A Story About Hatred and Revenge

1. His body shook violently from side to side. Blood and froth gurgled freely from his mouth. His hands were cold and clammy and his face contorted in a picture of pure pain. I could only watch as the paramedics took him away…

2. Everything was ;like a competition between us. His hate for me grew each time I”won” and likewise mine for him, each time he did. Our rivalry knew no bounds.

3. But now, he seemed to have changed. His face was thinner, his step had lost its aggressiveness and his voice was no longer strong. As I looked at him, I even felt a certain sympathy for him.

4. The tattooed snake on his forearm seemed to come alive. He was almost shouting. I looked into his dark, inscrutable eyes and all the warmth I had in me vanished. He was still the same cruel, savage beast he had always been.

5. “You will be my maid. You will clean my mansion, serve me food and lick my boots! And in exchange, you wcan have my heart to save your son. You see, I will die a contented man knowing I had the last laugh.” The audacity of it all! It took all I had to keep me in my seat and stop me from punching his face. Then I saw the expression on my son’s face, purple from the lack of oxygen, trying to call out my name. I heard my wife’s voice, her last dying wish, “Please …please…look after our son.”

6. I cleaned and cooked and served with subservience, catering to Huat Cai’s every single whim and fancy. During that week, I learnt the meaning of shame.

7. Not once did he show any remorse. Not once did he feel sympathy. Not once did I even see the slightest show of emotion that could prove he was human. But I never complained. Even as he whipped me and kicked me and spat at me, I knew his offer was too good to pass.

8. I thought of my son all the time. I thought of the things we could do together, I thought of the fun we would have and I thought of his lovely smile. I knew that no matter what, I had to fulfil my part of the bargain.

9. Huat Cai pulled out a large silver pistol, cocked it, stood up, and aimed it at himself and screamed with all his might. “This will be my final victory over you! I am the winner!”

10. When the coroner performed the autopsy on Huat Cai, he found the cause of death was three bullets straight through the heart. “What a waste of a good heart.”