She is the culprit and she has gone through everything, yet I am unable to accept it fully. Somewhere, I still believe that something is hidden in it. Something that we are all unable to see.
Suddenly, the dizziness hit me hard and my head started spinning and throbbing at the same time. I am sure this is because I put too much pressure on myself.
I didn’t want to brother her but my hands lifted my head on their own to hold the skull in place.
“Are you fine?” I heard her as she rested on my shoulder.
It took me a minute to get a hold of myself. I drew deep breaths. Though I was not feeling well yet the determination to know everything kept me moving forward.
“Yes, I am fine” I said. “Please, I want to know everything ”
“But you…” She began, concern clear on her face.
“I am fine” I assured her. “It just that everything is too much for me to accept but I am fine. I need to know the whole truth ”
She took a deep breath and nodded when she was sure that I was going to listen to her. I braced myself for whatever she was going to say next. I have already had enough surprises and I wouldn’t be shocked if I got another.
“As William was in the mafia, it was not difficult for him to hide me at such a place where not even the police could reach me. It took my brother seven days to find me. But those three-four days were hell on earth for me. He… He raped me every day and night, using it as a sick Punishment to refuse him” she cried, “And whenever I resisted, he would savagely beat me, brandish a knife to instill fear, and even use it to inflict wounds on my skin”
She was telling story but the pain was not reaching her eyes. Maybe she has cried a lot, because if which nothing effects her.
She looked at me for a second before suddenly starting to cry.
My hands started trembling as I couldn’t understand what to do, or how to console her. She has actually gone through a lot more than me. I can’t even imagine what she must have felt at that moment.
Her words painted a horrifying picture of cruelty, a reality that was difficult to grasp.
What was even more painful to me was the fact that my brother did this to her, the same man who kept me like a doll.
“He was a psycho, a sadist who took pleasure in my suffering, in my pain. During those seven days, I became a living corpse. I had given up on the hope of someone coming to save me and every moment I hoped to die. But the devil did not let me even die. I am not sure what kind of vengeance he was planning on me!”
I simply hugged her, caressed her back, and let her cry over my shoulder.
If what she says is correct, which it appears to be, then I despite my brother more than she or Ansell does.
Her son’s subsided m, and she drew back. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Her eyes held tears but not pain, which again felt a bit odd to me.
For a second I sensed a shift in her demeanour, as if something was amiss.
“On the fourth day, my brother arrived to save me. William and Ansell got into a fight. Ansell was still not ready to believe that his own best friend had done something so heinous to his twin sister. Looking at my condition, it was clear what he had done to me, which caused Ansell to lose control. He beat him and his man to a pulp single-handedly” she sniffed. “But then as he was busy fighting with his last man, William took advantage of the opportunity. He drew his gun and aimed it at my brother. Ansell saved himself by an inch after William pulled the trigger. William was dead set on murdering my brother, and I had no idea what to do next. I just wanted to save my brother because I love him as much as he does”
Her gaze darted around the room. I could hear her heart pounding. She was caught up in the moment. I could have stopped her right there and then, but I didn’t, partly because I wanted to know the whole story and partly because she needed to spill everything that was building up inside her. Only then would she be able to come over to this?
“At the same time, my gaze was drawn to the gun, which was lying on the floor. Without thinking, I picked it up and shot William from behind before he could pull the trigger again and kill my brother”
A long, drop-dead silence followed after that.
“A lot of blood spurted out of William’s back as he collapsed on the ground and everything became so much for me that I lost consciousness at the site of so much blood”
She drew a deep breath, panting heavily as if she had just run a marathon. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. I wanted to know how my brother died because we didn’t receive his body. I wasn’t sure how to react.
“I am not sure what happened after that because I wasn’t in my senses. I just got the news that William is no more. For three days, I had nightmares and even attempted suicide, which is why Ansell began tying my leg to the bed so that I wouldn’t hurt myself in his absence and wouldn’t go out rushing, shouting for help. I had no idea what Ansell had in mind of the injections doctors were giving to me.
She gulped pausing for a second.
“After a few days when I got my senses back, I came to know that Ansell has taken the blame for William’s murder on his head. I didn’t want him to get in trouble because of me. But he told me to keep quiet and never let me say my crime in front of anyone. He did that because by then he accepted the title of head of our mafia group and he knew that it was easy for him to get saved from the police and other legal proceedings but if the truth came out that I would be in jail”
She then looked up at me.
“I didn’t know that Ansell would force you and will try do to the same with you. Whatever William did was his crime but what my brother is doing to you is not justified!”
I was still processing what she had just said. William was so protective of me that I couldn’t believe he could even touch another girl, let alone the one he claimed to love.
“I told you everything because I know my brother will never tell the truth and I don’t want to ruin his life for good. He likes you, and I want him to happily ever after. He has already done a lot for me. He sacrificed his dream girl, his dream life for me. Now I want him to get his happiness back and his happiness is you”
I could tell she was exhausted from everything she had told me. Her hands were trembling and she was shivering. I can’t imagine what she’s been through. When Ansell tried to touch me without my permission, I was terrified.
I was now confused.
How am I going to face Ansell now?
And is it still right to fight for the death of my brother after all he has done?
All the information and confusion pressed upon me, making my head spin even faster. My eyelids were becoming heavy and it seemed like I was drifting into unconsciousness.
I was still trying my best to stay in my senses when I heard a loud thump which was followed by Ansell’s entry, adding to the already intense situation.
“I knew that you were the one who was helping her” Ansell said.
I stood up in my place, and the look on Ansell’s face terrified me. I was scared of what he might do to me.
“I doubt you’ve learned your lesson so easily” he declared, closing the distance between us in just a few strides.
“Ansell don’t say anything to her. It was me who came here on my own” Desy said.
Their words were reaching my ears but I couldn’t decipher them clearly. Slowly, the world was fading away and my eyelids were becoming heavy.
“Stay out of this, Desy” Ansell admonished her sharply. “This has gone beyond just her being William’s sister”
My legs gave way, and I collapsed onto the ground, Ansell still gripping my wrist tightly. The world spun around me as darkness crept in at the edges of my vision.
Suddenly, my legs stopped working and I collapsed on the ground with Ansell still holding my wrist.
“Leonara” Desy called out from behind.
I looked up at Ansell and all I could see in his eyes was desperation and rage.