"Aww.. my baby, let momma give you a shower."
The women carry her 1 year and 3 months old baby to the washroom, grabbing baby care products and a tube. She places the baby on the tube once she removed its clothes and turned the water to warm. She swiftly started applying soap and bathing her. As she was busy bathing her baby the doorbell rings. She sighs as she had to attend the door herself since she was all alone in the house. She tucks her baby securely in the tube and runs out to open the door.
"Hey, Sarah! I missed you."
A lady, slightly tall and beautifully dressed with a bright smile greets her. Sarah smiles and welcomes her. She gestures her to enter inside. They both share a friendly hug.
"Momma.." A small voice calls out from behind them. They pull back and turn around to see a small boy innocently gazing up at his mother and the other lady. Sarah bends down on her knees and smiles fondly at the little kid before her.
"Barbara... you got a cute little boy?" She questions gazing up at Barbara then down at the boy caressing his hair. The little boy with a frown runs and hides behind his mother. They both laugh at how cute he was.
"Sarah... Where is your daughter? Hmm?" Barbara questions with a smile but a genuine smile on her face. As soon as she hears the question she snaps back to the image of her daughter still in the bathtub.
She jolts up on her feet and rushes towards the bathroom. She felt anger at herself for being careless and for forgetting her precious baby. Barbara follows behind with worry and confusion plastered all over her face. But Sarah felt her world crashed when she saw her daughter drowning inside the tub.
She ran and hold her baby with tears forming in her eyes. It didn't take long for her tears to stream down over her cheeks wetting them during the process.
She fell on her knees crying her heart out, still holding the motionless baby close to her. As Barbara saw the scene in front of her she was shocked and frozen. Barbara felt her son following behind crying but she was too engrossed in the scene in front of her to comfort her baby boy.
Barbara collects herself and grabs Sarah's shoulder shaking her out from her panic state. Sarah looks up to meet Barbara's gaze with her red teary eyes.
"We need to go to the hospital... cover her and I will go and start the car. Make sure to keep her warm and do faster!"
Sarah nods her head and heads towards her room to cover her baby while Barbara picks up her son and rush out towards the car. She places her baby in the passenger seat and she sat on the driver's seat.
Soon Sarah runs out of the house with her baby on her arms covered with a thick blanket. She enters the backseat and Barbara starts the car. They rush to the hospital at the maximum speed they could use.
Once they reach the hospital, Sarah exits the car and heads inside the hospital. Barbara follows behind her with her son in her arms. She runs to the reception and calls out for an emergency. Few doctors rush towards her and a nurse grabs the baby taking her to the operation theatre.
Sarah was crying uncontrolled and barbara was having trouble handling both - her boy who was crying non-stop and her best friend. She signs taking out her phone and dials a number.
Ring~ Ring~
Soon the person on the other line picks up the call.
"Hello? Honey?"
"Hey... Oliver, Can you call William and come over to the hospital? I will text you the address." She says receiving an 'okay' as a reply, then she ends the call and sends a text. She bends down on her knees and side hugs Sarah patting her back for comfort. Her son wiggle around her hold, she smiles at him and kissed him on his forehead.
"Baby...Can you seat here for a while? Aunty is sad so Momma is going to talk to her okay?"
The boy nods his head wiping the tear stain left on his cheeks. He then climbs up on the seat beside the wall and silently watches his mother walking to Sarah and hugging her while Sarah cries loud. Barbara pats her head and whispering a few sweet talk and comforting words.
"No...It's my fault, Barbara. I don't know why but she keeps ending in this state. I am scared... I don't want to lose my baby." She confesses still sobbing hard. With her sobbing like that, she started feeling light and dizzy with her breathing going heavy and shallow.
She was slowly going unconscious. Barbara notices her going pale, She then grabs Sarah by her face and stares deep into her eyes.
"Look at me... Sarah. Everything will be fine. She will be fine. hmm? Just calm down... okay?"
