To My Dearest Roseanne- Chapter 44
The car arrived at the National Folk Museum at 5 am. Far on the horizon, one could notice light shades of blue announcing the inevitable approach of sunrise. Madame Yoshida, who kept turning to the girls from behind the wheels and continuously insisted on calling her Yukie, backed up the vehicle into the narrow alley and turned off the engine. The trio got out and, in the shades of the night, they slipped past the unguarded fence. With ease, they found themselves on the empty premises of the museum.
Roseanne was convinced that Cho and Yukie meant one building when talking about a museum, but in fact, it was an open-air museum that contained lots of different historical structures and exhibitions aimed at representing the traditional lifestyle of the Korean people. There were stone piles for worship, grinding mills, rice storage shelters and pits for kimchi pots. They even had a hanbok collection exhibit.
"Come along now!" Yukie waved at the girls to follow her.
Then, a large construction emerged out of blue darkness. Roseanne was able to discern a modern-day building at the top of which a three-storey pagoda was situated. That building was connected to another, much older establishment which was endowed with a five-storey pagoda at the top.
"We need to go up there," Cho declared.
They found themselves in front of a large gate. At the ground level, on the right and left side of the gate, there were steep steps leading upwards. They climbed the steps and on the mezzanine, there was another, single set of steps, perfectly aligned in the middle, right above the gate. They climbed these steps too and finally stood in front of a wooden entrance into the pagoda. The inverted roof gradually became smaller and smaller with a new level of the pendulum-like shaped structure. To Roseanne, it looked like a beacon to the sky.
Cho pushed the entrance in.
"We're already at the first storey now. Each storey in a pagoda signifies one of the Five Elements of Indian cosmology. For clarity's sake, we can also call them the basic building blocks of reality: earth, water, fire, air, and void–the universe itself," the girl explained. "Each block has its physical manifestation in the form of symbolic shapes."
"We should bear in mind that what we're entering is not a traditional pagoda per se, but an exhibition that mixes Murō-ji stupa style with props of the Gorintō style. It's also worth noting that the trend of five-storey pagodas came to Korea from Japan. They serve either as a place of worship or a house of relics or remains. The five-storied pagoda was immortalised in Japanese literature by writer Kōda Rohan in his historical fiction serial published in 1891," Yukie said.
"Okay, I don't need a guided tour with an exposition dump," Roseanne drawled. "The whole thing looks like layers of lasagne made of Lego bricks."
"Your tasteless joke couldn't be more accurate," Yukie remarked. "Pagoda is actually a Portuguese word of unclear origin that stands for 'a house of prairies'. In Japan, we simply call them sōtō, which means 'layered towers.'"
"Now that you put it, I should totally buy one for the backyard. A layered tower would make a nice shed for my many gardening tools."
Earth
The first storey resembled a church with its multitude of religious ornaments, rich paintings, and statues. But all of these were not Christian but Buddhist devotional objects. There were narrow passages on all sides, which contained ancient scriptures. Hand-carved drawings on the ceiling were looking down on the visitors, inviting them to explore the individual stages of the wheels of life, from birth to rebirth. The centerstage was dominated by a gargantuan statue of Buddha meditating on a fountain. His hands were clenching a handful of prayer beads. His swollen face bore a faint, ambiguous smile.
"Never liked that guy," Roseanne pointed at the statue. "He looks like a con artist."
"Your opinion is your opinion. Don't offend the deity worshipped by other people," Yukie said.
"Look!" Cho came up to the statue and grabbed the cube-shaped stone. According to the label in front of it, the stone was a symbolic representation of the earth element.
"It's all nice and educational, but we'd better keep going. Cho take us to the place where you made your wish," Roseanne said.
Cho examined the cube in her hands for a while, its weight and rough surface. It was just a rock, but a neatly carved one, she thought and put it down back in its place.
"This way." Cho led the companions to a passage on the left side of the statue, where a retractable ladder led to the second floor.
