6. They Who Remained
Under the blazing sun, Lovely sat on a fallen tree trunk, meters away from the Calderon mansion. She had been sitting there for five hours, not bothered by the scorching heat from above. Tears continued to fall from her eyes, laced with regret and sorrow. How could she blame Esther for all the insults that she had hurled towards her, or find anger in the slap that left a crimson mark and scratch on her left cheek? In reality, Esther's actions and hate towards her were justified.
For the past nine years, the old housekeeper made it her mission to make her life miserable. Why?
Because.
Lovely released a sigh of frustration. She couldn't bear to remind herself of the words, or how her finger pointed at someone. Someone who was then judged, tortured, and mind fucked by the town's people.
For the past nine years, the old housekeeper had made it her mission to make Lovely's life a living hell. And why? That question had haunted her for years.
Lovely let out a sigh of frustration, unable to bear the weight of her guilt. She couldn't bring herself to think about the words that had flown out of her mouth, pointing an accusatory finger at someone who had been judged, tortured, and ostracized by the town's people.
Her shoulders trembled with the weight of her remorse, wishing she could turn back time and take back the words that had come out of her sixteen-year-old self. She would do anything to have those fifteen minutes back, to keep her mouth shut and spare an innocent soul from being hurt. But in her heart, she knew that she had spoken the truth. And for nine long years, she had been punishing herself for it. But it was the truth.
It was the truth.
It was the truth.
But little did she know, those seemingly innocent words would have such dire consequences. It started a chain reaction that spiraled out of control, forever changing her life, as well as the lives of those around her. It even drove someone to the brink of insanity, and that fact alone was enough to tear her heart to shreds. Regret, sorrow, and guilt consumed her, darkening her soul and weighing her down with an unbearable burden. The claws of shame and remorse dug deeper into her heart, causing excruciating pain that no amount of tears could wash away.
Realization.
Truth.
Guilt.
They all made a mistake, a mistake so huge, that it broke someone. And as she sat under the scourging heat of summer, she found herself believing hell has swallowed her whole. She stood up and screamed. She yelled at the wind, the tree, the fallen leaves, the dry ground, and the grass, but no matter what she would do from then on, nothing will change.
Her body soon trembled from the pounding of her heart. Eyes wide and wet with tears, she grabbed a patch of her kinky locks and pulled at it, each pulls stronger than the last, but no matter how hard she tugged, the pain failed to overshadow the stabbing guilt inside her heart. Suddenly, her chest ached and compressed which obscured her breath. She took in huge gulps of air as quickly as she could to ease the choking airless sensation, but it only made her dizzy. Her vision blurred, try as she might, her oxygen-deprived body succumbed to darkness. Falling sideways, head hitting a concealed rock on the earth, Lovely Milluki's consciousness faded.
***
The town's police station was never busy. Days where their actual help was needed rarely occurred except for the minor domestic disturbances from alcohol-crazed teens. Every day was a mirror of the day before. But not that day.
The police Chief, Carlos Baldemor, sat inside his office with guilty eyes glued to his desk, unable to look the old housekeeper in the eye. It had barely been sunrise when Esther arrived at his house, banging on his door like a killer out for blood and shouting profanities on his front lawn. But he knew why, oh yes, he knew damn well why. The previous evening, he received a call from overseas from the boy whom everyone presumed to have died nine years ago, Ramuel Tobias. How Esther found out about it was a mystery to the Chief. He had planned to visit Esther at the Calderon mansion and slowly explain the situation, but fate seemed to have other plans.
Under Esther's judging gaze, the vein on the Chief's temple throbbed with the pressure he applied to his clenched jaw. In his head, he frantically searched for the right words, constructing sentence after sentence, but he knew nothing he said could possibly pacify the angry woman before him. So instead, he remained silent, the room growing thick with tension.
Let's add some more sensory details to heighten the emotional impact of the scene. We can also make some minor changes for clarity.