Sarah stops sobbing and just stares at her friend with slow but deep breaths with her chest rising up and down. But as she was staring at Barbara she starts whimpering as the thought of her baby girl hits her. "Calm down... she will be fine. Just take slow and deep breathes."
Sarah nods and does as she was told, soon her face comes back to normal and she looked stable. Sarah lets out of a drop of tear flow down her eyes and pulls Barbara into a hug. She hugs her back and let her cry on her shoulder.
Just then they hear few steps approaching them at a fast pace.
"Daddy!" The little boy climbs down the chair and runs towards the approaching figure. The man picks up his son in his arm while another figure runs to the crying figure with a worried gaze and frowned brows.
"Hun..? What happened?" He asks Sarah, Sarah pulls away from Barbara and engulfs her husband into her embrace. Barbara stands up and turns around to face her husband who stood beside her. She hugs her husband with teary eyes and now she let herself cry. Sarah was again sobbing loud enough for her husband to worry.
"What happened? Where is our baby?" William question with his face expressing how worried he was. Sarah cries out loud instead of answering his question. He caresses her cheeks and wipes away the tear spilling out of her eyes. She presses her lips into a thin line and looks down at her fingers fidgeting with each other.
"I-It's my f-fault... I-I am so s-sorry.." She stutters with a hiccup following with each word. William felt his eyes watering seeing his wife blaming herself for everything tho she partly was at fault. But he denied accepting that.
"No. No, you are not at fault. She will be okay. We just need to wait a little longer. Hm?" He says with a soft voice as Sarah nods her head in approval. William then raises his head meeting the gaze of the couple standing in front of them with worry and concern for them and their baby girl. He flashes a small smile at them which they return with a small smile.
[After half an hour]
They all now were seated on the chair in front of the operation theatre. They all were waiting for the doctor to come out and inform them about their baby girl. Sarah now stopped crying but she still was sniffing.
"I don't know what to do..? Our baby had been getting into these sorts of incidents. I am really scared."
"What do you mean... Willam?" Oliver questions with his brow raised.
"Ever since she has been born, she has been getting hurt. She escaped death two times already... and now it's third if she came back alive. I hope she will be okay." He signs with a drop of tear escaping his eyes as Sarah whimpers.
Oliver and Barbara exchange a glance and look back at William with confusion plastered over their face. "Is that so...?" Barbara questions and gets lost in her thought to notice Sarah nodding her head.
"Why don't we visit a shaman? Let's seek help... for our girl? Hmm?" Barbara questions with an excited but stern tone receiving confused and lost expression from the others. Sarah loosens her furrowed brows when she gets what Barbara said. She nods her head in approval while the two males just go along with their wives.
"Yes! We should. Bu--"
Sarah gets cut off when the door to the theatre opens with the doctors coming out. The two couples get up and approach the doctor with excitement but fear laced over their face.
"Doctor!? How is she? "
"Is she okay?"
They start throwing questions at the doctors. One of the doctors raises his hands making the other pay attention to him, and he speaks "She is fine for now, out of danger. But she inhaled lots of water which filled her lungs. But we took it out. She needs rest and she won't be conscious for a few more hours. Just take care of her and prevent such an incident."
He walked away with other doctors tagging behind and disappears from their sight. Then the nurse comes out of the room with the bed where the baby was laid with wires. That sight of the baby made them sad, they felt as if their heart was stabbed again and again. The nurse shifted her to a room while they followed behind.
"Just let her rest inside, one of you can stay with the baby." the nurse says walking away. Sarah enters the room while the others remain outside.
"Oliver... you should go home now. The little boy here may be having trouble. Just go for now and come back later." William says glancing towards the couple. Oliver nods his head and stands up with his son sleeping on his arms.
"Let's talk about seeing a shaman after she gets discharged then, we will come up with something and save her. " Barbara says smiling at William which he nods with a smile.
They bid their goodbye once they visit the baby inside then leave the hospital.
