A few hours later, when her eyes opened, she saw a man wearing all black standing in front of her. He had a pony tail, a thick white moustache and big black eyes. He said: I love collecting stories.
Those were his first words to her. She was afraid to say anything. Smilingly, he said: If you want your freedom, then, you must write stories for me. You have 10 fingers so you must write me 10 stories in 10 days one finger for one story. If you fail to deliver one story, then I will cut one finger. If you fail to deliver two stories then I cut two fingers, etc. I want something to remember you by. I can keep your stories or your fingers. The choice depends on you.
You have the freedom to write whatever your heart desires. I only have one condition. Your story should not be less than a hundred words and it should not be longer than a thousand words. I have a short attention span. I cannot digest a very long story.
She did not want to lose any of her fingers. She had no choice. She had to play the mad game he created.
So let the game begin, he said, laughing.
Day 1
Story 1
Title: The Ugly Truth about Beauty
My daughter was convinced that I was not her mother. She said: The doctors and the nurses have given you the wrong baby. I will correct the mistake they had done. I will make sure you get back your daughter and I will finally meet my mother.
My daughter carried an extensive investigation on the hospital where I had delivered her. But her investigation revealed that on the day she was born, there was only one woman who had given birth. The woman was me and the baby was her. There could not have been any mix up. She was utterly disappointed with the end result. She was in tears.
She said: How could a beautiful swan like you give birth to an ugly duckling like me God is playing a sick joke on us.
I hugged her. But my daughter could not stop crying.
I said: Looks have never mattered to me. I love you from the moment you were born. I have always wanted to be a mother. But I could not become one. The doctor could not figure out what was wrong with me. The doctors had given up. I prayed for a miracle. God had listened to my prayers. I became pregnant. You came into my life. You have brought so much joy to my life.
My daughter answered: Looks may not matter to you, mother. But the world will never let us to forget that you are beautiful and I am ugly.
****
My daughter was not always ugly. When she was born, she was the most beautiful baby I had seen. She looked like an angel that had fallen from the sky.
She will grow up to be a heart breaker, said a nurse with a huge smile.
Everyone was in awe of her beauty. But I was insanely jealous of my daughter. I used to be the centre of attention. Everyone used to rave about my beauty. Since my daughter came along, fewer people were paying attention to me. My daughter had stolen the limelight from me. Her beauty was giving me sleepless nights. It was simply impossible for two beautiful women to stay under one roof. One of us has to be ugly.
****
I have no desire to kill my daughter. I love my daughter very much. I cant imagine my life without my daughter. I just do not want my daughter to be more beautiful than me. I was looking at ways to make my daughter ugly. I found the answer in my husband. He was a well-known cosmetic surgeon. He has made beauties out of monsters.
I said to him: You can turn ugly to beautiful. Can you turn beautiful to ugly
Laughingly, my husband asked: But who wants to be ugly
Without a trace of emotion, I answered: Our daughter. I want you to make her look ugly.
There was a shocked look on my husbands face. My husband was madly in love with me. My husband would do anything to make me happy. I have my husband under my thumb.
I said: If you do not do what I tell you, I will kill myself. I cannot have a daughter that is more beautiful than me.
I pushed my husband into a corner. My husband had no choice but to fulfil what my heart desired. Every morning, my husband injected my daughter with some kind of serum.
The older my daughter got, the less beautiful she became. My daughter was no longer my competition. Finally, I could sleep peacefully.
Day 2
Story 2
Title: Born To Laugh
Mother, I never see you laugh. Why is that
My daughter was 10 when she asked me this question. Kissing my daughters forehead, I answered: Some people are born not to laugh.
I lied. In the past, I loved to laugh. Even the lamest joke could make me laugh my head off. I have always been attracted to men who can make me laugh. I got married to a stand-up comedian. I laughed the loudest at his jokes.
The moment my daughter was born, laughter just disappeared from my life. Motherhood has robbed me of my laughter. I could not give any rational explanation for the loss of laughter in me. No matter how hard I try, I could not bring myself to laugh. I could not even fake a laugh. I find nothing funny anymore.
