Chapter 9

“What did the specialist say today?” Sherry was lying on the couch with her bump pointed upwards.
I giggled, staring towards Jacques.
Jacques adopted a serious expression on his face, looking glum. “Erm, she needs a long series of therapy sessions to recover. That’s for occupational therapy.”
“For psychiatry, it will depend on herself. We won’t know for sure.”
She immediately pushed her bankbook towards him. I widened my eyes curiously at the massive number of zeros in her account.
“Hey, you’ve got a lot of money!” I chuckled, bouncing on the nearby recliner. She instantly cupped her hands protectively over her bump.
“Be careful, May. My baby’s in there.”
Jacques shot me an ominous look while Sherry looked down at the newspaper she was reading. I knew what he meant. I should have known the limit for my acting. Sherry couldn’t injure her baby. The baby, which she didn’t know the gender of, was all she had left when she left her husband.
When we got back to our room, I reconsidered what the specialists had said.
Like Jacques promised, I fortunately had a good chance of recovery. But we needed a lot of money to restore my strength to what it was like before. Hence, he exaggerated my injuries.
The psychiatrist recommended some sleeping pills for me to sleep easily at night. He offered therapy that, according to him, could make me forget my ordeal, but I rejected him blatantly.
Jacques looked surprised to hear me deny his offer, but he said nothing and only continued to support me with his hand on mine, until the psychiatry session ended.
I knew I was not going to let them off like that. But for now, I needed to persevere.
………………………………………………………….
ONE MONTH LATER
“Piper?”
Jacques had left the light on as we slept, and being the light sleeper he was, he was easily woken by me twisting and turning in the night.
“Did I wake you?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about this. But I thought I might as well tell you my plan.”
“Oh?”
“I need to go to work,” he said enthusiastically. “We can’t just live like this.”
“That money-”
“It’s for your therapy, nothing else. From the looks of it, Sherry is due anytime soon.”
I agreed with him. Although I knew it clearly that he was right, I was reluctant for him to leave. He was my pillar of support and the only person who appeared to understand me.
“Okay, then. But what about me?”
“I’ll only work on days that you have therapy.”
“What will you work as?”
In my mind, I was concerned because Jacques was a white-collared worker. Even if I didn’t love him, he was important to me. I used to think of Sherry as my most important person, but now it was Jacques. He sought to fill the gaps where Sherry failed to, and even I knew I shouldn’t have blamed her, but I did.
“I’ll work as anything.”
I clenched my fist under the fleece blanket.
“Except a sex worker.”
Then I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.
When I woke up again, I was alone in bed. Jacques had already left for his interview. I crept out of bed and into the empty living room. He had left breakfast for me on the table, with a note on it.
“I will be back later before lunch
- Jacques”
I pocketed the note and lifted the food cover. He had made me a simple breakfast made of pancakes, an egg and sausages.
My mind thought of one of Syl and I’s escapades.
“When I’m free from her, I promise, every morning I’ll bring you breakfast in bed.” Syl’s voice was confident, yet amusing.
I sneered at him.
“Not when you’ll poison me to death.”
Syl possessed extremely horrendous culinary skills. He couldn’t even manage a bowl of instant noodles. When we were together, I cooked for him.
My heart was empty now. Even despite how Jacques had spent so much effort in learning how to cook, the food was tasteless to me.
I finished eating and dumped the bowl in the sink. Just then, a commotion outside alerted me to the window. Something was happening outside.
Since I was May now, I might as well act the part. That false part of me, May, loved bright colours and thrived on attention. I decided to join the commotion. So I pulled on a pair of bright socks and opened the door to leave the house.
As I closed the door, suddenly I heard a shrill scream. It sounded like Sherry. Was I hearing things?
I took one step forward. The scream repeated itself. Again. And again.
I was torn. The first thought in my mind was whether I should drop my facade, and help that girl who was once the most important person to me. Or no.
Next, I heard her cry for help.
But if I went back, my cover would be blown. Jacques had once said if Sherry or someone found out I wasn’t insane, it might trigger Lee Jung or my captors to silence me for once and for all. Hence, we had decided on this act, so that they would let down their guard with us.
I walked away, while reminding myself not to be guilty.
Just in front of me, there was a procession. Thais dressed in cultural clothing, dancing to commemorate a joyous occasion. For me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion.
I rolled my long sleeves up and joined them playfully, laughing gaily. It made me forget the pain for a moment. I felt so alive. The dancers involved me in their performance, laughing as well. Among them, I saw men that I wasn’t sure if they were men or women. I almost felt like touching their clothes to know how the material felt.
But their moves just got more and more exerting, compelling me to use more force in my limbs. My body ached, but I grinded harder. Pain radiated through my back and sides. I clenched my teeth as the crowd cheered us on.
Then the pain just got more tremendous. My vision blurred. I struggled to keep myself moving, staggering throughout the dance.
And then, everything crashed down on me, and my world turned black. I didn’t know what was happening to me, until I heard her voice once more.
This time, I heard that voice so clearly, that I knew who it was.
“Piper, pull yourself together!”
“Who are you?”
“It’s me, Piper!”
I turned around in my trance, but nobody was there to be found.
“Here, Piper!”
The shock of seeing her rooted me to the ground. Princess. What was she doing in my mind? Unbelievingly, she had a leg perched on a tree branch as the rest of her body was suspended in mid-air.
“Piper, you’re strong. You can do this. First, you have to get yourself back. Rebuild yourself and then think of revenge. Bring down everyone who hurt you. And that begins with that b*tch living with you.”
“But I can’t… she’s my best friend…” I murmured.
“You’ve already taken the first step, by leaving her when she was in danger.”
Danger? Suddenly, I remembered how she had cried for help. The procession had taken all my focus, that it slipped my mind that I intended to leave her alone.
What.. what had I just done?
I snapped open my eyes, finding dozens of dancers hovering over me.
Without wasting any time, I raced back to the house, hoping that Sherry was fine.