2007 January 01 they went missing…

I was asleep on the recliner relaxing. I had just finished cleaning the messy kitchen after preparing dinner. My husband whom I had been married to for 3 short years was late. The twins were asleep in their bedroom upstairs, their energy drained out of them from the tantrums they had thrown earlier when I had refused to give them cookies.

That Thursday afternoon was unfortunate and I didn’t-more like had never-realized that it would be the only thing running through my mind and all that I would care about the following year. I missed out on a lot of memories others had made without me. I would learn to regret how immature I had been, but that’s how the world goes doesn’t it? We never really understand until time passes us by and chance gives us time to reflect…really reflect on the sins we have committed.

It had been beautifully warm with the sun shining through the corner of the windows illuminating warmth into the 2 story house. The tiffany chandelier in the dining room glistened as rays of lights bounced off it. It had been my favorite decoration in the house and I always kept it clean of dust, it was beautiful. I had always been disappointed when visitors had never taken notice of it whenever they walked into the house.

We lived in the middle of the neighborhood and met with neighbors whenever someone would hold a gathering. Everyone was really friendly and set an enjoyable atmosphere whenever we met. There was an old grandma who adored my boys and would come over with baked goods for them. Her black lab, Melody, was a friendly dog my boys loved playing with while I kept grandma company. And I had planned on getting a dog for them in the future…but that future never came.  

My husband was a person whom I loved dearly and was everything to me…was. We met during university and I had fallen in love with him first. When I got pregnant he broke up with his current girlfriend, whom he had loved more than anything…even more than me. Because I was that third party. After the twins were born it felt as if our love became stronger and he would stay with me forever even though there were many things I knew about him, but denied. Sadly, I came to realize after our divorce, that what I had tried to create out of my husband was only my fantasy of a perfect family. Only then I understood the pain, the pressure, the isolation he had experienced while being there for me and the children.  
 
As I had explained already he was arriving home late and I had finished preparing dinner now relaxing in the recliner with a warm cup of tea on the table next to me. A big, fat book had been sitting on my lap before I had gone into a light slumber. My heart felt light and the day seemed to be going perfectly. I was happy and content because my family was with me. However, the back door opened and a dish crashed onto the ground. I jolted up in the recliner lost and confused about what had happened, that moment became extremely blurry to me when the cops would arrive later. A few seconds after the crash had rung in my ears I jumped from the recliner with my book dropping onto the ground. When I entered through the kitchen doorway a shadow was just making its way out the back door and out of impulse I chased him.

The sun was shining down on me heavily as I tried to catch my breath. He was too fast and was already around the corner when I lost him. I stopped trying to remember how his back looked like, but nothing came to my brain. I felt frustrated for a moment and then a loud bell rang in my brain. I suddenly recalled the fact that the back door had been left open and the twins were alone in the house. I turned around and rushed inside the house feeling my life pass in front of my eyes. My heart thumped as if I was confronted by a murderer.

My legs hurried up the staircase and I stopped in the twins’ bedroom. The bed sheets were a mess and their stuffed animals on the ground. They were gone…

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Hebe stopped typing into her computer and turned around to glance at the clock. It was 5 in the afternoon and her husband would be coming home from work. She leaned back in the computer chair to allow herself to relax for a moment.

How fast everything had gone by in the past year when it had felt like an eternity before she found strength to stop mourning. Her life had really had flew right before her eyes and before she knew it she was already starting anew…with someone who truly loved her and someone she truly loved. Hebe felt more mature now that her eyes had opened and she was able to perceive situations differently. She had finally learned how to maintain good relationships and get rid of her past hatreds…life was really perfect.

Hebe smiled and rubbed her growing stomach. She would soon have another child…a sister for the twins she had lost.

“Daddy will be hungry when he gets home. Lets go make his favorite dish shall we?” Hebe said and got off the chair heading toward the kitchen.

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2008 June 29. It had been a year since the divorce and nothing had seemed to get better for her. Why hadn’t she achieved anything she had desired after the divorce? Where was the happiness she was supposed to be gladly living with?

The red jeep in front of her abruptly came to a halt and Hebe stepped on her brakes. The sudden motion caused her to fly forward into the steering wheel.

“Freaking god!” Hebe swore loudly as she collected herself.

The lights turned green and off she was again. It was absurdly hot that day and Hebe felt the heat getting to her even when her air conditioning had been . She had just gotten off her 8 hour shift and was ready to meet with Ella. After finding a safe place to park her car Hebe walked down the carefully sculpted sidewalk toward the café she always went to meet up with Ella, her best friend and the only reliable person she knew. They had met in middle school after a fight they had been involved in and with bloody noses became best friends since.

