Chapter 6
Hearing those two words, the hill, Clarence jerked his head up.
A sharp ache ripped through my chest.
As kids, the hill behind the house had been our secret haven.
It was our playground, our escape, our beginning.
We used to race each other down the slope, gather wildflowers and weeds to weave into crowns.
We filled the hillside with laughter and dreams.
We even made a promise to get married there someday.
But now… That once–magical place had become my grave.
There was no laughter left. Only a lifeless body buried deep beneath the dirt, far from the light of day.
Clarence stood frozen, dazed. Then, suddenly, he scooped Mabel into his arms and sprinted outside.
“I don’t believe it!” he gasped. “I’m going to the hill! I need to ask Eulalie what really happened!”
He had barely reached the gate when my parents came chasing after him.
Their faces were etched with confusion.
“Serena’s surgery is about to begin,” my father snapped. “Where the hell are you taking that brat?”
Clarence’s jaw tightened.
He held Mabel even closer. His voice was firm.
“She’s not a brat. She’s my daughter.”
My mother hesitated, but ultimately, her concern for Serena won out.
“But what about Serena? You’re just going to let her suffer day and night?”
Clarence didn’t answer. Just as he was about to leave, Serena appeared in her hospital gown.
She called out his name softly, her eyes filled with misty sorrow.
Clarence looked down at Mabel’s innocent face. Then looked up at Serena’s tearful gaze.
He hesitated.
But in the end, blood ties outweighed guilt.
He turned away with a sigh.
“Serena, trust me,” he said gently. “I’m not that poor kid I used to be.”
“I have the means to take care of you–and our child. Give me some time. I swear I’ll find a more suitable heart donor for you.”
With that, Clarence walked away, Mabel still cradled in his arms. He didn’t look back.
Not at my parents‘ scolding. Not at Serena’s silent tears.
Clarence drove straight to the hill.
Compared to the run–down house, the hill felt even more desolate.
He stood in the tall grass for a long, long time.
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Until memories he had tried to bury began to rise.
“Eulalie,” he murmured, “I remember when I first met you… you were just about Mabel’s age.”
“Time really flies, doesn’t it? In a blink, so many years have gone by…”
Yes. It really did fly.
So fast it washed away the love between childhood sweethearts.
So fast it turned a once–genuine boy into a stranger.
As the ache built in his chest, Clarence followed Mabel’s instructions and began to dig.
Dirt clung to his expensive suit. His hands blistered and bled.
But he didn’t stop. Didn’t even seem to feel it.
He dug like a man possessed. Blind. Mechanical. Desperate.
No one knew how much time passed.
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Finally, beneath the dirt, the broken remains of a woman’s body surfaced in the unforgiving sunlight.
Clarence collapsed into the mud, his hands and knees sinking into the earth.
Stunned into silence, he could only stare as tears poured from his eyes.
My parents, having followed behind, gasped when they saw what he had unearthed. Panic gripped them. They scrambled to call the police.
Because of Mabel’s age, and her extreme fear of Clarence and his family, the officers had no choice but to place her in protective care at a children’s center. A trauma psychologist was called in to speak with her.
Clarence and the others were taken in for questioning.
But when faced with the officers, Clarence seemed hollowed out. A shell of the man he once was.
All he could say was,
“I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know Eulalie was dead.”
“I didn’t know she gave birth to our daughter alone.“.
“I just… I had no choice. I only sent her away because she tried to frame Serena…”
“I don’t know how it turned into this…”
He looked up, his face full of anguish.
“Please,” he begged. “Please find out the truth. Find out who killed Eulalie.”
Death has a way of ending many grudges.
The moment Clarence saw my body with his own eyes, all the love and hate of the past vanished.
All that remained was longing
7
When the questioning ended, Clarence locked himself in a room.
He wouldn’t speak. Wouldn’t see anyone.
He just sat there, crying, lost in old memories.
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But to me, it was laughable.
He was the one who believed Serena’s lies.
The one who sent me back to the countryside.
The one who drained my blood for Serena’s treatment.
The one whose betrayal gave Serena the excuse to hate me enough… to kill me.
He was the one who caused my death. The one who nearly cost Mabel her life.
And now he wanted forgiveness from a corpse?
I couldn’t care less about Clarence’s remorse.
All I wanted was for the truth to come to light. For the world to know who really killed Eulalie Bell.
Chapter 6
