Vengeance

Wanling wwas my younger sister. Although she was only one year younger, she was mature for her age. Wanling was popular in her school and was often called the social butterfly. many boys would woo her. She was not only pretty, but she was also good in her schoolwork too. Simply, Wanling was the model student of her school, until she met Jack... It surprised me when Wanling eventually chose Jack for her boyfriend. Jack was a typical 'Ah Beng', a materialistic person who liked to show off. He would always borrow money from Wanling to buy expensive clothing. Knowing that he wanted a handphone, Wanling even bought one for him.

What surprised me even more was that Jack always had other girls calling him. Very often, they would even call my house, asking for Jack. Wanling was, however, very understanding and claimed that though Jack had a lot of girlfriends, he loved her the most. I began to see bruises on my sister's arms and legs, but when I asked her about it, she would brush it off to accidents at sports. It was after much probing that I found out that Jack had been abusing my sister. Very often, he would beat her without reason. When I wanted to confront Jack, Wanling would defend Jack fervently. The last straw came when Jack got Wanling pregnant. I went to his house, and told his parents. They were shocked that their son would do such a thing. When confronted, Jack did not bother to deny it. However, he refused to marry Wanling. Wanling, following Jack's example, objected to the marriage. When my father suggested abortion, she flew into a terrible temper and ran away. We also found out from Jack's parents that he had also run away from home. we later discovered that the eloped couple was living together.

Since then, we had lost touch with Wanling. My parents were terribly disappointed in Wanling and we did not speak of her much. Cherishing the hope that my little sister would come back, I tried to get in touch with her, but to no avail. One day, Wanling called me, telling me that she had been admitted to hospital. She was beaten up by Jack, seven months into her pregnancy. This caused her miscarriage, and she was hospitalized because of it. Jack had not visited her at all in hospital. When I visited her, Wanling had grown really thin, fading away like a wilting flower. My parents relented eventually, and they visited her in hospital. My mother wept upon seeing her daughter being treated so badly. They had told Wanling to come home, after she was discharged. Still, I could see something in Wanling's eyes that told me she had other plans.

When Wanling checked out from the hospital, she did not come home. Neither did she go back to Jack. Tragedy struck and we received a call from the police a few days later. Wanling had committed suicide. The last time we saw her was in National University Hospital morgue. We noticed that she was dressed all in red. Wanling was planning her vengeance. We Chinese believe that if a lady dies in red clothes, she will come back after her death to seek revenge. We never saw Jack. He did not turn up for Wanling's funeral. His parents came, they acted terribly apologetic for the wrong their son had done to us. My father stiffly refused to acknowledge their apology, and ignored their presence. feeling awkward, they soon left. Seven days after Wanling's death, Jack died. His face was terribly disfigured. Although he was reportedly killed in a motorcycle accident, having collided into a tree, we knew that my sister had returned to claim a debt.