However, before the girl touched the ladder, the loud howling of the wind from the main entrance spread across the pagoda.
"What was it?" Cho asked.
Yukie cautiously came out outside to check what was going on, but suddenly the doors slammed shut behind her. Roseanne ran up to the main entrance and started jerking the handle. She couldn't open it. At the same time, cascades of dirt began falling from the ceiling through golden lanterns.
"It's a bobby trap!" Cho exclaimed. "Rosie, come back here."
But Roseanne didn't listen. She got hold of some knob that was part of a railing and hit it against the hinges to yank them out. The knob grazed the metallic surface of the hinges, but they wouldn't budge.
"You're only wasting time. We need to go up or we'll die," Cho kept calling.
Regrettably, Roseanne had to admit her defeat. She wanted to turn around but, much to her surprise, couldn't move. Her body only wobbled in a pool of dirt that was already reaching her waist.
"Shit, not good," Roseanne said to herself.
In the meantime, Cho attempted to get to the ladder, but the girl wouldn't move as well. Cho proceeded to frantically clear the dirt around herself, but it was a fool's errand. More dirt kept coming and coming through the lantern shutes.
Roseanne took out her knife and plunged it into a wooden frame of the entrance. She used it as a support to pull herself upward. It took her a lot of muscle power, but she did manage to disengage from the pit that immobilised her. The dirt was now filling the two-thirds of the chamber.
Cho hurriedly shouted at Roseanne to get to her. She desperately tried to free herself from the entrapment that was now engulfing her shoulders. Roseanne, on the other hand, had another problem. With each step she tried to make, her legs would sink into the dirt again.
In the blink of an eye, she grabbed a scripture that was close to her, unrolled it and laid down on the material that spread her weight evenly. The scripture became a lifeboat thanks to which Roseanne safely journeyed across the room.
"I can't get out," Cho said when Roseanne reached her. Roseanne proceeded to shovel the dirt away, but Cho still wouldn't move. Something was anchoring her down.
"Okay, I've got it!" Roseanne screamed suddenly. She noticed in a groove they dug that a strap of Cho's hanbok got entangled in marble prayer beads.
The knife was again held firmly by Roseanne. With one swift move, she cut the strap.
"Let me reach the ladder," Roseanne explained.
"But..."
"This is not a time for a discussion!"
The girl crawled to the steps in the suffocating dust rain. Using her left hand, she grabbed Cho.
Roseanne wrapped her free arm around a beam and pulled as strongly as possible. Second by second, inch by inch, Cho slid out of the deadly pitfall. The two managed to escape to the upper floor at the very last moment.
Roseanne kneeled over the hole and looked at grains of dirt that completely consumed the ladder.
"Can you tell me what the hell just happened?" she asked. "This was supposed to be an exhibition building, not a temple from Raiders of the Lost Ark!"
"I am as shocked as you are," Cho replied. "My best guess is the pagoda is a haunted place that started it all. We need to reach the top to solve this mystery."
"Now, we really have no other choice but to go up."
Cho coughed hard. Her throat got rid of the unpleasant residue of grime mixed with saliva that accumulated on her tongue and in the esophagus.
Roseanne asked her if she's alright and she nodded gently.
"Thank you. I hope that Madame Yoshida is okay," she whispered.
"We can only hope," Roseanne sighed. "Whatever is in here, it has only us in mind. Let's keep close. We're going to another ladder."
Water
The entirety of the second floor was veiled in darkness. Roseanne turned on her flashlight and moved slowly ahead across the chamber, clutching a pistol at her belt. Though she threaded carefully, the girl occasionally bumped into boxes containing robes, handkerchiefs, and decorative tablecloths.
"Look!" Cho spoke in a hushed tone.
"Where?"
"By the window. It's another stone."
Indeed, in the faint light, Cho spotted a perfectly round stone. Roseanne came closer and luminated it.
"Water," she read out loud what was written on the stone, "Why don't I like the sound of this?"
