People said that blood is thicker than water.
But I didn’t believe those words and I still don’t. Moreover, I despise those
words. Now why is that?
Ever since I was little, I was called a
genius. I was stuffed with love and passionate by my parents. However, there’s
always a third party. Am I right? Well, that’ll be my elder sister whom is 2
years older than me. To be precise, she’s my stepsister from my father’s first
wife but her mother passed away after giving birth to her. Thinking that she
needs a mother, our father remarried to my mother. You see, our family is born
wealthy and of course with this, I can get anything I want. I always beat her
in anything I do and when I really do beat her, I beat her good. This formed
jealousy and hence the jealousy turned into hatred, as we grow older. Not
pointing fingers at her only, I too soon hated her so badly. It’s because of a
certain experienced that happened to me 3 years ago, when I was 17.
“Jeannie, I heard you got straight A’s
again! Oh.. I’m so proud of you. I think I should go and brag to our
neighbors.” That’s mom being the proud mother again. Whenever I do anything,
she would immediately brag to everyone she knows because I’ll do it perfectly.
For that, no one really wants to hang out with her, but she does enjoy what
she’s doing. Although she’s the bragging type, she never brags about Jessica,
my elder sister. Being her stepdaughter is a reason for that, and another is
that that dear sister of mine is never really good in anything she does. However,
because of her beauty, no one really bother about her abilities. That’s the one
thing I can’t beat her in. I mean who needs a beauty when she can’t do anything
right. But of course I’m not that ugly, I’m just a natural looking girl whom
can be considered quite pretty.
“Whatever, Mom.” I replied while putting a
toast into my mouth. My eyes followed my mom as she walked out of the room.
“Must she do that every time?” I thought to myself. Once, I finished my toast,
I instantly got up and got ready for college. Just before I left for the door,
my sister, Jessica just came down from upstairs. She looked at me and for a
moment there I saw her eyes were cold to me. I was held back a little but I
came to my senses and walked out of the house without greeting her. Like I said
before, we are so not close to each other.
College was same as everyday: hang time with
friends, solving math questions, thinking where to have lunch and such. There
was only one exception that could make my day better, Raymond. He and I have
been together since before I entered college. He actually was a classmate to
Jessica, so that makes him 2 years older than me, but I couldn’t care less.
When classes ended, I immediately make my
way home, as Raymond will be staying late today for extra curriculum. Passing a
street of mansions, I knew I was near to my house. After I passed through the
iron gates, I could hear shouting and screaming from the inside. It sounded
like Mom and Jessica couldn’t agree on something. I slowly passed by while
listening to their conversations.
“ Are you serious?? Why can’t I get whatever
I wished for? How come Jeannie get to have everything???” Jessica spat at mom.
“She earned it!! What have you’ve done to get
that reward??” Mom sounded furious.
The subject this time sounded serious. Mom
has never spat at Jessica like that before, even not when Jessica knocked a
tree with her favorite car.
“FINE!!!!! BE THAT WAY!” Jessica walked out
the room and opened the door. At that time I was about to open it and I saw
Jessica before my eyes. Her bloodshot eyes, that was telling me that she shed a
lot of tears before, glared into mine. I swear that was the sharpest glare she
ever gave me. Confused, I looked at my mom but she just shook her head
indicated that she couldn’t tell me the reason.
As soon as I reached to my room, I
immediately slammed myself onto my soft bed. Still wondering what just happened
between those two kin. I felt as if I’m somehow involved in their conversation.
Well, I knew that, I heard part of it. But that’s not what I meant. Still
remembering the glare Jessica gave, I tried to hit myself with my pillows to
forget them. Before I knew it, the room started to turn dark.
My eyes opened due to the sunlight came in
through the chink of the curtains. I must have fallen asleep. I tilted my head
towards the alarm clock on the bedside table; it shows 7 in the morning.
Instantly I got up and get dressed for my morning class.
On the way to college, I have a strange
feeling of someone was trailing me. I couldn’t shake off the feeling so I
immediately turned. Shocking enough, Raymond was about to give a surprise hug
and he was disappointed when I caught him red handed. After that, we walked
together but what I felt before wasn’t him.
After class I immediately rushed out of the
building and started walking in a fast pace. I feared the feeling from this
morning might be true. True enough, I kept hearing a distant footstep wherever
I go. I tried running but I was never a good runner nor do I have enough
stamina to outrun the stalker. As soon as my pace got slower and I ran out of
breath, I felt a grab on my waist and a handkerchief soaked in chlorophyll
covered my mouth. I wanted to scream but the substance worked very fast that I
instantly lost consciousness.
When I came into, I was tied in a dim lighted
room with no furniture. It’s just an empty space with a ventilation fan at the
top right corner and a door locked across the room from me. From the corner of
my eyes, I saw a figure lying beside me. It looked familiar and as soon I
recognized it, I immediately turned to confirmed it. The figure is really
Raymond as I thought it would be. I tried calling out to him through the cloth
that is tied to my mouth. I was worried at first but I felt relieved when he
slowly opened his eyes. Same as me, he was shocked to found out that he was
tied into this large space.
After being here together with Raymond for
god knows how long, I heard the doorknob turned. A guy with a scar under his
chin came in and was on the phone. He looked smile sinisterly when he saw us
awake and afraid.
“Boss, it seemed that both of our guests is
awake. What should I do to them?” I couldn’t hear much of the receiver but it
sounded like a lady. Whatever was the answer of this “boss”, I didn’t like it
as the guy was smirking with his crooked teeth shown while looking at me and he
called for his gang to join in. He and his gang walked towards Raymond and
start trampling him. I stared at them in disbelief and fear overcame me. I
never liked violence and I really wanted to get out of here. I tried to untie
the rope that was keeping me unable to move. The leader of the gang grabbed a
handful of my auburn hair, making me paralyzed by the sharp pain of my scalp.
