“Mama, we are going now,” Tala said into the phone. “I will call you again when we are somewhere safe.”
“Anak, I love you,” Dalisay cried.
“I love you too, mama.” Tala disconnected the call, grabbed her bag and followed Kelsey and the front desk clerk out the door.
“What is going on?” Kelsey asked in the elevator on the way to the lobby.
“The police received an alert that a man is coming here to kill you, Mees Daniels” the woman said.
“It is Doneng,” Tala cried. “He has gone crazy. I am so sorry, Kelsey. My brother has gone crazy!” She sobbed into her hands.
“It will be okay,” the desk clerk said. “There are police everywhere. You will leave Manila safely.”
**********
Doneng knew what he must do. God had spoken to him the night he went to Kelsey’s hotel room. It was God who had told him to go. God had wanted him to see the sin of his sister with his own eyes so that he would have the strength to do His will.
And he had seen that sin very clearly. He had watched them sleep as comfortably as two women who did not care about the shame they brought to the world. And when they woke and began to touch, he grew hard. He would have been able to watch longer but he’d been foolish enough to smoke and the red-haired devil had smelled it.
But that was okay, because he had plans for the both of them. They had caused his suffering. It was because of them that he had spent two days in a dirty cage like an animal his own family wouldn’t even bother to kick.
He would kill them. He would kill his sister, and he would kill the red devil too, but not before he raped her repeatedly and made his sister watch.
“You will see this, Tala,” he whispered to himself. “You will see me rape your red devil and hear her beg me for more.”
Doneng rubbed his crotch in anticipation. The deaths, those were for God, but the raping, that would be for him.
When he got to the hotel, he was most displeased to find it blocked off by police. His erection deflated as he realized he would not get to carry out the best part of his plan. He could kill them still, if he was smart about it, but there would be no opportunity to do the rest.
Doneng patted the gun in his lap, drove another mile, and parked the car in a line of several others. Stealthy, he moved up the street. He saw no one and no one saw him.
From a distance he watched the policemen on foot patrol the area in the same predictable pattern. Two moved from one side of the driveway to the other, and two more stood stationed in place in the center.
They were looking for cars, Doneng realized. They didn’t appear to be watching who might slip through the bushes on foot.
Doneng waited. When the two officers who roamed from side to side stopped in the center to talk to the other two officers, he slipped through the bushes and easily made it to the other side.
There were more police stationed outside the lobby doors. Doneng quickly moved from the bushes and into the crowd of people waiting in line to pass through security and get to their rooms. From the looks on their faces, Doneng realized that these were people who had been out late partying. Their hair was flat with humidity, their bodies tired, and their eyes glassed-over from too much drinking. He couldn’t have picked a better group to blend into if he tried.
Doneng watched Tala and Kelsey exit the lobby with a desk clerk and a policeman. During his time in the cage he had come to realize that Kelsey was every bit the whore Tala was. In many ways, she was worse. Tala, at least, believed she was a lesbian. But Kelsey, the red devil herself, took pleasure in teasing men. Doneng had had enough time to figure it out. Kelsey enjoyed making men hard and then turning them down. He imagined the teasing made her wet and his dick grew hard again. If only he could use it to fuck her. If only he had the chance to show her what a real man felt like.
But he would never get that chance. God wanted them dead, and even if He did not, Tala would always be in the way.
As Kelsey and Tala passed the crowd, he removed the gun from his pocket and stepped toward them.
“Tala!” He called. His sister would pay in the way God expected.
Tala turned to face her brother.
A drunk woman screamed, “gun!”
Doneng aimed the pistol at his sister’s head as police swarmed in.
“Goodbye, sister,” he said. “You will see your red devil soon.”
He squeezed the trigger and the last thing he saw was the red devil diving in front of his aim.
Chapter 18
Kelsey was pulled to her feet by two policemen. Her eyes came into blurry focus. Tala was still on the ground and there was blood in her hair.