Instantly, the girls felt that the smell in the chamber changed. They tasted a pinch of moisture in their mouths. It smelled like the stench of old cinemas.
Suddenly, a massive chandelier cast light in the middle of the chamber. Roseanne gaped out of surprise when she saw Emily. But it wasn't Emily she knew. It was an eight-year-old Emily sitting on a chair in front of a phone, holding an ukulele in her hands.
"Hey, Emily. Hey, it's me!" Roseanne called out, but young Emily was fully preoccupied with her phone.
Roseanne wanted to reach her friend, let her know she was right there, but Cho grabbed her arm.
"Don't touch her," she said. "This is some kind of an illusion."
With complete disregard for the people around her, Emily pushed the recording button on the phone and began intonating her voice like a professional TikToker. However, she was stressed, so the words were tumbling out in a rush with some lispy mispronunciations.
"Hello and welcome to today'sh episode. I'm Emily and thish is a tutorial for newbies on how to use ukulele. Let'sh recap the individual notes. This is C..." Emily strummed an individual string. "This is D..." She struck another one. "This is E..."
"Why are we watching this? And why is she so young?" Roseanne asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's an echo of the past or another trap," Cho wondered.
When Emily was done with reminding the basics, she sent a brisk smile to the camera.
"Now, let'sh practise the tune we started yesterday."
Having said that, Emily began sweeping across the entirety of the four strings, producing a series of sounds that amounted to a slow yet incredibly peaceful melody. Ukulele of course gave it a touch of Mediterranean flavour. Gradually, the pacing increased as she kept playing.
"It's quite beautiful. I didn't know Emily had such a talent," said Cho.
"Hang on a minute!" Roseanne hung her hand in mid-air. "I recognise this! It's Sailing!"
"It's Sailing?".
"Sailing by Rod Stewart." Roseanne began reciting the lyrics to the melody played by Emily:
I am sailing, I am sailing
Home again 'cross the sea
I am sailing, stormy waters
To be near you, to be free
Then, a sudden recollection hit Roseanne. She remembered the time they were eating at McDonald's. Emily was flicking through her phone and Roseanne lashed out at her. It happened in the heat of the moment and the two reconciled, but now Roseanne felt an immense sense of regret overcoming her.
"We aren't that different, aren't we?" she whispered.
Young Emily continued to play in front of a virtual audience much in the same vein as Roseanne her age used to perform with her teddy bears in front of imagined spectators peering from a wallpaper or turned-off TV set. They were both loners in childhood accustomed to doing lonely things. Of course, their parents poured their love onto them, but they didn't meet any worthwhile people in primary school, people who would hang out with them, hear about their interests, and fool around to their heart's content.
But, Roseanne and Emily managed to meet each other. It took a while, many circles of Earth around the Sun, in fact, but their paths crossed in high school. In hindsight, Roseanne knew it wasn't an accident. The cosmic forces wanted them to meet: two individuals from different houses, different backgrounds, and with contrastive personalities, but who are deep inside very sensitive souls.
Acting on gut feeling, Roseanne gently caressed the spectre of the past. Nothing bad happened, she knew it wouldn't. Her fingers dispersed the image of Emily, as if the little girl was made entirely of smoke. In her fading brown eyes, she saw innocence and purity. Traits so often lacking among adults.
"My dear friend," Roseanne said. "Thank you for being there for me."
A tear slowly trickled down Roseanne's cheek until Cho caught it with her fingers. The alternate version of herself hugged her as tightly as possible.
"We can cross that off the haunted temple list," she said.
Suddenly, the sound of impending water made them freeze with fear. It was a matter of milliseconds, but their eyes registered everything in slow motion. The curtains covering the windows rolled out with a loud rattle, revealing an open sea ravaged by a typhoon. Roseanne was sure this was yet another illusion, but it looked so real. The wave caps were raging outside, creating mountains of water impending with a formidable force. They didn't even have time to run, to hold on to anything. The stained glass and a wooden frame broke under the impact. Water swooshed over the chamber with such fortitude as if it were the inside of a washing machine. Cho and Roseanne were scattered away like leaves all over the lawns.
