My Sister Had a Death Countdown, But Mine Hit Zero First Chapter 09

My Sister Had a Death Countdown, But Mine Hit Zero First Chapter 09

Nora got into the car with my urn and headed for 

North Mountain. I floated beside her. I watched. 

the pine forest fly past outside the window. I 

watched her aged face in profile. I watched the 

deep lines at the corners of her eyes. 

And I watched the grief in her eyes, so deep it 

seemed to have no end. 

By the time we returned to the small cabin on 

North Mountain, the sky was already dark. 

Nora lit an old oil lamp. Dim yellow light filled the 

small, worn room. The cabin stood beyond the 

pack border. Outside the window was a dark 

forest. Far away, wolves let out long, lonely howls. 

They sounded like a farewell song. 

Nora placed the urn in the center of the wooden 

shelf above the fireplace. She carefully 

straightened it. Then she lit a row of small white 

candles. 

The small flames swayed in the dark. Nora stood 

before the urn for a long time. Then she turned 

and looked toward the place where I floated. 

“Ava.” 

Her voice came suddenly, barely louder than a whisper. I froze. 

“Grandma…” 

I opened my mouth by instinct. Only then did I 

remember I was already dead. I couldn’t make a 

sound. But Nora nodded. 

“I can see you.” 

My tears fell. Someone could see me. Even after I died, someone could still see me. Nora reached 

out. Her hand passed through the air and stopped 

where my face was. 

“My poor child.” 

Nora’s voice choked. 

“You suffered so much…” 

I rushed toward her, wanting to hug her. But my 

body passed straight through hers. I caught 

nothing. I stopped in midair and looked at my 

transparent hands. Then I looked at Nora’s old 

face. At last, I started to cry. 

Nora seemed to sense it. She opened her arms as 

if to hug me. 

“Come here, Ava. Come to Grandma.” 

She spoke softly, her voice as gentle as a spring 

breeze. I floated over and stopped in her arms. 

“Grandma…” 

I mouthed. 

“Yes, sweetheart. Grandma’s here.” 

Nora answered. Huge tears rolled down her face. 

“Grandma’s here. Ava, don’t be scared. Don’t be 

scared… 

We stayed like that. One of us held empty air. 

The other rested inside a hug that could never 

truly hold me. We cried for a long, long time. We 

cried until the oil lamp flickered again and again. 

We cried until the moon rose above the forest 

outside the window. At last, Nora lowered her 

arms and wiped her tears with her sleeve. 

“Ava.” 

She looked at me. Her eyes were red and swollen, 

but still gentle. 

“Tell Grandma. Tell Grandma how these last few 

days have felt.” 

I froze. How had they been? How was I supposed 

to answer that? I was dead. But I still tried to 

gesture. I pointed to my chest. Then I pointed to 

the ceiling. I made a weightless, floating motion. 

with my hand. Nora understood. 

“Light and floating, right?” 

Her voice was full of pain. 

“With nowhere to land, right?” 

I nodded. Nora sighed and wanted to touch my 

head. Her hand stopped in midair. Then she slowly 

drew it back. 

“Grandma knows.” 

“Grandma knows everything,” she said. 

She turned and took an apple from her cloth bag. 

After washing it, she placed it in front of the urn. 

“Eat.” 

She spoke as if she were really talking to me. 

“Grandma doesn’t have much here, but this apple 

is sweet. Try it.” 

I looked at the red apple. My heart ached so badly. 

When I was alive, I had never eaten a whole apple. 

Every time our family had an apple, it was cut in two. The bigger half went to Stella. The smaller 

half went to me. 

Stella would always secretly give me a little more from her half. She would say she wasn’t hungry. She would say she didn’t like apples. But now I 

was dead. 

Nora gave me a whole apple. I floated over and crouched in front of it. I couldn’t eat it. But I could 

smell its clean, sweet scent. 

“Is it sweet?” Nora asked. 

I nodded hard, even though I wasn’t sure she could see it clearly. Nora smiled. But as she smiled, 

tears fell again. 

“Good. Sweet is good,” Nora murmured, then turned away. She wiped her eyes hard with her sleeve. That night, Nora told me many stories. She 

talked about the times when I was little and she 

came to the pack house to visit me. 

I once lay across her lap and listened to her tell the legend of the Moon Goddess and the first white wolf. She talked about patrolling North Mountain 

at night when she was young. 

She had once seen a silver deer run across the 

snow 

Then she talked about the year I was three and 

had a fever. She stayed with me all night. She 

wiped my palms with warm towels and hummed 

an old pack lullaby until I fell asleep. 

She remembered the first time I came to North 

Mountain when I was five. I chased a little lamb 

and fell into mud. 

She scolded me for being naughty while giving me 

a bath. As she kept talking, her voice slowly 

lowered. 

“Ava.” 

Her voice came suddenly, barely louder than a 

whisper. 

“Are you about to leave?” 

I looked at Nora and nodded. Nora fell silent. She 

stayed silent for a long time, long enough for the 

oil lamp to flicker again and again, long enough for 

the sky outside the window to begin turning pale. 

Then she raised her head and looked at me. She 

smiled. Her smile was bitter, so bitter it hurt to 

see. But her eyes were still gentle. 

“That’s good too,” she said hoarsely. 

“Maybe leaving is a mercy.” 

“Once you leave, you won’t have to suffer 

anymore.” 

“You won’t be left in pain anymore.” 

She stood up and walked in front of me. She 

reached out as if to hug me again. 

“Ava, in your next life, be born into a good family.” 

Nora said, tears streaming down her face. 

“In your next life, don’t be born into this family. 

again.” 

“Find parents who treasure you and love you.” 

“Be a happy little girl, okay?” 

I nodded hard. Tears poured from my eyes. 

“Grandma…” 

I mouthed. 

“Yes, sweetheart. Grandma’s here.” 

She answered through her sobs. 

“Grandma will remember you forever.” 

“Grandma will always remember that my Ava was 

a good girl.” 

“The best girl.” 

Morning came. The first beam of sunlight passed 

through the cabin window. It shone on Nora’s face, 

on her gray hair, and on the tear tracks covering 

her cheeks. It also shone on my body as I slowly 

faded away. I reached out. 

I wanted to touch Nora’s face one last time. But 

my hand passed through sunlight. It passed 

through air. I touched nothing. Nora looked at me. 

She watched me fade in the morning light until I 

was almost nothing. At last, she couldn’t hold 

herself together anymore. She covered her face 

and cried. I looked at her one last time. 

I looked at the only person who saw me after I died. The only person who tried to hug me. The 

only person who gave me a whole apple. 

Then I turned around and floated toward the 

sunrise. 

Higher and higher. 

Farther and farther. 

Nora’s crying slowly faded. The small cabin on North Mountain slowly faded from sight. The world became a soft, gentle white. Inside that white light, I slowly closed my eyes. 

Good. 

I thought. 

In my next life, please don’t let me hurt this much 

again.