Mute Girl The Series : Rose Thorns

The sun was rolling high through the light blue sky. Under its scorching sunrays, several little cute children were happily playing around the beautiful rose garden. The bright red colour of those roses kept them energetic and enthusiastic although the weather was hot. Undefeated by it, they joyfully laughed and giggled while chasing each other.

This warm scene would bring smile to anyone who was watching them playing including Mia who was standing under the tree, not to far from those children. She still wore that Black activewear uniform. Escaping from the death, her conscious mind fell into a slumber and unlike her previous nightmares, she was blessed with this pleasant dream. No longer headaches, drowning in the water, that unknown pale girl with her torturous story and immense pain. Here, everything was beautiful and calm.

"Sarah! Sarah! Hurry up and catch us!"

"Sarah! We're here..."

"Sarah!"

A little girl in her creamy short skirt was running around the garden with a clear excitement reflected on her glistening eyes. With her short and chubby legs, she chased those voices and the endless running made her short of breath but she didn't stop. Her perseverance was worth of a praise.

"Sarah! We're here..."

The children were playing hide and seek game where that little girl was the seeker whom Mia assumed her name was Sarah and other children were hiding among the bushes of the sweet fragrant roses. Whenever Sarah almost caught her playmates, other children from other places would shout her name as to confuse her. That naïve Sarah would then run to the direction of those voices. It was tiring but she appeared to enjoy every second of that moment.

"Sarah! Time's up. Let's go back home..." This time, a more m.a.t.u.r.ed female voice called that little girl from afar. Sarah seemed to have recognised the owner of that voice when she replied the voice while giggled, "Hehe... coming!"

The owner of that voice looked a few older than Sarah so Mia assumed she was Sarah's older sister.

Soon, the children who were hiding came out from the bushes, revealing their secret hiding places. They then waved their hands at Sarah with sad faces, contrary to Sarah's happy smile widely plastered on her face. It was time for her to go back home hence Sarah too waved back at them before turned her back. The older sister held that small and puffy right hand and walked away from the garden.

As if there was an magnet that attracted Mia to both Sarah and her older sister, Mia's legs subconsciously trailed behind them.

"Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh ...

Through the fields, we go laughing all the way ...

Bells on bob-tail ring making spirits bright ...

What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight ...

Jingle bells, Jingle bells ...

Jingle all the wayyyyy ..." sang Sarah in a low voice but clear enough for Mia to capture every and each word of those lyrics. Those two sisters seemed to have not noticed Mia's presence behind them and continued walking as if Mia was wearing the invisible cloak borrowed from Harry Potter.

"You're really excited for Christmas, is it? It's still months away." said the big sister.

"Of course! When Christmas comes, I can meet and play with Mia all day long. I miss her so much.." replied Sarah eagerly.

Huh? Mia? This girl was referring to... her? As in Mia Wilson or another Mia?? Hearing her name was mentioned, Mia racked her brain hard as to figure these two sisters' identities however her mind was blank. Nothing popped up.

Out of blue, the sky turned darker and snow started to fall heavily. The two sisters vanished as they were replaced by a bungalow house in grey and white colour. Its roof and the house compound were covered with thick snows.

"I'll be home for Christmas. You can count one me..." A song was played from that house and Mia, at the outside, those lyrics rang through her ears.

Krik! The house door was pushed open and two little kids impatiently dashed out of the house and happily played in the snow. They rolled the thick snow into balls and threw them at each other.

Mia took a closer look at that playful kids and one of them was Sarah. However, Mia failed to recognise the other child as when she tried to observe the unknown girl's face features carefully, her eye vision became bad as if that girl's face was blurred out.

Bang! The loud sound halted their snowball fight. Both of them looked around for the source of that sound.

"I think that sound came from the backyard. Let's go and check it out." suggested Sarah as she pulled the other girl with her to the said place.

Mia, on the other hand, knew that it was the sound of the gunfire. Worried that these two girls might get harmed if they got near to that place, Mia voluntarily followed them. A little forest came into their sight and it formed a long pathway into the forest. Bravely, the two girls strode into it as if no dangers could harm them. After three minutes walking, they saw a body lifelessly lied on that cold ground and a pool of red colour near the head evidently tainted the white snow. The head was facing the other side of the forest hence they couldn't see the face. Near the dead body's hand, there were a square small box wrapped with red and white strips and a black short-barrelled firearm.

Mia was shocked to see this murder scene but those two innocent girls didn't understand what was ahead of them. Their eyes were only focused on that small box and the gun. Excitedly, the girls ran to the dead body and grabbed those two items. Mia wanted to stop them but suddenly she lost her voice. No matter how loud she tried to scream, no sound came out of her mouth.