She made me look at her. Her hands reached my cheek and wiped my face which was wet with tears. "I want you to cooperate with my police friend who is on his way here now. Tell him all the details you remember. Even the face of the man who robbed you, dearest. I'm begging you."
"For what?" My body seemed to weaken when my head rested on her shoulder. "Even if that person is caught for the sin he did to me, I won't be able to erase from my memory what he did to me. That will stay in my mind."
"And that's embarrassing. A shame. I hate myself because of what that man did!" On my knees, I bent down and cried. "After this happened, I don't know how to deal with people. I just don't want to leave the house-"
"Chanty, listen to me." She lifted my head, and my mother made me look at her face. "I'm not saying it's easy to get over or forget what happened to you. I know it will be difficult for you to forget. But it's not a good reason either, dear... to... just give up. You can't just hide from people forever once they know what you've been through."
"Dear, remember that you are not the only one who has experienced being taken advantage of. There are many victims because many bastards have no soul." I felt my mom's grip on my hand tighten. "It's discouraging, yes, what you went through. Naturally at first it will not be easy for you to get up and go with the flow of life. But believe me, you can do it. Once you become determined to put that man in jail and suffer in jail, you will also be able to forget the darkness, Chanty."
"Because you are a victim of that kind of abuse, if you let your emotions defeat you and just hide at home forever, without doing anything to get justice and teach those rude people a lesson, you will not be his only victim. Do you want more innocent girls to fall off and become victims of that abuse aside from you?"
I shook my head. Of course, I don't want anyone else to suffer like I suffered. If there would be a pesticide available to annihilate such a pervert and no grace kind of man, I would really love to purchase.
"Then, fight. The step to jail that man will start with you. That way, he will have no more victims. Because if you let fear prevail, that criminal will be free." As my mother brushed my hair, she continued, "This time, be brave in this fight. You don't have to worry because I'm with you, Chanty."
Thanks to my mom's persistence to please me and educate me, I somehow regained the courage to fight. The hatred I had earlier for myself for the reason that I was touched by a rude man has changed to barely containment to send the demon to jail.
I can't be the only one to suffer. He should too.
—
"I'm sure Monica knows him. He attended her party, so I'm sure that man is Monica's close friend. And one more thing, I know because he is one of Monica's friends who is from another country." I closed my eyes for a moment to try to remember the man's face. "He has white skin, a little bit of narrow and blonde hair. He also has blue eyes... and I think he's the same age as me."
I am currently presenting to Uncle Ramil, my mom's friend who is a police officer, what I remember about the appearance of the man. My mom would have wanted us to go to the precinct and report there, however I can't because I'm still allergic to people at this time. As much as possible, I want to stay indoors.
"I have sent my co-police officers to the place where your classmate, Monica, lives. Let's just ask her to cooperate and show us where her friend is hiding." He turned to my mom. "I'll let you know about the update later, Joyce. I will call right away."
"Thank you, Ram."
Uncle Ramil also left after he got the information, he needed from me. I hope what I said will be enough to facilitate the capture of that man.
"Will you be able to enter your school? Or you still can't?"
"I can do it... especially since we have final exams." I sighed. "It's because my teachers don't agree to take the exam at home, so it's impossible for me to answer at home. So, I don't have a choice."
"Dear, don't worry. No one else knows about what happened-"
"That's the one thing I'm not sure about." A bitter smile tugged at my lips. "Because I have a feeling that what happened to me last night will bring more harm to me, ma."
"Are you saying someone took a video or a photo of you?"
I just shrugged. I didn't answer my mom because I didn't want her to worry about me even more, although I wasn't sure about the conclusion that was forming in my mind. Even now I'm praying that Monica didn't do what I'm thinking. I hope... even though they often make me feel like I don't belong in their circle of friends, somehow, they still consider me a friend. It's enough so that they don't do bad things to me.
—
I'm not comfortable walking down the hallway to my classroom. I don't like the way other students look at me. 'Cause the way they look at me, it's like I'm a dirty person even though I'm wearing a clean uniform. Because of the meaningful looks of the students I passed, I couldn't help but think that my hunch might be true.
By the time I get to the classroom, the seats are separated. Since it became part of the nature that every time there will be an examination, seats that are occupied by the students must be far away from each other. One seat apart so that the teachers can be sure that the students cannot cheat during the exam.
"That's pretty OA their distance is twice as far from the other," I said when I noticed that apart from my seat in the middle, there was a large space away from Samantha and Tricia's seat. "Who made the seating arrangement?"
"We don't want to be near your seat, Chanty. You're so disgusting," said our class president, Maureen. "It's better that you stay in the back. Well, there is a seating arrangement by the way; alphabetically."
I have no idea what she's talking about. Even my classmates also hate to look at me, not far from how the students I pass outside look at me.
'What's really going on?