As we were about to go inside, my mother told the two of them that I had visited Crimson Lake.
Suddenly, every odd and bizarre thing that they were witnessing in and around us made sense to them. I could see the realisation dawn on their faces. It happened instantly but to me, every little change in their facial expression felt drawn out and crystal clear.
We… had made them worry. We… had troubled our simple and loving parents so much and I… couldn't even keep my friend safe.
The inner pain I went through in that instance was excruciating.
While the three of them talked, I noticed that Sister Hin seemed to have fallen asleep in her mother's arms.
She slept with a perfect smile on her face. She would only have that look after a satisfying adventure or a good night's sleep.
I was hoping, I was hoping furiously that it was all a dream as well, that she would wake up the next day and tell me that she had a strange dream as well. Or that she would rebuke me for looking back at the red-eyed monster when the green-eyed monster was in front of us.
But before any of that, I had to wait, and that wait was agonizing.
After talking to our fathers, my mother ran away somewhere in a hurry while the two of them came closer to me, scrutinizing the state of my body.
Since I was walking while managing Sister Hin the entire day, my legs were heavily blistered and sore. I only realized that when I stopped.
Lacking strength anymore, I fell to the ground, my legs numb and shivering.
My father and Uncle Manto caught each of my arms. My father crouched and embraced me as he began asking me questions about our journey.
It was the most normal question that he asked first, "How was your day? What did you do?", but the implications of that question were obvious.
Uncle Manto neither interrupted him as he asked me nor did he ask any questions of his own. He just silently stood to the side with a somber glance and listened as I answered.
Aunt Nefaly carried the sleeping Sister Hin in her arms, not minding the dark corroding blotch, which was most likely a curse, on her arm, exchanged a tearful glance with Uncle Manto, and left for her house.
Their family was small, they had a single daughter, one that now had an arm missing and was cursed. It was natural that the two of them received far more of a shock than my parents.
Uncle Manto didn't let any of it show on his face though. Perhaps he was still processing the shock he felt or perhaps, he did it for me. Whatever it was, his lack of reaction definitely unnerved me.
Before she left, however, Aunt Nefaly gave me a bitter and nasty stare, full of all the resentment in the world. Although it was gone in an instant, it hit me like nothing else. None of the two men that were engaged in my story noticed that, but I was aware.
I was extremely perceptive of it. It stung my very soul, made me shudder inside.
As that stare revealed a thousand emotions, it was bound to haunt me for days to come.
To avoid that abundance of emotions bubbling in me, that I could neither make sense of nor put to rest, I tried to divert my attention and sincerely began narrating our misadventure. I hid nothing and revealed everything there was to it, even our reactions to the extraordinary sights we witnessed.
When I was describing our walk down the cobblestone path, my mother came back with a bowl of sparkling water in her hand, and before I could see what it was, it was thrown over me while she chanted something.
My father looked on helplessly and when she finished chanting, told her to prepare a separate room for me within the house.
Uncle Manto didn't have any other kids and didn't believe in curses or superstitions. Therefore, the couple was free to provide the best care to their daughter. As for my family, my mother was superstitious, easily believed in rumors, and had to worry about her other two kids as well, which was why I had to be quarantined for some days.
Anyway, after my mother left, I continued with my story as the two of them listened with a stoic expression on their faces, so as to not scare me further.
But those expressions also melted away when I mentioned the presence of the red-eyed monster and the blazing mist. Uncle Manto even muttered, 'oh no' under his breath when I described the green-eyed monster eating his daughter's arm.
Because I was looking down at the ground the whole time, I didn't miss when his fingernails dug deep into his palms and a hint of red came out.
When I was done with my story, his gaze at me was the most complicated I had ever seen on anyone. There was regret, guilt, gratitude, blame, loss, anguish, misery, and a lot more that I couldn't perceive.
After a few minutes of awkward silence when I was done with the narration of our catastrophic journey, Uncle Manto sighed and said, "You did the best you could, Kid. It's fate being unkind to my family."
With that, he left me and my father there and walked towards his own house. My father also sighed bitterly and asked, "...why did you have to go there?"
Tears unknowingly came out of my eyes again as I kept mumbling, "I'm sorry."
He embraced me one last time after that and led me into the house, where my siblings were peeking out from inside.