Spoiled by Eight Uncles

Jessie stroked the doll in her arms, her voice light and airy.

"I found her."

"I went all the way to the beach, but couldn't find Mindy.I had a feeling Mindy was home, and she might even be waiting for me there."

And so Jessie rushed back home.She could feel Mindy calling for her.It was a long and grueling journey.She almost got lost.But just then...

"I heard the sound of a drum.It was a very nice sound," Jessie said.

"It was like the drum could talk, and it sounded like Mindy talking."

Despite the fact that Mindy was mute, and had never spoken before.Jessie just had a feeling that that was Mindy.

"Mindy was telling me to come home.She was looking for me."

Following the sound of the drum, Jessie kept walking.Blisters began to grow on her feet, and she even lost a toenail.

At last, she saw a large crowd.They were all surrounding a drum, kneeling as they hit it.

"I could tell at once.That drum was Mindy..." Jessie said.

"It was a drum, made out of Mindy's skin."

The sentence made Lilly and the rest tremble, a chill running down their spines! Adrum made out of human skin?! Jessie continued.

"Where I'm from, everyone's skin is tan as wheat.Mindy was the only one with fair skin, soft and smooth..."

The harem spirit could not help but ask, "How are you so sure that it was a drum made out of… human skin? Could it have been, uh, other skin? Like goatskin, or something."

Jessie shook her head firmly.

"I'm certain! Because the drum sounded like Mindy's voice!" The ghosts fell silent.

Her sister was mute, but she was insisting that the drum sounded like her sister's voice.Did this mean that the sisters’ hearts were as one? Jessie's eyes filled with tears once again.

"I saw the men that came to my house in the crowd." They hugged the drum, caressing it adoringly after the crowd had left.

"I heard their secrets.They said that the spirit drum was ‘top notch’, made by a ‘virgin girl who had never been in love before’. That kind of drum was the purest, and it was even better that the girl was mute.

A mute person could never tell a lie, and their spirit would never be tainted."

all the boxes.She was so beautiful too, with such

about my Mindy." Mindy was beautiful.She was pure.She was

Mindy as she ran towards her, but

would

sister calling out for her to run in the

the

of those people— but they

I found them again, but this time I followed them

why it was called the spirit drum.The spirit drum, or also, the

said that the drum could connect with the afterlife, and

had to be made out of the skin of a girl

from skin that was cut off

not help but grip her father tightly, goosebumps

Making a drum out of

so cruel to Mindy like that enrage the gods instead?

Mindy away, but told everyone who came to pray to it that nothing of the sort

by people intending to cause harm.Rumors

said that nothing like that existed, but Mindy's drum was right in front

made a trip around the island, and finally returned to where they

small

alleys and bushes, she had come

Mindy's hair and eyes in

doll tightly, her

get Mindy back, but they had their sticks

there were other people around, so they said they would take pity on me as I was a little kid who could

sent me

been furious, locking Jessie

screamed, asking Ma if she had known all along and if it was her who handed Mindy over to those guys in the first place.Ma told her to shut her mouth.Ma

Jessie lowered her head.

doll, and asked her if she wanted a Ma.I could give

Lilly was stunned.

would your Ma be in half..." Jessie

Ma was not

stormy night, Jessie crept up on Ma while she was

as a bolt of lightning struck, and Jessie saw her reflection in the mirror.Her face was covered in blood.She looked terrifying.She even saw the doll sit up behind her, as if

to where the people who took Mindy away lived, and set a huge fire.She even burned herself