Dead

The room was silent, except for the faint hum of the air conditioner. Huan Jing sat across from Si Jian, concern etched into his features. He had just learned about the horrors Si Jian's family had endured at the hands of his own, and now, he wanted to understand every painful detail.

Si Jian took a deep breath, her hands trembling as she began to speak. "After the incident with my father," she began, her voice quivering, "my mother, devastated by the loss of her husband, couldn't bear the injustice. She was determined to seek justice through the law, to bring your father and his accomplices to court for what they had done."

Huan Jing listened intently, the weight of guilt and sorrow heavy upon him.

"My mother was a brilliant judge," Si Jian continued, her eyes distant as she recounted the past. "She spent years studying the law, preparing her case meticulously and had gained the throne of the judge even if she had the family line of powerful law figures already. She believed that the legal system would protect us, that it would deliver the justice my father never received."

Si Jian's voice cracked as she recalled the events that unfolded next. "But when she filed the case and it became clear that your family's influence reached even the highest levels of the legal system, my mother's hopes were shattered. They turned the tables on her, they killed her.

Tears welled up in Si Jian's eyes, but she pushed on, her voice shaking. "One night, they came for her. Your mother, your sister, and a group of your father's enforcers. They stormed into our home, dragged my mother away, and tortured her in front of my sister and me."

Si Jian's words hung heavily in the air as the memories resurfaced, vivid and painful. "They wanted her to drop the case, to silence her. They beat her, tortured her, and when she refused to give in, your father... he...he raped her again,brutally tortured her…drowned her in water."

Si Jian couldn't bring herself to say it, but Huan Jing understood the unspeakable horror that had befallen her mother. He was overcome with a profound sense of sorrow and guilt, knowing that his family had been responsible for such unimaginable cruelty.

Si Jian's voice quivered as she continued, "My sister and I were forced to watch as they killed our mother, right in front of our eyes. We were just children, Huan Jing, helpless and terrified. They left us with the lifeless body of our mother as a gruesome reminder of the consequences of seeking justice against your family."

Huan Jing's heart ached as he listened to the harrowing account of Si Jian's past. He couldn't fathom the pain and trauma she and her sister had endured. The weight of guilt bore down on him, knowing that his family had been responsible for this unspeakable tragedy.

Si Jian's tears flowed freely now as she concluded her story. "My sister and I were left with nothing, no family, no justice. We were orphaned and scarred for life. That night... it haunts me every day, Huan Jing. It's a pain that never goes away. I had become a walking dead by that time Huan Jing. My study and my sister's college everything was ruined. We faced bullies…,severe bullying because of what happened to us through your family…the bullies would drown me in water in the washroom,beat me…make me eat their spit out food.. and I was helpless because I became an outcast because of how depressed I was and how randomly I would get panic attacks….my sister would suffer the same…the authority of education failed to help us because they were bribed by your father to let us suffer… the power of my parents had vanished with their death…my grandparents had found out about all this soon and they had plannned to come and get me and my sister back to China and they decided they would seek justice for my parents because they were much more influential and powerful figures than my parents…."

Huan Jing reached out and gently took Si Jian's trembling hands in his own. "Si Jian, none of this should have happened."

Si Jian looked into Huan Jing's eyes, her own filled with a mix of anger, sorrow, and a hint of something else—vulnerability. "I wanted you to know, Huan Jing, not because I want your pity, but because you need to understand the depth of the pain your family has caused. I've carried this burden for years and I'm still carrying it… it's a disease and I'm it's pathogen.."

Huan Jing nodded, his voice filled with sincerity. "I understand, Si Jian. And I promise you, I'll do whatever it takes to make things right."

Si Jian stared into Huan Jing's eyes, searching for any hint of deception. What she found instead was a genuine desire to help, a willingness to acknowledge the past and work toward a better future.

"The morning my grandparents were coming…. " Si Jian's voice trembled..tears still flowing," the night before my grandparents came..my sister had given me a gold pendant which she got specially made for me on my eleventh birthday but failed to give because she had to move for her educational purposes for some time…and she decide to give it to me on my sixteenth birthday as a sweet sixteen gift but she gave it to me that night and out it around my neck in a gold chain that she was wearing as a sign that she had me and I had her because we both were in immense and serious depression..we were struggling mentally.. we got anxiety and panic attacks around fifteen times a day..we'd lie breathless on the floor ..we'd become numb and would faint at intervals of hours..that night …...you..around three to four years old along with your father and mother came to our house…he's I'm much senior than you in age….me and my sister were terrified..we held on the door closing it as your father's men broke it and dragged my sister and me to the hall and the they broke four vase that we had in four corners of our hall on my sisters head…I howled and screamed but my strength was not much..I was pshucally and emotionally weak at that time..I tried to save my sister. They tortured her and then dragged her to our pool and drowned her until she was dead and your father beated me and told me that this is how he killed my uncle too..and that he wants me to see what I failed to see completely that night when I saw a body floating in our pool..then he gave a gun to you and told you to shoot at my sister and you did..not once..not twice but five times…your mother snatched the pendant and chain from my neck and made you wear it…." Si Jian eyes filled with anger at the last sentence that she said … you see this Huan Jing ? THIS IS MY BELONGING..ITS MY SISTER'S AFFECTION …" She grabbed Huan Jing's collars voilently as she pointed towards the gold glistening pendant designed as a Japanese fan that Huan Jing wore till now…..Huan Jing's eyes almost popped out in shock and remorse…"THIS IS MY BELONGINGGG…MY SISTER'S LOVE FOR ME MY FREAKING LAST HOPE AND MY FREAKING PART OF SOUL…THE ONLY BELONGING OF MY FAMILYA ND THE ONLY TOKEN OF LOVE AND AFFECTION OF MY FAMILY WAS LEFT WITH BECAUSE YOUR CATHER BURNT MY VILLA THAT NIGHT INFRONT OF MY EYESSSSSS!!!!" Si Jian screamed and shouted as more tears fell down from her eyes and she kept choking Huan Jing and teared his shirt aggressively….Huan Jing was just staring with guilt and remorse not trying to stop her even a bit and let her hit him and bruise him however she wanted…tears built up in Huan Jing's eyes as he tried to feel Si Jian's pain while staring at her aggressive breaking down figure that had went feral because of…..his family and him…