The Porcelain Afterlife of Momoko Hara

Ghosts

Olivia, your death caused much more than grief. Once the Winter family no longer had you, that meant they didn't need me either.

Entangled in Christmas lights is where Mrs. Winter found me. She held me for a while, stroking my matted white hair before placing me and the lights in a cardboard box. I couldn't fight Mrs. Winter. Under her stare, my program paralyzed me. All I could do was watch as Mrs. Winter carried me downstairs and into the darkened basement.

I laid in the opened box and bounced from side to side down each step. Mrs. Winter's dust-covered hands rattled against the cardboard, each time she looked down at her pale pink sweater stained with Olivia's browning blood. At the bottom of the stairs, she placed the box down on the concrete floor and plucked me out from the lights.

Mrs. Winter carried me through the dark gray room, avoiding the wet spot of concrete in the center. At the far end of the room, just under the spotlight of a moonlit window was a wooden cabinet filled with antiques and fine china.

Mrs. Winter opened the cabinet and with a shaking hand placed me behind the glass door. I sat on the top shelf and watched Mrs. Winter step slowly away back into the shadows of the concrete room.

I was indeed a ghost locked away in a cage.

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I never thought about how long a year was. Not truly.

Years just seemed to happen naturally. I could see the leaves fall and grow again. I could see an extra bit of weight around my face, or maybe meet a new friend in school. With none of that to mark my time, I had discovered a different kind of year, a year of emptiness.

I had only my thoughts to haunt me now. These memories only reminded me of all the poor choices I made to get me to this point. There was no hope. There was nothing new to move me forward. I could only remember the wrong.

It was a long bitter year, watching frost gather outside the window, and I would have stayed locked in the cabinet if it wasn't for an unexpected change.

The Winter family was moving.

It happened so fast I almost didn't understand what was happening at first. The dim lights of the basement flicked on. I figured it was Mrs. Winter retrieving something like she sometimes did, but this time it was two strange men in a baseball caps and gloves.

I watched them remove all the furniture one by one. I had more patience than ever before. I was willing to wait just a bit more for them to get to me. I listened to them chatter about Mr. Winters promotion to prime counselor, and that the family was moving to a place called Washington D.C.

They even talked about you Olivia, but what I learned was not what I expected.

"Is this where the kidnapper got in?" a husky man said and looked out the lone window.

Another dark-skinned man opened the cobweb-covered window to inspect it.

"No, couldn't be," the dark-skinned man said and pressed his lips together, "That's way too small for anyone to get through."

"It gives me the chills, just being down here," the husky man said and looked around the empty basement, "What kind of a maniac just takes a kid for money."

"Well, the Winters seemed to have moved on pretty quick," the dark-skinned man said and shrugged, "Already have another little girl. Heard from the news she might have the same illness that poor girl did."

The poor girl is what he called you. I wanted to remind him your name was Olivia, remind him you were a person after all but the bright light coming from the window was commanding me. I needed to pay close attention.

Once they moved the velvet couch, the movers opened the cabinet to take out the pieces of fine china one by one and into a box. I didn't speak, not at first. I waited for them to look away and paused for the right moment.

"Can I tell you a secret," I played a recording of Olivia's voice.

The ghost-like sound scattered and echoed against the flat walls.

"What the hell was that," the husky man said, and dropped a gold plate crashing it to the floor.

The dark-skinned man looked all around the room. His wide eyes searched for the source of the sound.

"I don't feel right about this," the dark-skinned man whispered and turned his back away from the cabinet.

The husky man turned his back away from me and followed the other man across the room.

Now was my chance.

I leaped up from my stoic place in the cabinet and pulled myself up. My legs slipped down the polished wood, but I was able to catch myself on the swinging door. I leaned my body towards the window so the door wouldn't close me back in.

"Hey!" the dark-skinned man shouted from behind, "What's that doll doing over there."

I clawed my hands over the top of the cabinet and leaped towards the window. Two sets of feet raced behind me. Without a moment too soon, I compressed my body through the narrow window as the wobbly screen slammed closed behind me.

I stood outside in a lawn of opened grass muddy with thawing snow. Above the blue sky was speckled with fluffy clouds.

"Go get the boss," the dark-skinned man's muted shout came from behind the glass.

It was the most beautiful sky I had ever remembered, but I couldn't wait and watch its beauty, but I had to get away from this house and fast.

I began to run first along the sides of the white paneled house, dipping in and out of the bushes trying to avoid the eyes of the other movers as they were walking in and out of the house. I looked beyond the bushes to see if there was anywhere I could run and not be seen.

Behind the Winter family home was a thick brush of forest. The tall trees were packed close together like riders on a subway.

"A doll?" Mr. Winter shouted in the distance, "You idiots, why didn't you catch that thing?"

Without another thought, I raced towards the forest and to my freedom.

"I want every inch of the area searched, now!" Mr. Winter continued to shout.

With each step, the grass was getting taller. I looked behind to see the movers also racing towards me and the woods.

Thirty seconds until pick up, please travel to your pick up point now.

A bright green arrow flashed and pointed diagonally to the left. I followed the sign through the unpaved woods. With only mechanical parts, I could run as long as I needed, I just had to make sure I was faster than anyone on taller legs.

50 meters left

I continued to run through the muddy path, around the twigs that looked like mountains and over the rocks that felt like boulders. I ran until I saw a man standing in the forest. He had the kind of face I hadn't seen in a lifetime.

He was a Korean man in a gray tracksuit with the hood pulled up and a white mask over his face. I could only see his dark brown eyes. They stared down at me with no emotion. The green arrow pointed at his feet and a metal cage.

I walked towards the cage, although everything in me wanted to walk away and remain this free for just a little longer. I knew there was no going back. I could only go forward.

I was going home.