Chapter 9

Jim: This is madness. How long has this been going on?

Marie: Coming to 2 months I think. Maybe a little more.

What the fuck is wrong with people nowadays.

I told Marie to start packing.

Jim: Pack clothes for a couple of days. Anything you might need. I’ll come back in a while and I’ll get you out ok?

Marie: But what if Issac ... What if he ... I can’t ... If he comes back and doesn’t see me here, he’ll get angry and he’ll go to my sister!!

Jim: What sister?

Marie: My sister is in Singapore too but ... but I cannot go to her. Issac knows the café she works at and he will go there and look for me!! I don’t want to get my sister involved ... and ... and ... there are cameras in here ... he can see me.

I stepped back immediately, afraid for a moment that I might appear on tape.

Jim: Is there one pointed at this door?

Marie: No, there’s one on top of me but it’s pointed at the living room sofa. There’s one in the room and one in the kitchen so Issac will know.

Jim: Fuck him. Don’t think so much. Let’s get you out of here first then we’ll find a way to get you back home and away from him. Go pack now!

Marie nodded and went back into the house.

I could cut the lock with a pair of bolt cutters but I needed to get them from my place. My dad used to do some renovation odd jobs and I remembered seeing the tools in the storeroom.

By the time I headed home and got back to Woodlands, it was already 10.00 pm

I knocked on the door and Marie was ready. Her eyes were still red from probably another fresh bout of crying.

Jim: You ready?

Marie: Yes.

It took a few attempts but I managed to cut the lock on the gate. Marie hugged onto a small bag and came to the door of the house.

Jim: You have all your stuff? Let’s go make a police report first.

Marie shook her head vigorously.

Marie: No please. I don’t want to blow the matter up. Just get me out of here. I just want to go home.

Jim: But you cannot let him get away with this.

Marie pleaded with me.

Marie: The police ... Court cases ... all these things are games for the rich ... I cannot afford to play all this ... please ... Jim ... I just want to go home ... I don’t want to report this ... please.

Jim: Where does your sister live?

Marie: NO! ... not my sister ... Issac will go after her ... He makes me message my sister every now and then to tell her I’m ok and how good he is to me.

Jim: This is a nightmare.

Marie: You can’t help me. Nobody can.

Shit. Now I’m stuck with a dilemma. This is what happens when you don’t think things through before taking action. All I’d thought about was bringing Marie to the police, then hopefully after she had made a report, they would take care of her or something. Now that she is unwilling to speak up, I was stuck.

Marie: Please let’s just leave this corridor. I’m afraid what if Issac decides to come back suddenly. His family is rich and resourceful.

Jim: Calm down, calm down he cannot do anything to you. Relax.

I looked into Marie’s place for a moment before asking her if she knew where the camera footages were being stored.

Jim: The cameras. Where do they get stored? The footages.

Marie: There’s some stuff like boxes and cables in the cupboard over there together with the internet things. I don’t know. But it’s all locked.

Jim: Come out of the house.

She nodded and came out, peering warily along the corridor.

I removed my shirt, covered my face and entered the house. Turning to the distribution box located behind the door, I hit the master switch and cut the electricity to the house.

Running straight to the cupboard, I broke the simple lock and I found the 3.5 inch hard drive that was connected to the DVR and I removed it. That should have evidence of Marie being abused by Issac.

I brought Marie to my cab and scratched my head. Now I had to figure out what to do with her.

Fuck.

I couldn’t possibly bring her back home, so I drove her to the only place I had in my mind.

Sengkang.

Yes.

Denise’s place.

This was going to be so awkward. I didn’t even know if Denise was still there but it was worth a shot. She still had that place for a couple of months and she was the only one staying there. There was more than enough space for another girl, not that she owed me anything but it was the only place I could think of aside from putting Marie up in a hotel or something.

I had to drop by a small shop along the way because Marie said she was hungry. I started filling the shopping basket with sandwiches, snacks, chips, coffee, milk, basically enough food to last Marie at least till lunch the next day.

I stopped at a quiet car park as Marie ate quietly, trying to calm herself down. She broke down twice while eating but managed to compose herself after a while.

Jim: You ok? Ready to go?

I briefly told Marie about Denise on the way over. She asked if we were related and I said no.

Marie: How did you 2 know each other then?

Jim: Err ... I helped to clean up some spilled milk ... Long story...

Marie: Oh. You became friends by helping her clean up?