My Mute Bride

“Mrs. Burton, what’s wrong with you?” As soon as Jennifer saw Rachel’s pained appearance, she hurriedly went forward.

Rachel felt as if something was about to burst out of her brain as she frantically gripped her forehead, but she failed to suppress the pain. As she let out a cry of pain, she fell to the floor.

“Mrs. Burton!” Jennifer’s face paled with fear.

The colorful world suddenly turned black and white as time wildly receded to that scene in the isolated mountainous area more than twenty years ago, where birds and animals fluttered among the mountains and

forests…

The dream that had been with her for more than twenty years was gradually becoming clearer at this moment. At this moment, the gentle silhouette that had its back to her for twenty years slowly turned around.

The woman’s long hair hung over her shoulder as she revealed a warm smile and dimples on her cheeks. “Katie, didn’t I ask you to stay at home with Grandma? Why are you following me up the mountain again?”

“Mom, it’s too boring at home, so I wanted to follow you up the mountain to collect herbs.”

“Don’t fall down. Come and hold my hand.”

“Okay!”

“Do you like collecting herbs?”

“Yes.”

“Then, I will teach you a song about herb-picking, okay?”

“Okay!”

“Poria seeds, peony flowers, forsythia, dahurica, mixed with red sand…”

Rachel’s lips vibrated. Despite the inability to make a sound, the memory of those children’s songs suddenly became incomparably clear to her with the name of each herb echoing in her ears.

“Mom, are we not going to pick herbs today?”

“Katie, we have guests at home. I have something to tell this man, so head out and play for a while. Grandma is at the back of the mountain, so go and find her, okay?”

“Okay!”

remembered what her mother looked like, how she became a mute, the man

a look at what’s wrong

first help her

her, but she could only see their mouths moving as she heard nothing. Her ears were filled with buzzing sounds that were interspersed with the childhood she had forgotten for

with her. She’s just

out of it. She jerked up her hand to shield the item in her hands and looked warily at the nurse who came

“Mrs. Burton,

and finally responded. I’m fine; you all should

and nurses

should

in her hands was already crumpled by her tight grip. She never thought that she would remember the events of twenty years ago in such a situation. In her ears were the words of her grandmother, who once said,

children’s song her mother taught her, the origin of the Somerset Mountain fire, and the guy who was

was that guy

Jennifer!

out of bed and went

wrong?” Jennifer was keeping guard at

Give me the phone.

“Mrs. Burton, um…”

to

said that you are not allowed to contact the outside world. How about this? If you have anything to tell him, I will call him and

tell him that I have something to

Jennifer dialed the number in

it’s me. Mrs. Burton is asking when you’re

was on speaker and Justin’s voice came from the other end. “I’m busy with something right now. It can wait until

when will you

were spoken, he hung up while a busy tone echoed

down on the couch in disappointment. Jennifer comforted, “Mrs. Burton, it’s okay. He will come over when he’s done. If you have something really important, I can relay it on

wait for him to

as if she was in a trance. The great elation she had felt earlier was washed away by twenty years of time and all of

so long and had tortured her all this while. Besides,