Crimson Lights

Insights

Sitting at the kitchen counter, listening to Karmen's story about Inness, Anna felt a sharp pang of sadness. She felt sorry for Inness, for her unrequited love as it hit too close to home.

"Even though she left home to forget about her sister, Inness never really managed to. She drifted around aimlessly and as clichéd as this sounds as well – she ended up mixing with the wrong crowd. She began drinking and then she began using as well."

"Using?" Anna asked, not understanding.

"She got addicted to Vicodin which was given to her by one of her drinking buddies. It's a prescribed drug so getting it wasn't that difficult for her; it was the price that was the stumbling block."

"So she sold herself to ..."

"Yeah; she did tricks so that she could get the cash needed to buy those damn drugs. It didn't matter to her that she was selling off her body to men; as long as she didn't remember the love that she still felt for her sister, as long as there was something that was strong enough to blanket and conceal that thought from her mind, she was willing to do anything. And ultimately, that's what an addict would do; they'd do anything to score a fix."

Anna was silent for a moment. This was what she was looking for in a sense – a story that made the act of selling their body acceptable. It wasn't as if selling one's body was acceptable to begin with; the fact that there was a desperate reason why they would do something such as this made it acceptable for her and yet, having heard a story that made sense in her mind did not seem to satisfy her still.

It wasn't satisfaction that she was looking for – it wasn't about getting answers. All she wanted was something that would make her understand the reason behind Samar's involvement in all of this.

What she wanted ultimately was to know Samar's story; to comprehend her reasoning and finally, to reassure her that whatever the reason was, Anna loved her regardless.

Love – was she really in love with Samar?

"Karmen..."

"Hmm?"

"What happened to Inness' family? Her sister?"

Karmen had hoped that she wouldn't ask anything more. She had hoped that Anna would be satisfied with the story as she had thought that Anna was looking for a sob story. The only reason she had opened up about Inness was so that Anna would stop looking for answers and just left everyone's past alone.

Yet ...

"Their parents caught the whiff of Inness' wildlife and so they abandoned her, not wanting to associate with someone that they felt was immoral and disgusting. Somehow her sister found out what had transpired after she left home, yet, she only discovered it two years later. She came here looking for Inness but it was too late; Inness was already in Madam's employment and heavily in debt."

"Why didn't she try to talk it out with Madam?"

"What makes you think she didn't?"

"But, I thought you said Inness was still working on the streets?"

"I didn't say her sister didn't try to save her did I? Her sister had just started working at a law firm then and so she used up her salary to pay off Inness' debts. She had high hopes that she could repay Madam in just two years and take Inness back with her, yet, no matter how hard she tried, the debts wasn't decreasing at all. In fact, it began to increase drastically. That was when she found out that Inness' addiction was more severe than she had imagined."

"Why didn't they get her checked-in at a rehab instead and at the same time have her sister continue repaying Inness' debts?"

"Because her sister felt guilty for what she had done to Inness and didn't want to see Inness until she had managed to get her out. She was too focused on paying off Inness' debts that she had forgotten about Inness' addictions and her dependence on Vicodin."