Chapter Four - Her Gift (Part 1)

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I am caged in white sheets or curtains. They are flowing forcefully with the wind blowing but there's no wind. I don't feel any wind. Am I numb? I hear that voice again. I see her but I can not see her because the light behind her is blinding. Her shadow is cast over her. Her voice feels familiar. I try to run towards her but these sheets are covering my vision. She's disappearing, going far away from me. I cannot run. I tried everything in my power but I'm still on the same place and she's going. I'm tired. I'm covered in sweat. No!

Ericka wakes up. Her eyes glance at the clock nearest to her on her right. It shows 3 A.M, 14th October. It suddenly struck her mind. Her nightmares have returned. It was long back when they haunted her. She remembers their occurrence at nearly 3 A.M. They started somewhere around when she was five because she remembers telling her mother about it. After her mother's disappearance and then the news of her death spread, she couldn't sleep for a long time. When finally she overcame her insomnia, those had already stopped. 

But how am I going to stop them this time? Also as far as I remember, I could hear voices unlike now, that I'm unable to understand her although I don't remember what she said. Now that I get a vague view of it, they were more like visions not nightmares. If it came to me at a specific time, why did I get that during the pool party? Ugh!

She put the pillow on her face, covering it with more force than needed. It seemed like she  wanted to blocked all the thoughts flying to her head from unknown source by the white, fluffy pillow. After a series of failure to get some shut-eye, she thought of getting up and try to do something productive. That's when she realized, the uncle's gift!

She got up from her French-style bed, put on the slippers and dragged her feet to the hallway of her house where the blue box was kept on a Walnut-wood table at one of the corners. She graced the golden design at the center-top of the box with her hands. Something familiar? She took it back to her room.

 She straightened the gift wrapper which she didn't throw away yet. It read:- 

Happy Eighteen Child, 

Did he forget that Eighteen is not 'Child'? Why do people think I'm still a kid?

This was your mother's gift for your Eighteenth Birthday. 

It won't be easy to open. ; )

From, Uncle-From-Faraway!

And I don't like easy things. Ericka thought to herself and grinned.

She looked carefully at the lock. At first, she thought that they were similar to the combination locks which had 1-9 on each of the four circular discs. But when she turned each one, there was a sign above the two discs from the right. It couldn't be seen with naked eye. Since, asking for microscope at about 4 A.M in the morning, didn't sound right to her, she opened the camera of her Space Grey iPhone 11 Pro Max phone which was lying on the other side of the bed and zoomed in to 2x; Camera was facing the lock. The sign was something like, 나이.

It feels Korean-Chinese-Japanese type. BJ might be able to help as he frequently visits his grandparents' in Korea. But just one clue?! How am I supposed to solve it based on just one clue?

Suddenly she felt that the center-golden design got covered in blue flumes and something beneath shimmered. She looked around to see the source of light but there was none. The only light burning was from the yellowish-orange table lamp sitting beside the bed. She focused on it carefully. No fumes, no shine. She concentrated only on the design. Few moments later, the blue fumes started appearing again. This time they grew immensely, covering Ericka in a matter of seconds. If someone saw her at that moment, 'she is summoning spirits' would be the first thing that might come to their mind.

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