Finding Mayumi

Chapter 5

Peter’s Point of View

Eddie went home, leaving me alone at a place they call the jail. The officers who came to the house early morning were insight along with other police officers and women.

He told me he will return after getting help from someone who will handle my case. I don’t understand how and who but Eddie kept telling me awhile ago what happened was a setup because he knew I wouldn’t do such things and those drugs they found inside the house weren’t mine or shall I say not Peter’s? The real him.

I wished he can help us prove they are wrong, but it’s too impossible to ask for help from somebody who already dead. I can’t feel him, if he’s still inside this body I know he will try to kick me out but he’s gone and all the things left are a few of his memories stuck inside his head mixing with mine.

The knowledge and skills he gained when he was still alive, which I admit helping me a lot, especially when there are things very new to me. Once I try to think about how to use some sort of things, his memories help me realize how to operate some pieces of equipment and tools. Just like the shower, the toilet bowl, faucet, doorknob, and many more.

This year where I am now is too modern compare to the year I came from. There were no mobiles and means of communication faster than calls and texts before. People will send messages with the help of birds like ravens, hawks, or eagles, and it will take them a day or days to receive it and to get a response.

They have guns here, cars to travel, and countless machines that help them do works faster and efficiently. We only have carabaos as means of transportation, the same animal who helps us on the farm. No guns, just bolo, knives, and spears as weapons.

They put prisoners in a place where I am right now. It’s well ventilated, they give proper food and water and the place is clean. We don’t have jails, but we have dungeons. An underground prison, dark, scary, and it stinks. They put it underground so that people won’t hear the screams of the prisoners when they are being punished.

Once someone is caught, there’s a tiny chance he will set free. Prisoners can’t call anyone to defend themselves, they only have themselves and the truth was mostly buried with them, but here, they have police officers and lawyers to help them prove their innocence.

There were so many cases of injustice, inhumane ways of punishment. Mayumi was one of those who tasted it, and every single time I remember how harsh her fate was, I immediately feel so much hate for myself for adding more to it.

Now I’m inside a jail, behind these cold iron bars. Alone and no one to talk to. I couldn’t imagine what she felt when she was alone in the dark and scary dungeon. The way she screamed in pain while they whipped her, the hunger and thirst.

My heart hurts when I think about those times I wasn’t there to help her. If only I turned her into a freewoman first, those won’t happen but I was so late my father found out first before I do so and every single day I was lying inside that hospital bed and in a coma, I returned many times to the exact moment where I found her lifeless body deep into the ground.

Now the clock is ticking, I need to find her and make sure she has the life I paid her to have. I don’t mind how many times I will suffer in this new life, I just want her to be safe and live a proper life. I didn’t travel thrice to reach the same year where she exists and now that I’m here, I will do everything to find her.

They gave Eddie twenty-four hours. The time before they said first hearing for my case. Around five o’clock he returned. He was with two more individuals. One guy looked so decent, he introduced himself as Attorney Derick and the other one was a nurse who will take my blood sample and they asked me to pee on a small empty container.

He said that process can prove that I never used drugs and it can help me get out of jail. I never used illegal drugs, I’m not sure if the real Peter does.

They left around 5:45 in the afternoon after briefing me on what to expect the next day. Eddie left me a few pairs of clothes and some snacks I can eat.

My world became alone again, I was wondering if Mayumi felt the same when she was inside the dungeon. Wondering if there were other prisoners around or if the rats were trying to scare her.

Can’t get her out of my mind. I kept thinking of her, wondering, asking myself questions even I won’t get an answer by myself.

The night came fast; I stayed sitting and idling at one spot on the floor, my back resting on the wall and watching every person passing by. Time flies that fast. They put two men inside the cell with me. I heard one of them was caught stealing and the other one started a fight inside a pub after getting drunk. The drunk guy seemed around forty years old. He didn’t stop talking since he came in; he kept blabbering things and every time he opens his mouth, I could smell his sticky mouth odor.

He talked about his wife, his two adolescent daughters who he loves so much. I heard him asked why she left and later on he was crying. I cried too when Mayumi died; I felt the same pain, but I guess mine was worse because the pain I had that time was mixed with regret and madness. I was mad at myself, at my father. The law he made and for not giving Mayumi a chance to defend herself and prove her innocence.

His cries echo. The sobbing was too loud. I don’t know for how long he cried his heart out, but he just stopped.

The night was so cold, an officer gave us a blanket, but it wasn’t thick enough to make us warm. The other men inside were cold too and I think just like me they stayed up all night, but I’m not so sure of the one drunk because I heard him snoring.

I stayed awake till morning, an officer let me use the bathroom and told me they will take me somewhere today. I cleaned myself and changed the clothes Eddie brought yesterday.

After cleaning, the officer waiting outside guided me to an office. He asked me to sit and wait, and in just a few minutes, I’m already handcuffed and riding a police mobile. We stopped at a tall building. They took me inside a room and I saw Eddie sitting on a bench with his Mom and the man he was with yesterday, the lawyer.

I seated new to the lawyer in front. He smiled and told me to relax. Eddie was sitting behind and he patted my back.

That tap made me calm. Thanks to him because I was very nervous.

The trial started, it went on for a couple of hours. My attorney showed the judge the printed result of the tests. The man examined while Attorney Derick explained to him what are the papers he gave and after that the judge asked for a recess.

Attorney Derick was smiling when he returned to his seat. He said he can smell he will win my case and Eddie agreed.

“If no one will arrive today to tell you they bought drugs to you, we have a bigger chance of winning,” Eddie told me while his one hand is on my shoulder.

He seemed nervous but trying to hide it with a smile.

“I don’t think there will be someone who will appear to tell they were buying to you. It’s like getting inside a burning house without assurance of getting out.” Attorney Derick assured.

Both of them laughed and I couldn’t understand the entire things they were talking about till their conversation get interrupted.

An officer told me to come with him. It’s the rule to follow he said. We walked into a room. He left me inside, guarded by another police officer. They gave me something to eat for lunch; the officer removed my handcuff and let me eat peacefully.

The trial will resume at one in the afternoon, they said, and twenty minutes were remaining before the clock strikes at one. I waited patiently, looking around, examining every room, and while doing so, I heard voices coming outside the room. It seemed from the other room next to where I am.

“Heard that?” I asked the officer standing just next to me.

He looked at me with so much confusion, but he tried to listen to the noise I told him about.

“It’s coming from here,” I told him, pointing to the wall on our left. He walked toward it.

The noise became louder; it seemed someone was being threatened. There was a loud noise after a scattering of something on the floor. The officer used his radio to call the attention of the other officers around and they went to check what was going on.

The trial proceeded, the judge arrived late. His face was bruised and a cut on his lips.