A Past Never Forgotten

"When I heard my sister had died so suddenly, I was beyond shock. I just couldn't believe it, I confronted my master immediately why she died even though I was promised that she will be taken care properly. But master consoled me saying it was the fault of fate and there was nothing to be done.

I went to the small funeral held for her and thereafter I mourned for days on end to the point I stopped acting. I wanted to quit but master came to my room one evening and scolded me, he told me this was not what Chumbi could have wanted for me. That I should fulfil her wishes and lived on for her sake.

After that, I gathered myself and worked very hard. In a matter of times, I became well known for my talent. And I lived on like that but I never forgot my sister. I prayed that she was watching over me from heaven.

But then recently in Chengmei, after my performances ended, on my way back from buying some fabrics, an old vendor from the market place called me out suddenly. I wasn't surprised when she told me she knew me but I was very astonished when she said she knew my late sister Chumbi well. I got naturally curious and asked her how and who she actually was. This old woman then told me she used to be an old servant at my troupe master's friend place. The one who took in my sister.

Taken by nostalgia about my dear sister, I started talking to her and asked about everything I missed about Chumbi, how she was in her last days, whether her husband was good to her and all. However, the old woman hesitated when I mentioned her husband and then told me Chumbi had a secret hidden from me all these years. And now that the old lady was drawing the end of her life, she wanted to be released from the burden of such a secret. She had thought she was going to died buried with that truth but when she noticed me in the market place by chance she felt it was time to let it be known.

The old vendor told me she was well acquainted with my troupe master and his friend, they used to drink a lot together. But she came to know Chumbi only when she came to live in the house. And she ended up becoming closely attached to her and the later told her many things. From her, she came to learn everything. She narrated me the following incidents that happened to my late sister.

Back when Chumbi was still with the master, she came up from her usual bath in the river one day and to her horror she found a man shamelessly watching her. The man was the troupe master's friend, he touched her inappropriately and told her he liked her. Scared, she didn't dare reject him and ran away with an excuse. Then, later the next day, the master came to her room and he said to her that his friend had taken a liking to her and wanted to meet her as soon as possible. She was terrified at the request and told the master of what the man did to her. But the master brushed it aside saying that the friend was a good man and really liked her. She was forced to agree at the request and an arrangement was soon met. However, like she feared, the arrangement was nothing but a wicked plan and she was thoroughly molested by the man. It was the day before Aheiba was to make his official debut as an actor and when he found her bruised and crying.

After that time, the same frightful incident started to happen on a regular basis. By then Chumbi knew the master could no longer be trusted, so she kept mum. But the man got more violent as time went on, she couldn't take the pain any longer and wanted to tell Aheiba. However, the troupe master threatened her saying he will ruined Aheiba before he could become a successful actor and told her that everything will be better if she continue to keep her mouth shut. So Chumbi endured quietly, all the sufferings and injustice by herself alone. By then, she also learned that her master was getting paid by her molester but there was nothing she could do about it.

But then she became pregnant. The troupe master threatened his friend to give him money and to take her or else he was going to let everyone know about his lecherous act. The thing was, this man was a merchant already married to a woman of a rich influential family and had children of his own. He was afraid of her and the family finding out about his misdeeds so he gave in to the threat and paid an excessive amount to the troupe master. Chumbi was sold off easily like that as a new servant to the family.

She was never married to the man, there was never such a plan. She was treated poorly in the man's house but that was not all, in the nights, her molester would come to harass her quite often to the point that she became severely ill after she suffered a miscarriage. And when she laid weak and dying in her bed, the man couldn't care less leaving her for dead.

The servants of the house had also been threatened by the man to keep his dirty secret in fear of his wife finding out, so none of them dare approached Chumbi. Only the old woman secretly took care of her but still it was too late and there was no way of saving her. So the old woman kept her company on her last nights and it was then Chumbi who was gripped in pain and sorrow told her everything that led her to this. She also told her about Aheiba, who she dearly considered her only friend and brother in her life.

After having made the confession, the poor girl died on that cold winter night.

Driven by anger, the old lady wanted to spill the whole truth to Aheiba when he came to the funeral but she couldn't as Chumbi made her promised to not to tell him especially. Even when she was dying, she wanted the best for him, her wish was he would live a fulfilled and happy life unlike the kind of fate cruelly presented to her.

Years passed and the old woman eventually left the house. The master of the house had also died by then prematurely, after being mauled by a wild bull while he was out drinking.

The old woman had no family of her own, so she came to settle in Chengmei and passed her days leisurely as a vendor in the market. She heard of an artist troupe coming to town but she wasn't so sure it was his group. But to her surprise he saw Aheiba himself in the market where she couldn't help but called him out immediately.

It felt like fate guided her to this moment, so she told him everything she had kept secret for years. Even though she broke the promise with Chumbi, she always felt frustrated and that he deserves to know the truth about the kind of life Chumbi had lived."

"I thanked her for telling the truth but on the way back my mind was in disarray.

I could barely partake the feast or the celebration. My thoughts were reeling dangerously and I couldn't stand seeing the face of my master, so I left earlier and stayed in the temporary artists room in the town hall where I impatiently waited for him."

The troupe master, face reddened and completely intoxicated from the wine entered inside the dimly lit room. He did not noticed Aheiba who was quietly sitting in the corner and went straight to counting the money and the expensive gifts he had received from the hosts of the feast.

