Chapter 2

The next day, I was taken to the police station.

The interrogation room lights were stark white. Across from me sat an old detective, Detective Reynolds, his hair gray, his eyes sharp.

"Aurora Hayes?" He flipped through the case file. "The victim, Mr. Hayes, suffered seven stab wounds."

"Each one fatal. His carotid artery was severed."

"Your mom attacked viciously."

I listened, numb.

Mr. Hayes was the town leader.

He had always treated our family with respect,

even speaking up for us when others badmouthed us.

I didn't understand why Mom would suddenly kill him.

"What was the motive?" I asked.

"She won't say," Detective Reynolds lit a cigarette. "She hasn't uttered a word since she was brought in, wouldn't even gesture."

"She has only one request, she wants to see you."

Through the iron bars, I saw her.

After just one night, she looked ten years older.

Half her hair was white, the dried blood on her face had formed black scabs.

Seeing me enter, she trembled with excitement, the chains rattling loudly.

"Ah ah!"

She reached her hand through the bars, trying to grasp mine. Her fingernails were still caked with dry, black blood.

I recoiled, stepping back.

Her hand froze in mid-air, her eyes dimming instantly.

"Why?"

I stared at her, not a single tear falling.

"Why did you kill him?"

She opened her mouth, gesturing frantically.

Her left hand shaped like a book, her right hand making a counting money gesture.

Money again.

School again.

But we weren't short on money. Was she trying to make me feel guilty?

My rage exploded.

"Money, money, money! Is it really all about money?!"

I lunged forward, and through the bars, I slapped her hard.

The sharp sound echoed in the interrogation room.

She didn't dodge.

The slap landed squarely on her face, splitting the dry blood scab.

Detective Reynolds rushed in, grabbing me.

"What are you doing? This is a police station!"

I shook off the detective's hand, pointing at the mute woman, screaming hysterically.

"Do you really think I didn't know about the inheritance Dad left?!"

"Do you know what the villagers said about me because of what you did?!"

"You ruined me!"

Sarah covered her face, large tears rolling down.

Ignoring the blood at the corner of her mouth, she continued to gesture desperately.

First pointing outside, then clasping her hands together, then bowing repeatedly.

She was pleading with me, begging me to go to school, begging me to leave this place.

Seeing her in such a humble, lowly state, I remembered the men moving on top of her and felt only disgust.

"I don't need your filthy money."

I pulled out the torn half of my acceptance letter from my pocket.

In front of her, I crumpled it into a ball and threw it at her face.

"From today on, you're not my mom."

"Whether you live or die, it has nothing to do with me."

She froze, looking at the crumpled paper on the floor, her lips trembling, unable to make a sound.

I turned and walked away.

"Aurora!" Detective Reynolds called after me.

"Your mom, she was protecting her pocket, inside it..."

"Throw it away."

I didn't look back.

"Her things, I find them disgusting."

As I walked out of the police station, a heart-wrenching wail came from behind me.

"Ah!"

I paused, then walked even faster.

I told myself, this was her karma.