"Annie, did you get everything ready?" Atty. Greene, one of the famous attorneys of the Nines Firm is hurrying on his way out.
It's my first day on this new firm after quitting the other firm a few weeks ago.
This is my third firm in five years. If you ask me for the reason... I'm not sure what it is either.
There's just something.. something I don't know but I'm certain that I'm looking for it.
Maybe contentment?
Maybe free time?
Or challenge?
I don't know.
It's my first day and they told me to take it easy and familiarize myself on the new workplace first. They put me on team 3 which consists of four people.
"Hey, Emilia. Are you down for a welcome party later on?" My teammate, Jennifer asked.
"Party? Sure! I'll buy the drinks."
"No, no." Mr. Fernand said. He's the oldest of us and has worked for over ten years now in this firm.
"Why?" Jennifer asked.
"I'll buy it all since it's your first day here. You can pay it later when you've got your first paycheck, okay?" He smiled.
"Don't get hangover later, old man!"John said.
"Who's old?! I'm not that old yet!"
I heard Mr. Fernand has won many cases already, and most of them are murder cases.
...
Night came. The four of us headed to the pub nearby the Mall and ordered our drinks.
My phone vibrated in the middle of a shot.
"Hello?" It's my boyfriend, Henry.
"Oh, hi babe. I'm sorry I haven't called you earlier." I said.
"Why is it so loud there? Are you in a pub?" He asked.
"Ah, yes. It's my welcome party. I'm with my teammates so don't worry."
Oddly enough, I heard a faint voice on the phone that doesn't belong to him, but maybe I'm just imagining it because there are a lot of people here and the noise must've filled me in. There's also no way he's cheating or anything like that since we've been together for three years now.
"So, where are you right now?"
"I'm at the apartment. Work's done for today so I head in early. I'm so tired." He answered.
"Alright. Sweet dreams to you."
"Go home safe okay? No staying out too late into the night."
"Sure."
"If there's anything I can help you with, give me a ring."
"Okay, see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too. Goodnight." And he hang up.
Henry is the kind of guy who pops up out of nowhere just to surprise me with bouquets of flowers and what's so adorable about him is that he appears exactly when I needed him most.
Until this night where everything crumbles and a new path lead me to a crossroads.
I took the stairs to the second floor of the old apartment building. The rent here is cheaper because of the rumors going around about a ghost of a woman and a child. A kind of nonsense only children would fall for.
"Waah!"
I paused halfway. That can't be a baby. I'm new here but I do know there's no tenant with a child here since the apartment manager told me he doesn't accept tenants with kids.
"Ssshh."
Okay, there's actually someone there.
What if that's the ghost? I hesitantly open my phone but it will take forever if I ask someone to accompany me now and I only got 4 hours of sleep left till work time.
I muster all my courage to take my steps.
And there stands a woman with a baby in front of my door. The woman looks younger than me and is wearing jeans and shirt like no ghosts would.
I drew closer to her as she dance the baby to hush.
"Hi!" I greeted.
"Hello! Is this Henry Papaya's place?" She asked.
For a second, I thought it's my boyfriend but they only actually have the same first name.
"No. There's no tenant here with that name as far as I can tell." I answered.
I open my door to the woman's surprise.
"But, this is the door number he gave me." She rummage through her pocket and showed me her phone.
It's the picture of her and my boyfriend signing the marriage contract.
"What?!" I only gasped.
"Who are you?" She asked me tearfully.
"I'm.. I'm his girlfriend. We're- we're 3 years in this relationship now." I can't believe the tears and betrayal of this night.
"I'm his wife for two years now. My baby is already seven months old." she cried clasping her baby tighter in her arms.
"Please wait, I'll give him a call."
I can't imagine the bitterness she feels at the moment. The baby in her arms started frowning again as if to cry so she swallowed her tears and dance her in a shaky voice of lullaby.
I keep dialing Henry's number until he picked up.
"Please come inside for now, it's cold outside." The woman entered tearfully still lulling her child to sleep.
"Thank you." She whispered.
I went out to the front door so I could sort it out myself. There's too many questions inside my head than I can handle.
"What's up babe?" He answered.
"I want to hear the truth from you. Did you or did you not wed someone else and had a child behind my back?!"
"Babe? Oh...so she really went there to ask for alms."
"Are you belittling her now that she needs support? For how long have you been fooling me now?!"
"It's not my fault that they stick around me and expect me to pay for their actions like you. Check out my new baby by the way."
"Halooo~" so he got himself another bitch.
"I will sue you. You better get ready for it." I'm on my last fuse with this guy.
