House Under Construction
Chapter 7: The Untold Truth
Standing before my dream university, Sky University, I felt a thrilling and proud sensation. I couldn't stop smiling, my heart pounding with excitement. It was as if, after many years, I was finally experiencing true happiness. Just then, someone bumped into me, causing my books to spill from my hands.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to," she said quickly.
"No, no, it's okay," I replied, as she bent down to help me gather my scattered books.
"In which department are you?" she asked, handing me a book.
"I'm in the Architecture Department," I said.
"Oh, really?" she replied with a bright smile. "So am I!"
"What's your name?" she asked,
"I'm Sarah. And you?"
"I'm Elsa," she responded.
"Oh, it's class time! We should head to the classroom." And just like that, on my first day at university, I made a friend.
Six months later...
When we reached the trip destination, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It felt like as I had been here before. Our class had forty-one students, and our instructor paired everyone into twenty groups of two, except for one person who had to complete the task alone. Unfortunately, that person was me.
"Oh, why always me?" I exclaimed. "Instructor, this is unfair. If I'm doing this alone, I should get extra points."
The instructor looked at me with a proud smile and said, "Sarah, you are the most brilliant and outstanding student among all these students. These students need each other's support. You are the only one here who can fulfill the task alone, which is why I chose you."
I nodded my head with an awkward smile and muttered to myself, "Yes, I can do it'', and rolled my eyes.
Just then, an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "All students who are paired, please stand with your partners. One by one, come forward and take a chit from this jar. Your tasks are inside."
I joined the line, waiting for my turn, hoping that the task would be easy since I was doing it alone. As the line slowly moved forward, my mind raced with thoughts of what the task might be and how I would manage it on my own. When it was finally my turn, I reached into the jar and pulled out a chit, praying for something manageable. I opened the chit with a pounding heart. Inside, it was simply written, "House Under Construction." I had no clue what it meant. "House Under Construction," I muttered to myself. I double-checked the chit, but it only had those three words. There were no houses around, just the dense forest.
Sighing deeply, I pulled out a scrunchie from my pocket and tied my hair into a ponytail. "Let's do it, Sarah," I cheered myself. I began searching for the house under construction, wandering through the forest for an hour before my eyes landed on an abandoned hut. A wave of recognition hit me—it was the same hut I had seen in a dream. "It is the same! It is the same!" I repeated in disbelief. I hurried inside the hut, seeking answers. The old furniture and infrastructure were exactly as they had been in my dream. I looked around, trying to make sense of it all. Could my dream have shown me my past? If so, why hadn't my mom told me the truth? Lost in these thoughts, my eyes caught a glimpse of something shiny. Out of curiosity, I approached it and found a golden locket.
A memory flashed before me—I was seven years old, playing with a golden-haired boy. My eyes filled with tears as I picked up the locket with shaking hands. Inside the locket, it was a picture of me when I was little, alongside the golden-haired boy, Jake. Memories flooded my mind: "Jake, should we play hide and seek?" "Jake, help me, save me?" It was as if the entire scene was replaying before my eyes. "Jake, keep counting..." The intensity was too much; I lost consciousness.
When I woke up the next day, I found myself in a hospital bed. Elsa and our instructor were standing beside me.
"Oh dear, you finally woke up. What happened? Why did you lose consciousness? We found you in an abandoned hut," Elsa said, concern etched on her face.
"It was all my fault. I should have paired you up for the task," the instructor added, looking remorseful. "No, it's okay. It was no one's fault. I was just feeling a bit unwell," I said, trying to cover up what had really happened. I pretended to be fine, but deep down, I knew I was grappling with something far more profound. When I reached home, I hurriedly went to my mother, my eyes brimming with tears. "Mom, did I nearly die when I was seven? Did Jake really lose his life because of me? Please don't lie again, because I remember now. I remember everything. Tell me the truth, Mom. Why did you hide my past from me?"
My mother's eyes filled with tears—something I had never seen before. "Sarah, my baby, I'm so sorry. I didn't take care of you as I should have. I was selfish, but I was still your mother. How could I bear to see you in pain?"
She continued, her voice trembling, "After the incident, you were alive but dead inside. You blamed yourself for Jake's death. You felt so guilty that you lost your memory of the event. When this happened, I was relieved. I was relieved that you had forgotten everything, that you could live normally like other children."
It was the first time I hugged my mother so tightly. We cried and talked for what felt like hours. In that moment, I realized that my mother did love me deeply. She cared about me and had always cared, even if she doesn't always show it...
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