Revenge14 min read
"My Mother, the Laboratory, and the Woman Who Took Her Face"
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"I remember the village women always with swollen middles."
"They looked like expectant mothers," I said, "but there were never babies."
"They were all supposed to be pregnant," my grandmother said. "We called them 'the waiting women.'"
"Why didn't I meet their children?" I asked. "Where did the babies go?"
"You were too young to notice," Grandma Harriet Long said. "Or maybe some things are better not seen."
"I grew up mostly with Grandma," I told people later. "My mother rarely came home."
"Only twice," I said. "Once for my fourth birthday, and once for my tenth. Both times Grandma was heavily pregnant."
"Those two visits were always storms," I said. "Each visit ended with shouting."
"On the second visit—" I paused. "It was the one that scarred me. Mother and Grandma fought until their voices broke."
"Then Mother took me away."
"I remember the train, the city lights, the way the carriage rocked like a boat."
"She was alone, no lover, no friends. She taught at the university, a biology professor. Students adored her."
"But she never let me into her room. Her door stayed locked."
"She gave me vitamins and money, and she checked my health like a machine. But she kept a distance."
"Years passed like that. Then, when I was seventeen—" I breathed out. "She vanished again."
"She returned after six months with a man," I said. "His face was ordinary, his manner quiet. He called himself Forbes Costa."
"I didn't know then what he meant."
"They looked like strangers who shared a house. They never touched in front of me."
"But they allowed him into her bedroom."
"I asked once. 'Why can he, and not me?'"
"Forbes smiled and said, 'You always ask awkward questions.'"
"'He's nice,' I said. 'He talks to me.'"
"On my eighteenth birthday, Mother came back with a cake."
"'Happy birthday,' she said. She seemed distant. I bled from my nose—too excited."
"She turned pale. She fumbled in her bag and took out a small bottle."
"'Take these,' she said. 'Quick.'"
"Forbes caught her wrist. 'Not yet,' he told her."
"I stood there with nose blood dripping, and Mother trembled as if someone had bitten her."
"Later that night," I whispered, "I heard them shouting again."
"'You'll kill her with this!' Forbes yelled."
"'Who?' I asked myself."
"I crept to the door. They stopped."
"Mother came out like nothing was wrong. 'Tomorrow,' she said. 'We will go see Grandma.'"
"I had questions. The village had changed. Small houses had grown into two-story homes. Women walked slowly, hands holding their bellies like shields."
"But their faces were wrong. Pale, thin, sometimes white-haired. Their bellies huge in contrast to their frail limbs."
"Grandma stood under the old locust tree, swollen. She smiled and called, 'Annie, come home.'"
"'Annie'—I still hated that pet name."
"That night, dinner was quiet. Then, under the porcelain clatter, I heard the word 'hospital'."
"Mother said, 'Tomorrow we will do a full check.'"
"I watched her at the hospital. 'You're fine,' the doctors said. 'Perfect.'"
"Mother read the report like a script and didn't smile."
"'Annie,' she said finally, 'in two years we won't be able to hide it.'"
"I swallowed. 'Hide what?'"
"She didn't answer. Her voice was small. 'Just sleep, child.'"
"At home, the small household started to feel like a theater with a locked backstage."
"I followed Mother sometimes."
"She walked along the riverbanks. She wrote in a notebook. She never spoke of research to me."
"I trailed her the night the screams came from all over the village."
"'They're giving birth,' people said. 'Listen.'"
"The smell of soup was everywhere—stews, chicken stock. Red date cakes."
"Red date cakes are for women, I learned. 'Good for the blood,' villagers said."
"The next day I saw Mother in the square, surrounded by women. Their bellies had deflated. Their faces were flushed. They thanked her."
"I saw her whisper apologies."
"A week later, a woman named Galilea Blanchard disappeared."
"The police came. They suspected my mother."
"'We have nothing but a quarrel,' Mother told the officers. 'I didn't leave the house last night.'"
"I watched her lie like a smooth, calm lake."
"But I knew. I had begun to ask the wrong questions."
