In the slum part of the city, landfills and muddy puddles from flooded drainages polluted the environment. Mosquitoes and flies swarm in bunches, settling on leftover bits of crumbs from households. The scent of decaying, putrescible materials strangled Katrina's stomach and twisted her intestines like a wet towel.
Gagging from the distasteful smell, she covered her nose and found an empty corner where insects didn't follow, to vomit. All her life, she has never been to this area, because Selina and Bryan supported her with their salary. While Bryan covered the bills in the house, Selina would give her almost her entire salary.
From what she remembered; the amount Selina left for herself was barely a hundred dollars after giving two thousand dollars a month. Looking at the insanitary conditions around her right now, she felt awfully downgraded. She used to live in a decent sized house where she didn't have to care about finance.
When the weather turns cold, she would have an excuse to not go to work with her aching knees. Chores were done by Selina while she leisurely walked around the house, looking for any dust particles to complain about. She only needed to raise a finger to get what she wanted into her hands.
"I don't even have a phone to use. My wallet and everything are in the old house, and I can't go back. I need to find a way to get at least two quarters to call Shirley and tell her Selina is alive. But where?" She mumbled to herself as she searched in the dirty streets for coins.
As she walked into a particularly dimmed alleyway with flickering street light, she heard sounds of water dripping from above. Using her sensitivity towards sounds, she traced to the spot where an old air conditioner was actively functioning from an apartment building.
Her chapped lips and throat were craving for water - anything but the sewage puddles on the floor. Opening her mouth, she let the rare droplets fall into her mouth. Though it tasted rusty like metal and dirt, it was better than drinking water that people have stepped on. Rats were squeaking as it was dinner time for them. Katrina's stomach grumbled, requesting for her meal.
She took a step backward, stepping on a shattered bottle of tabasco sauce. The content was emptied and leftover sauces were stuck to the broken glass shards. She hissed and stared at her feet where some shards penetrated through the shoes she wore.
When she escaped earlier, she swapped clothes with the doctor who healed her legs. The doctor was wearing flats and not sneakers. As she roamed through the filthy blocks, trying to find some spare coins for the payphone, she stomped into countless puddles. The streets were too dark for her to see clearly.
As a result, to her clumsy walk, her feet were soaked with murky grease. Now, shards created cuts through the thin fabric of the flats, making it useless for her feet. The last bit of protection the shoes could provide were gone.
Slipping the drenched fabric off her feet, she held it with the tip of her fingers. Extending her arm outwards, she brought the stinky flats away from her nose before flinging it far from sight. She rubbed her fingers together until the mushy feeling disappeared.
Her shoulders raised as she inhaled and dropped back down when she exhaled. "On the bright side, my feet aren't cut by the shards. If it did, I would probably have to amputate it from a serious infection. Right, I'll just be more careful while I look for a quarter on the floor." She said to herself with her eyes scanning in the dark for any circular items on the ground.
After half an hour, she finally found two quarters and an old payphone that was somehow still operative. She shoved two quarters into the coin slot and placed the phone to her ears. Dialing the only number, she memorized from her contact list; she impatiently swirled the phone cord around her fingertips.
Shirley picked up on the other end of the call with a questioning tone. "Hello? Who is this?" Relieved to hear her daughter's voice, she spoke. "Shirley! It's mom. I want to tell you that I saw Selina earlier! She's alive and is after Peter. You need to stick close to Peter during this time and not give her any possible chances to slip in. She might snatch him from you again."
"Firstly, I have no mother. Second of all, I know she's alive, but she won't be, for long. Thirdly, She won't be able to snatch what's been mine to begin with. She's not my competition. Also, do not contact me using these methods again. It's annoying." She rolled her eyes as she painted her nails with neon green nail polish.
Stuttering, Katrina looked down to her bare feet. She wiggled her toes as she replied. "I understand your anger for my abandonment. I've already apologized and did everything I am capable of to help you. If there is a second chance, I won't repeat my mistake."
"Stop. Right. There. There are no medicines for regrets, and I want to tell you how grateful I am with you swapping me with Selina. Rather than following a poor old hag like you, I lived my life in luxury. If you were wealthy, then I would at least call you mother. Too bad, you sucked your entire life and deserve the worst deaths for being useless." Shirley blew onto her nails.
"I've already regretted the minute I swapped the two of you. I couldn't have taken you back home with me! I've left Selina at the graveyard when she was five for this reason. I didn't want to see her face. At the end, Bryan came back from camp and asked where she was. I had to go to bring her back, so he won't find out about what I did. I know I did you wrong and I'm trying to make up for it!"
Katrina shouted into the phone, piercing Shirley's ears with the poor connection. "And at the end, you still brought her home. You still took care of her. You didn't starve her to death nor did you abandon her. So, what is there to talk about between us? Nothing. Oh, by the way, stop tailing after me. I don't have extra money to spare for beggars. Bye."
The call disconnected and Katrina was left dangling. She teared as she apologized to Shirley for appearing in her life. She spent less than two minutes on the call, but the two quarters could have lasted unlimited minutes.
She had expected at least a five minutes talk like how it used to be. But this was all her wishful thinking. With blisters on her feet, she tiringly rested at one of the quiet corners of the street. Covering herself with the jacket, she stole from the doctor; she slowly fell asleep.
After a night of search, the Clover group and Hui group failed to locate where Katrina was staying. Instead, the guards came across each other during their search. Knowing the Clover and Hui family's relation, they reported back to the family head about their discovery.
Nick raised his brow, "The Clover family is looking for this wench?"
At the same time...
Rosanna and Eric exchanged glances. Eric said, "The Hui family is also looking for this bitch? She sure has a lot of enemies. I wonder how many children she stole from families to get hunted down like this. Continue the search."
As soon as the guard left the room, Rosanna circled her arms around her husband. "Hubby, our daughter's engagement with Jason Hui. We need to visit the Hui corporation soon." Pulling her petite body close to his, Eric caressed her back and whispered. "Don't worry. We'll visit them tomorrow."