“You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are gray…”
. . .
(December, year 1997)
“Sum, you ready?”
Summer nodded and climbed back into her seat, buckling herself in while her husband started the car and drove onto the open highway.
One of his hands intertwined with her’s.
“It’s okay honey, don’t worry,” Warren says, his shiny blue eyes not leaving the road ahead even as he squeezes her hand, “We’re almost there.”
Summer nodded.
She remembered this particular highway… though it seemed like it had been ages since she had been here. The memories felt so far away, almost surreal.
It felt like it happened to a different woman.
A different person.
From the corner of her eyes, she sees Warren’s hand (the one not holding her) clenching the wheel tightly, until his knuckles turned white. Summer instinctively placed her other hand over his, “I think you’re the one who should stop worrying, dear.”
He offered her a tight-lipped smile before turning his gaze back towards the road again, “I just still think this isn’t a good idea.”
“She’s still my sister, Ren…”
“I know,”
Warren smoothly maneuvered the car off of the highway and then onto a smooth road. Thank God they were the only ones here.
Not surprising, actually.
There’s a reason for that, of course.
Summer placed her palm on the foggy window, watching the scenery pass them by into a blur of white thanks to the still-falling snow.
She felt a sudden rush of nostalgia when she spotted a familiar black and white sign just by the entrance, gathering flurries of powdery white snow. Never in her life did Summer thought she’ll see the words Welcome to the Veiled Valley again. Not after how adamant she–they–had been to leave.
Not after everything…
The skies are always dark in this place.
It always felt like the heavens are in a perpetual state of mourning… that, or because the valley is usually covered in a fine mist. Hence, the reason why it had been called as the ‘veiled’ valley.
Five years had passed since Summer had last stepped foot here. Five years since Summer (and her sister) ran away from home after their mother died. She had sworn to never come back. She had promised she’ll never have to.
But for her sister…
She has to.
As the car glided on the road, they passed neighborhoods, the houses dark and made of rubble stone. Everything was either black or white here thanks to the snow. It looks so cold, so unwelcoming. Why on earth would her sister want to come back here? Why was she even here?
A tear fell from her eye. Summer immediately leaned her head on the window and bit back down a sudden sob lest her husband hears.
She closed her eyes.
…The answer’s simple.
She didn’t have a choice.
“Honey…? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she lied.
As Summer quietly directed her husband which way to go from time to time (it was unfairly easy to be honest, because other than a minor tweaks here and there, the place never seemed to change), she couldn’t help but notice… that it was quiet. Too quiet, like the world was holding its breath as they meandered their way.
“Are we there yet?”
“Not yet… almost…”
As if on cue, a gloomy-looking building loomed just overhead, complemented by white paint. It was so white it was blending in almost seamlessly against the background that Summer felt so unsettled the longer she looked.
A sign in front of the building read Veiled Hospital.
For a moment, the two of them stared.
“Wow,” Warren whistled, eyes wide with barely hidden awe, “So… your family basically owns most of everything around these parts, huh?”
“In a nutshell, yeah.”
Summer knows what he was thinking: she could have had everything here. She was basically a princess. Why leave it all behind?
She dreads telling him the reason why.
Her husband was an orphan since birth. Growing up, he literally had nothing, but the name ‘Warren’ messily stitched on the cloth his parents had left him with, but he was a good man (the best in her opinion) and Summer… wouldn’t really hold it against him if he decided to leave her once he find out why. Why she left. Why she ran away.
Warren opened the car door for her.
She stepped out.
He gave her a nervous smile as he held her hand, squeezing it, “Well… I guess this is a very late rendition of meet-the-parents. Do you think I look okay?”
“Always,” she smiled, “It’s just my sister though. It’s okay, honey.”
The glass doors slid open when they approached, and Summer immediately strode to the front desk with her husband in tow.
The receptionist looked up… and stared.
Warren shuffled a bit behind her while Summer sighed at the reaction, “Hi, Penny. Long time no see. Can you tell me which room my sister is in?”
“Uh… y-yes, sure. Just right this way, Ms. Veil.”