As soon as Roseanne felt the coldness of seawater, her body broke into fight-or-flight mode. She tried to suppress a rush of adrenaline, but being underwater didn't help at all. To make matters worse, she neither could see anything nor regain a sense of direction. The current of the wave hit her against a wall. Her lungs let out a silent cry, which allowed water to fall into her mouth.
The overwhelming panic kicked in with all its might. Roseanne began choking, her hands were waving desperately in dark water looking for a way out, but there was none.
No! Not like this! I can't let go! her mind was screaming.
The moment she was about to drown, her lungs filling with water, a hand grabbed the collar of her uniform and pulled up violently. The vision cleared in front of Roseanne and she could breathe again. The sweetness of the air hit her nostrils. She coughed up the swallowed salty liquid.
Cho kept Roseanne's head above the water. With difficulty, the girl was holding on to the ladder. At the very least, they could rest against the steps.
The tidal waves were thrusting inside. The chamber was now filled with water almost up to the ceiling. Boxes with precious robes and holy treasures kept surfacing one after another. The continuous drift of things kept obscuring Cho's view and the current made it impossible for her to climb up.
Roseanne didn't want to say anything. She was as scared as her alternate self. Both clung to the ladder helplessly, their bodies soaking in cold water.
"Oh God, it's worse than in my nightmare," she said to herself, but Roseanne heard it. "I can't swim!"
"Me neither," Roseanne whispered, not knowing what else to do.
The girls lasted a good while in this involuntary hug until the raging current finally let go. Exhausted and out of breath, they carefully climbed to the subsequent floor.
"You really shouldn't have touched that apparition," said Cho.
Fire
Shivering from the cold, Roseanne didn't have the strength to make any comment. It was clear to her that the pagoda was a death trap and the only way to stay alive was to reach the top. She wanted to warn Cho, tell her to disregard anything in the new chamber and run as fast as possible to the next ladder. But before she mustered up the strength to open her mouth, it was too late.
A row of LED panels lit up revealing they were not in fact in another chamber, but in a gloomy tunnel that was decorated like a classroom. Desks and chairs filled up the unpopulated space, facing a large whiteboard hung on a wall. By the teacher's desk, next to the board, there was an unknown figure sitting. The gloomy rags were covering their face. Their pale, bony fingers were caressing a new stone, this time in the shape of a triangle. The sign on it read: "Fire",
The unknown stranger lifted a finger at the sight of Cho. The girl froze in half a step. Roseanne tried to shake her but to no avail. Her lips were parted, her eyes didn't blink, her muscles stopped working altogether.
"It's called suspended animation, you know," the cloaked figure said jovially.
"I've had enough of this mumbo-jumbo shit, release her right now or I'll shoot your ass off!" Roseanne reached for her gun, but it was gone from her belt.
"Time for the lesson to begin."
The figure clapped and, in a blink of an eye, Roseanne found herself in front of the whiteboard, whereas Cho was sitting by a desk, reanimated back to life, the pistol lying disassembled right under her nose.
"You..." Roseanne took a magnetic sponge off the table and threw it at the figure, but before it reached them, the sponge turned into a rain of confetti.
"Attitude problems. You ought to be reported to the principal. In the meantime, you will take an oral exam."
The figure clapped again, and Roseanne was now holding a massive protractor.
"Draw a rhombus with an internal angle of 40 degrees and sides of 14 cm."
"Bitch, please! I can draw a rhombus on your forehead when I'll be skinning you alive."
"Roseanne, I don't think you realise the gravity of the situation you are in. Do as I say or I will erase the person you care so much about. All it takes for me is a clap of hands."
Roseanne looked nervously at Cho. She could tell the girl was mortally afraid. Cho didn't have to speak, Roseanne knew from her eyes she recognised the cloaked figure.
