my things, and left.

_______________________
𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥..

𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀' 𝗣𝗢𝗩
"Hey, have you seen Hannah?" I asked my wife as I kept searching for our kid, when the TV news caught my attention.

"Earlier this morning, FoxNews found a mysterious tree growing out of the body of an unknown 18-year-old girl here in Texas, California. The kid was found laying on the ground as the roots of the tree buried in her body. The girl's information is still unknown and witnesses are still being interviewed."

I sat down the couch as I stare blankly into spaces. "The same tree his father was found dead..." I mumbled.

"𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚." Tears came racing on my cheeks as ache devours my heart.

—𝘈𝘬𝘶𝘮𝘢 𝘌𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘬𝘰
10/13/21