The café gave a homey feeling with its warm decorations. Painted portraits of families and the beach hung on the tanned walls. Golden lights in sets of three hanging down from the ceiling lit the entire room making it seem as if fireflies were the cause of the glowing atmosphere. Each round table was accompanied by four stools, each lined up in neat zig-zagged rows. Friendly employees stood behind the counter ready to take orders and serve food plus a variety of drinks. Hebe and Ella had come so often that the employees knew what to serve them whenever they stepped right in.

Turning away from the counter Hebe saw Ella already seated in the middle of the room with two sandwiches and two cups of fresh steaming coffee in the middle of the table. Hebe sat down without greeting her friend. As they munched on their sandwiches silently Hebe could feel Ella’s eyes burning on her skin.

Hebe sighed and slightly lowered the sandwich from , “Ok, I know what you’re going to say, but forget it first. I have to tell you I didn’t want to go in the first place.”

Hebe could hear Ella clear .

“If you’re just going to leave in the middle of a blind date then so be it. But if you don’t even to want attempt it why do you always tell me to set you up and then you ditch that poor man,” Ella said.

Hebe chuckled, “Sorry Ella.”

“Forget it, you’re hopeless,” Ella told her off.

Ella was currently an intern in a big corporation, whose name Hebe couldn’t remember. Ella made big and good money from her job so Hebe couldn’t help, but leech off her good friend…but only once in a while. Unlike successful Ella, Hebe had majored in Human Resources but ended up nowhere. She now currently worked in a grocery store.  

After finishing the last drop of coffee in her cup Hebe let out a burp and asked, “Do you have plans tonight?”

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After the divorce Aaron had moved out and found a spacious apartment for himself. He had been shunned from her life and told numerous times to never go back from his family and from . He cared about her too and was hurt about it, but powerless under her struggles to try to maintain a calm and peaceful atmosphere she was delusional about. Nothing was right when he had returned home…a year ago.

His children missing, his wife weeping, the cops surrounding the house, and he wasn’t allowed upstairs because the twins’ room was undergoing an investigation. Hebe couldn’t say anything to him when he had arrived and the cops had to do it for her. When he finally understood that the twins were missing his heart cracked. Two innocent, adorable boys kidnapped? Things just got worse right after. Event after event of police interrogation, Hebe brought her hatred upon him. Eventually the blame went to him…somehow then they started arguing more than ever. They couldn’t even stay in the same room together. The cold days of sleeping in the master bedroom while Hebe slept in the twins’ bedroom crying every night was still so clear in his memory. How it hurt him and pained his heart.

Hebe pressured him into the divorce and eventually turned his parents against her. As soon as the divorce was officiated Aaron was forced to leave. He had tried to contact her numerous times and under Ella’s advices he tried to console her, but nothing turned out right. Hebe kept her grudge and now he was almost drifting away.

He had majored in international business along with his ex-girlfriend and found a steady, well paid job at a large company after college graduation. He was a team manager and supervised 6 people that worked under his orders. It was a well enough job and he made just the right amount of money to keep a family well fed and happy.

Happy…how misleading that word was. And he hadn’t felt it for a while…at least that was what it seemed like. However, just a few days ago when he had been told at the last minute that a new member was joining his team he felt that feeling.

Aaron recalled how she hesitated when she stepped toward them, but introduced herself confidently. They hadn’t stayed in contact since Aaron had married and the last time he recalled seeing her was at the wedding when she had congratulated them with a forced smile on her face. Selina, the girl he had left behind because of a one night stand, was entering his life once more.

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Selina sneezed and looked around her very small apartment. It was a really simple place: Living room once she entered the door, kitchen on the right, and bedroom in front of her with the bathroom next to it which could be entered from the bedroom. Behind her she dragged her only suitcase. She surprised herself with the fact that she had only brought one suitcase with her when she had returned to Taiwan, but had left Taiwan 3 years ago with almost four suitcases. Selina sat down on the brown couch and glanced around. Behind the blue curtain to her left was a balcony which she didn’t feel like exploring just yet.

Immediately after graduation she had moved back to Shanghai to stay with her parents and escape the tears she would have had if she had remained in Taiwan. The only naïve fact she hid was that what she told herself 3 years ago was a lie, even now she still wanted to shed tears over him.

In Shanghai she had worked hard to find a job and one after another she finally landed upon one that she liked only to know later that she would be transferred to Taipei, Taiwan. When she had been asked about the position she was reluctant but agreed two days later after much thought. What would be left after Aaron had been married 3 years? There was nothing for her to be afraid of or fear anymore now that she was heading back. But on the airplane she felt her hands sweating and came to find hours later that she would be working under him. How ironic, because she had come back to pick up that ‘Something’ that she’d left and was even feeling afraid of him now.