“She’s a missus now, actually,” Warren said, laughing a bit.
Penny blinked at him, then almost questioningly at Summer, her eyes wide and owlish behind her circular spectacles. Summer shook her head, a faint smile creeping to her lips, “Yeah, between me and my sister, I got married first.”
“Thanks, by the way!” Warren called over his shoulder.
The two of them walked briskly in the hallways.
“She’s a friend of yours?” Warren asked as they turned a corner.
“No. My sister’s.”
Summer placed her hand on the metallic doorknob. Even with her gloves on, it was still so cold to the touch. Her breath hitched.
A soft voice was coming behind the door.
It sounded as though… someone was singing a lullaby, one that Summer knows, remembers from the bottom of her heart.
The door swings open.
A young woman sitting by the bed startles, indistinctly straightening up… considering her height wasn’t really that impressive. Compared to Summer, her hair was such a vivid shade of brown against the artificially bright lights, thick and pulled together into a messy braid although some of the unruly strands still managed to frame her face so nicely. Her eyes were striking, the color of leaves before fall.
Her sister has always been so pretty, it was disarming. She had high-cheekbones, full lips and a soft, almost faraway look in her eyes.
Their mother’s face… the face of kindness.
“You’re… here,” she—Autumn—breathed, almost inaudibly with the sound of a sob clearly working its way in the back of her throat.
Her little sister made a move as if to stand up from the hospital bed, but Summer was way quicker. Mindful of her sister’s bloated middle, Summer was quick but careful to wrap her sister into a hug,
“Gods, I missed you.” Autumn murmured.
When they finally leaned away from each other, those leafy green eyes were first pinned on Summer’s, scanning every inch of her face as if making sure that she was real, that her big sister was real and finally here… then they landed on Warren who was hovering nervously by the still open doorway, “So… I’m guessing that’s my brother-in-law?”
He grinned sheepishly, “The one and only!”
Summer threw a tender smile towards her husband, who was now stepping into the room to pull up a chair to sit next to the hospital bed, the two easily striking up a conversation about the food they brought for her. She was right, these two would have gotten along.
Looking over at her sister up close, Summer can tell her sister was close… though not far along to give birth at any second but… close enough.
Who was she kidding?
Autumn looked ready to give birth.
She looked so small but so big (does that even make sense?) against the spartan, white room. And so unnervingly pale too–although there was a certain glow on her face that made her sister look soft and so precious, Summer almost wanted to wrap her sister up into large blankets and gave her hot chocolate the same way she used to when they were kids. Her sister looked so fragile.
“So, who’s the father?” Summer asked, sensing a lull in their conversation, “Audie, you didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend.”
Her sister glanced at her hands, “To be fair, after I went to Greece, you literally stopped talking to me. So… yeah, even no matter how much I wanted to tell you I can’t.”
“Autumn, I–” Summer winced and shook her head, “I get it. I’m sorry, I really am that I went MIA on you… but seriously, can you blame me? After I found out that you were in contact with Dad again, I just… I don’t want anything to do with him okay?”
“Including… me?”
Summer faltered.
Luckily, Warren nudged Autumn, “That’s not true. We’re here aren’t we? We heard something happened. Your dad called on the school I was working at, was really panicking and all.”
Summer raised an eyebrow, “Care to share?”
But Autumn only smiled, almost sadly, “I’ll be okay.”
Summer’s brows knitted into a frown, “You sure? Dad was all about saying something bad had happened to you. So, I thought…”
Autumn rolled her eyes, “What? You thought I was dying?”
Summer flinched, “No, of course not—!”
Autumn flashed her a peace sign, “I was joking.”
For a moment, Warren looked like he wanted scold Autumn but shook his head at the last second instead, an exasperated smile creeping on his face, “I just don’t get it… your dad made it sound like something awful just happened to you.”
Now Autumn looked downright confused, “Wait. You mean he didn’t tell you I was having a baby? But I sent a voicemail to your school, for like, as soon as I found out!”
This time, it was Warren’s turn to look confused, “Huh? What are you talking about? My school didn’t say anything about a…?”
