Museum of the Dead

A simple isolation room set up with white curtains looks not much more advanced than a tent.

There are mottled soil marks on the white curtains, and there is a dilapidated simple bed in the curtains.

And there was a dark-skinned little girl on the bed, who was lying flat on it. Looking carefully, she was not very old, about ten years old, but her eyes showed great panic at this moment, and her hands and feet were trembling unceasingly.

The little girl's complexion was very dark, and her face was immature. She stared at the sky exposed between the white curtains, and the horror in her eyes gradually decreased.

Suddenly, a group of women in white robes came towards this side. Their expressions were indifferent. The face of the leading woman was full of wrinkles and deep grooves, and she was still carrying a rusty iron box in her hand.

They are like a team of white impermanence from hell, advancing slowly and regularly, no one speaks.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, the little girl jumped up from the bed. After seeing the group of women in white robes reflected in her clear pupils, she was frightened at first, and then gradually turned into despair.

Seeing the group of people getting closer and closer to her, the little girl began to whimper softly. She seemed to be very afraid of this group of people, and at the same time suppressed the choking from her throat.

Crying can be suppressed, but tears cannot be controlled——

Tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes, which soon flowed down the sockets.

The group of women in white robes quickly came to the bed. They first glanced at the little girl lightly, and were not moved by the fear of her tears at all, as if this was a normal thing.

The wrinkled old man at the head put the heavy box in his hand beside the bed, and said something. Everyone closed their eyes when they heard her speak, put their hands together, and moved their lips, as if they were praying.

The whole process was solemn and solemn, and everyone looked serious.With the end of this ceremony, the despair in the girl's eyes increased.

There were two people standing not far away, a woman in a black robe, covering her face with a headscarf, holding a younger looking girl by her left hand, who looked only four or five years old.

The little girl stared blankly at her elder sister surrounded by a group of women in white robes, her voice mixed with doubt and fear, and she tightly pulled the sleeves of the people around her.

……

"And then?" Tian Ling swallowed, imagining the scene, and shrank her neck, "Is the little girl crying on the bed her sister?"

Amber nodded, looked at Nimai, and patted her on the shoulder to express her comfort.

In my memory, the four or five-year-old little girl who only knew to look at her sister with a confused face has grown up now.Ten years have passed since then, and Nimi is 14 years old.

She endured and resisted, but what should come still came back, and she couldn't stop it.

The Nimai mother and daughter looked haggard, and the mother seemed half-hearted after losing her first daughter.

The eldest daughter's weeping and desperate face lingered in front of her.

……

After a brief prayer, the ceremony began.

The leading old man slowly opened the iron box, which contained broken glass and some old tools.The old man took out a pair of scissors, which were rusty and seemed to be stained with blood that had already turned brown.

She picked up the pair of scissors.

The girl had never been seen physically like this before, and she was terrified and humiliated, and she didn't quite know what would happen next, but the fear had already permeated her heart.

"Woooooo..." The girl finally couldn't bear the eyes of everyone, and struggled violently, but was pinned down firmly on the bed.

The two held her limbs, and one covered her mouth, leaving only her nose for her to breathe.

The little girl standing in the distance also cried together. She kept holding on to the adults beside her, as if begging for something.

……

"They..." Fei Yan's face was serious, and he was shocked when he heard this, and a bad idea appeared in his mind.

Could it be... Could it be what he thought!

Recalling this point, Nimai burst into tears.She couldn't cry, her mood fluctuated greatly, and she couldn't breathe for a while.

Amber and Nimai's mother hurried up to pat her on the back, trying to ease her emotions - but that memory was too painful, too desperate for Nimai, and even a dark time that she could not overcome in her life.

The three of Fei Yan sat there without saying a word, with serious expressions on their faces.They were guessing, what happened to make this girl show such broken emotions?

Nimai sat down and took a break. From the time she entered the door until now, no one has asked her about these things, but at this moment she especially wants to confide in outsiders—anyone is fine, as long as they are not from the tribe.

The reason why she wants to confide is because what she will face next is the same as what happened to her sister ten years ago.

……

The girl had already struggled so much that she lost all her strength, she was almost out of breath, tears and sweat mixed together, covered her face, and dripped on the white sheet.

Looking down, the girl's body was already covered in blood and flesh, and a large piece of blood spread across the lower body...

The ceremony seems to have been completed, and the catastrophe belonging to the girl has finally come to an end.

The whole process was like going through a hell on earth.

The mother and daughter not far away have been crying so hard that they can't get up. They are the flesh and blood of their dearest relatives, and they are their favorite sister.

After the last stitch, the girl's voice was too hoarse to speak out.

And those leaders—the women in white robes—finally let go of the girl's hand, and started a new round of prayers.

The girl closed her eyes tightly, like a fish out of water, and the sound of her breathing became weak.

This prayer is long, especially for girls, every second is like a day of pain.

……

After an unknown amount of time, the prayer finally came to an end.

Just when the girl thought she was about to wake up from this boundless nightmare, something even more frightening happened.

Like a helpless little animal, the girl was pulled up and put on a hide that looked so dirty that she couldn't tell the color, and forced herself to stand up and pray together.

The blood couldn't stop flowing down, slowly dripping down the girl's slender legs.

The girl obviously couldn't stand steadily, her legs were shaking, and from her face that was crying silently, it could be seen how painful she was.

……

Amber was silent for a while, and only gently pulled Nimai into her arms, comforting her silently.

Fei Yan's expression was pale, as expected... the same as his previous thoughts...

"It's a custom." Fei Yan rubbed the dry skin on his mouth with his teeth, "It's a custom called female circumcision."

"Female circumcision means that when a girl is four to eight years old, the girl's mother or female relatives take a knife to cut off a part of her...organs to remove pleasure/feeling."

Tianling and the others were silent, and after a while, they asked Amber: "So... Nimai is because..."

"Did you just get punished?"

The author has something to say: This chapter is relatively short, because it is really difficult to write, and I feel very heavy when I write it. After watching the movie "Desert Flower", I was also very uncomfortable.

I will revise it again tomorrow.This sand sculpture of the author does not want to destroy my little pink flower, little angels, please forgive me~~

Love you guys.