When I was a child, they kicked my mother's vegetable basket, claiming she could not sell them there. When I grew up, I saw them break my sister's leg because of the same reason. However, they were the ones who took away all my mother's vegetables and they were also the ones who broke into my sister's room and bullied her.
In the stifling police station, he kept flipping through my files with his saliva-wetted thumb.
"Do you know this whore?" he asked.
"No."
"It's a shame though. She was only twenty-three years old."
"Don't we have to wait for the forensic report?"
"Are you fucking stupid? It's obvious she jumped from the building. Do you know how many people die on Creak Street every day? Do I have to investigate every single one of them?"
As he listened to his captain's scolding, the young officer lowered his head. He did not dare to refute his superior.
"Case closed! I don't want to hear anything about it again."
The fat officer stubbed out his cigarette and left the young man alone in the police station.
Before he went home, he headed to the market to buy pork and vegetables. He planned to make meatballs and then eat them with his son.
He was so funny!
"Zara Weston."
I heard someone call out my real name. It was a woman who was carrying a bag on her back and floral cloth around her head.
She tiptoed when she entered my old rented room and then started rummaging around.
For the last five years, I had been sending her money continuously but it was never enough. She always complained I gave her too little.
She kept searching every corner of the room under the dim light, trying to find my valuables. However, all she could see was a pair of pearl earrings next to the broken frame.
The pearl earrings were a token of love from Mac London. He said I was more beautiful than Jennifer Lopez when I wore them.
However, he was marrying his new bride at the moment and paid all the expenses with my money.
Cockroaches crawled from the pipes next to me and the damp air was making the room feel suffocating.
I knew the man next door was peeking from the hole again. I could hear the sound of his breathing.
He did not know I knew. He thought he had hidden his presence well.
An hour had passed but the woman still could not find any money. This made her furious. Her fist that was holding my earring was tightened and she was stopping her feet in anger.