- 9.
South River Cemetery was freezing. I wrapped myself in two thick cotton jackets and it didn’t help.
The manager told us that there were victims of the earthquake in the park, many of whom were hurriedly buried because they could not be
identified.
My eyes stayed on the flowers all over the
mountains and plains, and in a daze, I seemed
to see a pair of gentle men and women waving
to me.
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9:15
I visited the relic management room.
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There are relics of the victims here, some have
been claimed, and some have not.
Macy found an old camera for me.
“Look, this sticker says the name, Zhou Ning.”
My biological mother, Zhou Ning.
I turned on the camera and saw their vivid
looks.
The camera started recording from six o’clock in the morning.
I saw a gentle face that was six points similar
to me. The corners of her mouth curled into a gentle smile, and her voice was soft.
Sierra’s young face appeared in the lens.
<
Mom hugged her, gently and patiently coaxing: “Is my dear awake? Today we are going to
travel to the place you said, look, this is a small backpack specially bought for you by your
father, and this, is a jade card made by your mother, do you like it?”
Sierra squinted her eyes and swept her eyes
over the schoolbag and jade card, looked up and asked: “Is it worth money?”
Mom kissed her face: “Baby, many things in the world cannot be measured by money, your
parents‘ love for you is endless!”
Sierra pouted and didn’t speak.
A family of three embarked on a happy journey.
Sierra didn’t need to walk the whole way. She
was either riding on her father’s neck or being
held by her mother. She could get whatever she
<
wanted to eat by opening her mouth.
My dad often said a word: “Does my little
princess have any other wishes? Dad will definitely fulfill it for you.”
Sierra said she wanted a lot of money.
She also said: “Mom, if I become an orphan,
can I live in a big villa?”
She naively thought that the house in the
orphanage was very big, it was a big villa.
Mom comforted her with heartache: “Mom and
Dad won’t let you be an orphan.”
They are gentler than I thought.
They would sing lullabies to their daughters
before going to bed, and they would also hold
their daughters who were too lazy to get out of
bed to serve her to wash her face.
<
The last few scenes were of my mother getting
up and taking videos of the father and daughter
as usual.
Suddenly the earth shook and the camera fell to
one side.
Mom and Dad protected Sierra under them at
the same time.
She was safe and sound in the narrow space
formed by the arms of the two.
My mother’s dying voice was recorded by the
camera: “Baby, Mom and Dad can’t be with you
when you grow up, I’m so sorry, you have to live
well, go to college, do what you like, be with the
people you like, you will die peacefully in a
comfortable bed one day a hundred years from
now, instead of being here.”
There was no sound from my father.
<
But his broad body firmly resisted the wall
pressing down on that side. A rebar pierced his
throat, and blood stained Sierra’s face red.
Macy covered the camera and didn’t let me
watch it.
I coughed badly, and she hurriedly took out the
medicine.
“You’ll feel better after you eat it, take some.”
She was crying so ugly, her tears and snot were
flowing down, and her snot was all over my
clothes.
I gently pressed her hand and shook my head:
“Don’t eat it, can you do me one more favor?”
She cried even harder.
I turned my head and looked at the flowers all
over tho mountaing. “Aftor I dio
coottor my
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9:15
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over the mountains: “After I die, scatter my
ashes here, I don’t want my parents to wait for
me for too long.”
“I’m very happy to know you in this life, if there
is another chance in the future, let’s cooperate
again.”
“Macy, I can’t see you anymore.”
My voice was so vain that it sounded like it was
spoken with breath, and I didn’t know if she
heard it clearly.
My eyes fell into darkness, and all I could hear
was Macy’s amplified crying.
Then, there was no crying.