With considerable hesitance, Roseanne placed the protractor on the board and began drawing.
Even though the protractor was magnetic like the currently non-existent sponge, it was still extremely slippery. Roseanne could barely hold it in place while setting the internal degree and points where the four sides were about to cross. It took her a good five minutes to draw the stupid diamond.
The cloaked figure got up from the teacher's seat, another protractor appeared in their hands out of thin air. The figure measured the drawing meticulously, highlighting many mistakes with a red marker.
"This side is too long... This side is too short... The internal degree is 42 instead of 40. That's an F."
"I don't give a damn. We're not in actual school."
"Oh, and that's coming from such a star student as Roseanne Juzynski."
Then, Roseanne instantly understood what the figure wanted to achieve. Back in the days of primary school, the exact same thing happened to her. As an 11-year-old she was called up to the board by the maths teacher, Mrs Danuta. The teacher told her to draw up a rhombus, but she didn't do it properly. She got an F, which made her burst into tears, but the worst thing was the snarky comment from Mrs Danuta: "Oh, crying, aren't we? And that's coming from such a star student as Roseanne Juzynski."
Never before in her life had Roseanne felt that much humiliation. Her classmates didn't laugh at her. All of them were afraid of maths. But the internal shame stayed on with Roseanne for years. "A star student," how dared she? It's not like Roseanne was stupid or she wasn't learning. She was trying hard to do her best, but that teacher was nowhere to help her explain the difficult material. It's so easy for adults to label and judge students, but they don't think of the consequences of their words. Because of what Roseanne heard, she stopped being active in class.
For that one phrase, Roseanne nurtured a desire to kill Mrs Danuta.
"If I had met that scumbag on the street, I would have definitely killed her. The hag is lucky she retired," said Roseanne, smashing the protractor against the floor.
"Your exercise is finished," the figure clapped and the remains of the protractor disappeared. "Let's move to Cho."
Cho lowered her head.
"Well, get on with it! Assemble this thing of evil."
The girl took a magazine and a trigger, but she looked as helplessly as a child who was told to solder a motherboard in a computer. She tried to remember Roseanne's instructions, what she showed her, but it was all in vain. The stress has taken over.
"No, I can't do this," Cho said.
"Oh, but Cho you know everything! You are so educated, so practical. The books you read didn't inform you how to do this?"
The figure waved their hand over the desk and Beretta magically appeared in its complete form.
"I'm sorry, but I have to admit I don't know everything," Cho said with a lowered voice.
"Hah!" The figure laughed. "Just as I thought. You are a nobody and you'll never amount to anything!"
The figure grabbed the gun and pointed it at Roseanne. Cho only managed to yell, "No!" before the trigger was pulled. A bullet pierced through Roseanne's left arm and came out the back, lodging itself in the board. The girl fell on the ground.
"Sister Grace, why did you do that?!" Cho asked, running up towards Roseanne. She pressed a handkerchief to the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Your exercise is finished."
Sister Grace removed the cloak and revealed her face covered with lesions, dry scalps, and horrendous rashes. It was evident she suffered from leprosy. Patches of white hair didn't even cover the apparent baldness. The squinted eyes looking at a fixed point revealed complete blindness.
"That's your Sister Grace?" Roseanne asked through overwhelming arm pain.
"It's only another illusion. The real Sister Grace died in a church fire a couple of years ago," explained Cho.
"But this illusion is trying to kill me."
"No!" Sister Grace sat down. "I merely taught you a lesson. You've learnt the truth. You come back to your homes in Szwederowo and Ssangmun-dong. The lower levels of the pagoda have been cleared for you."
Having said this, Sister Grace clapped her hands.
"You monster! How should we know you won't kill us?" Cho asked.
"Why do you think so low of me, child? I am merely a gatekeeper. I believe I proved beyond reasonable doubt that you are not worthy of crossing the gate between your worlds."
"Say what?" Roseanne grunted in pain.
