Who Framed Me

She squinted her eyes as her consciousness flashed back. She couldn't bring her hand to block the light, she could only turn her head away from a yellow bulb. It was hanging above a small table before her. She was restrained, tied to a chair. Another chair, empty, was on the other side of the table. Her black hair was disorderly laid on her shoulder. The dark bags under her eye contrasted her dry white face.

"Go, call the boss."

She flinched in her place and looked to the left, two men were looking back at her, their smirks were obnoxious with their faces full of scars, revealing their occupation as full time criminals. Not long after one of them went out, a man around his late forties entered the room, his wide shoulder hid 5 others that followed after him, he looked no better than his men with a scar stretched across the side of his face. He carried himself in some fake mannerism of grandeur, a thick gold necklace around his neck and multiple big rings, he seemed to be the boss. He came over and sat opposite from her and crossed his legs, and stared at her calmly behind his brown glasses. 3 men went behind him, while the other 2 stood behind her, everyone looking at her coldly. The boss brushed his hair back before he leaned sideways, he put his elbow on the table staring at her and kept knocking on it slowly for a while, making her heart beat along it, "release her," he pointed at her.

The two men behind her hurried to untie the rope, one of them took a knife and cut the zip tie cuffing her hands. The man raised his palm open beside his shoulder, and one of the men behind put a folder in his hand. He slammed it on the table without warning. She flenched and her breath stopped for a moment.

"So, do you want to sign this for me now, or after we play with you for a while, your choice," before she could understand what's going on, he added, "we had like it if you prefer the latter, we gentlemen don't play without consent, you know," he winked at her. Under his stare she couldn't stay idle, she opened the folder hesitantly, her eyes went to the title of the document, the folder suddenly closed, his hand was on top of it, "don't read it, just sign, or do you want to play instead," she took the pen hurriedly this time looked directly at the designated area. She signed and flipped the page, page after page until the last one.

He took the folder away and checked the documents, one by one, comparing them to a paper he took from his pocket. "Good," he looked at the men behind her, then pointed at her with his head.

She finally gathered her courage, "can you tell me what…" before she finished her sentence, the man behind her put a rag on her nose, and the other one restrained her. She struggled for a moment before she lost her power. The boss waved his hand in front of her with a wide smile, "Bye, I'm glad to work w...", her consciousness wandered off again.

She woke up with breaking pain in her head. Her body was cold as she pushed her back from the floor. Something slipped from her hand with a clang, while her eyes squinted to adjust to the light. She brought her hand in front of her eyes to block the light. She looked around, "isn't this my mother's house," what was she doing there, when her eyes looked at the thing that was beside her, her hand jerked away, her dizziness cleared instantly.

'A knife.'

Only now that she noticed the blood on her blouse. Her neck tilted back with wide eyes, she crawled backing away. "Just.. Just what is happening."

Suddenly she remembered what happened before, and it only worsened her worries, she stood on her feet, and looked around, "MOTHER... MOTHER," just as she took a few steps, she came to an abrupt stop. She held her breath, and shivers ran down her spine. She didn't move for a long time staring, her eyes wide open.

A body was lying ahead of her behind the sofa, with bulging dead eyes, her clothes were bloodied near her heart and stomach and a pool of blood was under her that streamed along with the corners of the carpet and the sofa. "MOTHER, NO NO NO" she moved back step by step only to stumble and fall face to face with another body. Her soul wanted to escape as she looked at her brother's soulless face, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO," not long after she saw black and fainted.

She woke up with her head swinging, some noise waved weakly on her ears.

...noCK, NOCK, NOCK.

"OPEN THE DOOR, THIS IS THE LAST WARNING"

BANG

BANG

BANG, ZDAF.

The door swung up, a lot of people swarmed the house, they looked around before many of them pointed their guns at her, soon two of them approached her, she showed no resistance, so they flipped her on her stomach and handcuffed her.

After that she was like a broken puppet not knowing left from right until she was thrown into the detention cell in the police station. She wasn't cooperating with the interrogation, so they left her alone and resumed their investigation. She remained as is balling up on her side in the middle of the cell. It was already 3 days, yet she wasn't aware of time, she didn't eat, nor could she see the scorn and disgusted looks most policemen gave her. Sometimes their voices trickled through her shell and reached her ears.

"Look, she's still playing dead, she thinks that's gonna save her ass, a lot of these criminals watched a lot of movies, I tell you," "Yeah, they think playing the crazy card can save them..." "But that guy really, that damn rapist, what a pain," "what! what happened?" "You didn't hear, they just found another victim of that damn silent pollen, " "...I wouldn't mind it, if he goes after witches like her, alas," he shook his head, "Yeah, even people like him might be of some use," "stop talking, do you have spare time, should I add more work..."

She couldn't help but let out tired laughs like a broken car, which got louder. She didn't know why it was so funny for a moment, but soon her amusement deflated. The policemen looked at her with more scorn, but it was the least of her worries.

Things moved quickly from police investigation to prosecution, and finally to court. They said she was the most wicked murder they faced for a long time, her crime made the headlines and an uproar in the country after the details of the case were leaked to the public.

She abandoned her mother as soon as she found her wealthy father. Her mother's health deteriorated and fell ill years later, her brother asked her for help but she turned him down. He threatened to spread the matter and shame her publicly. So, she plotted to get rid of them, but karma caught her and she fell, hit her head, and fainted before she could escape the scene. She wasn't even aware he died, yet they suspect she was even behind her father's death for inheritance. They said both the motive and proofs were solid, and the judge agreed with them and found her guilty of both counts of killing her mother and brother, and awarded her a death penalty. Her eyes didn't even blink from the verdict. Her only reaction throughout the trial was chuckling forcefully from time to time, whenever she heard about some of the amusing details of the novel they wrote about her. All people present found her smirks repulsive, and splatter her with all kinds of curses, even rotten vegetables, and eggs after she was led out of the court to the prison.

She was in a solitary confinement cell after she was beaten up by her cellmates, saying even for criminals she's unhuman. She didn't care though, all she thought about was her mother and brother's soulless bodies, her tears dried by now but her eyes bloodied, almost bleeding from grief. More grieving, there was no one for her to blame, or curse, no one to direct her grudge. Why were they killed, why was she framed, who was behind it, she knows none of that. She could only blame God. Why did she have to have such a meaningless hard life, bullied all her childhood for being a bastard, shamed for the rest for having sex like everybody else, and now this. She wanted death.

It was meaningless to wait for her death, though. Even if some angel descended from the sky and miraculously cleared her name, her life was already meaningless, and at this point it was just suffocating. She decided that at least her death is hers, she couldn't have control of her life, at least she would have the right to end it with her own hands.

"Should I leave my last words with blood, protest my innocence," she laughed, her chest barely moving. Shook her head, it was meaningless, she doesn't care anymore. She removed her inmate shirt holding both sleeves in each hand, wide spread in front of her, she rolled it around itself. She put it around her neck and tied it once, her hand stopped and her breath hurried, she took a deep breath and resolutely pulled both sleeves hard, tightening the shirt around her neck, then she made a knot to make sure it remained tied. Then she let her hand fall powerlessly beside her, marveling at the meaninglessness last moments of her life, her breathing became harder but it wasn't blocked, instead, her neck arteries were blocked, and her brain lost its oxygen supply.

'At least I'm smart in my death.'

Not even 10 seconds passed before the world turned black and her waist leaned to the side falling slowly to the ground.