“Tala!” Kelsey stumbled toward her but a policeman caught her and pulled her back.
“Help her!” She screamed. “She’s bleeding!”
“That is your blood, Miss. You’ve been shot.”
Kelsey looked down at her arm and it was dripping with blood.
“You jumped in front of her and the man shot you in the arm. It would have been her face had you not done so.”
Kelsey watched as another man helped Tala to her feet and checked her for wounds. She was clear.
“We must get you to the hospital,” the policeman was saying to Kelsey. “It looks like the bullet just grazed you, so it will probably be just a few stitches-- but the doctors will know better.”
Tala ran over to Kelsey in tears. “Why did you do this? You could have been killed!”
Kelsey tried to ignore the sting that was growing in her arm. “I’m okay. Where’s Doneng?”
“He is there, Miss.” The policeman pointed at a body on the ground several feet away lying in a pool of blood.
“Doneng!” Tala ran to her brother and threw herself on the ground beside him.
Doneng stared up at her with a dazed look in his eyes. “It was not me, Tala,” he said, wincing at the pain that ran from his shoulder to his chest. “It was God.”
Kelsey appeared in his line of view and his eyes grew dark again. “And that red devil,” he sneered. “With hair like the sunset. I had plans for us, red devil. Tala would have watched you enjoy me.”
Kelsey saw the danger still living in Doneng’s eyes and backed away.
“We must get you both to the hospital now,” the policeman said.
“I am not going to the same hospital as him,” Kelsey said. “No fucking way.”
“He will be in police custody, Miss.”
“No. The ambulance here can take care of me.”
“Kelsey, you must go to the hospital,” Tala pleaded. The blood dripping down Kelsey’s arm was the same blood Tala could feel crusting in her hair. If Kelsey hadn’t jumped in front of her, she’d be dead.
Kelsey shook her head at Tala and stood firm.
The policeman sighed. Arrogant American. “We will see what the medic says then. If it is something he thinks he can take care of that is okay, but if it is not, you must go.”
“What will happen to my brother?” Tala asked. Doneng had tried to kill her but Tala realized it was only because he was sick. “He needs help. Mental help.”
“That much is clear,” the policeman scoffed.
“Will he get the help he needs?”
“He will get medical help for his wounds first. Then he will go to jail like everyone else until a judge decides his fate.”
Tala and Kelsey watched Doneng being lifted into an ambulance and driven away.
“You should call your mother,” Kelsey said, thinking Tala’s family must be sick with worry by this point.
“Kelsey, how are you so calm right now?”
“I’m calm because it’s over. I had a bad feeling about your brother from the first time I met him. After we saw him--” she glanced at the policeman and changed the words she wanted to say from in the cage to two nights ago --”I knew something bad was going to happen. I could feel it.”
“Miss, the ambulance!” The policeman sounded annoyed.
Ke
lsey nodded and walked over to the medic. Tala followed, calling her mother at the same time.
“It is over, mama,” she said in Tagalog. “Kelsey has been shot by Doneng but it is in the arm and she will be okay. Doneng has been shot by the police. I do not know how bad it is. They are taking him to the hospital now.”
Tala listened to her mother crying at the other end of the phone.”My son! My son! Why has he done this to himself?”
“He is not well, mama,” Tala said. “Kelsey and I will go back to America this afternoon as planned if they will let her leave.”
“Oh, anak. Do not go now like this.”
“I have to, mama. It is not right to ask her to stay even one more day after my brother has shot her.”
“Tell her we are sorry, please!”
“Mama,” Tala said quietly, feeling the pain burst in her heart. “He was not aiming for Kelsey.”
Dalisay gasped. “What are you saying, anak?”
Tala started to cry again. “He was aiming at me, mama. Kelsey jumped in front of the gun.”
“She must love you very much, Tala.”
