Travis stopped the car far away from Emily's house, at the street before the big supermarket, so that it won't bring too much attention.
Before Emily exited the car, she turned her head and glanced at Samantha to tightly embrace each other as if they won't be seeing again. But as Emily had spoken goodbye between their hold, Samantha stroked her friend's back repeatedly and bid a bye to her as well. Both had always been like sisters even though they weren't any blood-related, so it meant a lot to them if they would have to embrace like this before parting ways.
"Have a good night's rest, my sweet Emily." While waving his hand to his female student after setting off the car, Travis lowered his voice to avoid disturbing the neighbors. Emily made no answer or reaction to it and just continued walking straight.
The residential area was kind of a middle class where Emily lived in a typical working-class neighborhood. It might become a little congested at times, and the neighborhood seemed highly populated, but it was quite welcoming because of it. The area was quite clean and had numerous tree-lined streets. Even if there was no one roaming around at this hour, it might invariably be unsafe at night, yet the place had always been calm and vast.
"Sigh. I'm so full that I couldn't almost take one step forward."
Walking a distance away from them, Emily held his stomach and in her other hand, she clutched the money which Travis had given to her. She brought no bags or loads even at school, and she only had her pocket from her party dress. Either way, she as well didn't wear her school uniform, which the school gave to her. She just went to school in her party dress together with Samantha. From the restaurant where they had eaten their dinner earlier, Emily could still savor the delicious omelet she ate. Moreover, she felt full still. It must be because she hadn't eaten that kind of delicious food for years that she couldn't let go of the taste yet.
Ever since she got bullied and tormented because of her appearance, she took them personally and went all alone to have herself suffer from their words. It affected her a lot that she didn't eat for days, weeks, and months until she had become completely thin out of it. One thing she tattooed on her mind was that she never wanted to become thin. She wanted to eat a lot of food because — her body, her rules. The thing she only hated was the way people tried to torture her with their bashful words about her body. It's as if they wanted her to die since they really tried their best to criticize her. She thought that the world hated her existence. Eating had still been her only happiness but two years ago, they took it away from her through discrimination. It's as if the world was against her body feature.
"Bye, Emmy!" Samantha shouted, waving her hands. She didn't mind if she had disturbed the neighbors, but as long as she got to say the last words she wanted to say before they'd proceed ahead, then no one could stop her from saying it.
Glancing them with his own eyes, Travis felt delighted by seeing them being so close to each other to the point that they seemed like they had forgotten about Kenneth being with them. Or maybe they just had no intention to give any attention to him at all? Either way, Travis was happy to see his students gradually getting along. That was also part of today's plan — to have Kenneth socialize with his other classmates other than socializing dependently with himself alone and simply connecting with his books, and for Travis as well to get to know more about his students.
"Bye, Sammy!" Emily turned behind and cheerfully waved back to her friend.
Upon seeing his student continue taking steps forward, Travis likewise started moving along to their next destination which was Samantha's. There'd be no need to see her going all the way up to their house to have her undoubtedly secured with his own eyes as a concerned teacher like himself. If ever she wanted some help or if ever she felt she had been in a danger, then all she had to do was take herself to that address Travis had told them about.
Back on her way to their home, Emily had thought about counting the money she held in her palm. She got too excited just by thinking about it so then upon walking, she counted the money one by one. There'd be no way Travis earned this money just by being a teacher. For sure, he had been hiding something from them from the start; this thick money wrapped in a piece of paper at the center, the sudden renovation of their classroom without relying on the school's funds, and that car. Everything about Travis was suspicious.
Counting the cash subsequently with all care and gentleness, Emily stopped halfway after noticing another note inserted in between the cash. Curious, she came to a halt and stopped grinning for a while to grab the note. Thanks to the streetlights in their area, she was able to see and read clearly the paper without facing issues. It was a yellow piece of paper and the handwriting seemed to be typewritten, but she was sure it was the handwriting of a person just by feeling it at her fingertips. Whereas observing the message, she's pretty sure the note was coming from Travis.