"Later, at the small shop, Kendra Koch—the shop owner turned friend—told me, 'You have a look in your face like you are carrying a tide. Be careful.'"
"I followed Mother's footsteps to a shelf in her study. A snake statue sat on the bedside table. A painting of a rat hung above."
"An odd little planter sat in a cubby. I twisted it. A panel slid."
"A ladder led down."
"I remember the ladder was cold and smelled of damp stone."
"Down there, I found photos—Mother pregnant in every frame."
"The photos were stiff, not with joy, but with hate. Every photo like a still of someone rehearsing bitterness."
"I walked until I found a small locked room. Iron and the humming of machines. I opened a glass door and the light revealed... Galilea, breathing, alive beneath wires."
"Machines tracked her heart and breath. Papers lay scattered: heartbeats, notes, pages of numbers. My hands shook."
"In the panic, someone struck me from behind. I woke days later in my bed with a headache and a fuzzy memory."
"Forbes had visited me with a strawberry cake like a saint. His hand lingered near my shoulder."
"'You're too curious, Annie,' he said sadly. 'Don't be.'"
"I found out later he had abused his kindness into a weapon."
"A private investigator named Kai Hanson answered my ad online. He was expensive but quick."
"Kai told me, 'I'll check the village cameras. I'll talk to the shopkeepers.'"
"'Find me proof,' I begged."
"Two days later, Kai said, 'There is footage. Forbes appears near the road that night.'"
"'We will follow that,' he said."
"But when I told the police, the house I feared emptied like a tide."
"When I entered the house with police the owner had an alibi. Mother sat in the light like a broken statue."
"'I don't know where she went,' Mother said. 'I didn't leave.'"
"She gripped my shoulders and whispered, 'I will stay with you.'"
"I believed her again."
"Then the locked cellar vanished. The planter was gone."
"Something in me didn't rest. I wanted to know."
"I snuck into Mother's office that night. A key hung from her bag. I took it."
"I went to the country house alone the next morning. No windows faced out. The house smelled of old papers and tea."
"In a secret room the jars lined up: organs in clear liquid, labeled, cataloged."
"My stomach turned. In one corner, my missing woman—Galilea—lay on a bed, gaunt and trembling."
"Then, Forbes appeared at the door like an actor returning to the stage."
"'Why are you here?' he asked. 'You're young to be so brave.'"
"'You brought her here,' I said. 'What does Mother know?'"
"He sighed, 'She knows. She wanted to end the curse. She trusted me.'"
"'What curse?' I demanded."
"He told a story of two villages—Peach and Grain. One betrayed the other to bandits. From that blood the 'leeches' came. Women grew bellies without babies; creatures birthed inside."
"'Your mother refused to accept the tale as fate,' he said. 'She became obsessed. She looked for a cure.'"
"'So you helped,' I said."
"'I offered technique, anesthesia, and design,' he said. 'She provided the reach.'"
"'You were always kind,' I said. 'Why are you cruel now?'"
"He looked tired. 'Because someone must pay,' he murmured."
"I left with my camera pictures and the small recorder Kai had given me hidden in the corner."
"Kai reported back: 'They used hypnotic cues—music, suggestion. The women cooperated and then changed.'"
"'Hypnosis?' I scoffed. 'How much can one man do?'"
"Kai said, 'He has training in aquatic biology. The chemicals, the nutrition—they can alter gut flora.'"
"I kept searching. My nights slipped into nightmares of a surgical room and Mother in a white coat with a blade."
"One afternoon Forbes, like a comet, left my life. The next day I woke tied to a table."
"In the dream I fought monsters. When I opened my eyes, I was strapped to steel."
"Forbes loomed. 'You were always clever, Madison,' he said."
"'Why are you doing this?' I choked."
"'You don't understand how important this is,' he said. 'For some, revenge is a science.'"
"He didn't hurt me that night—he didn't need to. He spoke to me as you would to a specimen."
"'Your mother will help us finally,' he said. 'She will help us end the curse once and for all.'"