"Roseanne Juzynski, look at yourself. You are a child acting on impulse. Isn't the exercise you just did the best example of this attitude?"
Roseanne carefully got on her feet. She straightened her back and looked defiantly into the blank eyes of Sister Grace. Cho was still putting pressure on the wound with a handkerchief.
"You're wrong, you freak, you... hellish nun. Yeah, I act on impulse at times, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Thanks to being impulsive, I came to collect Cho. I'm bringing her home."
"And what kind of home do you mean? The one with your sick mother? With your absent father? Home where your hopelessness makes you question the meaning of life?"
"I love my mother and I love my father. You don't have the right to make comments about people who raised me. My dad is working hard, and it's not my mom's fault she's sick. I'm supporting her as much as I can. What's more important, I value life. Yes, it's a journey riddled with moments of sadness and despair, but there are also moments of hope and joy. You mentioned the protractor exercise. It happened to me a long time ago. Granted, I felt worthless after hearing that hurtful remark. Because of it, I wouldn't speak in class until I went to high school. I made new friends and I started enjoying lessons again. I discovered a teacher like Mr Orville who can be a kind, considerate mentor, unlike Mrs Danuta. So, don't remind me of negative experiences, because my heart remembers all the goodness it has received. And the greatest goodness came from Cho. She gave me hope and encouragement to better myself, to never lose faith, even if things spiral out of control. That's why I'm here. I want her to have a better life, to never lose faith in me."
"Cho, are you hearing this?" Sister Grace turned to her. "You know so much about everything, about helping others, and yet you couldn't assemble the gun. I'm afraid it doesn't make you perfect."
"You have some messed up opinion about us, whatever you are," said Cho. "I'm not perfect. Nobody's perfect. I turned to books to escape the misery conjured up by Sister Grace, not to know everything. I just want to live normally without nightmares about being beaten to red flesh. Roseanne is my family and I'm coming with her. That's the truth."
As soon as Cho uttered these words, she punched the demonic apparition of Sister Grace right in the face, grabbed the triangular stone, and shoved it down the nun's throat. The triangle exploded like a grenade, setting her on fire in an instant.
Roseanne was watching the scene gobsmacked. She didn't even notice a ladder coming down from the ceiling.
"Come on!" Cho climbed upwards. "We are so near the end."
When the nun was screeching and struggling, Roseanne grabbed the gun out of the flames and began ascending.
Air
Cho got into a cold chamber, in which there was nothing inside. The ladder to the top was awaiting them right across the floor.
"Let's make a run for it!" she called out to Roseanne.
With her arm, Roseanne barely managed to climb up, but didn't want to let go either. However, as soon as she crawled into the next chamber, a burned hand got hold of her ankle through the hole she just came in.
"What the hell? She's still alive?!" Roseanne screamed.
Cho desperately looked around the chamber for something that could be used as a weapon. There was only a stone lying in the corner.
Great, another stone, she thought.
When she got it, Cho read the inscription on the crescent piece: "Air".
Roseanne was getting dragged back into the previous chamber. Cho jumped to her and pulled as hard as possible. Sister Grace didn't let go. Her sizzling face was still on fire in the hole, as black as death. Without hesitance, Cho threw the stone at her.
"Time for your lesson," the girl said.
All of a sudden, the gusts of freezing wind engulfed Sister Grace. Frost began covering her skin from head to toe. Hair residue fell off like snow, tongue became dark, lesions formed shiny crystals, fingers cracked and broke off as if they were matchsticks. The demon kept screaming and gasping for air until it turned into a statue.
Roseanne freed her ankle and looked at the grotesque monster.
"I'm not taking any chances this time," she said. "I told you I will shoot your ass off."
Roseanne aimed her Beretta and unloaded the whole clip. The statue of ice broke into dozens of tiny pieces, which disappeared within the tunnel depths.