How was his children doing? The very last she knew was that Hebe had given birth to healthy twin boys. How was Hebe doing? The boys must be big by now. Were they a happy family?

“Useless,” Selina told herself.

What would she do now that she was alone in Taipei with no friends? How was she going to survive? Because obviously it wouldn’t be like it had been during those university days when she had Aaron. She felt so miserable she felt for sure tears would arrive in her eyes any second.

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Hebe found herself tagging along behind Ella and her super tall boyfriend even though Ella had denied that they were dating. They sure looked like they were dating. Hebe heard herself snort, but neither Ella or her boyfriend turned to look at her. Why had she agreed to come to the movies with them?

After the movie they had gone out to eat pizza. Hebe ate by herself isolated in the corner of the table while Ella and her super tall boyfriend joked around opposite from where she sat. The pizza tasted so plain in she had to drink half a cup of soda in order to swallow it down.

“So then they found out that the killer was a family member,” the super tall boyfriend went on, “my friend, who’s a cop, was so shocked. It took half a minute for him to bring himself to shoot him.”

“So who is that family member?” Ella asked absorbed into the story.

Hebe leaned her chin into the palm of her hand bored, but let his words enter her ears. To her surprise she had been listening attentively.

“The victim’s brother,” the super tall boyfriend answered, “it was a dispute about money that made him kill. Can you believe that?”

“That’s so evil,” Ella said as if in awe. “Your friend is a super awesome cop.”

Calvin laughed proudly as if he were bragging about a brother, “Of course.”

Brother…someone who would kill because of money. It sounded like a stupid made up story. Someone would have to be super ridiculously pathetic to kill because of such a small reason. Hebe couldn’t imagine it.

“So your friend over there backed out of the last blind date we set up huh?” the super tall boyfriend questioned.

Hebe turned.

“Uh…” Ella seemed to hum over the answer then replied, “yea she backed out in the middle of it.”

“Ella!” Hebe snapped.

The super tall boyfriend chuckled, “Ella has told me about you. I’m Calvin, you?”

Hebe kept her eyes on Ella while she answered, “Hebe.”

For the next two hours Hebe and Ella listened to the super tall boyfriend’s stories before they finally decided to leave. Ella dropped Calvin off at his house and finally Hebe was alone with Ella again.

“Your super tall boyfriend sure has a lot of murder stories to share,” Hebe said sarcastically.

“They’re real. He’s an author of murder mysteries.” Ella told. “I thought you wouldn’t listen because you seemed so out by yourself.”

Hebe didn’t say anything.

“That story really had a twisted ending don’t you think?” Ella asked.

“Huh?”

“The one where the killer actually was the victim’s brother,” Ella told.

“So you purposely made him tell that story?” Hebe assumed.

“It’s inspiring,” Ella said.

“Inspiring? Are you making fun of me?” Hebe tried being sarcastic, but she was already feeling slightly angered.

She didn’t like for anyone to speak about her situation as if it was a crime, because the kidnapping of her children had been made public enough…and she still wanted to deny that it was a crime created by someone. It made her sound like an unworthy, foolish mother who had made a mistake. She felt like the disappearance of the twins was supposed to make her guilty because she had brought the twins into the cruel world where the evil would feed upon them. And Calvin’s story made it sound as if her family was evil. Was her brother supposed to be a murderer then?

“I don’t mean that Hebe. They found the killer after 6 years and the family that had broken up reunited at the end,” Ella said. “It’s very heartwarming.”

“Are you saying my brother is a killer?” Hebe asked with an accusing tone. “So if I find out who my brother killed, my family will reunite 6, 7, 8 10 years from now?”

“I never said that,” Ella tried to defend herself.

Why was Hebe always misinterpreting her good will?

“Since when haven’t you said that! You and your super tall boyfriend can go gossiping behind my back all you want and make fun of my missing twins,” Hebe said. “I’m getting off here.”

Because the car had come to a stop at the red light Hebe opened the door and stepped out walking angrily down the road. It burned within her and she wanted to lash out at something, someone, anything. Her hands trembled and Hebe had to grip them into a tight fist to help control herself from screaming.

A year since she had dwelled in that house alone, a year since the twins had gone missing. How long would she have to wait until they made their way back to her?

“Mama.”

The wind pushed pass her and Hebe felt her heart skip a beat. She turned around to see the empty alley to her right and rats rustling behind the tin garbage cans. Figuring she had been too tired from the day Hebe turned around to hurry home.