A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 46: A WOUND FROM THE WAR

Airin found herself walking on a quiet road, a road she had never walked on before.

The road was all white, as white as a cottonbud, and straight, leading to nowhere. At least she was not sure where it led to because she just kept walking but there was no road sign, no traffic lights, nothing. Just one straight, white as a cotton road.

Mom walked next to her. She looked exactly like she was the day she died. Her face was serene, and she walked an armlength away from Airin.

"You have to go back to the world of the living, Ai," Mom said gently.

"And what would I do there, Mom? I miss you, and Dad ... Dad and May ... they ... I ..." she stuttered in her effort to not cry. How she missed that voice of Mom calling her Ai!

"I know what they did behind my back, Ai. But you ... you have your own life. Those little ones who love you ... Xander ..."

"Xander? How do you know...?"

"Of course I know." A hint of a playful chuckle at the sentence.

"Xander and I ... I don't think we are meant to be, Mom. He is this royal warrior from another universe. So strange, isn't it?"

"Do you love him?"

Mom had always been gentle and soft spoken, but she had this uncanny ability to ask pointed, honest question that caught Airin offguard. Airin stopped walking, and stared at Mom. "I don't know if ... I can trust my own feeling. I have had some failed relationships, I grew up watching you and Dad having such difficult marriage. I don't want to hurt him, Mom."

Mom exhaled a long sigh. "Take your time, Ai. Even though if you ask me, Xander is a good one for you."

Airin smiled in between her tears. "I don't think it's possible, Mom."

They kept walking in silence until they came to the end of the road.

There was a river there with strong currents, whirlpools here and there, and waves that crashed mercilessly on the jagged rocks.

The river was not made of water like other rivers Airin had seen before. The river was black liquid that smelled nauseating like blood.

"The world of the living is across this river, Ai."

Airin was scared. "How can I cross this river, Mom? It looks dangerous, it looks like a river of black blood."

Mom smiled, gazed far away to the land filled with green grass, spring flowers, and tall trees across the river. "Look," she nodded at something from across the river. Airin followed the direction of Mom's nod and saw something indeed.

From far away across the river, Airin saw something moving.

It moved fast, and the closer it got to her, the more clearly she could see it.

A red bridge. A bridge that floated from the world of the living to her. The bridge was the color of fresh red blood.

"Someone has sent you a lifeline. Someone who wishes so much for you to be alive, someone who ... loves you."

"Who, Mom?"

Mom smiled. A beautiful, peaceful smile. "It is not for me to tell you the secret of the heavens. Now go, Ai. My lovely Ai. Go and continue living ..."

The red bridge stopped right next to Airin's feet. "I will miss you, Mom. I love you," she whispered at Mom. She stepped closer to Mom and hugged her. Mom felt exactly the same as when she was alive. Warm, with a faint fragrant of rose perfume, and thin that Airin could feel her pointed shoulder blades.