But the note that was written on it — it was a task or else a guide... probably a hard thing for her to do.
It was something she shouldn't follow that completely but Emily was having second thoughts. After reading what had been written there, she slowly folded the yellow paper, and instead of putting it back to where it had been inserted, Emily placed it inside her brassiere underwear to keep it overly assured — to have nobody else except her know about this. Emily resumed striding forward with interminable thoughts as if she had been confused to the point where she had forgotten to continue counting the money. She had to make choice according to the note and according to what Travis had said to them earlier.
The yellow note was something she shouldn't do, but it was her choice to make so it's something she should do as well. Whether she'd do it or not, what change would it make? Right, she'd be safe after this, right? If ever she'd do what the yellow note had written, she would be safe forever, right? She'd be risking her life over it. What if she failed? Then her life will be at risk!
Moments later after she had already stepped inside her lonely home, she sighed, thinking, "This is the thing that I hate the most... going home."
All of the cabinets had accumulated a heavy coating of dust. Cobwebs could be found in the corners. Hair had clogged the drains. Smudges covered the windows and mirrors. Clothes were sprawled on the floor. Dishes were stacked high. Sticky pours all over the counter. A garbage can that had been overflowing. Food spilled all over the kitchen sink. Crumbs were all over the counter. Emily's home had long been a mess. Of all the places she hated to go, it was her house.
"All these trash, all these stained things, so gross." She stepped on them, planning to go to her room, which was also a room full of garbage.
Because of the long-lasting piling of trashes all over their place, she had no motivation to clean up their house any longer. She once used to be the cleaner in this house, even before she was transferred to that school. But gradually she became tired of it. She had no reason to mess up the whole house since she had always been the one responsible for the cleaning, but for one reason... for only one reason, she started giving up even her own home. The one who always caused her trouble was her uncle.
"Hey!" her drunk uncle yelled, coming out of her room. Emily's room had no doors nor windows, but only curtains. However, upon her uncle coming out of her own room, she hadn't immediately noticed him since their house was too dark for her to clearly see the whole path. The house's light had dimmed long ago and hadn't been replaced yet.
She lived with her uncle for over three years. Her father and mother were out of the country to provide for her for anything. But instead of Emily using the money they had sent for her, her uncle was always the one to get a hold of it without her consent. She tried contacting her parents to report him what he had done to her, but she couldn't contact them anymore. For sure her uncle lied about her parents' contact information so that she couldn't communicate with them any longer.
"Shit, here we go again." Noticing her uncle reeking of alcohol, Emily turned around, terrified, and tried retreating back to the main door of their house, but her uncle was too fast to instantly grab her hair and pull her back to level her head up to his neck.
"No uncle, please!" Emily tried resisting but his grip was too tight for her to move an inch. The only thing she could do now was cry and endure the pain.
Rowan Alfonso, 37 years of age, currently unemployed, and the brother of Emily's mother. Several years ago, he had been an abusive man even after being dumped by his wife without notice. He deserved the treatment because how he treated his ex-wife before was how he treated his niece right now. Ten years back, he suddenly had no contact with his ex-wife until seven years ago, he had discovered his ex-wife had already lived a new life with her new family, and that's when he thought she was being unfair. He was fond of gambling, drugs, and anything alike. He had once been imprisoned for sexual abuse and attempting murder, but since there had no concrete evidence presented, he was sent to jail for just three years.
After being set free for three years, Emily's parents entrusted Emily to him knowing that he might have changed and already learned his lesson. But that wasn't the case. They had no idea he had been tormenting their own child.
"I told you we have a new customer!" Her uncle shouted in her ears, slapping her hard four times back and forth until she dropped herself to the ground as she felt her face in pin and needles and getting numb from pain.
