Under Her Cursed Scythe

Still, given that it was rare for her to be allowed to wander around the town freely, she knew she couldn't just waste it like that. She needed to make the most of this opportunity.

While she was still mulling over the things she could, something grabbed Alivia's attention.

It was the toy shop at the end of the street. She was seduced by this "colourful" world and soon found herself edging towards the shop uncontrollably as though a mystical force was dragging her towards it.

In front of the toy shop, the sound of running engines, of baby dolls laughing, of teddy bears saying "I love you" and of children screaming because they were told they could not have the toy they just "could not live without", overloaded her ears.

Walking through the aisles, she picked up a soft, squishy teddy bear while smells of lavender spread from it.

At the center of the shop was a candy station with a huge sparkly sign that said "Trixie's Sweets- Let's experience childhood one more time!".

Almost running like a four year old to it, she picked up a gummy bear and popped it in, savouring every particle of sugar and artificial flavouring involved in its production.

'Sweet!' She squealed at herself at the back of her head.

Everything in the shop were like missing pieces of puzzles from her childhood. She invariably had that nagging feeling that certain parts of her had went missing. For one, she couldn't call to mind anything that had happened to her before the age of 8. It might be normal for people to suffer from childhood amnesia but her memory bank was almost blank as a white sheet of paper. There were no happy childhood memories stored and not even vague memories of how she learnt to walk, talk and write could be found in her head, as though she had known how to do all those things the moment she was born or the moment she became conscious of herself and the things around her.

'Should I buy something?' Alivia pondered.

However, when the drums of her stomach began to beat loudly, she was reminded of the fact that she still hadn't had her breakfast yet.

She sighed. "I don't have extra money for toys, do I? After all, I've grown up. I don't need them." She tried to persuade herself and compel her legs to approach the exit of the shop when all of sudden, someone at the door made her halt.

It was a middle aged man who was wearing a navy blue blazer, white pants and a pair of branded glasses. He had blonde hair, brown straight eyebrows, grey-blue eyes, stubble on his broad, squared chin and a peaceful smile on his face.

Alivia's eyes opened wide and her mouth as well, unable to pronounce the word "father" out loud.

There weren't much good memories regarding her father, almost none in her memory bank. The last thing she remembered of him was his cold, hard expression, his relentless words and his ruthless gestures towards her mother who was begging on her knee before he walked out on them with his suitcase five years ago. After he left, her mother had infused her with so much hatred towards him in that for years, she never had the interest of finding him or exploring his whereabouts.

Nevertheless, the moment his face came into her view after such a long time, any of her mother's harsh words against him and hostility that she once had for him dissipated in seconds. There was even a faint hope of him returning for her, gradually rising within her.

"He came back!" she muttered with anticipation in her tone as she planned to rush towards the man to give him a big hug. "Mother's just being biased when she said he never cared-"