LampStone City in San Cabomine, 5:30 PM...
Smack!
The sharp crack of a slap sliced through the tense atmosphere like a knife, the lingering sound resonating in the four corners of the extensive sitting room.
Carmelita's head jerked violently to the side, strands of her ginger red hair falling across her face. Her cheek flared red and her body shook violently as she tilted forward to look at her enraged mother-in-law.
"I'm sorry." Carmelita's voice cracked, her chest heaving with so much grief and pain.
Today, which was supposed to be her late husband's burial ceremony, had turned into her worst nightmare.
It all started when a strange-looking man crashed the ongoing funeral ceremony, claiming to be her lover, while flaunting nude intimate pictures that left the crowd screaming in shock.
And to make matters worse, this stranger also took full responsibility for her mysterious pregnancy, claiming it was their proof of love.
"Lies." Carmelita had shrieked in horror.
Sadly, her voice was quickly drowned beneath the rising tide of her late husband's family's angry voices.
She was dragged away from the ceremony by her enraged in-laws like a criminal about to face the death penalty–eyes burning with shame as murmurs followed her like shadows.
"What is shame?"
"She is a disgrace."
"She has ruined the Mendoza family's good name."
"She ought to be flogged and ostracised."
"Could it be that her adultery pushed her husband to his untimely death?"
The taunting and speculation continued even way after Carmelita had been escorted out of the venue.
Back at the Mendoza family mansion, everyone wanted a piece of the adulterous widow. They all took turns; taunting, slapping and shredding her to pieces.
Carmelita was left with no other option than to beg for mercy since no one believed her. But her plea only made her more guilty.
"You worthless trash that my son picked from the gutters." Carmelita's mother-in-law, Rosella spat out between clenched jaws.
"You think you can bring shame and dishonour to this family?"
"I swear, mother, I didn't..."
"Shut up, you shameless wretch!" Rosella struck Carmelita a second time on the same stinging cheek, causing the latter, who was already on her knees, to fall backwards.
"Who is your mother? Are you blind? Do I look like the cheap slut who abandoned you at a poverty stricken orphanage."
Carmelita lowered her head in humiliation, that topic, a sore reminder of her misfortunes in life.
"Only a leftover trash of a mother would give birth to a worthless tramp," Carmelita's sister-in-law, Tala–a slim, elegant-looking lady with ego louder than her designer perfume– gave a sharp, exaggerated chuckle, laced with scorn.
Muffled laughter followed Tala's ridiculing statement until Rosella's sharp voice cut through the murmuring.
"I will never understand what Philip saw in a filthy trash like you. I tried several times to warn him against marrying you, but he wouldn't listen. You succeeded in seducing him with your rotten beauty and manipulating him to be your husband. And now, he is dead because of you. You have taken him away from me." Rosella broke down in tears.
"Come here, my dear." Carmelita's father-in-law, Luzon, pulled his wife into his arms while glowering at his daughter-in-law.
"I will give you one last chance to confess and tell us who that man is to you?"
"I swear by the heavens, father... I don't know him. I...I..I've never seen him in my entire life."
"Stop lying, Lita. How could you say you've never seen that man before?" Belinda– Carmelita's two-faced sister-in-law– reprimanded her sternly. "For goodness' sake, the evidence is there. He isn't just your lover but you are pregnant for him too."
"No...." Carmelita shook her head.
"This is getting boring. This wretched woman does not deserve our audience. She deserves to be stripped naked and flogged for her crime." Julio–Carmelita's younger brother-in-law– spat out with so much hatred.
Everyone started talking at the same time until the patriarch who had been silent all this while raised his hand up in the air, causing a hush to fall over the room
The majority of the family knew how much the old man silently cherished his daughter-in-law over his grandson.
It pleased them to see the death stare in the old man's eyes as he glared at Carmelita.
"Lita, look into my eyes and tell me the honest truth. Did you cheat on my grandson with that man?" Alfonso's voice was calm but firm, reflecting his authority.
"Never, grandpa." Carmelita wiped the blood coming out of her nose with the back of her hand. "I have never cheated on my late husband. I swear."
"Hmm...." Alfonso chuckled bitterly, his gaze more darkened than ever. "Then how do you explain those nude pictures of you and him in that hotel? How do you explain your pregnancy?"
A deafening silence lingered in the room as everyone waited for Carmelita's response. No one dared to speak as they feared the old man's temper and wrath.
"I...I...I d....don't know." Carmelita stuttered trembling even more, both her hands clasped pleadingly.
"Then it's decided. Carmelita, you are hereby banished from this family and this household. You are never to set foot within the Mendoza estate or establishment. If you do, you will be flogged and imprisoned for trespass. Someone should get this filth out of my sight."
Belinda's lips curled up in a sly smirk as she exchanged a quick glance with Julio.
"Grandpa please..." Carmelita's broken voice fell on deaf ears as she was roughly dragged out of the sitting room amid taunting remarks and scornful laughter.
-
-
Carmelita stood at the edge of the rooftop of the Hamilton five-star hotel, wrapped in the stillness of a cold, starless night.
The sky hung like a black curtain above her, offering no light, no comfort and no warmth—only heavy silence and a biting chill, giving its own grim verdict.
The city far below blurred into shadows and faint light, distant and cold.
Carmelita smiled, a tear sliding down her bruised cheek as the wind tugged at her hair, tossing it wildly around her face, as if nature itself were trying to hold her back from the inevitable.
Her bare feet curled over the cold concrete ledge, toes gripping instinctively, a final hesitation in a moment already decided.
Faces flickered through her mind; her foster parents' harsh words, her foster sister's ridiculing remarks, her late husband's abusiveness, her mother-in-law's spiteful words, her brother-in-law's sexual harassment–the list of injustices meted out against her was endless.
All her life, she had never known love but hatred and despise. Even her own mother never wanted her at birth.
'Maybe the world will be a better place with me gone.' Carmelita thought bitterly.
"Goodbye cruel world." Her voice cracked, her pale lips trembling. "You have taken everything from me and left me with nothing except the precious seed now growing inside of me. If only I knew how it came about."
Carmelita's reddened eyes lowered, her loving gaze on her flat tummy as she stroked it affectionately.
"I'm sorry, I'm not courageous enough to face you and tell you how much of a disappointment I am. I hope you will forgive me, my dear child. I hope in my next life, I will get the chance to meet you and tell you how much I love you. Until then, goodbye my love." She closed her eyes, a single tear sliding down her cheek and freezing against her skin.
She took one last breath and stepped forward.