Chapter 3 Crawl Like A Dog

A gust of wind blew past.

Everly suddenly opened her eyes in the darkness. The image in front of her was blurry. The memories of what happened four years ago were still vivid in her mind.

She sat up and panted heavily. Cold sweat mixed with tears dripped on the thin quilt, almost soaking it through.

Fragments of memories constantly appeared in front of her eyes, the dim window, the red blood, and the sounds of screams...all of these seemed to have confined her, and she had no way of running away from them.

A shrill alarm rang, snapping her back into her senses. She reached out and pressed on the alarm. It was already six o'clock in the evening.

She thought of him again.

The past seemed to have happened as though it was yesterday in her head. She opened her eyes slightly and looked out of the window.

Outside the window was the darkening sky. The slow-moving ventilator cast moving shadows in the room. She touched her clothes that had been soaked in cold sweat and changed into another set of black clothes. She slowly walked out of the small, coffin-like basement and came to the place where she was going to work at night.

There was a funeral parlor attached with a cremator, and she worked as a night shift staff to help move the corpses.

Half a month ago, after she was released from prison, she looked for many jobs, but no one wanted to hire her until she came here.

She was grateful for this job, although everyone else tried their best to avoid jobs of this nature.

The funeral parlor housed people of many sorts, laughing, cursing, and crying. Many of them came and went, but all of this had nothing to do with her. She walked through the crowd with her head down.

"What bad luck! Running into her!"

"Exactly! I heard that she carries corpses at night in a funeral home. We have been unlucky ever since she came here! It's all her fault!"

As soon as she walked out, someone spat at her.

She lowered her eyes and walked over the stain on the floor silently. Over the years, she had been accustomed to being silent.

When others saw that she ignored them, they became bolder. They started pushing her again, and a blonde man approached her, trying to rub his dirty body against hers.

The blonde man swung his belt around and said, "Girlie, look at everyone here. They all dislike you. So, why don’t you make me a happy man instead? I consider that some contribution towards society."

"Yo, man! Go get her! Come on!"

"That's right! We have your back!"

The obscene words rang in her ears, and everyone looked at her like a predator looking at its prey. Everly remained silent. She knew that resistance and explanation were never useful in such situations. She did not bother to argue with them anymore but lowered her head and quickly walked away.

However, before she could take any steps away, a hand grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back.

The blonde man pinched her chin and said with a perverted look, "Wow, this woman here is actually quite good-looking!"

"Let me go!" She tried hard to rid herself of his grip.

"Oh, my lady here is quite hot-tempered. Would you want to let me have some fun with you?" The blonde man whistled as he spoke. He turned his head and said to the other men around, "Come on, my brothers. Let's have fun together!"

All the men burst into laughter as he spoke.

Encouraged, the blonde man took off his belt and was about to pull off her clothes.

"Let me go!" Her usually flat voice finally sounded a little anxious and scared, like stirring up waves on stagnant water that had been calm for many years.

"I won't let you go. Haha, the more you struggle, the more I am going to enjoy it! Quit your job and be with me. We will treat you well!" The blonde man said, pulling her clothes and dragging her aside.

The crowd burst into laughter, and some of them were taking pictures.

The sound and lights of the flash had sent her into a daze. She was unable to tell where she was at the moment. The images in her memory seemed to appear in front of her eyes. The heavy rain four years ago, the man's cold and piercing eyes, and the hands that groped on her body…

"No... I didn't do it... Not me!" Everly cried out. She repeated what she said over and over again and pushed the man in front of her away. Her voice was hoarse and terrible as she cried hysterically.

"Okay, okay. It's not you. Now be nice. I will protect you and play with you!" The blonde man tried to kiss Everly while obscenely coaxing her.

Carson…

She looked up and saw the man's face amidst the chaos.

An obscene-looking and filthy man was standing in front of her.

It was not Carson.

The voices of the women in the prison seemed to echo in her ears again…

"Are you still waiting for him to pick you up? You killed the woman he loved and he sent you here himself. He had wished for you to die here. How could he let you go easily? Idiot, he has abandoned you long ago!"

Tears streamed down her face.

She cried and stopped struggling. The blonde man thought she was finally obeying him, so he tried to kiss her.

The blonde man's face was getting bigger and bigger in front of her. As he was about to kiss her, she headbutted him hard on his forehead.

She then bent her knees and gave him a hard kick in between.

"Ah!"

The blonde man covered his crotch and fell down on the ground while she took advantage of this moment to escape quickly.

"F*ck! Catch her! I’m going to f*cking kill her!" The blonde man shrieked in pain. Everly was immediately tripped by someone in the crowd causing her to fall and scrape her knees. Pain shot up from her legs and temporarily immobilized her. Before she knew it, multiple hands began to reach out to her and started grabbing her.

“Help! Save Me!” She shouted at the top of her lungs, her voice hoarse.

However, no one had reached out a helping hand. Everyone around her laughed at her, men and women alike. The men had already pulled off her jacket as they watched her attempting to crawl away.

On all fours, like a dog.

Why?

Why was everyone doing this to her when she did not do anything wrong? They humiliated and violated her. The things that happened four years ago are happening again.

Was it wrong for her to exist in this world?

A strong yet greasy hand grabbed her on her ankle and dragged her backward. Inch by inch, she was dragged; inch by inch, her heart sank.

Just as she was about to fall into despair, a pair of nice leather shoes appeared in front of her.