Chapter 11

We were in the hospital, and I held onto Jacques, while watching Sherry holding her baby and talking to him.
Though I didn’t say it out loud, her son resembled her, but also had inherited part of Anderson’s features. It made me think of how I wished I could give Syl a family of his own. And now, I wanted to give Jacques a family.
I didn’t want to tell him that right now, but I was eager to get to a gynaecologist to determine whether I could ever have a baby.
Jacques, however, wasn’t keen on sending me to the gynaecologist, as if he was afraid the outcome of seeing the doctor would traumatise me. Thus, I put down my plan to see the doctor, and just went for my usual appointments.
During this time, the neighbours offered to help Sherry with the baby, as well as to take care of her postpartum recovery. Jacques moved on to find work as a kitchen helper, at the same time learning culinary dishes from the job, while driving a truck at night. I couldn’t help but feel blessed, even when I knew I didn’t love him the way he loved me.
Right now, I felt my life was perfect, and I temporarily put down my plans for revenge, waiting for the right moment. However, I was wrong.
It was in one psychiatry session, five months after that, that I hadn’t expected everything to go downhill for me. I had entered the therapy room when suddenly the lights turned off and I felt someone grab me from behind. But before I could retaliate, the person was faster, pressing a soft pad to my nose. Without knowing what happened, I blacked out.
When I regained consciousness, I found myself tied up and gagged, with a bag pulled over my head. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel that I was being transported inside a moving vehicle, passing through some bumpy trails.
The dreaded feeling of being kidnapped frightened me again. Still, I kept calm. I didn’t want to die. Only by maintaining my silence, I could only figure out my escape.
“Think, Piper, think. Who would know where you did your therapy sessions, so that he could capture you? How could it have happened so easily?” The voice inside me bellowed.
Only two people knew, and they were Sherry and Jacques. I trusted Jacques with my heart. So, it could have been… Sherry?
I swallowed hard. I didn’t have an option right now but to remain silent. I couldn’t act rashly if I wanted to live.
The car came to an abrupt halt on the bumpy trail, and I heard the engine being turned off. A pair of strong hands pulled me up from what felt like the storage trunk of a four-wheel drive. From my knowledge, such cars didn’t include a boot, but a big area behind the back seat where they could store items vertically. It also allowed for passengers to sit, rather uncomfortably, for short distances.
When I felt them whisking the bag off my head, I expected to see a group of evil-looking kidnappers who wanted ransom from my ‘family’. I had heard that a lot was happening in Thailand, since most evil-doers were often poverty-stricken. But ‌I stared instead into the cruel face of the Master.
Beside him stood Lee Jung, smiling from ear-to-ear.
“You can go now,” I heard the Master tell him. “You’ve done a good job.”
What job?
“I have some unfinished business. I’ll be back later.”
No! He couldn’t be leaving now! He couldn’t leave me alone with the Master. My mind cried out.
But I couldn’t get myself to say a word, even if they did not gag me. From the ground, I watched Lee Jung drive the four-wheel drive away. That left me and the Master.
“Ah, Piper.”
Fear swept through me. I attempted to pull my legs free from how they were bound, but my attempts met with the stinging sensation of the sharp steel ropes cutting into my flesh.
As far as I remembered, the Master had a fetish for bondage.
“You have something to say? Calm down, Piper. The more you move, the more it’s going to hurt,” he uttered coldly.
I remained silent until he took off my gag and seized my chin, forcing me to look up into his eyes. Eyes that were filled with true evil. A villainous stare.
I thought quickly. Right now, I should be May, not Piper, so this man would be a total stranger to me. As long as I played my role well, he would probably let me go, But that intimidating vibe he gave me was still frightening to look at.
“Let me go. I don’t know you, Sir.” I hyped up my voice to sound like May. “You’ve got the wrong person.”
I struggled to move my hands and legs again, trying to get loose. Another cut from the steel stopped me from another move.
“Piper, do you think I’m an idiot?”
The man seemed infuriated.
I saw a flash of his hand, and with a loud clapping noise, he struck me hard in the face.
“Sir, I don’t know who the Piper girl you are talking about is.”
“Shut up!”
I teared instantly from the force of his slap. He had strong hands, and on each finger, he wore a steel ring with jagged ends. One such ring scratched my face from the force of his slap.
He pushed the gag back into my mouth. “Nobody lies to Lenard Lee!”
A slap resounded across my other cheek. All this physical abuse on me was just temporary, I told myself. I mustered all my willpower to not make a sound, biting my lower lip to stop the tears.
“Cry, Piper, cry,” he laughed evilly. He looked down at me and rained another slap across my face. But at that point, I was powerless to even defend myself. Weakened, I lay still and closed my eyes, praying to no god. He would eventually get tired and stop, wouldn’t he? Sure enough, he stopped slapping me and the serenity returned. Hearing the soft billowing of the wind, my body relaxed.
Just when I thought everything was going to stop, a tearing sound followed. I had picked out a long dress that covered me up to my ankles today for my appointment. I knew what happened: he was ripping my dress. I couldn’t bear to open my eyes in fear of what was going to happen. I clenched my eyes more tightly as he tore the rest of my clothes off my body.
No, no! My mind screamed. They had tied my hands behind my back, and the gag prevented me from crying for help. My legs felt weak, and I would take some time to regain my strength to kick him in defence. And goodness knows where I was now, in the middle of some paddy field miles away from the place we lived?
I had to be strong. The more he wanted me to cry, I would not. I would never give in so easily. I was determined that I would not allow him to break me.
Each thrust he made inside me just delivered me more agony. I struggled to tolerate his rough penetration without a single whimper. He pushed me on the hard ground, kicking me like an animal. Still, I wouldn’t give in.
“Acting tough, aren’t you? Let’s see how long you can endure without crying out.”
I stifled a scream, feeling him ram harder into me. The pain was profound. I flinched each time, but not a single sound left my lips. The more I refused to make a sound, he increased the force of his lunges. After hours of his endless, brutal torment, I passed out.
I regained consciousness inside the car, which moved at a fast speed. Two voices, who I recognised as Lee Jung and the Master, were speaking. First, they spoke about the living conditions, then about the women. Lee Jung described one of the sex workers at a place he frequented as busty and owning a voluptuous figure, as well as being loud in bed.
The Master didn’t comment.
“Are you still thinking about Milanda? After how long she’s been dead?”
Milanda was dead. How could that be? When I met her just months ago? I questioned myself in my head.
I had seen and heard her so clearly. And on the day I had left the den, she was there, laughing with the Master.
How could she be dead?
But the Master said nothing more, and the journey continued in silence.
They stopped the car outside the house where I lived with Sherry and Jacques. I heard ‌the door to the trunk of the car being opened, then a rough pair of hands, which I assumed to belong to Lee Jung, dragged me out forcefully and threw me onto the sharp concrete, after freeing me from my bonds.
When I pulled the bag off my head, the car had already left.
I sat there in my ruined dress, pondering if this was the last I would ever hear from them, but when I entered the house, the look on Sherry’s face told me a different story.