Void
The final stone was the fusion of a crescent and a triangle. It was awaiting them in a small altar on the top floor. This was the place where Cho made her wish two months ago. Back then, it was a normal afternoon and the pagoda itself was populated with tourists. Cho began reasoning with herself. It's quite surreal what happened to them on this night, but perhaps this was the only way to align a thing out of order. That thing was Cho's wish that opened the cosmic portal. They had to fight their way through the Five Elements of the universe to make the final crossing and close it once and for all.
Roseanne was swaying on her feet, but Cho relentlessly supported her shoulder. It was dawn. The dosimeter's counter went off the scale. Roseanne ripped it off the belt and tossed the device away. She was breathing heavily.
"Well, I guess this is it. There's no turning back now," said Roseanne.
"We need to hurry up or you'll die soon."
"Tell me how you did it."
"I just touched the stone over there and made my wish."
"That's all?"
"Yeah. What do you expect?"
"It's a little anticlimactic."
"Well, I didn't assume I would get jettisoned to your world the day after."
"Okay, let's light this candle."
The girls gently placed their hands on the rock that symbolised the void. Cho closed her eyes and wished silently to be able to live with Roseanne. Much to her surprise, she felt immediate warmth emanating from the stone. Roseanne also closed her eyes, repeating in her mind over and over that she wished to return safely to her reality and that Cho would never get sick from being there. The warmth increased until it was unbearable for them to hold the stone.
They withdrew their hands. The stone became scorching hot. Steam started gushing out of the mineral surface until the rock tumbled down the altar. Then, the other stones from the lower chamber suddenly came flying by. The shapes connected to each other one by one: cube to circle, circle to triangle, triangle to crescent. The mysterious construction was adorned with the final stone at the very top, constituting its crown. The whole formation resembled a miniature version of the pagoda.
But Cho and Roseanne didn't enjoy its sight for long. The familiar rain of sparks engulfed them for one last time. During their final journey, however, they did not experience visions of the past. Instead, they found themselves on a small pier over the sea. Beautiful mountains surrounded them from all sides. The incessant flow of water was the most calming thing Cho has ever heard.
"That's it?" Roseanne asked. "We ended up in Gdynia of all places?"
"I don't think we've reached our destination yet," said Cho.
Suddenly, the girl felt a presence behind her. She turned her back and was shocked to discover Yukie Yoshida. The woman was wearing her finest, pure white cotton kimono. Her arms were open towards Cho. The girl couldn't help herself and ran into the bookstore owner's embrace.
"You're alright! Thank goodness you are alright!" Cho cried into her shoulder.
"Yes... I'm pleased to see you're fine too," she said while stroking her hair.
"But what are you doing here? Did you get transported away with us?"
"No, I don't think so. For me, it's like a dream, a chance to say farewell to you."
Cho withdrew herself from the hug and looked at Yukie.
"Would you like to come with us? I would be delighted if you could come."
Cho extended her hand, but Yukie didn't take her. Instead, the woman kneeled and pointed at the girl's heart.
"Such long journeys are no longer for me, but I will always be here and so will your passion for books. Thank you for keeping me company."
Cho blushed. She gasped quickly, trying to withhold tears.
"No, I thank you, Madame Yoshida. I don't know I would have the strength to carry on if I hadn't stumbled upon your bookstore."
She leaned over and kissed the woman on the cheek.
"I will never forget you."
***
The waves were rushing. Roseanne kept waiting on the pier, Cho finally returned while Yukie was still standing in the distance, waving at her.
"She's not coming?" Roseanne asked.
"No,"
Roseanne felt she wanted to say more, to fill in the void they were at the moment, but nothing came to mind. Instead, they walked arm to arm to the very end of the pier.
Over there, a large crowd appeared out of the fog, awaiting them: Liz and Robert, Enzo, Emily with her mother, Mr Orville, Natasha, and Isa. Cho turned around once more to look at Yukie, but white clouds obstructed the view. She could no longer see her.
As Cho was standing with the people she knew by the sea, she felt at peace. She knew that from now on, everything is going to be okay. She has finally met her family.
And the journey was completed.
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