My husband said: Your laughter was vibrant and full of life. I love the sound of your laughter. Why have you stopped laughing I am the most unluckiest comedian alive. I can make the whole world laugh but not my wife.
I did not have any answers for him. I could only stare at my husband blankly. Out of frustration, one night, my husband walked towards the ocean. He took off his clothes and walked into the sea. He left behind a suicide letter. All he wrote: I do not want to be the unluckiest comedian alive anymore.
I never told my daughter the truth behind her fathers death. I cannot have my daughter hating me for driving the man she loved and called father to death. I told her that her father had drowned.
It was unfortunate accident, I lied.
My daughter believed every word I told her. My daughter should have known that there are some mothers you cannot trust.
****
I am envious whenever I hear the sound of laughter. They do not know how lucky they are because they are able to laugh. Once I was eating at a restaurant, I could hear laughter from the table next to mine. The people who were laughing were a married couple celebrating their fifth marriage anniversary. Before leaving the restaurant, I approached the couple in love and said: Never take your laughter for granted. Cherish your laughter. You will never know when God decides to be cruel and snatch away your laughter.
The couple was stunned and had no idea how to react to what I had said. Slowly, I walked out from the restaurant.
****
Am I the only person in the world who cannot laugh anymore Are there others like me I wondered. Years later, I met someone who also was unable to laugh anymore. Never in a millions years did I imagine that someone would be my own daughter.
She loves to laugh. Like me, the moment she had a child, laughter disappeared from her life. Motherhood had robbed her laughter. Her life has become a carbon copy of my life.
****
Mummy, I never see you laugh. Why is that
My granddaughter was only 10 when she asked my daughter this question. Hugging my granddaughter close to her heart, my daughter said: Some people are born not to laugh. My daughter lied.
Day 3
Story 3
Title: My Government, My Enemy
I am taking my government to court. I want my government to lift the ban preventing me from marrying the man I love.
What do you hope to achieve from this trial my mother asked. I answered: I want justice. I want to have the freedom to marry whoever my heart desires. I want my love story to have a happy ending.
Laughing sarcastically, my mother said: You will not get a fair trial in this country. The government has the judges in their pockets. The judges will do whatever the government wants them to do. You cannot have the government as your enemy. Some love stories are not meant to have a happy ending.
****
I planned everything carefully. Everything in my wedding will be in white. I will be in white. My groom will be in white, too. Our wedding will take place on a white beach. White is my favourite colour. It was supposed to be the happiest day in my life.
On Sept 6, 2069, a week before my wedding day, a tragedy took place. This tragedy has paralysed our country. Malays were killing Chinese and Chinese were killing Malays, and the Indians were killing everyone they hated and feared. Many houses, shops and cars were on fire. The country was in turmoil.
This is the second racial riots that had taken place in our country. The first one took place a hundred years ago. I was not born yet. My parents were not born yet. Nobody in this nation is allowed to discuss this dark episode. Nobody knows how many people died. Nobody knows how much property was destroyed. The government has kept everything a secret. All everyone knows is Malays were killing Chinese and Chinese killing Malays, and the Indians were killing everyone they hated and feared.
But we have not learned our lessons. History has repeated itself. A hundred years later, we are in the same boat. We had another racial riot in our hands. Our Prime Minister, Abdul Namhar decided to institute a new law to ensure that in future there will be no more racial riots in our country. In a live television broadcast, my Prime Minister said: From now on, marrying your own race is illegal. You will be put in jail if you marry your own race. You can only marry someone from a different race. What I am doing here is good for nation in the long run. Years to come, your children and your grandchildren would not able to identify themselves with one particular race. Your children and your grandchildren will have all blood Chinese, Malay and Indian running their veins. Your children and your grandchildren will not call themselves as Malay, Chinese or Indian. Race is dividing us. I want to erase race from this land.
I screamed when I heard our prime ministers announcement. I could no longer marry the man I love. I could no longer have my dream white wedding.
****
Like my mother had predicted, I did not get a fair trial. Out of fear, the judges gave the verdict in the favour of the government. The media did not have the courage to cover my court case. After the verdict, I was sitting on the courts steps with the man I love, feeling defeated.
