The Tape

Ricka works at a nearby coffee shop every weekend. She's living with her mother ever since her father left them when she turned 13. She knows that she can't put all the responsibilities on her mother so she decided to help her when it comes to financial income. Since she is just about to start college and her mother was against it, she just had a part time job.

When she went home at 6 pm, her mother was fixing herself to go to work. Her mother works as a branch manager in a bank that is just around the corner from their house. Her mother then bid her goodbye and said that there is a stew in the fridge for her to eat. She was tired at the moment so she decided to take short nap before eating.

The time was 7:36 pm when she woke up. She went into the kitchen to get a bowl of stew and went back to the living room. She was about to open the television but found something strange in a closet near the fireplace. Although she always sees that closet, there was something about it right now that is forcing her to open it.

Ricka then got up and opened the closet. When she opened it, there were bunch of old dvd tapes that she had never seen before. Captioned in them are dates and family names. Some tapes are captioned with "For when you're sad". She quickly get some of the tapes and put it in the dvd player to watch.

As the tape started, she was fond to see her little self in a room playing with dolls. Her mother was filming her as she heard her voice from the tape. But as the tape goes on, a little girl popped up. She had never seen that girl in her life, nor knows her name. Her mother on the tape keeps acknowledging the little girl as her sister. She can't remember the girl but her little self in the tape seemed to be happy playing with the girl.

She then plugged the other tapes to see what's in there. All the other tapes included the little girl. There were no names of the girl but her relatives see her as Ricka's litttle sister.

She was watching the tapes all night, questioning of who the girl could be. Her mother has never told her about anything and she knows that she's the only child.

"What are you doing?", her mother asked from behind which made her jumped.

"Where did you get those tapes?! I told you not to touch anything from this closet?", her mother said to her.

"Mom, who is she? ", Ricka said in her tears.

Her mother then hugged her. With her tears, her mother said, "I'm sorry Ricka, it is for your own good. You didn't do anything wrong that night. It was all just an accident."

"What did I do?" - Ricka

"When you're sister was 8, you accidentally set up a fire near this place, Mina, you're little sister got severe burns. As we went to the hospital, we hit a car because your dad was driving too fast. You had an amnesia. We decided not to tell you because I know you will punish yourself. I'm sorry" - Mom

Ricka felt speechless and tears were formed in her eyes again

"I had a sister?" - Ricka