Uncle Traffer neither warned me, advised me, and asked me anything else to express his concern, nor did he reprimand me or rebuke me as I was expecting.
He seemed to be preoccupied with something else entirely. When he was done pondering, he gave us another quick look but when I looked back at him, he instantly shifted his eyes. He told me to follow him again and started walking towards 27th Street. His pace was quite quick, perhaps he was afraid that I would walk closer to him and impose my curse on him as well. It was as if I was carrying some sort of plague.
Well, even if I wanted to, I couldn't have walked as fast as him. I also had to drag Sister Hin, after all.
All this time, she was still able to walk somehow, even after stumbling and shaking like a fallen leaf, even after giggling and acting mindlessly. I merely had to hold her close, but by that time, her legs had begun to stiffen as well. It was making me more and more frightened but there was nothing I could have done. The guilt of my mistakes was far heavier than the weight of her body.
Perhaps, in an effort to compensate for that guilt, I decided to carry her on my back for the rest of the way.
It was already past dinner time, therefore, we didn't meet anyone else on the way. In the small town of Silvermore, the community of people was used to greeting each other early in the morning. If someone came out of their house later than usual the next day, a cluster of their concerned neighbors would crowd at their doorstep. Simply put, people were used to the life of sleeping and waking up early.
Both of our families, however, were bound to be looking for us instead of following customs like that.
When we reached there, I found my mother standing together with Sister Hin's mother in front of the entrance of my house. It was a dimly lit area but concern and worry was apparent on their faces. Both of them were talking in whispers, as if they were afraid of voicing their own thoughts out loud.
The light of the living room was up, which made me realise that my father was tending to a guest inside, who most likely was Sister Hin's father.
Uncle Traffer stopped in front of his house and gave our mothers a shout, "I've found your daughters!" After that, as he walked inside after giving me a slightly menacing look, he didn't forget to shout, "BEWARE, THEY'RE CURSED."
Though I knew that there was a big chance of that being true, having it shouted in front of my face still made me feel like a convict about to hear his punishment from the judge.
Our mothers turned towards us, their faces reflecting their concern. Similar to how I behaved around Uncle Traffer, I looked down at the ground and traced the movements of the ants while my companion hid her face behind my back like a 5-year-old child. This was the first time since the sun set that Sister Hin had stopped giggling for so long.
Even though Uncle Traffer had shouted the second part of his sentence louder, our mothers ignored it, as I heard their steps stop a couple of steps in front of me.
Still, with my head down, the first thing I heard was Aunt Nefaly, Sister Hin's mother, crying and whimpering.
She took her left arm and examined her forcefully, while Sister Hin acted as if her mother was a stranger, and tried to scratch her in defense.
My mother took this chance to come closer to and touch my bruised face and arms as she mumbled, "...just where did the two of you go this time?"
Then, I heard her voice crack a little as she whispered to herself, "How could this happen…h-how?"
Unlike Uncle Traffer, she didn't immediately look upon me with wariness and uncertainty when I told her we had gone to Crimson Lake but the concern and panic in her eyes were at least ten times more intense than before.
She sneakily looked at Sister Hin's missing arm and saw the little patch of darkness still gnawing on her flesh slowly, she quickly peeked back at my body to see if I had been infected by anything like that.
After making sure that her daughter was fine, she shifted her body between me and Sister Hin, who had stopped panicking by now, and her mother, who was crying loudly while tightly hugging her daughter.
Like an infant beast with no sense of awareness, Sister Hin tried to bite her mother's shoulder, a movement that my mother forcibly stopped.
Aunt Nefaly's loud whimpering cries had attracted our fathers from within the house. Uncle Manto, Sister Hin's father, was a fit and tall middle-aged man who had retired from the town guard a few months ago and was now living on his pension.
The town guards were supposed to retire when they turned 40 years of age because in a small town like us, if they kept their jobs later than that, it would make it impossible for the new and stronger recruits to choose the job.
Anyway, with the trade we had, we were considered well-off, and therefore, were able to allocate sufficient funds for the retired guards. Moreover, they were free to try their luck at anything else they wanted to do, and since they were aware of how things were done from the beginning, there were no complaints.
When Uncle Traffer had mentioned to me that my father was planning to ask the town guards for help, I knew that it must be due to the suggestion of Uncle Manto.
When the two of them came out and saw the state their daughters were in, they found it hard to believe their eyes.
I could understand why they were so doubtful of the truth. After all, it wasn't the first time that the two of us were returning late. They were already aware of our drive to adventure but that we could encounter life-threatening dangers or visit Crimson Lake was beyond their wildest expectations.
Unlike what I was expecting, the repercussions, the rebuke, the anger, the disgust, or perhaps even the beatings that I was expecting… never came that night, but the lack of it all only made it worse for me.