CHAPTER : 10
After the day I was born, not even a full week had passed, and the house was already in chaos.
Dishes were piling up like mountains.
A suspicious stain lay on the floor that no one knew how it appeared.
Clothes of all three of them were in the corner of the room, lying there as if asking what their fault was.
My parents, on the other hand—
It's hard to even say.
They looked like zombies from a dungeon,
with dark circles deeper and darker than the abyss.
So sleep-deprived that even opening their eyes felt like a struggle without end.
And you ask where the culprit in this situation was?
He was sleeping on the thighs of his mother, lying on the ground for some reason,
as if nothing could faze him.
Father was right by her side, lying lifeless.
Both questioned all their life decisions,
lying there knowing full well that there was no escape from their misery.
"Heeey hooney… how was thee onee thaaat said that parenting is funn and all people enjoy it?"
she spoke, her words stretching as they left her mouth.
"I waan't too go to hiiim and puuunch him so haaard thaaaat his face falls off,"
she said with all the anger she could muster.
"You're right," he said in a dying voice.
"We have to survive this crisis and find every person responsible for this,
and take them to the afterlife with us."
He said it with the same voice.
"I thooought thaaat I wiill play with myyy baaby after the nine moonths…
and daaays would pass liiike playing in the gaarden,
happy and joyous daaays thaaat I dreamed of…
are gone now, aaand only the paain remains."
Disappointment was clearly written on her face.
"You're right," he said.
"I also dreamed of playing with our child—
going outside and showing our child to all the people in the village and making them jealous.
But who would have imagined that it was the child who came to play with our lives,
not the other way around."
Tears formed in his eyes.
Mother sensed the shift in his tone and looked at his face.
She understood what he was feeling,
but no one could put into words the emotions they both felt.
Mother extended her hand and said, "Honey."
It was all the signal both needed to understand what that meant.
They hugged each other, not knowing why or how.
Tears flowed from both of their eyes.
They hugged that day and cried until they fell asleep.
The first one to open his eyes was Father.
He slowly opened them and saw Mother clinging to him.
Then he realized it was already night, and the baby wasn't crying.
He looked down and panicked.
He woke Mother with all the strength he had.
"Honey. Honey. Honey.
You have to wake up.
The baby is missing."
As he said the third line—
She woke up.
"What did you just say?
Repeat it again," she shouted at the top of her lungs.
Father pointed downward.
She looked and realized he was right.
The baby was missing.
They both stood up and searched the whole room, looking for him.
But no matter how much they tried, they were unable to find him.
Father clicked his tongue and yelled,
"The door—did we leave it open?"
Hearing that, both ran as if their exhaustion had never existed.
They rushed downstairs, Father in front.
As he stepped down the stairs, his eyes went to the kitchen.
And there, he saw something they couldn't believe.
They froze at the sight.
In the kitchen, Grandma was holding me in her arms.
And I was smiling—after a long time.
Relief washed over them together, and their legs gave out at the same moment.
All the exhaustion came rushing back.
They stayed there for some time,
and after they recovered their strength, they sat on chairs.
And listened to Grandma's explanation.
She explained how the door was unlocked and how she came inside after not getting an answer to the bell.
When she entered, she saw the house in complete mess and started cleaning.
Then she went upstairs and saw both of them sleeping.
So she decided to let them rest and took the baby downstairs.
Both fully understood what had happened.
After the explanation, she gave them an hour-long lecture.
About how worried she was when no one answered the door,
and how shocked she was when she saw the state of the house.
She explained that it had only been days since she left,
and yet the whole house was already like this.
And how disappointed she was that they chose to suffer instead of asking for help.
When the lecture was finally over,
both of their souls left their bodies.
They swore that from then on,
they would ask for help first if they ever had problems in the future.