"He kept me alive. He fed me. He talked sometimes as if he wanted me to be comfortable."
"Then the police came in a flurry. Forbes did not leave—they arrested him. Mother hugged me as if I had been at sea and returned."
"At the station Mother cried and told a story of betrayal: 'He stole my research and exposed it,' she told officers. 'I called the police.'"
"'You were kidnapped,' I told them. 'We know you'll find all the truth.'"
"I didn't tell them everything. The truth was a maze. The police could not find all evidence."
"For a while, life returned to small normalities. Yet I could not let go."
"I found the little button on the lab table and the hidden door it opened. Another underground span. More iron locks. A creature thrashed there—human and not."
"I called Kai. 'Now,' I said. 'Bring the men. Bring everything.'"
"Kai came with slow steps and the face of a man who has worn too many cigarettes."
"'You did it,' he said. 'You found the heart of the house.'"
"Then things fell apart. My small plan to expose them was a stone rolled down a hill."
"Someone called the house. The voice was soft. Mother's steps grew hurried."
"Before we could act, a fog of smoke lured us into sleep."
"When I woke, I was again on a table. Old Kai lay unconscious nearby."
"Forbes appeared and smiled. He said, 'We always knew you were clever.'"
"He pressed a blade to the air like a conductor. Hypnosis music played a broken lullaby."
"'Madison,' he said, 'your mother will do it. She loves you too much.'"
"He told me later, in a whisper, 'We can put this down the path they'd never walk.'"
"He wanted Mother to perform the final act to keep suspicion off them."
"I tested him. I said, 'Tell me about the leeches.'"
"He answered calmly: 'We engineered them. We protected the eggs with a chitin membrane. We fed them nutrition to survive the stomach and then pushed them into uterine territory. Women who at first were weak could house them. We used the clinic to give them the chance.'"
"'Why women?' I asked."
"'Because only the female body can carry them to the place we need,' he said in a plain voice."
"'Your cruelty?' I whispered."
"'Revenge, research, and belonging,' he said. 'Do not mix them up.'"
"That night they brought Mother."
"My throat clenched. I called her name. She walked forward like someone compelled by a script."
"Forbes' smirk broke like glass."
"'You mustn't,' I begged. 'She's my mother.'"
"Mother moved toward me like a puppet, a syringe trembling in her palm."
"I shouted, 'I found a cure. We can save them. Stop this.'"
"Forbes laughed softly and then fell."
"My mother had turned on him. She was lucid, and the music was off."
"'You thought I'd be under the spell forever?' she asked, voice empty and then bright."
"'You were always more than your fear,' she said to me. 'I was never blind. But I had to play along to keep you safe.'"
"Forbes gasped and tried to move. He was sedated by a needle deep in his arm."
"He crumpled like paper—then whispered, 'You set me up.'"
"'I set you up,' Mother said. 'You expected compliance. You got a plan.'"
"I don't remember the rest clearly. The police had come. Forbes was handcuffed. The lights in the room were harsh and hungry."
"At the trial, Mother's evidence sent chills through the county. The jars, the organisms, the files—they sat in the open like proof of a cruelty no page could soften."
"That's when the other face appeared."
"A woman walked into the courthouse, palms bare, skin like marble, hair arranged."
"Her voice was thin and cold. 'My name is Valentina Jung,' she announced."
"'I am the one who has held this place together for years,' she said, smiling like someone who has sewn a crown."
"At first no one recognized her."
"Then a photograph in a file, a grainy frame dropped like a stone."
"It was Mother—Genevieve Tarasov—immobilized, lying hollow, moved like a wax statue. The woman standing was not the woman in the hospital anyone had known."
"'Who are you?' I said."
"'I'm the woman who needed to ensure the research didn't end with us in disgrace,' she said softly. 'And I needed a face the world would trust.'"
"My knees shook. 'You did this to her? You—'"
"'Yes,' Valentina said without flinch. 'I took her life and her likeness and stepped in. People prefer the comfortable lie.'"
"The courtroom erupted. 'Traitor! Monster!' shouted someone in the back."
