Chapter 144: Whose Fault?
Talia nodded her head as it made sense." His picture from before? "Talia reminded and Mr. Ed went through his file in the laptop and turned the monitor towards her.
Talia looked at that picture that was cropped from another picture and enlarged to make it seem clear. At first she was lost, but as she tried to remember where she met him fixing her eyes on the screen, that two dimensional image turned three dimensional and the plain background changed to the weeping willow creek.
She could hear the howl of the wind and the scent of flowers as spring had arrived. The man, squatting in front of her had a pleasant smile that she believed to be genuine even though the weeping willow behind him made her feel nervous.
’Baby! If you light this candle in the Church on the other side of the creek, your mother and brother will survive! Only if you succeed...’
A lot of noise followed as he manipulated her to cross the creek. Slowly the image of the man seemingly smiling went away like a wisp of smoke.
Talia held her chest now hurting terribly as her breathing got heavy.
Mummy! Why did I listen to him? I crossed the creek and you paid the price!
"Princess... Princess..." Mr. Ed got scared as he saw Talia going pale.
"I’m fine..." Talia took a deep breath. "This is the guy who told me to cross the creek that day my mother died..." Talia tried to compose herself but her hands shook uncontrollably as she stood up. "Tell Cyril what I said now. He’ll know what it means..." Talia staggered her way out of the kitchen.
Mr. Ed immediately followed Talia as he knew she is in the verge of losing herself.
Rebecca’s father was now discussing with the police about the poisoning of his dogs and Talia felt her heartbreak.