[After two days]
They are now back at their home with their baby girl again as healthy as before. They made sure to not leave her alone to prevent her from getting hurt. Now the couple was dressed and waiting for Oliver and Barbara to visit the shaman, Barbara once knew in her hometown who was quite famous for his works and knowledge about spiritual things.
As they were waiting in their living room, they heard a car horn from outside. Sensing their presence William and Sarah make their way out of the house. They saw the couple inside the car waving at them which they waved back with a bright smile. They get into the backseat and Oliver speeds the car to Barbara's hometown.
"Hello, Ethan. " Sarah waved her hand greeting the small boy glancing back at the couple with his innocent gaze. The boy smiles and waves back as he was much more comfortable around their presence after these two days.
"Helooo~ Aunt Sara~.." He coos making the other smile and glance at him with adoration filled eyes. "He is such a cutie... I can't wait to see how he grows up to be like." Sarah says giggling observing the bubbly boy sitting in his mother's lap. "Yea... Me too." Barbara says making the two males laugh at their wives being all cute and sensitive.
{After an hour of long drive}
They exit their car and stand in front of a small hut which was built a bit far from civilization. The hut was in between the forest and the village. They all head inside. As soon as they enter the door, they felt as if they had entered another world.
The small hut looked big from inside which was mostly covered by statues of god and some devil. In the middle of the room, there was a person meditating with his fingertips directed towards the earth and legs bend over. He somehow looked scary from the way he was dressed.
"Umm...Excuse me?" Barbara calls out, gaining the shaman's attention towards them. The man before them opens his eyes and they swore they felt shivers run down their spines at his deadly stern gaze.
They bowed their head but Ethan started crying being scared of the man who was in front of them. And with his long beard, he was even scarier. Oliver bowed his head and left the room making his way outside to comfort his crying son.
He laughs when he recalled the expression of the man when his son cried finding the man scary. Indeed he himself got scared, his son was still a child.
"So, What brings you all here?" the man asks scanning the faces of the new people who came for his help.
"My daughter.. has been suffering and we wanted to know if you can help us in protecting her." The man nods his head listening to her words. "So, tell me about her birth date and time. And which horoscope does she belong to?"
Soon Sarah starts answering every question the older man asked, he analyzed everything and then signed. "I see your daughter got born at a time of misfortune so she is suffering its impact. And it will last for a long time. If you can't protect her... she will eventually die."
"W-What are you saying...?" William asks with his heavy heart while both Sarah and Barbara went froze over the older's word. They felt their eyes tearing up on the news but still, they wished that it was untrue.
"Yes... She is not safe." He replies pitying over the little girl sleeping peacefully in her mother's lap.
"But isn't there any other way to protect her? Tell us... please, We will do anything." Sarah tears up upon hearing her husband begging to protect their daughter's dear life. "Please.." She speaks finally gazing up at the man with teary eyes begging for his mercy. Barbara just pats Sarah's back supporting her emotionally.
"I guess there is a way... As this child is born as a girl, the misfortune may act upon her true self. But if we can hide her inner self... we can protect her from dying."
"Then.. we will do as you say. We will hide her. But how long?" William question with a drop of tear erupting out from his eyes, unable to be collected in there with the amount of tear being produced.
The man then turns around a few pages of the book he had on his desk in front of him. He looks up to them with his index finger on his chin. " At the age of 25, No...on Her 25th birthday, she can end this misfortune but she needs to marry but hiding her true self."
They all turned silent, they were still processing the words said by the man and it for sure struck them hard.
"But how do you expect any boy to marry her being disguised as a boy... if that's what we are gonna do?" Barbara speaks as the couple turned silent feeling hopeless.
" That's for you to figure out... I just gave you a way to protect that girl... make sure she never shows her true self to others that those of you who already know... I mean except your family. This is all I have to say. Remember to marry her on her 25th birthday being a boy. Even better if that person is someone she loves."