“Yes,” Tala said in English now. “She loves me very much.” She smiled weakly at Kelsey who was getting her wound treated. “And she is crazy for doing that.”
Kelsey pinched her thigh as hard as she could to try to distract from the pain of the needle being threaded in and out of her arm. She was getting on that flight out of Manila today no matter what it took.
Chapter 19
Tala relived the scene a hundred times on the way back to America. There was the crowd outside the hotel. Then there was Doneng calling her name. She had turned to face him because she had hoped that she could reason with him. But then she saw the gun being lifted into alignment with her face and that cold, evil look in Doneng’s eyes, and when he said “Goodbye sister”, she knew without a doubt that he would pull the trigger.
She was prepared in that moment to take it. As long as it wasn’t Kelsey, she was prepared to take it.
Then the next thing she knew Kelsey was flying at her as police jumped into action and a loud pop rang out into the night.
When she hit the ground, she was sure she had been shot. Kelsey was on top of her, and she felt warm blood sliding down her forehead into her hair. She thought Doneng must have shot her in the head and remained on the ground as the policemen lifted Kelsey off of her. It was only after she was able to sit up that she realized it was Kelsey who had been shot. Kelsey’s arm had flung up to protect Tala’s face and it had taken the bullet.
She looked at the woman sleeping beside her on the plane now and her heart filled with anguish. Kelsey had known Doneng was dangerous. But she’d ignored her own instincts and had trusted Tala when she’d said she would keep her safe. In the end, Tala had failed to do so and it was Kelsey who had kept her safe. Tala’s guilt was immense.
How had this happened? How had any of this happened? And how had Kelsey been the only one to see that Doneng was truly unstable?
Papa’s caging of Doneng hadn’t helped. Tala was certain of that. All it had done was give him time to grow angrier. Sicker maybe even. She did not blame her father, but alas, she could not even blame Doneng. He was ill, and who really knew how long her family had been making excuses for his illness before his inner demons finally overcame him. Tala prayed the courts would be compassionate and send him to a place where he could get the help he needed.
Kelsey slept through the entire flight and didn’t wake up until the plane was making its bouncy journey across the runway.
“Please tell me we’re finally home,” she groaned, opening her eyes for the first time in fourteen hours.
Tala patted her hand, comfortingly. “We are home, my love.”
Kelsey nodded but did not feel better until they were in the back of a cab on their way back to her house. When they stepped through the front door, she almost kissed the ground. Instead, she kissed Snickers, who instantly appeared to rub his face against her ankles.
“You’re home,” Al said happily, as Tala and Kelsey entered the kitchen where she was making coffee. She turned to pull Kelsey into a tight hug and Kelsey almost cried out at the pain that shot through her arm.
“How was the trip?”
“Oh, you know, the usual,” Kelsey said. “Her brother broke into our hotel room so her father put him in a cage then he got out and tried to kill us.”
Alison fell back against the cabinets and steadied herself on the kitchen counter. “What the--?”
“Fuck?” Kelsey offered with a small laugh. “What the fuck indeed.”
“He is not well,” Tala said, quietly.
“Clearly,” Alison said. “Are you guys okay?”
Kelsey nodded and Tala shook her head. “Kelsey has been shot.”
“What?!”
“In the arm,” Kelsey admitted. “Just a few stitches but it stings like a bitch.”
“Why the fuck would your brother shoot her?!”
“Al, don’t yell at her. It’s not her fault.”
Alison backed down. “No, I mean, I know it’s not her fault. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just scary, that’s all.”
Tala bowed her head and sadly said, “I think he has a mental illness that my family has been ignoring for a very long time. He believes God told him to do it. He was aiming for me. It should have been me.”
Tears filled Tala’s eyes and Kelsey wrapped her good arm around her. “Tala, if it had been you, you would be dead. That gun was aimed at your face. It only took me a split second to realize that if I jumped forward, the slight height difference between us could be the difference between me taking a shot in the shoulder and you having your face blown off.”
