Her Life for Mine

From that point onward, my body grew weaker by the day. I wasn't allowed to have a full meal. Half of my meals had to be set aside as an offering for Noah and placed in front of his ashes. It didn't matter if we had any leftovers. The portion had to be taken from my plate. In return for my offerings, Grandma said that Noah would protect me. Every night, she would make me kneel before his urn and call out his name. I was only allowed to go to bed after I paid my respects to him. She claimed that it would make my brother watch over me and allow me to live a long life under his protection. However, I overheard her conversation with a medium. "Giving him half of her meals is the same as giving him half of her life," the medium said.By the end of it all, my life would become his.Little did they know that Noah had never returned to the house. The spirit that appeared in the house had always been a girl.When I developed another high fever, Grandma asked my parents to return ho

I had never seen her before, but Grandma once told me never to answer to anyone who called my name in the middle of the night. She claimed that the owner of the voice was trying to draw out the fragments of my soul.I didn't dare to respond. The young girl repeated my name tirelessly throughout the entire night. Her voice only faded when the rooster crowed at dawn.I couldn't recall how many times I had seen her. However, months before I fell ill, I remember running into her while I was gathering medicinal herbs on the mountain behind the village.Our village had an old folk remedy that could cure persistent coughs. The remedy required a medicinal herb that grew deep in the mountains, and only the villagers from our village knew what the herb looked like. I begged the village doctor for a picture of the herb. Then, I made a copy of it and went up the mountain alone.The mountain behind our village was secluded, and wolves were often sighted in the area. So, the local villagers

She took out a paper marked with a sigil from her pocket and killed the chicken we were rearing. Afterward, she collected three bowls of its blood and splashed it in front of my door.Despite what she was doing, Noah was still there. He was staring fixedly at me, and he was even in the mood to flash me a smile.No one else could see Noah but me. It wasn't until much later that the medium declared that I could sleep peacefully tonight. When I looked around the place, I realized that Noah was actually gone. "Thank you for saving my grandson's life," Grandma thanked the medium earnestly. "I don't know how I could ever repay you."I saw her slip a stack of money into the medium's pocket, while the latter gave her a knowing nod.Outside of my door, Mom was cleaning up the mess at the table while she berated me. "That brat only causes trouble. If she had just stayed gone, none of this would've happened," she spat.Then, she added, "We only raised her all these years so we could br

As it turned out, the girl in the white dress was me.As my memories slowly returned, I heard shouting outside my hospital room. "My son is not a murderer! Why was she dressed in white on the mountain behind the village? What was she doing outside at such a late hour?" a voice yelled.The person continued, "That mountain is an extremely dangerous place. What was a young girl like her doing there alone? She was definitely meeting up with a man!"Feeling enraged, I clenched my fists. I wanted to defend myself, but I couldn't come up with any retorts."My granddaughter went up that mountain to gather medicinal herbs for me! Stop making false accusations!" Grandma opened the door and snapped at the young man's parents."She was unconscious for an extended period of time, and she almost died. What makes you think your son can walk away without any legal repercussions?"Do you know that she was still clutching those medicinal herbs when she was found unconscious? If I hadn't been ill