Chapter 7 (1/2)
Annie used to think about how she would die on a regular basis
It was quite strange to say that she would not prefer to die in a clean way She drea, but she would not feel even a slight sense of terror or unease Once, she dreamt of herself, dead peacefully on a sickbed People hosted her a beautiful funeral, and Michelle stood quietly in front of her toave her a lily
She jumped awake from her dream, damp from cold sweat She tossed and turned in bed, but could not sleep anymore
Since she met Michelle, almost all of Annie's dream have been related to Michelle Chopped to pieces by Michelle, burnt to death by the church with Michelle, strangled Michelle to death with a rope… There was even once where she and Michelle were at a dirty littlefrisky with each other But once she ake, she never had any sihts
Until she decided to betray Michelle
The thought to betray Michelle e her However, that was not the initial conflict Before Sally appeared, Michelle was Annie's belief, her mental support - Michelle was her God
Michelle could kill anyone, Michelle could get anything she wanted
It was like the first tiht, and Michelle arrived like a er from God She descended fro of her sword
The scene from that moment was fresh as if it happened only yesterday: The client's headless body was still lying on top of her, and it shuddered and twitched like a cock plucked clean of its feathers The head had a slightly a expression as it rolled on the floor Blood was everywhere, painting the yellowish mattress and blankets Even the stubborn, moldy smell on the blanket ashed away
God kno much she hated that moldy stench
Every ti of the motel to distract herself from the awful smell No matter how terrible the client was, she could always zone herself out to ignore the quavering flesh and oily noses The only thing she could never put up as the distasteful smell of the mold
That smell was alike the childhood bedsheet that she had It was humid and sticky, and it reminded her constantly holy she became
In order to avoid the smell, she would open her mouth to breathe Sometimes, some clients would take that as a coorously, but she never paid much attention
Looking back, the only thing she rehout the five years of her as the ceiling that she spaced out on, and the gruesome odor of the blanket
Thus, when Michelle killed the client, Annie was not afraid Instead, she felt a slight sense of ease and elation as the scent of blood flushed away the moldy stench
After that, Michelle kept her sword and looked at an expressionless Annie
”Follow e,” she said
At that tie But she nodded, and she etched that sentence into her heart Until now, she could still utter the sentence withoutany words The , the details on Michelle's clothes, the angle of the opened door, the position where the head rolled away, the shape of the stains on the wall… It was like it happened just moot caught from the sea
That was how unbelievable Michelle's existence was
Maybe that hy Annie was enraged when she found out Michelle no longer believed in her
The pivoting point happened three ic under Michelle
That day, Michelle led a woman who looked like a baer followed Michelle through the door, and sat s for people to speak She acted like she was the owner of the place, and she took the only sausage on the plate
That was the dinner Annie left for Michelle
Annie duh cheekbones and her cruel brows Annie was appalled, she did not knoho this wory
She shared a look with the woman, and the woman smiled, ”hello, I'm Sally”
Sally, what a stupid name Only the dimmest of the peasants, who drank three buckets of beer and fell into a cesspit, could cohter She must have also been barely conscious at that time
However, Annie did not throw a teive the shameless woman a slap on the face She did, however, look at Michelle carefully Michelle did nothing but said, or command, her
”From today onwards, she will be our partner”
Annie felt like she fell into the Pearl Lake in the winter Cold, agonized, numb in her bones
This feeling was overly familiar
It was as if she was sent back to her childhood, and was once again that clueless young girl
When she was five, herShe carried a wrinkly baby boy in her arms and came before her to say, ”From today onwards, he will be your baby brother”
How similar
Her e, her father left the day she was born In order to find her husband, her mother sold her fields and milk cows As she started her journey in search for her husband, sometimes she would leave for three days, sometimes it took five days Annie could only rely on the help frohbors, and sat at her old home to wait for her le time
When she was five, her mother left for ten days, and she came back with a baby boy, her brother Rumors had it that he was the child of her father with another woman Annie never knehere her father was, and herabout her father after her mother's return
After that, it see out to find her father Instead, she got addicted to beer Annie was afraid of her drunk ht, and realize that her aze of a aze towards an enemy
The gaze her mother had for her brother was different
Even when she was drunk, herlullabies to hihboring village for hiaze towards her brother was not a mother to son, but from a woman to a lover
Not to mention, he was not even her own son
Annie hated her brother, but she had no choice She went to the etables, did all the household chores, helped the neighbors to farot, aside froave it all to her brother The best clothes, the best food… Everything for the satisfaction of her mother Every time she sewed and patched up the clothes for her brother, she could feel her aze on her soften, just a little bit
Mother still loved me, she felt
As tily decadent, and treated her worse than before Annie treated her mother and brother as best as she could, and finally, all of it reached the peak
The turning point happened, just like a corpse that decoots broke out of it
When she elve, she wanted to earn ed man That was her first time The first ti of the motel She looked at the et, and the food she could buy for her brother, and how delighted her mother would be This made her happy too
However, once she took the hbor told her that her brother drowned in the Pearl Lake
She could never forget how her mother looked at her when she arrived home that day
Mother never did say anything about her brother's death She just sat on the bed how she usually did, half-covered under the old, worn blanket, a half-empty beer bottle in hand She stared at Annie, coldly
Annie understood what she aze, ”I hope it was you who died”
Hence, Annie did not say anything She walked towards the bed in silence, took out the money she earned just now, and placed it beside her mother's hand
Mother glanced at her again, and finally she said:
”slut”
The next day, Annie found her mother's corpse in Pearl Lake Just like her brother, ed, and her face ollen like a ferht when she saw the body, 'Brother and mother look alike now No one will ever say that they are not blood-related anymore'
At her mother and brother's funeral, Annie cried a lot That was the first time she cried, and she felt relieved
After the funeral, she left the village
Before she s towards her ht she loved them, as she sacrificed so much for them Their death devastated her, which caused her to leave her home and wander around
But once she saw Sally, she realized She hated her brother, just like how she hated Sally, as right in front of her