Raindrop [✅]

Part 3

I was shaken awake by a dark figure in front of me, but before I could get a chance to scream, a palm was put on my mouth to prevent me from screaming, and the other hand pinned me to the floor. I eyed to my left hand-sized where my brother had slept and felt a sense of relief when I saw that he was still there unharmed. But my mom was missing.

I stared straight at the one who threatened me and felt a familiar sense in the eyes. I shut my eyes tightly that it hurt as the figure bent down to whisper something near my ears. I opened my eyes in surprised and nodded. When the palm was removed from my mouth, I sat bolt upright and silently cradled my brother in my arms, careful not to wake him. The one who woke me up vanish to the kitchen. I crept towards the stairs and climbed down step by step. I went to wait outside the house's fence. A few minutes later, the dark figure descended from upstairs with a backpack. With a help from a full moon, I almost couldn't believe myself as the dark figure's identity was clarify. My mom's face was covered with bruised, and there was blood oozing from the corner of her forehead.

I whispered "Mom"

"Not now, my dear. Just keep going forwards." my mom whispered back.

Together we walked as silently as possible. When we were about two kilometers from the house, there was an old taxi coming along the road. Mom waved her hand to catch the driver's attention; and when he did, the mini-van came to an abrupt stop. I couldn't hear the conversation between my mom and the driver, but then I saw my mom took off the backpack and took out some papers to the driver. The driver counted them and head-gestured us to the car. We all climbed in.

Mom opened up a bottle of water and took out a small, white handkerchief before pouring the water into it. She wiped it across her face gently. It turned red where she wiped it. I sat next to her staring at the red spot and back to her face, asking myself whether it was a good idea to ask her about what was going or not. I felt like she knew what I wanted to ask, so she tried to avoid my eyes. Exhausted from everything, I lay my head on her right arm, and fell asleep with my brother in my embrace.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see the car filled with strangers. I curled up to my mother's side. As if she could sense my fear, my mom wrapped her arm around me tightly as a non-verbal assurance that everything was okay. I seemed to relax a little bit. I had no idea where we were heading, but I could not see any rice fields along the road. All I could see was vehicles, tall buildings, a big screen television at an intersection and lots of people. As we reached the taxi station, we all got out of the car.

"This is it, Sonita. This is the capital city of our country. This is Phnom Penh City. And that rounded yellow building you are staring at now is called The Central Market" mom said to me.

If my arms were not busy carrying my brother, I would have pinched my cheeks. I couldn't believe I had finally arrived the heart of my country. Even though I were thrilled with the new environment, nothing could make happier than food. We were hungry because we did not eat breakfast. The sound of my stomach rumbling made my mother laugh.

"Let's get my little girl something to eat." she said with a smile. Luckily, we found a food stall near the market. We sat down and waited for the food we had ordered. Mom put her backpack down on the chair nearby and took my baby brother from me to place him on her lap. After the food is placed in front of us, I just dug my head in the plate and ate until I could swallow no more. After we were done, mom turned to her her backpack to get money for the seller.

"Where is it?" she screamed. "Where is the backpack?" she looked completely terrified.

"What? Are you a fraud or something? You make an excuse for not paying after you have swallowed my food in like dogs astray?" the seller shouted at us with a knife pointing at our direction.

"No, miss. I am not making up. You did see I had put my bag here." She gestured toward the chair nearby. "I think my bag has been stolen."

"I don't care whether your bag was stolen or was pretended to be stolen. All I care is my money. Pay me back my food or I will drag all your heads to the police."

"Oh no, please. Have mercy. I will find a way to compensate. Please, just don't bring us to the police" she was on her knees begging. "I will, well, I will wash the dishes for you as a compensation."

The seller went silent for a short while as she was thinking. "Fine. But after that, just vanish from my sight."

So, mom was washing all the dishes for the day while I was singing to soothe my crying baby brother back to sleep. I thought he must have been terrified from the yelling.

I didn't know what time it was but the sky was getting dark. However, my surroundings were not totally dark at all with the help from the neon lights and streetlights along the way. I would have enjoyed this night view very much if it was not for my mom sobbing on the pavement. I sat down next to her and used my free hand to wipe the tear on her face.

She grabbed my wrist gently and said "I thought I could bring you a better life, yet I failed. I had lost all my years of savings the minute I arrived the city. And you should know that in this place, you cannot survive without money. I am so sorry, Sonita."

"It is okay, mom. We can just go back to dad. Back to our old life."

"No, do not mention your dad or where you came from at all. Lie, okay?" she was trembling and I could feel her hand on my wrist had tightened.

"Ouch, mom. What is going on? If we can't survive here, why don't we just go back?" I snatched my wrist back from her hand.

"No, I told you. No!"

I stood up in front of her. "Okay, mom. I need an explanation right now. I did not ask you this morning because you seemed to don't want to be questioned. But now, I need you to tell me. Why are we running away to somewhere we don't even know? What is going on?"

"Just do as I said, and don't ask question!" my mom snapped.

"No! I need reasons! And I won't do what you told me to unless you reason with me!" I snapped back.

She dropped her face in her hands to surrender. When she pulled her head back up, her tears were already dried. She reached out for my wrist and took me down to squat in front of her. Then, she talked in a very low voice which sounded almost like a whisper "We can't go back because I have killed your dad."

I gasped.