The sky appeared clear, but Marlina’s heart was far from calm. After days of walking through the forest, their food and drink supplies had run out. Marlina and Meisha's backpacks were now much lighter. Marlina, Meisha, and her cat, Si Kelabu, were exhausted after the long journey with no food or drink.
“Mom... Mia’s hungry,” Meisha said, holding her small stomach.
“Be patient, darling. We’re almost at the little town up ahead,” Marlina replied, holding Meisha’s hand tightly. Marlina felt hungry too, but she was very happy because her plan to "brainwash" Meisha during the long trek through the forest had been successful.
Finally, they arrived at the edge of a settlement, or more precisely, a quiet little town. Marlina took them to a public restroom to clean up. She bathed Meisha and took a clean set of clothes from Orena’s house. She helped Meisha put them on before changing her own clothes. Si Kelabu was given water to drink while Marlina wiped its fur clean.
Once they were cleaned up, Marlina took Meisha to a small eatery. With the money she had, she bought rice, soup, and some fried fish for Si Kelabu. Marlina scattered some rice for the fish to eat. The worker at the eatery didn’t pay them much attention and went back to checking his phone after taking Marlina’s order.
Meisha ate with great enthusiasm, but Marlina kept an eye on the surroundings. Her eyes scanned the area. She knew they couldn’t stay in a public place for too long. After eating, they quickly headed to a nearby bus stop, hoping to catch a bus to a village where Marlina’s secret house was located.
At the bus stop, Marlina carried Si Kelabu while making sure Meisha held her hand tightly. The bottle of water with the fish was kept in her backpack. The bus they had been waiting for finally arrived, and Marlina led Meisha onto it.
However, as soon as Marlina sat down, she saw something suspicious through the bus window. A group of 20 men dressed in dark clothing were inspecting every vehicle on the road. Marlina’s heart raced.
She knew that if Meisha saw those men, her mind would be triggered, and she would remember her true self because Marlina had only just started implanting false memories into the child’s mind a few days ago.
Marlina’s chest tightened. She knew she couldn’t take any chances. She immediately got Meisha, Si Kelabu, and their backpacks off the bus before it could be inspected by the suspicious group. Struggling, Marlina looked for another bus that had already been checked by the men.
Across the road, Marlina spotted a bus that looked almost full and had just been checked by the men. She quickly led Meisha across the street while carrying Si Kelabu. They boarded the bus with anxiety, hoping not to be noticed.
Luckily, Meisha didn’t ask many questions because she was feeling sleepy.
The bus began moving away from the stop. Marlina sighed in relief for a moment, but suddenly one of the men from the group spotted Meisha’s face through the bus window. He immediately told his leader.
“That kid! She’s on that bus!” the man shouted.
The men began running after the bus, but the bus had already left them behind. Marlina, who was watching from the back window, saw the men turning back to take their vehicles.
Marlina stopped at a stop in a big city. She carried the still-sleeping Meisha, and Si Kelabu followed her. Marlina hid behind a wall, watching black vehicles speeding by, trying to chase the bus.
Chase it until it reaches the next stop, Marlina thought to herself.
Marlina made her way to a photo shop to carry out her next plan. She laid Meisha on a sofa and met the studio’s photographer.
“I want a photo with my daughter and her cat,” Marlina began the conversation.
“Sure... we have new technology called AI technology,” the photographer said upon seeing Meisha’s face.
“Your child is ill, right? I understand, you want to capture her last image with you...” The photographer’s words made Marlina look at Meisha for a long time. The child looked gaunt, pale, and thin. Though there were no signs of bruising or abuse, she appeared to be suffering from a chronic illness. However, she was just hungry and malnourished, Marlina whispered to herself.
“That’s right, our house burned down, and her father ran away with all our savings and another woman. We have nothing left but each other,” Marlina added, elaborating her sad story while showing a sad expression. She had learned from Orena, Merilton, and Lysandra, she whispered in her heart.
“Okay, I’ll take a few pictures of your daughter, the cat, and yourself,” said the photographer.
“You mean I don’t need to wake my daughter up and take a photo with her?” Marlina asked, full of curiosity.
“No need. Look, in just ten minutes, we’ll have the results,” said the young photographer.
She was right. Marlina looked at the pictures with amazement. They looked like real photos, some appeared old and some recent, just as she had imagined.
Marlina stared at the screen in front of her. She saw images of herself pregnant, then giving birth with a cute baby by her side. There were also photos of her with Meisha when she was still young, and she looked younger too, with a background of Marlina’s house in Switzerland. Exactly as she had described to the photographer. Marlina continued looking at the photos on the screen. They had everything, even one from today, showing Meisha looking healthy, her face similar to Merilton’s if looked at carefully, but with slight changes, the resemblance would no longer be noticeable.
Is this what Meisha would look like if she hadn’t been tortured by Orena? Marlina whispered in her heart.
“Remove the mole below my daughter’s right lip and style her hair like this,” Marlina requested.
“Okay, ma’am, this technology is very expensive, it can produce other pictures based on the information you want,” the photographer said after Marlina had finished looking at all the pictures.
“I want all these photos printed, put in an album in order, and sent to this address, but there’s one thing I ask... keep our visit to this studio and these photos a secret, destroy the copies after they are sent to the address,” Marlina requested, her voice feigning sadness. “Maybe my husband and his mistress are tracking me everywhere to ‘erase’ us from this world,” Marlina added, furthering her sad story.