The man I love said: I am tired of having the government as my enemy. What the Prime Minister is doing is good for the nation. In future, there might not be another racial riot because of what our Prime Minister has done. You wont die if you dont marry me and I wont die if I dont marry you. Let us just end our misery. Let us just end our relationship. We must learn to move on.
That was the last time I saw the man I loved. A year later, I received his wedding card. He had found my replacement. I had not found anybody. I could not forget him. I was born to love him and no one else.
Day 4
Mothers & Crocodiles
I accidentally killed a stranger. In panic, I chucked the dead body in the boot of my car. Once I reached home, I told my mother what had happened. Furious, my mother shouted: Some women shouldnt be behind the wheels. I will clean the mess that you have created.
My mother cut the dead body that I brought home into tiny pieces and fed them to the crocodiles. My mother and I have been running a crocodile farm ever since my father died 10 years ago. Nobody will ever find the body, my mother said.
****
A few days later, on television, I saw on old woman speaking to a reporter about her missing daughter. The old woman was waving the photo of her missing daughter. I took one look at the photo and knew straightaway that the stranger I had killed was her daughter, Malena.
****
Ever since the crocodiles ate Malena, they have not been the same. The crocodiles refused to touch their food. All the meat I had given them rots in the pond. The crocodiles had become more ferocious, more savage and more restless. The colour of their eyes had also changed. The colour of their eyes began to resemble Malenas.
****
I became obsessed with the woman I had killed. I wanted to know everything about Malena. I read everything that was that written about her.
Malena is a vegetarian and her favourite vegetable is cauliflower, her mother said in one of the interviews.
My instinct told me that I should buy several dozens of cauliflowers and throw them into the crocodiles pond. I followed my instincts. I could not believe what I was seeing in front of my eyes. The crocodiles were rushing to eat the cauliflower. These crocodiles chose cauliflowers over red meat. These crocodiles had become vegetarian. I have no doubt that the soul of the woman I had killed was living inside these crocodiles. Out of fear, I took the rifle and started shooting every crocodile in our farm. I was killing the women I had killed.
My mother was shocked to see all her crocodiles dead. In tears and anger, my mother shouted: What have you done, you crazy bitch When your father died, he left me enough money for me to survive for seven generations.
Do you know why I have started this crocodiles farm I started this business because I cannot bring myself to love you. I do not know why. But I hated you from the day you were born.
I needed someone or something to love after the death of your father. My life is empty without love. This crocodile farm has given my life meaning. I love my crocodiles. I will never forgive you for killing my love. I wish you had killed yourself instead of the crocodiles.
That night, I decided a mother who loves her crocodiles more than her child does not deserve to live. I strapped my mother to her bed. I poured kerosene all over the house. I struck a match and the house was on fire. I could hear my mother screaming. I got into my car that hit Malena and slowly drove away from the burning house.
The next morning, I was in Malenas house, confessing my crime to her mother. With the tears streaming from her eyes, her mother said: So, my daughter is not missing. She was killed in a hit and run accident.
I said: You can call the police to arrest me. I wont run away.
Wiping away the tears from her eyes, her mother said: Only I can punish you. Not the police. Not the judge. You killed my daughter. You are my criminal.
Her mother brought out a pair of scissors. I thought she planned to stab me to death. But that did not happen. Instead, her mother used the scissors to cut my hair. After cutting my hair, her mother put some make up on me.
You look so pretty, her mother said.
I looked into the mirror and I dont see myself any more. I looked so much like Malena, her daughter.
I have a telephone call to make, her mother said.
Her mother dialled the police station. Looking at me sharply, her mother said: Inspector, I have good news for you. You do not have to search for my daughter anymore. She is no longer missing. Malena has just returned home....
Day 5
Story 5
Title: His Wife, My Mother
My father was an affectionate man. But when I turned 15, all this changed. He stopped loving me or anyone else for that matter. He became restrictive with his emotions.
His wife, my mother was responsible for this radical change. She promised that we will be together forever. But she failed to keep to her words. She left us and my dad couldnt accept this fact.