“Where you think you’re going, pretty? You
think we will leave you unharmed?” He pulled me close to his face and that rancid
breathe of his hurt my nose so badly. I wanted to escape from his clutch but
before I could do so, I felt his hand exploring my skin under my shirt. Loosing
my rope a little and the cloth around my mouth, he started groping me and his
harsh lips were against mine. I felt my whole world had torn apart as he’s
enjoying his lust on me. With Raymond saw the whole thing, he immediately tried
to break free from the bunch that was having fun hurting him. As soon as he got
loose from the rope, he instantly threw a punch on the face of the rapist. The guy dropped on the floor and he got
instantly to throw a punch back at Raymond. He instantly punched Raymond on the
part that he was sensitive most. I thought it was just a coincidence but that’s
the only place he was aiming. Not one knew of his sensitivity except for his
classmates and me. “His classmates…. Classmate…” I started whispering to myself
and I can’t stop thinking despite what happened to me. None of them knew of our
relationship, so why would they trouble themselves to capture the both of us
from a totally different place.
The guy ordered his gang to move out after
his lust was not satisfied due to Raymond’s strong will to against him. Before
he shut the door, he glared at Raymond while spitting the blood from his mouth
and his eyes showed a sign of “You’ll regret this”. Shortly after he shut and
locked the door, Raymond made a move towards me and to make sure that I was
feeling all right. Of course I wasn’t, but I wouldn’t want him to worry much.
Although he seems relieved, his face showed an apologetic look since he
couldn’t make it in time. He put an arm around me and he pulled me close to
him. After all that happening, I still felt at ease with him near me but I
could hear him muttered “sorry” under his breath.
I told him about what I thought before and
his guess were the same as me. I’m not being a big meanie but I never liked
her. Somehow this incident concludes that she’s behind it, recalling many
possibilities that make me confirmed about my suspect. Jessica never approved
my relationship with Raymond since she’s also fallen for him long before I knew
him. However, I heard that they were so close to each other that they knew
secrets between them. Even Raymond admitted that he told her once about his
sensitivity area. Next will be, she will do whatever that is possible to break
us and make me feel useless. Well, it did make me feel useless and suicidal but
that wouldn’t help us out. Recalling the lady’s voice on the phone, only Jessica
could fit the space. No one talks like her nor sound as bitchy as she does.
Other than that, after that glare she gave me before shows her intention.
The next time, the scarred chin man came in,
we did as we planned after those misfortune. We untied each other’s rope, which
took us quite a while, and checked if they left anything behind in our pockets.
Lucky enough, they didn’t check my back pocket of my jean since I wore a dress
as my top. I had a pen there and I thought it could be a useful weapon for our
escapade. I scanned the room for anything else that will be useful for us but
couldn’t find any. After a while my eyes were fix at that ventilation fan, it
seems big enough the fit a normal human size. I signaled Raymond and he got my
message instantly. Our goal was to escape from here and report to the police
regarding the kidnapping including who are behind it. Whenever the door is
shut, Raymond would try to open the fan using the pen.
When the doorknob starts to turn, I gave sign
to him and he will just pretend to be tied up, it goes for me too.
“Well, well… Why are you here near the
door.” The rapist asked. I just glared at him while hoping that he wouldn’t
come close to me again.
“It’s your fault! She wouldn’t even want me
close to her! Thanks a lot! Once I get out of here, I’ll make you regret for
the rest of your pitiful life!!” Raymond snapped at that disgusting man.
“Like I care what you said, my boss has
already guaranteed a better life for me and she even rewarded me for releasing
my lust on her” He smiled the same smile when I first saw him. My hatred to
that blood related sister of mine had grown. I gritted my teeth and I snarled
back at him between my teeth. “ You’re going pay for what you did to me!!”
That guy just laughed and shut the door.
Raymond looked at me and I just nodded. He continued his task and finally when
he removed the fan, it was nighttime. “Good timing!” I thought. Since I was
weaker than him, he let me up first and he lend his limbs to give me a push.
As soon as we were out, we immediately ran as
fast as we can. Lucky for me, Raymond is a fast runner and he hold my hand to
make I could kept up with him. We ran without looking back, afraid that they
would found out soon after we escape. Although the place was foreign to us, we
kept on running until we could see a highway. We carpooled a nice lady and when
she realized we were the missing children, she immediately sent us to a police
station. The officer immediately contacted our parents and soon enough they
came with their happy and grateful faces.
“Thank god, you’re all right! I was worried
when both you and Jessica were gone. Oh… where’s Jessica?” My mom hugged me and
let go of me when she realized Jessica wasn’t with me. So that’s how she does
it, making her disappeared so no one would suspect her. I shook my head and
waited for her response. She seems sad and her face had a guilty look.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I asked, trying to know
what really happened. She looked at me sadly and told me what was their
conversation a few days back. Apparently Jessica wanted her to arrange an
arranged marriage for Raymond and her. My mom knew of my relation, hence she decline.
For a moment I felt really angry at what Jessica suggested, then I realized she
must have loved him so much until she would arrange a kidnapping. However, there
is still no reason for forgiving her for what she did.
Until now, I never see Jessica again and law
will declare her declared dead if she doesn’t come back for another 4 years. However,
I doubt she will come back after what a horrible thing she done to me. Mom
never found out who and why I was kidnapped as I keep it only to Raymond and
myself. He, on the other hand, promised to take care and responsibility of me
for the rest of his life and now we are engaged. I’m the happiest person, though
a scar in heart, which remained in me of a sister who would harm her own
sibling for the sake of love.
Hence, blood is not always thicker than
water.
