Hana

1

Hana hasn't aged.

Not one bit.

Throughout the years, we've always thought she was just a late bloomer; that she just wasn't the type to develop quickly; that her development was super slow or that—she was just short.

But no; that wasn't the bloody case at all. She seriously haven't grown an inch since that day my father found her.

It was pretty fucking bizzare and it really got to us. While I was growing every single day, Hana wasn't.

I'm currently sixteen and Hana still has that six year old body.

We've taken action on this when we couldn't take this mysterious matter in hand anymore.

It was super odd that we couldn't bring ourselves to show her to an actual hospital. We were too scared that they might've treatened her like an alien or something. We were scared that this might've been spread so quickly in town like wild fire.

Luckily, my Dad has a doctor as a sister. Aunt Chloe gladly checked up on her. She didn't find anything odd or abnormal in Hana's body nor in her system. She was completely fine. But Aunt Chloe never saw anything like this before. She didn't know what to say or do.

The theory was right; Hana is like an alien.

Aunt Chloe adviced us to not let anybody know about Hana. It was a dangerous risk, she said. People these days could get pretty sick ideas once they encountered something so unsual that their brain couldn't handle.

Who knows what could happen to Hana if they knew about her condition.

To put matters into action; my parents decided to keep Hana in our house at all cost until Aunt Chloe found the scientific explanation for all this.

Or in other words; they decided to imprison her in our own home.

It wasn't an easy choice. Once our neighbors noticed Hana's missings, my parents had to come up with a lie to convince them that Hana was gone.

They told them; Hana flew to somewhere like--to Malaysia or something.

It was sick.

It made me sick.

"Noah." Mom talked to me when she probably thought I didn't know what was going on--or atleast, understood what was going on. "You know we're just doing this for Hana, right?"

I gave her a blank look. I felt mad. But not at her, but at the situation. At Hana's situation.

"I know."

I remember that pitiful look she gave me; almost as if she was talking to a child who just lost his puppy.

"Is Hana going to stay like this forever?" I asked.

Mom didn't know what to say. But since she was talking to the ten year old me, she had to try atleast. "No. No, honey. No."

It was such an obvious unsure answer.

"Don't worry, honey; Hana's going to grow up. She's going to be a beautiful lady one day, you'll see. She's going to be the most prettiest girl you'd ever see, Noah, believe me."

As much as I wanted to cry at that time, somehow, my tears just wouldn't budge.

It felt painful.

I didn't know why, but just by thinking that your most precious friend isn't growing up like you are, was too much.

"She's already the most prettiest girl I've seen, Mom." My voice turned ice cold.

Mom stretched out a smile. "I know, sweetheart."