On the day she left, my father was emotionally upset. He shed tears uncontrollably. He begged her to stay. He begged God to change his fate. But God and my mother had disappointed my dad immensely. Indeed their refusal had made my father a broken man... too broken to have any more love in his heart.
****
Since my mothers departure from our lives, my father and I rarely had intimate moments. He left the responsibility of bringing me up in the hands of nannies, maids and tutors. I saw more of them than I saw my father. He buried himself in his work. He hoped that his work would distract him from remembering the pain in his life... his wife, my mother.
Over the years, my father and I became like strangers. Many times I tried to bring down the barrier between us. I wanted us to be father and daughter again. But I failed miserably. My father preferred to keep a distance between us.
After my mother, he was afraid to get too close to anyone including his own daughter. Maybe he was afraid that I might leave him the same way my mother did. He was not ready for another disappointment.
He did everything in his power to forget his wife, my mother. He put away anything that reminded him of her in the attic. He forbade anyone to speak about her. He didnt want any memories of her lingering around. He treated her as if she never existed in his life. But no matter what he did, he never really forgot her. That her name was on his lips in the last moments of his life testified to this fact. Truly, my father had loved her with all his heart. I remembered my mother once told me: I hope that when you grow up, you will be as lucky as me to have a husband who loves you as much as your dad loves me.
Still my mother left him. But I cant fully blame my mother. If
she had her way, she would not have left my father and me. It was fate that had the last say, and I must say that fate had been cruel to us. My mother was involved in a car accident. The best doctors could not save her. My mother was too young to die.
For the doctors, she was just another patient that they lost. But for us, she was our world. With her death, our world came tumbling down. All the love in our house and our hearts was buried with her. Looking back I really believe my father, my mother and I should have learned to love each other a little less. Perhaps then, her death would not have had such a drastic consequence on my father and me. Truly, we should learn to love each other a little less.
Day 6
Story 6
Title: Flowers, Stones & Love
Everyone has a love story to tell except me. In my 47 years of existence, I have never been loved. Even my mother does not love me. I went to see a fortune teller. I wanted to know about my future. I wanted to know if love will ever knock on my door.
It is possible for flowers to grow on stones but it is not possible for you to be loved, the fortune teller said.
I asked: Why I will never be loved What crime have I committed that God had cursed me not to be loved
You are paying for the sins of your past life, said the fortune teller.
In my past life, I was a king who was madly in love with a princess from my neighbouring country. The woman I love was called Princess Malena. Unfortunately, Princess Malena was not in love with me.
She and the bravest warrior in my kingdom were lovers. They wanted to marry. But her father objected to the relationship. Her father said: You have been groomed to marry a King. You are ruining the reputation of my kingdom by refusing to marry the man I have chosen for you. If you do not marry the man I want you to marry, then you will be executed for disobeying your father, the King.
She was willing to die for her love. She said: Do what you want, father. I cannot deny what my heart desires.
She was to be hanged. But I stopped her execution. I said to her father: You cannot kill your daughter because she does not want to marry me. Love cannot be forced. If you have any respect for me, then you let her live and allow her to marry whoever her heart desires.
Her father fulfilled my wish. Princess Malena was grateful that I not only allowed her to live but have allowed her love story to have a happy ending.
I said: I have only one request. Your wedding can only take place after my warrior fights one more war for me. After the war, he is all yours.
Princess Malena agreed with happiness glowing from her face.
You are great king with a great heart, she said.
I had no intention of giving her love story a happy ending. You cannot deny what you heart desires. I desired her. I wanted her at all cost. I planned everything carefully. I will make sure the warrior she loves would not survive the war.
I got another warrior from my kingdom to aim an arrow into chest of her lover during the battle. Everyone believed the warrior died in the heat of battle. She believed what everyone believed. She did not suspect I had killed the man she loved.
She cried her heart out. She spent all her time in bed, feeling depressed. Playing an angel, I said to her: The man you love is watching you from above. He will be utterly devastated to see you in this condition. You need to live for him. You need to live for your father.
Look at your father. No man can be happy when his daughter is drowning in despair.
