Komorebi [Complete]

Part 3 - MIRACLE

Chapter 3

It was half an hour after dusk. The groggy sun hovered dangerously low in the horizon. Night breezes ran through the trees along the hospital perimeter, making the leaves rustle and crack. A small group of people combed through the trees armed with flashlights.

"Amelia!" Celia called.

One of the searchers that was with her approached her and took her hand. It was Prince. The nurse shook his head at her. "It's no use. We can't find her in this darkness. It's dangerous and it's late."

"Which is why we need to find her," Celia replied under her breath. "Amelia!" she called once more.

A band of bushes shook on their left. Celia turned with a growing smile, expecting it to be Amelia, her little girl. But it was just another fellow nurse.

"No sign of her in the front courtyard," she reported.

Celia's smile faded. Prince squeezed her hand gently.

Another person appeared by the nurse that had arrived. Celia looked at him expectantly, readying herself for a wave of relief or another slap to the face. "Well?" Celia asked when the nurse didn't speak.

"She's not in building A or building B. I've asked all the other staff over there. No luck."

Celia buckled downwards as if her knees had ceased to exist. Prince caught her under the arms, gently softening her crash on the ground. "Celia, are you—"

"Give me back my baby!" Celia screamed at the blue-orange sky. "I'll do anything—Just bring her back home—!" her voice broke into a sob. The woman cried at the darkening sky, her body trembling with every wail. "Just please bring her back..." she pleaded, "Please..."

___

Taylor leaned up against his bed, dragging his finger along a book he had been trying to read. He disliked reading braille books, but this time was an exception; he needed to get away from the real world. But it wasn't working. The words he traced wouldn't stick to his mind. The book's story failed to embrace him wholly. All he could think of was Amelia, Amelia, Amelia. It had been two hours since she had gone missing and he was yet to hear from Prince.

He closed the book, settled on the fact that it wasn't letting him enter another realm. Taylor slid his book underneath his bed—the place where he kept most of his books and other personal belongings. He pushed himself off the floor and clicked his tongue once. Twice. Thrice. He remapped his room in his mind before making way for the door.

Once he got to his door, he twisted the doorknob. It opened, which was a miracle; Prince started locking his door ever since he was found unconscious by Amelia in the hall under a pile of cotton balls. He put a hand on the wall to his left. He dragged it there as he walked towards the left wing, which is the area where he had last seen Amelia, by the stairwell where he had almost fallen into earlier.

With the help of a few echo—locating clicks, he managed to find the staircase. He traced the first step with his foot. With utmost care, he held on the handrail and brought down his foot down. A split second of doubt—what if there wasn't a staircase here after all?—passed through his mind before his foot felt the hard surface of the first step down. Using the last gap as a reference, he took another step down; then another one, and another one until he eventually reached the ground floor.

It was quiet, which had expected since almost all of the staff was out looking for Amelia. The faint smell of that day's lunch hung in the air from the cafeteria along with a slight string of detergent from the cleaners' room.