Page 18 - Digital Cornice Grade 9

DESCRIBING AN EVENT

Nine Deaths

By: Kamakxi Upadhaya

I was 13 years old when my mom and I went on a trip to visit some family in my hometown in Kathmandu. When
we arrived at the house we were staying in, I looked around curiously. I felt an eerie vibe wash over me but
concluded it was nothing and went to shower and freshen up. I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, but as I
entered the bathroom, I suddenly slipped and hit my rear end pretty hard on the floor.

My mom was pounding on the locked door to let her in while I lay there on the bathroom floor, crying incessantly.
After I calmed down, I finally let my worried mother in. I remember her examining the floor with a confused look
on her face because the floor was in fact bone-dry. I had slipped before I even stepped into the shower. And that was
just the beginning.

Later that evening my mom needed to run some errands so she left me alone in the house. I began to write in my
diary about the trip so far and that's when I heard something grumble. It was my stomach, so I hopped out of bed to
grab some snacks from the kitchen. I opened the bedroom door and as I took a step forward, the door slammed back
shut hitting my head hard. I fell backwards and onto the carpet, screaming as I saw blood dripping near my eyes. I

swear I felt the red, hot blood dripping down my forehead. It hurt so bad, my vision started blurring and I passed
out. Just before I did, I remember hearing a woman’s laugh. A maniacal cackle.

I woke up and felt a terrible pain in my forehead. I touched the sore area, but it wasn't wet. There was no blood, no
swelling but only pain. The door was still cracked halfway open and I was still home alone. I ended up thinking I
was just hallucinating until it started becoming more than just a coincidence. These instances kept happening to me.
I would get inexplicably hurt but ultimately end up fine. One day a knife would fly at me and another time I would
begin choking out of nowhere. Every time something like this happened I heard that same eerie laugh.

The day before my 14th birthday, I finally decided to tell my mom. I had counted eight times that I had nearly died
and I didn't want it to happen anymore. While I was explaining every incident to her I could see the blood drain
from her face. She grabbed my hand and pulled me outside - her free hand making calls on her cell phone. I
remember feeling really scared, ‘Did I do something wrong?’ ‘Was she going to put me in a mental asylum?’ A
short ride later, my thoughts were answered.

Thankfully we arrived at a church and not a mental asylum. They ushered me inside and my grandma proceeded to
tell me what was going on: My Aunt Nevina was a teen mom around the time my parents got married. She lived
alone at the time, so no one knew about the baby. Unfortunately, she hated her baby girl, Kamala. She blamed her
for taking her life away to misery. She hated her so much that she tried to kill her multiple times: purposely making
her slip in the bathroom, slamming her head by the door, pushing her at a bus stop, throwing a knife at her, cutting
her fingers, strangling her, poisoning her, and throwing her out the balcony of the fifth floor. Kamala died on the
ninth try. She died around the same time that I was born. The only reason my family knew any of this is because
Aunt Nevina had visited me for the first time when I was around 3. After hearing my name Kamakxi, she confessed
everything and all her crimes. My family had her committed to an institution after that. I was in shock after the story
ended. Soon, the priest at the church blessed me in hopes of removing the curse that Aunt Nevina had put on me.

As of now, the blessing seems to have worked. So far it's been a year and I haven't had any more near-death
experiences. I'm just glad that I told my parents about what was going on when I did. Because if I had waited any
longer, who knows, things might have ended differently.