"Master."

The drunken man jolted as he turned to the sound of the voice. When he recognised the person, he released a sigh and muttered, "Oh, it is just you. Don't scare me like that!"

"Master, I want to ask you something." Aheiba said as he got up.

"What is it? Can't it wait until later? I'm busy." The older man said, still counting the coins.

"No, it can't wait. It is something very important." Aheiba said softly as he gradually walked towards his master.

"Well, hurry up and tell me then!" he said gibberishly.

Aheiba stood before the older man and began, "Master, you must have known that you are a man I respected like a father all my life, ever since you saved me and Chumbi from the capital streets. I have always trusted and depended on you all these years..."

"...But today, I heard of the atrocities you did and that have shook my loyalty and respect to the core."

The master turned to face him finally and asked puzzled, "What?"

Aheiba's eyes were dark red as he tried to fight off the tears threatening to fall, he swallowed the unease in his throat and said softly,

"Master, is it true that my sister, Chumbi never really marry to your good friend like you told me?"

Deep down in his heart, Aheiba wanted his master to tell him that it was false, that his sister married a nice man who loved her and cared for her all the way till her end. That she did not suffer none of the horrible fate like the old woman said.

However, the old man chuckled derisively and said, "As much as you are talented Aheiba, you are just as foolish. How can a lowborn like her be able to get married to such a man?"

Then, in his drunk stupor, the man continued almost mockingly, "I still can't believe you still remember that wench all these years. Let me tell you a secret boy! The reason our troupe was able to afford all those goods back then was because of her. The reason you were able to dress and eat so well was all because of Chumbi! She was not pretty but she was decent enough that bastard of a friend was willing to pay me to have his ways with her. And with all those money, I fed you and clothe you all and built up this most successful troupe all by myself!

You all had the privilege of acting and living your dreams from those money I received or else we still be in the smelly gutters till today!"

Aheiba's heart shook at his words. He was taken over by an overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness, but mostly pain from confirming the truth about the unkind life led by his dear late sister.

He started sobbing as he asked him sincerely, "Master, my sister also loved and respected you like a father she never had. But answer me this, did you never thought of her once as a daughter?"

At this, the master turned his flushed face to him and said in a mocking tone, "Don't be foolish, I would never raped my own daughter."

At the utterance of those cold words from him, Aheiba stood stiff in shock.

Then, he suddenly became madly enraged. He furiously grabbed hold of the dagger lying on the table and stabbed his master ruthlessly. The man tried to scream from the pain but Aheiba immediately put his right hand over his mouth and continued stabbing him madly.

Anguished tears flow down his cheeks as he gritted his teeth in grief and anger after realising the callous sins the man before him had committed to his dear sister. The weight of the betrayal he received from his most trusted master before him consumed him whole and he pushed the blade deeper.

The poor man before him squirmed as he struggled to free himself and stopped his attacker simultaneously. However, Aheiba still possessed in his frenzy took out the newly bought red fabric from his upper body and coiled it around the man's neck and stuffed it's ends directly into the man's mouth harshly. Then he wickedly thrust the sharp dagger deeper into the man's chest. But the drunken man who was now completely sober continued to struggled pathetically. Aheiba burned in raging pain and fury put his hands over the man's neck and started to asphyxiate him. His red rimmed eyes shining with a crazy glaze in them looked straight into the pitiful, fear-ridden, tearful eyes of his prey as he murmured incoherently,

"Y-you! You brought this to yourself master... for sinning Chumbi, for betraying my faith like that! Who do you think you are? Playing us like fools... Haha. You deserved to go to hell... I'll send you there myself!"

Aheiba looked seething at the man and chuckled manically.

And it was at this moment that Tomba unluckily discovered the very act, but before he could cry for help he was knocked down by the young assailant who also came upon the place by chance and also witnessed the scene behind Tomba. But he was very close to Aheiba so he instinctively hurt Tomba to prevent him from drawing a crowd immediately.

Upon being found out, Aheiba finally came to his senses but by then, the master had succumbed to the pain and injury as well as the hopelessness and had died abrubtly.

Both of them were shocked and confused and before they could come to a decision they suddenly heard voices. Panicked, they immediately left after the boy took out the red fabric that belonged to Aheiba. And soon enough, hours later, the witnesses discovered the crime and everything and Tomba was thus framed.

And after that everything went beyond control. Later, Aheiba wanted to come clean but he did not have the guts anymore to come forward and instead decided to run away at the suggestion of the younger boy to the nearest northern village. They were hiding for less than a whole day in Kongthal when the Prince found them and brought them here back here.

Aheiba, having made his entire confession, broke down in tears as he said before the king,

"My dear eche who was never privilege in her short life died heartbroken. She was never dressed nicely like I did, or ate good food or even own a small treasure like I did. But she suffered and was mistreated till the end of her days while I foolishly, undeservedly received the finest things all the while holding happily into my stupid, naive dream. I'm worthless, I don't deserve her, neither her love or her kindness, nor the life I'm living..."

Aheiba wiped his tears messily, then he looked up with a fierce expression and said firmly,

"Your Majesty, as well to the audience present today, I confessed I'm guilty of the crime of murdering my master who colluded with the scum of his friend, deceived me and tormented my dear late sister. I have no remorse for the action, to me, my act is nothing but an act of vengeance for her! I have no regrets!"

Aheiba exclaimed as bitter tears slid down his face.