Chapter 1: I KNOW WHY MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND DISAPPEARED

第 1 章：我知道我兒時的朋友為什么會失蹤了

我7歲的時候，領(lǐng)居家有一位名叫艾娃（Ava)的女孩。她笑容甜美，樣貌可愛，是我那時最要好的朋友。但我當時沒有意識到的，是艾娃那宛若地獄般的家庭生活。我們總是會聽到她父親的叫罵聲和打破東西時破碎的聲響?？晌耶敃r實在是太小，根本不知道這些“東西”對于艾娃和她的母親到底意味著什么。?

我的父母盡其所能地幫助艾娃減輕她這個年紀的女孩所永遠都不應(yīng)該背負的負擔(dān)，但老實說，他們也害怕插手太多，最終導(dǎo)致我們的家庭也發(fā)生一些不好的事情。因此這些微小的幫助便止步于對艾娃的每日邀請，一場較為舒適的下午茶，或者一頓簡單的早飯，偶爾也會為她準備一些衣服——因為艾娃總是穿得很差。?

與時常發(fā)生的暴力事件的鄰居家相比，我的童年過得還算正常，甚至可以說是很快樂。我的父親在辦公室工作，而母親便居家照顧孩子們，我的姐姐卡莉（carly)也常常幫助母親看管我。她當時12歲，只要外面有陽光，就會帶著我和艾娃在我們屋子后面的樹林里玩耍。?

1998年的小鎮(zhèn)生活簡單而有趣。我跟艾娃喜歡和我的芭比娃娃一起玩耍（可憐的艾娃沒有自己的娃娃），但我們也喜歡探索森林和挖掘那林間濕潤的土地——通常會在那淺埋的泥土中發(fā)現(xiàn)一些鳥類細碎的骨頭和零散的便士。?

那是11月的一個異常溫暖的下午，就在艾娃剛剛過完自己7歲的生日之后。我的家人在她生日的前一天給她買了一份迷你生日蛋糕。但現(xiàn)在我不禁認為這是我們的錯——那天她的臉腫了，紅得發(fā)紫。?

“艾娃，你沒事吧，發(fā)生了什么？”我看了看她的臉頰，不禁有些擔(dān)憂。?

“我只是不小心從樓梯處摔了下來，”她說。她的嘴巴被打得很嚴重，連一些基本的音節(jié)都無法發(fā)出。?

但我那時很快便相信了她這蹩腳的答案，而且自然而然地就把注意力轉(zhuǎn)移到了其他事情上。（我很抱歉，艾娃。）?

我們決定利用這溫暖的一天來觀察小鳥，在過去的幾周里，我非常喜歡觀鳥，因為我的父母給我買了一個很洋氣的雙筒望遠鏡。出于這個原因，我們比平時更深地進入了森林。我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個十分美麗的俊科鳥類的巢穴，那里，一些破殼的小生靈正嗷嗷待哺。?

我把注意力集中在鳥兒身上，這時艾娃的臉上卻露出了遙遠而好奇的神情。?

“你在聽嗎？（她嘆息）...多么美妙的歌聲呀?！卑摅@嘆于什么，但我聽不見。所以我不過一會兒就忽視了它。?

幾分鐘后，她開始向樹林的更深處走去，大概是想找到歌聲的源頭。但我仍然只聽到我們腳踩落木咯吱作響和遠處的飛鳥啁啾不絕。?

我不假思索地跟著艾娃。大概幾分鐘后，她停在了一棵高大而又雄偉的老樹旁。陽光在那里以不同的方式折射入地，讓我難以形容。但這份情景卻就像空氣中散布著星塵一樣，安靜又詳和。艾娃抬頭看著樹葉，神色敬畏又有些驚訝。然后她瘋狂地朝上揮了揮手，就好像一個她認識的人正站在樹梢。?

我也抬起頭，看到了她。她身材較小莫過盈掌，皮膚散發(fā)著淡紫色的光芒。她的長發(fā)仿佛是瀑布做的，裙子的面料金黃柔軟恍若清風(fēng)。?

她從樹上下來，以最柔軟的著陸點到達地面。她的聲音是純粹的甜美，在我的腦海中回蕩。?

“很抱歉，我花了這么長時間才來回應(yīng)你的祈禱，艾娃。 ”

“我晚上聽到的那首歌，是您唱的嗎？”她小心翼翼地問道。?

“是的，我的孩子。”然后她看著我。“你，請離開。這里不是你現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該到的地方。 ”

我被催眠了，甚至有點害怕，但我順從了。她說話的方式很溫柔，但她的身體卻散發(fā)著令人印象深刻的權(quán)威。?

我離開了，當我向后瞥視時，我看見艾娃的身體開始像她一樣發(fā)光。她的頭發(fā)也開始變得像瀑布一樣，而那破舊的衣服也逐漸輕盈散發(fā)著金光。?

…………

當我回到家時，我回到我的房間，排練著當人們注意到艾娃不見了時我會回答的問題。我當時只有7歲，很多基本概念都無法理解，但我既知道艾娃將再也不會回來，也知道人們不會相信我所看到的。?

那天晚上，她的父親咄咄逼人地敲響了我們的房門，要求知道艾娃在哪里。當被問到時，我含糊地回答說，我和她在樹林里玩到下午中午，但從那以后就再也沒有見過她。?

我父親是打電話給警察的人。他們表示，如果艾娃在72小時后仍然失蹤，將會有正式的搜查。?