The young photographer looked at Marlina with sympathy. “Alright, as you wish. As long as you and your daughter are safe wherever you are,” she said kindly.
Marlina paid for the photography service. She even gave extra money to the photographer as a thank you for their cooperation, or more to speed up the work. To Marlina, money wasn’t a big issue because the bank card belonging to Misara Jordy had a lot of money, some of it was money from Merilton that she had kept there. Even in her backpack, there was still money she had taken from Orena’s house when she escaped with Meisha.
Marlina decided to stay at a prestigious hotel that afternoon because there was something she needed to do. She placed Meisha on the soft bed in the luxurious hotel room.
“Mia, mommy has to go out for a bit. You stay here with Si Kelabu, you two can eat and drink, I’ve ordered lots of food for us,” she said.
“Okay, mommy, I love you.”
Marlina left the room after reminding Meisha not to open the door to anyone who knocked, as she would call for her name and Si Kelabu when she returned.
As she exited the hotel building, Marlina headed to a dirty and narrow alley. On her way to find a hotel to stay, she overheard a conversation between a few men about identity card syndicates and other information. Based on that conversation, Marlina tracked the address and now stood in front of an old building, its alley filled with trash. However, there were many children playing, ignoring the filthy surroundings. There were also a few women hanging clothes, carrying babies, and selling items in baskets.
Marlina climbed the stairs to the upper floor of the building until she reached a door. She knocked, and an old man, around sixty years old, opened the door.
“Do you need a place to stay?” he asked while looking behind Marlina and studying her for a moment.
“No, I need documents for me and my daughter,” Marlina said as she entered without waiting for an invitation.
“How did you know I do this kind of work?” the old man asked once they sat down at the table across from each other.
“I overheard a conversation between a few men earlier...” Marlina stopped speaking when she noticed the old man’s expression change.
“My existence cannot be known...” Marlina didn’t finish her sentence.
“Okay, what information do you need?” the old man finally asked, the question she had been waiting for. “You have half an hour before I throw you out,” he added.
“I want you to enter my health information and this child’s birth details into the hospital system,” Marlina placed the fabricated details of Meisha and the record of her anonymous prenatal care on the table.
“Her birth was on this date, six years ago. Make sure there’s a record of her leaving that country earlier this year, and ensure her mother’s information is the same as this,” Marlina placed Misara Jordy’s name card in front of the old man.
“Before that, can you check the information about Misara Jordy, because I’ve lost all my documents?” Marlina spoke again and began to spill the contents of her bag onto the table.
The old man seemed suspicious but continued to follow Marlina’s instructions as soon as he saw the piles of money on the table.
“Alright, here it is. Misara Jordy, aged 35, born in Switzerland, daughter of Hanim Jordy and Anu Jordy...” Marlina froze. So Misara Jordy exists? Who are Hanim and Anu?
“I’ll print your child’s birth certificate, make an ID card, and print basic banking information. Look, I’ve accessed the schools you attended. All your certificates are here, and... oh, yes, you never finished your medical studies... for unspecified reasons,” the old man said, standing up and leaving Marlina, who was processing the information in her mind. He took all the documents to a back room.
Marlina’s mind was racing with the new information she had learned.
Who is Misara and her parents?
How did her mother get that identity?
Why does the information about Misara match the information she has?
Was her mother involved in a human trafficking syndicate? Or more?
Is she adopted, and her real mother died, and she was given this identity?
Not long later, the old man returned, interrupting Marlina’s thoughts. “My daughter is doing it,” he continued.
“Here is your daughter’s original birth certificate, Mia Jordy without father’s information, her health card, and your pregnancy health reports. I’ve altered them according to the details you wanted and entered them into the system,” he said.
“Can this be discovered by the authorities or anyone else?” Marlina asked, suspicious and worried about her safety.
“I guarantee no one will know, except those who already knew about Misara Jordy and Mia Jordy. I’ve been doing this work since I was young, and no one has ever been caught. I just need to finish in fifteen minutes before the cybersecurity team suspects,” the old man said. “Someone knows about Misara Jordy, right? Look, she’s been in the system all this time, and now her passport entered this country a year ago at your request,” he added.
Marlina thought for a moment. She knew her mother, Hana, knew who Misara Jordy was, because it was her mother who gave her that information on her wedding day. She said it would be useful in times of hardship. Now was the time, Marlina thought to herself.
“What about Marlina Alejandro?” Marlina asked, trying to find information about herself.
“I can search, but to make the documents, your money isn’t enough,” the old man said firmly.
“That much isn’t enough? That money is worth five hundred thousand American dollars!” Marlina insisted.
“Our security is worth more than this money. The maintenance of this building costs five times more than your money. If not, we would have been caught during a raid. You saw the women and children outside this building, right? They are all my relatives, the men in this area work to support them. Without the men, they would lose everything,” the old man said angrily but kept his eyes on the computer screen.
“There it is, Marlina Alejandro, not in the system anywhere,” the old man said, staring at Marlina, directly into her eyes.
“Take your documents and don’t come back again. Don’t ever talk about my services or anything you saw here! Or I’ll cut off your head and your daughter’s,” the old man threatened.
Marlina grabbed the documents and stuffed them into her backpack.
She left the place, wondering why she wasn’t in the system. No wonder I’ve never seen my supposed marriage certificate kept by my mother, and I don’t have a savings account... Marlina’s thoughts began to swirl.