"And what? You must've forgotten, but my uncle is a prosecutor. If only you gave me what I wanted since you're my woman, then we wouldn't have gotten here. If you got no questions ask yourself then since it's your fault this happened." He hung up.
The next thing I remember, I was already drowning in beer cans after calling a cab for the woman so she can return to her parents. I feel so stupid getting betrayed like that, so sorry for the mother and child- I hope she can get a divor- right! I can help her find someone to file divorce to that bastard and child support for the baby! I need to call...
Ugh..so dizzy, I still need to choose my work outfit for tomorrow...it must be the beer
My head felt heavy and my eyes closed.
Just a few seconds ago, I was about to call my team and now I'm seeing nothing. As I thought, did I pass out from the beer?
A spotlight opened in front of me. The huge statue of Justitia shines in gold under the light. Suddenly, a coin fell on one of the weights causing the scale to tilt in the direction and the statue crumbled down fast. The coin rolled out of the debris and stop at my feet.
What is in this coin that it destroyed the statue?
I took the coin. To my surprise, it's so light on my hand. It looks like a regular copper coin but there's no value printed on it however you flip.
"Emilia.." it's the voice of Attorney Greene from my firm. But a blindfold already tied itself over my eyes.
"Do not take this off." He said in a command.
"But why?" I asked.
"Why do you think lady Justitia has her eyes blindfolded?" He asked.
"Because the law-"
"-is blind."
"No!" I shouted.
"But that's the truth, Emilia. Money is the law." He said.
"It's not!"
"Then how can you give justice to the lady with the child? How can you send the prosecutor's nephew to court?"
"What?"
"You can't, Emilia. Like Justitia, you're blind to the truth."
"WRONG! Justice will always take form in one way or the other."
"That's called Karma, Emilia."
"Karma is synonymous with justice. If only I can..if only I have the power.."
"What will you do, kill him?"
"There's an equal payment for every sins." I lifted the blindfold.
"Also, Justitia has her eyes covered so she can hear the truth regardless of status and bias. But you right now is only pure hallucinations. Won't you please get out of my-" to my surprise, a devil like creature is the one behind me. "..sight." it looks like it's about to attack me but it's too late, I can't move!
"Ahahahahaha! See?" He stopped a few inches away from me.
"What did I say about not taking the blindfold off?" He said.
Dessert sand suddenly flooded the scene in front of me. Molding shapes into a place from a book or memory. Now, it looks like I'm inside the bloody arena during the times of ancient Greece. A statue after another appeared on the corners of the wide stage. A narrow path leads to each of them. Those statues are familiar to me. Isn't that Henry? That one looks like the woman who came to my place, and that small hand holding her skirt..
"Emilia..repeat after me." He gestured with a grim smile, showing his sharp and long teeth.
"For by blood I sinned, in blood I die."
What?
What does that mean?
"For by-" something's wrong with his words..it's like saying I'll be murdered! Then, how about this..
"For in blood I sinned, by blood I die."
He gave me a look but I ignored it
"Gone is truth, gone is lie. Now, the devil's free to pry!" He laughed like a madman he is.
How can I change that..
"Here is truth, here is lie. Now, the devil cannot pry!" I shouted.
The devil looks at me in intense anguish. He didn't see that coming even when-
The coin in my palm heated up. Just when the devil tried to reach me with his claws, the coin took the form of a sword. I aim my sword to the devil.
"Now, now, Emilia. You don't point me that sword..."
"For I made that." He whispered in my ear.
"No!"
"Emilia, I have but one last trial to you" as he snapped his finger, the illusion of a crowd wearing smiling masks filled the seats of the arena. Their cheers loud in my ears. Touching my back is a life-sized statue of Justitia with a rusty scale that creaks from a swing. Behind her is a table where three red devils transformed into three of the ten famous prosecutors from our firm.
"Bring out the sinners!" The one imitating Prosecutor Soh shouted.
A number of statues appeared before me.
"Chop them all off, Executioner!" Prosecutor Bean's twin commanded me.
"What is all this?!" This is getting ridiculous!
"Emilia, balance the scale by destroying all the sinners. The innocent angel has to be the last one standing here for that to happen. May luck be with you." The devil left me with cryptic message for his final words.
Does that mean only one should remain standing here and I have to destroy all the statues here? How about the Prosecutors? Do I have to destroy them too? But he said the angel should be the last one standing so I can balance the scale..
All of a sudden, my feet started moving on its own. A few feet to my left stands a statue of a man with his hair combed back neatly though wearing nothing but a piece of cloth covering his privates. His left hand carries a pouch of what I think is coins. The other holding a mirror against his chest.
But that's not important here.
I can't feel my legs! It's like someone is controlling them!
My hands raised the sword before the statue.
