[JoeWhite1]

The apartment that Jane and her mother lived in was on the 9th floor of a modern block in Pasay district of Manila. It was small, but it suited them as they did not need a lot of space. There was a living room, a small kitchen, 2 bedrooms – one for each of the women - and one bathroom. The entrance door opened directly into the living room. The apartment was simply furnished and Jane had set up a study corner in her bedroom with desk and chair, and space for her books and notes.

The best feature of the apartment was the balcony that overlooked Manila Bay. Here there were a small table and two comfortable bamboo chairs where Jane liked to sit and relax after a hard day of study. She found that just gazing at the waters of the bay with the twinkling lights of the buildings around the bay helped to make her feel calm and forget about the stress of studying.

Now, calming down was the last thing she needed. Instead, she wanted to confront her mother and let her know that she had discovered what kind of bitch she really was. So, kicking off her shoes, and without taking off her uniform, Jane marched across the living room and opened her mother’s bedroom door with a bang.

The bedroom was dark because the curtains were closed tight to prevent the sun from streaming in. So, Jane flicked on the light switch on the wall just inside the doorway. Cherry was lying on the bed wearing shorts and a singlet vest. She had obviously showered and combed her hair because it was no longer matted with piss. Cherry murmured sleepily, “What time is it? I hope I didn’t wake you when I came home.”

“No, mama, you didn’t wake me because I wasn’t here,” replied Jane.

That answer filtered through to Cherry’s brain and made her sit up. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at Jane standing beside her bed. “What…what…why are you wearing your nurse’s uniform? Are you going to work at the hospital?”

“No, mama. I’m not going to work. I just came from there because they asked me last night to help out as they were short staffed. You had already left for your work, so I called to let you know, but you didn’t answer.”

“Oh, ok. I didn’t see your miscall,” said Cherry. “Sorry.”

Jane was still furious, but she thought that she would see if she could make Cherry admit what had happened to her, so she took a deep breath, and began to tell Cherry about her night at the hospital.

“It was interesting to be at the hospital at night,” she began. “I saw and heard so many different things. You know, about 3 am I saw one woman who came in in a really bad state.”

“Oh?’ said Cherry, quietly.

“Yes, she had a swollen face and her hair was all matted and tangled. I heard her say that her husband got drunk and hit her and then he pissed on her.
Can you imagine a husband doing such a thing to his wife?” Jane asked pretending to be innocent.

“Oh,” was all Cherry was able to reply. She quickly lifted her left hand and tried to hide the bruise that was becoming evident there.

“Have you ever seen anything like that where you work?” said Jane pretending not to notice how Cherry had tried to cover up the bruised left side of her face.

“No, I never have,” replied Cherry. “But it’s funny that you mention a swollen face. I tripped and fell getting off the stage last night and hit my face on a table. Look….” And she took her hand away and pointed to where her face showed the effects of having been hit.

“Oh, mama, let me see. It looks bad. Did you go to the hospital or did you get any treatment for it?” Jane asked solicitously.

“No, I didn’t. I’m sure it will be all right if I put some ice on it. Could you get some ice from the freezer and put it in a plastic bag? Wrap it in a towel, please and I’ll put it on my face and stay lying down.”

Jane had become even angrier when she heard her mother lying again about how she had injured her face, but she did not let Cherry see that inside she was ready to lose her temper. Instead, she stood up and walked through to the kitchen where she opened the door of the freezer and put several ice cubes into a plastic bag. Then she wrapped the bag in a towel and returned to the bedroom where Cherry was still sitting up.

“Here you are mama, here’s your ice. I hope you like it,” and with that, she swung the bag of ice and hit Cherry on the right side of her face.

“Now your two faces are equal, you lying bitch. You whore…you slut…puta…dirty whore, fucking guys for money. I HATE YOU.” Jane screamed, and flung the bag at her mother’s face, catching her on her mouth and causing her upper lip to bleed. Then she ran from the bedroom.

Cherry was stunned and shocked at what Jane had done, but she was even more shocked at the words she had been called.

She also knew that Jane was aware that she had been at the hospital and had heard her story of how she had been injured.

How was she ever going to explain what had happened? And how was she going to make Jane see why she did the things she did?

Cherry’s secret life that she had hidden so well was about to be exposed to the light of day – and she was afraid that things with Jane would never be the same again.