在調(diào)查期間，警方懷疑她的父親殺害了她，并將她的尸體埋在樹林里。她的母親被發(fā)現(xiàn)在家中遭到嚴重毆打，警方還發(fā)現(xiàn)他殺死了他的前妻。艾娃的父親最終被逮捕。所以我非常平靜地決定對真正發(fā)生的事情保持沉默。畢竟，我沒有讓一個無辜的人受苦。

我最終結(jié)交了新朋友，甚至有一段時間忘記了艾娃。我現(xiàn)在才想起這個故事，這時的我已經(jīng)27歲，回到了久別的故鄉(xiāng)。?

去年，我和一個經(jīng)常虐待我的伴侶分手，丟了工作，被診斷出患有腦瘤。事業(yè)和愛情雙雙失敗后，我決定搬回去，希望我的父母可以照顧我一段時間。我仍然不知道自己是否有可能接受手術(shù)，如果不行，也許我會在這一年內(nèi)死去。?

晚上，我祈禱事情會變得更好。最近，我常常能聽到一首美麗而又空靈的歌，這是人類的喉嚨或樂器所永遠無法發(fā)出的。我想這是艾娃正在那遙遠的深林里向我呼喚。

后記：這些私譯故事最早源自于外國的Creepypasta網(wǎng)站，后來由一位外國網(wǎng)友自己篩選后轉(zhuǎn)載于Webnovel（海外閱文）上，并獲得了較好的評價。以下是本篇的原文。

When I was 7, my best friend was a girl named Ava, who was my neighbor. Ava was a sweet kid; I didn't realize it at the time, but her home life was pure hell. We would always hear her father screaming and breaking stuff. I was too young to understand "stuff" included Ava and her mom.?

My parents did what they could to relief Ava from the burden a girl this young should never carry, but they were honestly afraid to meddle too much and end up having something bad happening to our family, so it consisted in inviting her to eat afternoon snacks and meals nearly every day, and give her some clothes, since Ava was always poorly-dressed.?

Being sheltered from the violence happening right next door, my childhood was pretty normal, even happy. My father worked an office job, my mother worked from home, and my sister Carly would keep an eye on me. She was 12 at the time and would let me and Ava play in the woods behind our houses as long as there was daylight.?

It was 1998 in a small town and life was simple. We loved to play with my Barbies (poor Ava didn't have any), but we also loved to explore the forest and dig the ground. We would usually find bird bones and pennies buried shallowly.?

It was an unusually warm November afternoon, right after Ava's 7th birthday. My family bought her a small cake the day before. Now I can't help but think it was our fault she had a swollen, purplish face that day.?

"Ava, you're okay? What happened?" I worried to see her like that.?

"I just fell from the stwairs," she said. Her mouth was so severely beaten up she couldn't even pronounce some phonemes.?

But I believed her and accepted the answer, soon turning my attention to something else. I'm so sorry, Ava.?

We decided to use the warm day to bird watch, which I was very into in the last few weeks, since my parents gave me some binoculars. For that reason, we entered the forest a little deeper than usual. We found a beautiful nest of Junco, full of chicks.?

I was focused on the birds, when Ava had a distant, intrigued look on her face.?

"Are you listening? (sigh)… what a beautiful song." Ava was marveling at something, but I couldn't hear it. So I kind of ignored it.?

After a few minutes, she started walking deeper into the woods, presumably trying to find the source of the beautiful song. I still heard nothing but our footsteps crunching leaves on the ground and distant chirping.?

I followed Ava without thinking. We walked for a few minutes, when she stopped by a huge, majestic old tree. The sunlight glowed in a different way there. I couldn't quite understand, but it was like the air was sprinkled with glitter. And it was peaceful. Ava was looking up to the tree leaves, awestruck. Then she frantically waved her hand like she met someone she knew.?

I looked up too and saw a woman. Well, it certainly was a female. But she had a real small frame and her skin was a lilac glow. Her long hair seemed to be made of waterfall, and the fabric of her dress was like the wind, if the wind was slightly golden.?

She descended from the tree and reached the ground with the softest landing. Her voice was pure sweetness, and echoed through my head.?

"I'm sorry I took this long to answer your prayers, Ava."?

"The song I've been hearing at night, was that you?"Ava gingerly asked.?

"Yes, my child." She then looked at me. "You, please leave. It's not your time."?

I was hypnotized, even a bit afraid, but I complied. The way she talked was nothing but gentle, but her figure held an impressive sense of authority.?

I left and, as I looked behind, Ava started to glow like her. Her hair started to seem like waterfall as well, and her worn up clothes slowly turned to gold and air.?

* * * * * *?

When I got home, I went to my room and rehearsed what I would answer when people noticed Ava was gone. I was only 7 and couldn't understand a lot of basic concepts, but I had in me both the knowledge that Ava would never return and that people wouldn't believe what I saw.?

That night, her father aggressively knocked on our door and demanded to know where she was. When inquired, I vaguely answered that I played with her by the woods until mid-afternoon, but haven't seen her since.?

My father was the one who called the cops. They said there would be a formal search if Ava was still missing after 72 hours.?

During the investigation, they suspected her father had murdered her and buried her body in the woods. Her mother was found severely beaten up at home and he was arrested. Police also found out he had killed his previous wife, so I was more than pacific with my decision of keeping quiet about what really happened. After all, I wasn't letting an innocent man suffer.?

I eventually made new friends and even forgot about Ava for a while. I just remembered this story now at age 27 because I'm back to my family home.?

In the last year, I broke up with an abusive partner, lost my job, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Defeated, I decided to move back and have my parents take care of me. I still don't know if it's possible to undergo surgery; maybe I'll die within a year.? COMMENT

At night, I pray things will get better. And lately I can hear a beautiful, ethereal song no human voice or instrument can ever make. I think Ava is inviting me.

Credit: Thamires Luppi (a.k.a. Polonium Poisoning)?