"Stop! Stop it.." my force has left the control of my body completely. The sword in my hand swings in a flash. Down went the statue's head after
Whoah, it's a perfect cut.
(Whoosh)
A few scenes played at the back of my mind. The statue's name is Nolan Nordis. He's also an attorney at a firm but, he has a peculiar way of working. If he finds his client innocent, he demands big personal payment in exchange of putting the opposite party in guilty charges. He cunningly oppresses the judges using different means to achieve his "justice". If the client is in no doubt guilty, he sells them to the other by asking for the payment to be lax from defending his client. He also highly values his looks that all the money he got underhandedly went to a bunch of plastic surgery and luxurious possessions.
What a trash.
When I get back to my senses, the decapitated statue is now bloody. A few splattered drops appear on my skirt. This guy has a whole room for his tie and suit while I only have a few pairs of heels to match to work. And there's still a lot-
My hands are moving on its own again.
"Tsk! What the...stop!" but it won't listen. This time, an older woman holding a small box in her hand.
"No!" I tried holding myself back but the sword pierced the statue's heart.
"Stop! Why?" it's clearly a jewelry box for ring.
The flashbacks started.
The old woman was a retired attorney but lived her life in complete honesty. She dedicated all her decisions and actions to her deceased husband. But why is her statue here? Is she the angel?
I remember the imitating demon shouted to bring out the sinners. Maybe she's hiding some darkness in her heart.
Blood soaked the blade of the sword wet. Now, even my button up has blood on it. I look at the statue of Justitia behind me.
"So even when I'm covering you, you still have to get bloody, huh?"
I don't know what to do anymore.
I can't stop my hands from slashing. A teen aspiring to be a lawyer, a prosecutor from a big firm.. my hands are soaked with the blood from statues. When I realized I can now control my feet, I went up the table where the three imitating demons are.
"You all have to go now..."
My hands then automatically eliminate those before me.
The rusty scale now has one of it's weighting bowls almost filled with blood while the other remains empty tilted upward.
"Almost there."
How do I know who the angel is? Everyone makes mistake. Desire is also a human's core that fuels our need to struggle to survive. Since no human is without flaw, no one can be considered holy or above the others.
Everyone here is a sinner...
.
.
.
.
(gasp)
"I see. I missed the word 'innocent' all this time. So, it was _you_"
Hang in there. I'm coming.
I endured the distasteful feeling of cutting down the statues. Until I get to the two remaining narrow paths that lead to each statues I know personally. In a fit of rage, I pulverized my ex's statue and stomped on it. That bastard is a piece of trash.
"Well deserved."
I stop at the last statue.
"I'm sorry." I slashed the top portion of the statue.
I'm only dreaming anyway, so why would I be afraid? I'm supposed to be asleep now after chugging beers past my limit. Although this all feels weird, I cannot rule out the fact that this isn't real.
"Enough of this indecisiveness."
I plant the sword in my chest.
"Augh!"
Kugh! So, this is what dying feels like.
Finally, I can feel my hands.
I fell beside the statue that's now only have it's lower half.
"Found you...angel."
It was the baby girl who was clinging to her mother's long skirt, behind her.
A pair of black shoes paused in front of me. The cold sword skewered in my chest turned into sand together with the broken statues and the whole of the arena. The baby that remained was the last one to turn to sand. Though instead of it mixing in with the others, the specks of sand she turned into swirl up in the air.
A coin dropped in front of me before the pair of shoes left.
And everything turned dark again.
This time, I see stars shining all around me.
"Where am I?"
YOU HAVE DISPLAYED THE RIGHTFUL QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ETERNALLY BALANCED SCALE.
THE CONSTELLATION OF LIBRA HAS CHOSEN YOU TO BEAR THEIR GIFT. DO YOU ACCEPT?
Constellation?
"What happens if I don't?"
No answer followed. Do I really have to? I don't even know what this is about.
"Can you give me some time to think?"
And again, there was no answer.
"Then...okay? I guess I need to figure out wha-"
Whoah
The coin from earlier appeared before me and transformed into a glowing mark. Some sort of sign that shines a soft rosy glow slams itself on my wrist.
After which everything turned dark again. When I recover my sight, I was lying down the floor near my beer cans. My phone keeps on vibrating.
There's also the sound of repeated banging on my door.
"Who is it?" My hangover suddenly hits me.
"Hey! Thank goodness! Are you okay? Can you get the door for me?" Jennifer is at the door with Mr. Fernand I guess, since he keeps clearing his throat.
"Yes, just a second."
I glanced at the mirror on my way to the door.
Damn, what happened to me? It doesn't feel like just a dream since..
They won't recognize right? My eyes turned slightly
glowy
pink.