“Jesus!” Alison said. “That’s some fast thinking, Kels. Why don’t you guys sit and I’ll make you something to eat?”
“Nah, I’m not hungry.”
“That sounds lovely, Alison,” Tala said. “Kelsey, you have not eaten in over twenty-four hours. You must eat now.”
Kelsey poured three cups of coffee while Alison made scrambled eggs and toast.
“So, what’s been going on around here?” Kelsey asked, devouring Alison’s delicious eggs.
Alison went to the notepad where she’d been jotting things down and scanned the page. “Well, let’s see. You had a furnace go out on one of the properties but Chance went in and fixed it for you. He’ll bill you later.”
Kelsey nodded.
“Julia stopped by and I told her to fuck off. And some lawyerly-looking guy stopped by and said he was wondering if you’d heard from Tala because he’d accepted an offer on the house. Stephen, I assume.”
Tala’s eyes grew wide. “I did not receive an email.”
“Maybe you need to restart your phone,” Kelsey teased, remembering when Tala had said the same to her in Manila. “Did you tell him where I was, Al?”
Alison sipped her coffee and rolled her eyes. “As if. I told him you were on vacation and that I was house-sitting but I’d make sure you received the message.”
“Thanks Al.”
Alison cleared the dishes and threw them in the dishwasher. “Okay, I already have the car packed up so I’m gonna head out. Call me if you need anything.” She gave each woman a hug and headed out the door.
“She is a good friend to you,” Tala commented, sipping her still warm coffee.
Kelsey nodded and rose from her chair. “I’m going to take a bath, Tala. Why don’t you call Stephen and your mother in the meantime?”
Tala shook her head. “I will call them later and help you into the bath now.”
“I don’t need help,” Kelsey said, blushing a little at the idea that Tala saw her as weak right now.
“Perhaps not, but is it okay if I join you nonetheless? Let us wash away all of these bad things together and start anew.”
Tala drew a hot bath and stepped into the tub. She watched Kelsey undress, noting the bandage around her left arm and shuddered at how much worse it coul
d have been.
Doneng had wanted to rape Kelsey. He’d said as much himself. Tears stung the backs of Tala’s eyes as she imagined the torment her beautiful love could have faced if things had gone differently.
Kelsey stepped into the bath, leaving her left arm dangling over the side, and Tala pulled her closer.
“I love you, Kelsey,” she whispered against her ear.
Kelsey felt the warmth of Tala’s chest against her back and settled into her embrace. Tala’s legs wrapped tightly around her waist and they stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. The warm water covered their bodies and Kelsey imagined that it was washing away the pain of Manila from both of them each time a small wave rolled up to her throat then made its way back down the length of her.
When they emerged from the tub an hour later, it almost felt as if Manila had never happened, but the stinging pain in her arm was a constant reminder that it had.
I almost lost her, Kelsey thought. I went there to get her, and I almost lost her in the very same place.
She pulled Tala to her and breathed in the comforting scent of her skin. Tala’s still damp black hair brushed against her cheek. Kelsey took Tala’s face in her hands and stared into her dark brown eyes.
“I love you so much, Tala. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.”
Tala breathed a sigh of relief to see the woman she loved returning. Kelsey had not been herself since the night they saw Doneng in the cage. She had been sad and distant. But now she was here again --expressing her true feelings-- and Tala’s heart lifted at the sight of her.
“We start things from here, my love,” Tala whispered. “Everything else we shall just call a means to get us here.”
Kelsey nodded against Tala’s cheek and squeezed her tighter.
In the evening, Tala made her calls. She started with Stephen, who told her he’d accepted a three hundred thousand dollar offer on the house.
“I’ll get you your half as soon as we close,” he said. His heart ached at the sound of his wife’s voice. He had missed her so much during her time away and would love nothing more than to try again. “Just so you know,” he said. “I ended things with Evelyn—for good.”
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