“Huh?”
“Especially not guys like me.”
12:28
The rain hadn’t stopped, and he rode off into it.
Later, an old woman came under the awning.
She asked if my name was Emily. I eyed her
suspiciously. She explained that her grandson
had told her about a kind girl who gave him
food and sent her with an umbrella for me. I
was relieved and ashamed. The motorcyclist had been a good guy after all.
I reached for the umbrella. A strange smell hit
my nose, and then everything went black.
4
I woke up tied up in a motel room, surrounded
by leering men.
“The Boss’s girl. Not bad.”
“Hey, Boss, haven’t seen a girl this hot in months. Mind if we try her out first?”
“Are you crazy? You think the Boss wants
<
sloppy seconds?” A man with a scarred face
stopped them.
I didn’t know who “The Boss” was. I was just terrified, crying until I passed out again.
When I woke up again, Scarface was video
chatting with another man.
“A girl for some information. Deal?”
The man on the screen barely glanced at me.
“Not interested. Take her back where you found her.”
Scarface persisted. “Really? My guys are pretty interested.”
“Try me.”
The video call ended.
“Damn it. All that work for nothing. Take her
く
measurements, we’re selling her.”
They swarmed around me, taking pictures. I felt
like I was already dead.
4 (Continued from the previous section’s. ending)
The memory made my head throb. I’d promised myself that escaping meant a new life, that I wouldn’t dwell on the past. But here I was, this afternoon, remembering the devil I’d met in the
rain.
His name was Jake. He’d been the devil from the start. He orchestrated my kidnapping, and he was the one who threw me to those animals. The day I escaped, he was waiting for me to
cook him sweet and sour fish.
“I hate sweet food.”
“I don’t know how to cook any other kind of
12:29
32
“Can’t you learn, for me?” He wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my neck, pretending.
to be tender.
“Can’t you try a different flavor, for me?” I
tiptoed, kissing him. “Like this.”
He grinned, starting to unbutton his shirt.
“Forget the fish. Let’s have something else
first.”
The fish never got cooked. I spent the next hour staring at the ceiling spinning above me. Later, he held me, sighing. “Emily, I regret everything.
Let’s just stay together forever, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied quickly, terrified he’d see
through me. “I need to use the bathroom.”
The moment I stepped out of the room, the
whole house exploded. Someone pulled me into
a police car as the place I’d been trapped in for
three years went up in flames.
<
Later, the police told me the compound was
burned to ashes, the bones inside incinerated.
They identified Jake’s DNA but couldn’t find the
ring
–
the engagement ring David had given
- me. It must have melted. I listened numbly, a
hollow ache in my chest.
“Forget those three years. Focus on your
studies,” my mom said, dropping me off at the
university gates.
Her words pulled me back to the present..
“Mom,” I stopped her. “When did you and Dad
get divorced?”
Her expression faltered. “A couple of years
ago.”
“Two years ago? And my brother is already two?” I asked, a bitter laugh escaping my lips.
<
I’d learned I had a two year old brother when I
returned, a child my mom had with someone
else. My dad had also remarried this year, and
his new wife was pregnant.
“Emily, you can’t expect me to stay with your
dad forever. His work was all he cared about.
The only reason we stayed married was
because of you. After you were gone, why
should I have stayed?” My mom broke down,
hitting me, her tears a testament to the agony.
of the past three years.
“But I’m back now,” I thought, sighing inwardly.
After comforting her, I turned and walked onto
campus. David and Sarah were there to greet
me, taking me to my new dorm room. Sarah
chatted while David made my bed.
It felt like freshman year all over again, David.
quietly making my bed, Sarah unpacking my
toiletries. Back then, everyone said I had the
<
perfect boyfriend and the best friend a girl
could ask for. I thought so too. But now, Sarah
was pregnant and couldn’t help me unpack.
Even while talking, she kept having to fight off nausea. I offered her some orange peels to help ease her morning sickness.
“Emily, you’re so sweet. You coming back is a miracle! Will you be my baby’s godmother?” She beamed at me.
I glanced at David. He paused, looking at me too.
“Sure,” I said, unable to find a reason to refuse.
5
I tried to settle back into college life, but it was hard. People kept coming to see me, their faces full of pity. Even professors would offer words of comfort after calling my name in class: “Life is long. The hardships you’ve endured will
become the treasures of your life.”
<
I’d stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. I found myself missing the old days. Back
then, Sarah and I would play games during
class, and whenever the professor asked a
question, David would toss me the answer he’d
already prepared. He’d scold me later, then slip
me his notes and take me to the library to
study.
Now I sat surrounded by strangers, much
younger than me. He wasn’t there. He and Sarah were seniors now. He was busy studying
for grad school, and she was resting in her
dorm.
At lunch, Sarah, out of habit, dragged me to the
cafeteria. David was already in line. When we
sat down, he meticulously picked out all the
chili peppers from her food.
“Pick them out for Emily too, she can’t eat spicy food anymore,” Sarah reminded him.
He looked up at me, picking out peppers. “What
happened? Change of taste?”
“I just… don’t like it anymore,” I replied, looking
at him.
His eyes flickered. “Did you eat alright… over there?”
“I ate okay. Anything they gave me.”
When I first arrived in Myanmar, I couldn’t stomach the raw food, the slop they called meals. But skipping a meal was not an option. You never knew what Jake’s mood would be. One minute he’d be caressing my face, kissing me gently, the next he’d lock me in a water cell for a day and a night because I’d disobeyed him.
“Were you… scared?” David’s voice cracked, his eyes reddening.