Suddenly, Summer seized Autumn roughly by the shoulders. Her eyes were wide and… almost furious, “Autumn, tell me the truth. The baby, who is its father?”
“Summer, please–”
Warren jolted up to his feet, “Honey, what–?”
“TELL ME!” Summer screamed, a roar.
Warren froze, his eyes wide.
Autumn’s lips quivered, “…the patron.”
Summer suddenly stood up from the bed, her jaw clenching as she glared. She looked like she wanted to curse out loud, she looked so ready to scream… and Warren had never seen his wife so angry before, not even when they were speaking about her father.
“Ren, we’re leaving.”
“We are?” he parroted.
“Y-You’re leaving?” Autumn breathed out, looking a few seconds away from bursting into tears as she stared up at them, her thin arms immediately wrapping around herself to cradle her stomach.
She looked so small, so delicate like this.
“No,” Summer held out her hand, “You’re coming with us.”
“What?” Warren blinked.
Autumn blanched, “What?!”
Footsteps distantly stomped through the hallway.
Summer’s eyes narrowed into a glare as she glanced at the door before turning to look at Warren. “This a set up! Dad knew I would never let my sister go through this–”
“But this is still my baby!” Autumn cried.
“No, it’s not. It will kill you!” Summer raged, whirling around to glare at her sister, “Are you out of your mind?! You know about the prophecy! You know what will happen when you give birth to god’s–!”
“Summer, honey, what the hell are you two talking about–?!”
“I’ll explain later. We’re leaving!” Summer snapped, grabbing her sister by the arm and forcing her to stand up, never mind how Autumn was weeping as she held herself with one arm, as though shielding her baby from everyone.
Summer kicked the door open. Then, they sprinted down the hallway with Warren barely keeping up to assist Autumn with the sudden running.
His wife turned sharply around the corner and suddenly pulled them both into a doorway by the end of the hallway. Darkness engulfed them almost instantly as the door slammed shut. After few seconds, Penny’s gentle voice called somewhere down the hallway, “Summer? What are you talking about, sir? I haven’t seen her in years. But I’m sure Audie’s in her room…”
Another voice cut in, “What are you standing around there for? Find them! Make sure every inch of the building is searched if you have to. No one’s leaving this place until Autumn is found!”
At the mention of her name, Autumn flinched.
Warren’s breath hitched into a botched gasp of panic when Summer slowly opened the door a crack, allowing a sliver of a too-bright light to stream into the darkness. He could faintly make out half of her face, illuminated by the dim light.
Without a word, Autumn suddenly surged forward to wrap her arms around her sister. Summer instinctively hugged her back, blinking owlishly down at the top of her head, “What…? What is it?”
Outside, a barrage of footsteps stomped on.
Looking for them.
All the while, the three of them dared not to make another sound as Autumn still hadn’t let go of Summer. Her grip was so tight, Warren can tell, can see the way her knuckles turn white as they clenched into shaking fists, the way Summer’s cardigan become rumpled underneath her sister’s grip alone.
It was fierce.
It was desperate.
It feels a whole lot like a goodbye.
And when Autumn finally pulled herself away, almost reluctantly, her expression was strangely sad, as though someone had taken something so precious from her.
“I’m sorry…” her voice wavered slightly, “I’m so sorry.”
With the same abruptness, Autumn suddenly twisted Summer out of the way and a heartbeat after, she was gone just as everything turned dark. The door was slammed shut, like a lid closing over a coffin with an almost imperceptible click.
Gentle footsteps echoed through the halls, easily becoming lost amidst the commotion, becoming more distant by the second until it was no more.
“–hey! STOP!”
Summer’s blood immediately ran cold.
In fact, she could have sworn her heart just about stooped when her mind finally caught on to what Autumn had done. What she was doing.
Summer surged forward to slam her palms flat to the door, a cry of sheer helplessness bubbling from her lips just as Warren tried to kick it open. They both frantically tried to get the door to be wrenched open, but the knob… just wouldn't budge.
It was locked.
. . .
“You'll never know, dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away”