Here's the revised paragraph:
If looks could kill, the police chief would have crumbled into a muddled, crimson corpse. Esther glared at him, her chest heaving so fast she could hear her old heart laboriously pumping blood into her veins. They have to pay. All of them. She knew from the start, even though she failed to convince anyone. She knew Gen would never harm anyone, except maybe in her downward spiral after her brother's massacre. But that's beside the point. The police chief, Lovely, and the townspeople were the ones to blame, Esther mused, as she continued to glare at the man in front of her. They pushed Gen too far, they made her lose her mind. They degraded her, humiliated her, even her friends turned on her, her lover left her, and no one except Esther gave a second thought to the accusations. The room pulsed with Esther's raw fury, the air heavy with the weight of her accusations.
"So, what do you have to say for yourself?" Esther asked sarcastically. Her dark orbs fumed with anger. However, the man before her remained silent. His lashes loomed over his eyes, hiding his embarrassment from her. Esther waited patiently for him to finally speak. The clock ticked, a minute, then two and three, but still, the chief of police with his wounded pride kept his head bent, eyes never leaving his desk.
Out of sheer anger, Esther pushed her chair back and stood up, she slammed both her hands on his desk, "I demand justice," she yelped, but the chief refused to say a word. He wouldn't even look at her. So, she walked around the desk, and when she found herself standing a few inches from him, she poked hard on his chest with her finger. "You should have done your job properly, you incompetent, self-centered, glory-seeking asshole," Esther screamed.
Tilting his head, the man finally locked gazes with her. Esther immediately saw the tears that were streaming from his eyes. The man was full of remorse, Esther saw that clearly. Behind those wet lashes, the man showed her the words he failed to say. So Esther took a step back, still with an air of arrogance, but her eyes gave away her suppressed emotion when tears hung at the tip of her lashes. And as her anger finally subsided, her tears broke free. She turned away to hide them from the chief, then walked towards the office door. But before she grabbed the knob, she left the man with a simple sentence, "Make an official statement to the town's people, Gen will return someday. You need to clear her name.” With that, the old housekeeper stepped outside.
***
It was by sheer luck that someone gathering wood came upon lovely's unconscious body. A carpenter by the name of Selias Matti went to the forest earlier that day to gather additional wood for his barn. He was to take the same route from earlier but decided to venture near the Calderon's place. The old, dry trees there seemed like a good place to find some branches to cut. So he made his resolve. He had gathered quite a few already, but decided to take on more trees. He was busy whistling his favorite tune as he started on hi third tree, and that's when he spotted a dark silhouette on the ground. Intrigued, he cautiously approached and nearly stumbled when he saw the dressmaker's daughter lying there.
He approached her worriedly, and when he saw blood on the girl's head, he carefully picked her up and brought her to the hospital.
Upon arriving at the hospital with Lovely in tow, Selias could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The interior was a stark contrast to nature's peacefulness outside. Antiseptic smells and the dull hum of machines filling the space. It was enough to make anyone uneasy. Especially someone like him who preferred the outside world and the scent of freshly cut grass and old wood.
It didn't take long before someone approached him and took Lovely from his arms.
As the nurse tended to the unconscious girl's wounds, Selias stood by awkwardly. He tried to fill the silence with small talk but failed miserably, lost in thought about the strange circumstances of finding Lovely. When the nurse asked for details about the event, he only shrugged his shoulders, unable to put into words what he had seen in the forest. "I found her near the Calderon's place," Selias said before turning on his heel and hurrying out of the hospital. He hated being interviewed like that. Heck, if he was uncomfortable with having people around him all the time, he would have made something of himself by now.
As he stepped out into the sunlight, his mind was still racing with everything that had transpired. He couldn't shake the image of Lovely's still form lying on the forest floor. It was a strange mixture of fear and wonder, and Selias couldn't help but feel that something again was at work in the world. It was only a few years ago that something Ludacris happened in their small town. Sighing to himself, Selias jumped on his truck and headed home.
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