Reluctantly, she learned to put her sadness behind her and carry on with life. She agreed to be my wife just to make her father happy. She says: My father has a dream to be a grandfather and it is my duty to make his dream come true. I cant marry the man I loved. I should at least marry a man who has a kind heart.
Everything was going perfectly. I was jumping with joy that the woman I love had finally agreed to be my soul mate. But few hours before the wedding day, the warrior I had instructed to kill her lover had met the woman I love.
The warrior felt extremely guilty over what he had done. He confessed everything to Princess Malena.
He said: I am a good citizen. I have carried out what my king wanted. My heart could not forgive me because I have killed an innocent man. I could not allow you to marry the killer of your lover. ****
The love of my life entered the wedding hall where I was waiting for her. She was in tears. One look at her, I knew that she had learned the whole truth.
She shouted: How could you kill the man I loved I curse you that in your next life, you will never know the meaning of love. No one will love you, not even your mother.
When the fortune teller finished telling me the story, I had tears in my eyes.
I said: I could not believe I could be such a selfish monster in my last life. Do you know where Princess Malena is, in this life I want to ask her forgiveness.
Of course I know where she is. I am a fortune teller. I know the future, he said.
I went to the address that the fortune teller had given me. I rang the doorbell. She answered. Interestingly, she had the same name she has had in her last life.
Are you Malena I asked.
Yes, I am Malena. What can I do for you, the woman said.
I had a hammer in my hand. I was not going to ask forgiveness from her. I brought down the hammer on her head repeatedly. She must pay for cursing me not to be loved for all these years. That bitch should not have cursed me....
Day 7
Story 7
Title: The Perfect God
I pray. She prays. He prays. They pray. But God has not listened to our prayers. We asked our priest: Why has God not listened to our prayers
Out of pressure, the young priest blurted out: May be, God has gone deaf.
Hearing what our priest had said, we jumped with joy. We shouted profanities as much as our heart desires.
You cannot judge what you cannot hear, we said.
We threw a grand party to celebrate that God had gone deaf. We danced our hearts out. We had wild sex. The priest was shocked to see our reaction.
The priest said: God may have gone deaf and may be God cannot hear all the evil things you say. But God can still see all the sinful things you do. God can still judge you. God can still punish you.
God can still give you hell. Do you want spent an eternity in hell
We were no longer jumping with joy.
One of us said: Only if God would go blind, then we would a perfect god. You cannot judge what you cannot see. You cannot judge what you cannot hear. A perfect God is a god who cannot see. A Perfect God is a God who cannot hear. A perfect God is a God who is blind and deaf.
All of us nodded in agreement. The next day we went back to church to pray. No more parties. No more wild sex. No more dancing. No more profanities. We are praying for God to go blind. We are praying for the perfect God.
Day 8
There were no stories. She was suffering from a writers block.
Day 9
There were no stories. She was suffering from a writers block.
Day 10
There were no stories. She was suffering from a writers block.
Day 11
He entered the room. She screamed.
Do not kill me, she begged him.
I am not going to kill you. I just want your fingers. I want something to remember you by, he said.
He injected her. She was no longer conscious. When she woke up, she was no longer in the dark dungeon any more. She was in her bed, in her own apartment. She thought she had a horrible nightmare. She looked at her right hand. She was glad that she still had all her fingers. Then, she looked at her left hand, she screamed. Three fingers were missing.
****
No one believes her story. From the police to her parents, they came to conclusion that she was not kidnapped....the dark dungeon does not exist... she must have cut her own fingers.
The Inspector said: People do the craziest things when they are drunk and high on drugs.
Her psychologist said: She has a hard time accepting the fact that she has cut her own fingers. So she manipulated her mind and she imagines this wild story.
Her mother said: I do not think my daughter is a liar. Ever since she was a kid, she has an imaginative mind. She really believes some stories that are taking place in her mind are really taking place in her life. You have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt.
She was tired of not having anyone believe her. Slowly, she learned to accept the version that everyone wants her to believe that she had cut her three fingers under the influence of drugs and alcohol. She is not interested in the truth anymore. The truth is no longer important. She just wants to be happy.
