It was a morning when my older sister was five months pregnant with her second child and everything was going smoothly. I was a high school student at the time, and as I woke up and walked down the stairs from my room on the second floor, I noticed a strong, bloody smell coming from the first floor.
Thinking someone was cleaning a fish or something early in the morning, I peeked into the kitchen. But there was only my mom, normally preparing breakfast and lunch boxes. There were no fish, nor anything else that could cause such a bloody smell.
I asked my mom, "What is this blood smell?" but she replied, "I don't smell any blood at all." Tilting my head in confusion, I thought, "Could it be my own nosebleed?!" and checked the mirror, of course, but there was no trace of anything.
Following the scent, I found the bloody smell was strongest around the bathroom. Thinking, "Ugh, how bad can period smells get anyway?!" I stepped inside, feeling a bit sick. But the smell wasn't any stronger inside the bathroom than outside, and the source remained completely unclear. My sister hadn't woken up yet, so I couldn't ask her if she noticed the smell, and I left for school.
When I came back home and reached the entrance, the house somehow felt wrapped in a heavy, gloomy atmosphere. As soon as I stepped inside, my mom rushed out to me.
"Actually," she said with a depressed expression, "just a little while ago, your sister had a miscarriage in the toilet. She just came back from the hospital and is sleeping upstairs, so please be quiet and leave her alone."
I was devastated by my sister's tragedy. As I quietly slipped into my room, it suddenly hit me. Had that bloody smell in the morning been a sign of this? My mom also remembered what I had told her that morning, and said with a deep sigh, "I guess that's just how it is between siblings..."
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