It made Emily's hearing unstable for a moment and she felt like a bomb had just exploded right through her ears, as a result of that, she suddenly didn't hear a single sound and she couldn't feel her surroundings either. With that in mind, she unintentionally dropped the cash on the floor, which her uncle hadn't noticed yet, thiking she became paranoid and screamed again and again while tears rolled down her cheeks upon holding her ears with both his hands.
"Why didn't you show up, you fucking slut!?"
Rowan, as drunk as he was, forced his foot to hit on Emily's stomach countless times. Emily was totally defenseless. As she curled herself up on the floor, she held her ears tight and tried so hard to hear something again. She was hoping to hear at least a little again as her sense of hearing kept on ringing as well as her mind. She hadn't been able to feel the foot landing in her stomach caused by Rowan's kick but she was able to sense the irking pain. Too much for her to bear.
"Where were you, huh?!" Rowan forced himself to Emily. Upon seeing Emily being unable to move her body, Rowan felt like he had to enjoy this moment at least. Her niece on the floor was perfect for his view that he had wished to pound her at least for a while. He got turned on as he saw Emily struggling on the floor with her smooth legs thoroughly showing up because of her skirt that was too short. He first took off his shirt and threw it on some spot away from him, then unzipped his pants sooner.
He was totally out of it. He's a complete jerk.
"Fucking snort!" Emily yelled, kicking Rowan's manhood, and got up even though she still existed all weak and unsafe. From the pain he deserved, Rowan clenched the part he was being kicked and then leaned against the wall while still touching the ache of his balls.
But since their house was full of trash thrown anywhere around, Emily, before getting up, had a needle pierced in her knees. It ached so much that she felt it piercing her bones. She had left with no choice but to pull it out and scream in unnerving despair. Her lower body ached so much that she dropped herself again to the floor, screaming while clutching her knees around her arms. Why did it have to go with this? She didn't deserve anything of this! She wanted to get away from this shitty place. She wanted her uncle to suffer!
"Shit! You, piece of shit!" For the second time, Rowan grabbed Emily's hair again and he topped on her to slap her face and pound it with his fist. Every force he took had left Emily's face destroyed like she was pounded with a boulder on her face. Every punch Rowan landed— Emily could feel them through her skull.
"Because of you, scum, I canceled the appointment!"
The appointment he had mentioned was from their customers. Emily had never wanted to try earning some money. Her uncle, since he was unemployed, wanted to work but through Emily's body. After getting thin and capturing all the beauty, Emily was forced to sell her body to random strangers. Rowan had been managing her and making some appointments with random male customers and making Emily as the main character of every work they had to go with. Emily would take all of the work and Rowan would take all of the money. She was forced to take contraceptive pills at such a young to avoid getting pregnant.
Emily wasn't a slut... but Rowan was, with that kind of brain he had...
Emily was left with no choice but to follow what Rowan had wanted.
There was no good future ahead of her as she had thought. It's always been like this. There had also been times when she wanted to kill him, but she wished to never spend a little of her life in jail because for sure, she would be jailed for killing her abuser— since she had also learned that justice in this world was never meant for every woman and the poor.
Emily was too weak to move. "Please kill me already," she thought as she was being battered over and over. There were no more tears left strolling down her face since she had felt the lack of sensation already. Her face... She wanted to take care of it since she wanted to become famous. She wanted to become a famous singer and actress. But what would her face do if they've been smashed like this?
"Get ready! Take off your clothes."
And she was forced to do it with him.
She didn't say anything at all and she was totally defenseless, and yet Rowan forced himself on her. If Emily were to kill him, will there be any difference? She would just be downgraded by people, she would be called a slut for letting herself assaulted by him. The world was always against her even before she had her obese body. And now she had to go through this.
"How many times will I have to endure this? I'm tired... so tired of this... I had been wanting to end this pain... How many times will I have to endure this?" Emily had thought, and her eyes were getting wet from her hot tears.