It was astonishing to see a woman who looked exactly like me and was this man's wife.
Well, he did have a name.
James Williams.
And he loved his wife, Evelyn Williams. More than anything else.
"So, you want me to pretend that I am Evelyn for your son's sake just because he saw me?" I asked. It sounded ridiculous to my own ears.
Tell me, who does that? That too after you develop a liking to the good treatment.
"Yes, we are getting close to finding her so it is just a short amount of time. And in return you can have anything you want. Money, jewelry, dresses, anything. I just want you to make Junior believe that you were in a coma after surviving a gunshot incident and that you had forgot about us. But now that you have met us both, you have started retaining your memories and will need some time to remember everything. This story will do." He finished in one breath.
Wow. He was definitely going to break Hollywood's acting skills if he was successful in this plan. It sounded real even to me. As if that was what happened to me as well.
I had woken up with no memories.
It was that rainy, dark night, that I first opened my eyes. I woke up after a long sleep. I was in a shed, lying on a haystack. My stomach hurt. I looked down to see blood. My stomach churned. I saw the wound. I didn't remember getting any injuries. But... I couldn't remember anything.
Wait! What?
Who was I? I knew how to speak but how? I couldn't remember anything about me. Just... What was happening?
I saw bandages around the wound. But still a strange sense of danger kept chewing me from inside.
I was born? How can I speak so well if I was a child? And my body was definitely an adult. Maybe a concussion. Whatever.
Seeing my clothes, I guessed I might not be a rich woman. Maybe I killed somebody because someone wanted me dead. If I took the gunshot wound into consideration.
Maybe someone wanted me alive, seeing the bandages.
This was all too confusing without knowing my identity.
However, I had to survive. I was hungry, thirsty, with no place to sleep and no identity. I would have to start my life again.
I tried moving. And it hurt. Yet, I stood up and staggered into the rain.
With a determination to live.
***
I learnt everything I could. The local gangster, Rick, was like my own brother. He cared for me and treated me like his own family. He had lost his sister in a deliberate accident. Since then he had vowed to become a criminal to take revenge, however after meeting me, he was glad to teach me fighting skills, making me the best among all his partners. I would train day and night with him, covered in dirt and mud. He was happy to pamper me as his sister, and I was glad I could fill that bill to get a warm home with a brother to care and friends to cherish. It was my happy world.
We stole from the rich and helped the poor. It was why we were proud of the crimes we committed. It never bothered our conscience to make a dent in their pockets if they were hell-bent on treating us like slaves. They were in their own luxury world, while children crawled for food, women had to be prostitutes to earn money and men had to lick boots to get some respect in society. I hated them.
Killing their own blood to get money, murdering each other for benefits, they were not even savage humans. They were money hungry beasts. And I was glad to hate them with all I had.
Rick reformed me from a woman with no identity but determination into Scorpion, a woman of strong opinions, strength, tactics, skills and intelligence. We destroyed banks that stood up with corrupted intentions, we robbed the rich men with unfair authority. We did everything to bring them down and climb up the social ladder.
Soon, we all had a decent life. Food to eat, home to live, people to talk. But how would have I known that the ants in the pants of the rich had finally pinched enough for them to hold back any longer?
They brought big cranes, bulldozers and destroyed the slums. The children, women, all fell victim to it.
Survival of the fittest. That was what they said. Only Rick's gang members, some other women and some young orphans could survive.
And we had all lost contact with each other. My home got destroyed in front of my eyes. And I was helpless.
I was alone again.
With no one.
No brother, no friends.
I snapped back to reality. Anything I wanted, huh? Just a few days of acting in front of a small child and I could be a billionaire within that time. Then I would hunt every single corner of the world to find my brother.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And a tempting offer.
To be continued...