"Valentina's composure broke and reformed like ice in a spring. She smiled thinly and said, 'She's alive. I held her so I could be her.'"
"Then the public unraveling began."
Public punishment scene (demanded length and detail; described in full):
"It happened in the town square."
"The prosecutor called for a public hearing. The press had been tipped. The village crowd gathered like a dark sea."
"'Valentina Jung!' the prosecutor said into the microphone. 'You have been charged with kidnapping, illegal human experimentation, identity theft, and obstruction.'"
"Valentina lifted her chin. 'I only did for the sake of science and corrective justice,' she said."
"My voice broke. 'You stole my mother's face. You watched her rot.'"
"Valentina's first expression was a pale amusement. 'Ironic, isn't it? That your mother was a scientist who couldn't see the forest for the trees.'"
"The prosecutor displayed the jars: organs labeled with dates, names, and notes. The crowd gasped."
"'These are not only specimens,' he said, 'they are victims. Each jar is a life chart.'"
"Someone in the crowd started shouting, 'Shame!'"
"Valentina's eyes flickered. For a second she looked stunned, the composed mask slipping."
"'You thought you were invisible,' someone said. 'You thought you could alter bodies and buy silence.'"
"Valentina's voice rose, at first incredulous, then defensive. 'You don't understand the history!' she cried."
"A woman near the front—one of the recovered villagers—stood up. Her voice was thin but firm. 'We understand the only thing you understand: fear. You fed on it.'"
"The crowd's murmurs swelled into a roar."
"Valentina tried to speak, 'I saved you from a fate of extinction—'"
"A man from the village yelled, 'Saved us? You tore us apart!'"
"At that moment the prosecutor pulled from his folder a photograph that had been withheld until now—a photograph showing Valentina, years earlier, standing at the village well while a young woman screamed as hands dragged her away."
"The room shuddered. Someone began to sob openly."
"Valentina's face became a map of shifting fear. Her mouth opened and closed."
"'I have witnesses,' she insisted. 'My brother—Forbes—would testify for me.'"
"Forbes, who sat in the observation, looked hollow. His head bowed. When the crowd turned, his face was not defiance but collapse."
"'You used science to punish an entire lineage,' the prosecutor said. 'Not from recovery, but revenge.'"
"Valentina's voice crumpled. 'You don't know what they did to us. The betrayal—'"
"A teenage girl, who had been one of the 'pregnant' women, yelled, 'My sister died because of you!'"
"Valentina staggered. She reached for the podium as if to hold herself up. The journalists clicked and filmed."
"Faces in the crowd shifted from curiosity to rage to something colder: contempt."
"Valentina's bravado cracked into denial. 'No. No, this is unfair. I did what had to be done.'"
"A neighbor spat at her shoes. 'You are not a scientist. You're a thief.'"
"Valentina turned white as paper. Her breathing quickened. Her fingers trembled."
"'You will pay for this,' she whispered to herself, then louder, 'This is a lie!'"
"A woman in the back slapped her. 'You're a murderer!'"
"The slap was a sound of the entire village's anger. It echoed."
"Valentina's composure finally dissolved."
"Her eyes went wide. She started to plead. 'Please, please—I'm sorry—'"
"Her voice moved from fervent denial to raw begging—like a storm sweat."
"'Please, I didn't mean—' she sobbed."
"People recorded her on their phones. A cluster of voices shouted support for the victims. Mothers wrapped their arms around each other."
"A boy cried, 'You took their children! You made them empty!'"
"Valentina collapsed to her knees, the square full of watching faces. For years she had controlled scenes in secret; now she had to endure the public, which was worse than silence."
"She mouthed, 'Forgive me,' but no one could give what she asked."
"The police took her away under custody. As the doors closed, Valentina looked back one last time."
"Her eyes met mine. For a second they showed a glimmer of recognition—then a shadow slid across her face."
"She was hauled away by officers as the villagers shouted and some slowly clapped, a sick salve for a brutal wound."
"In the months after, Valentina's hearing was long. Her public fall was a spectacle, the sort people told and retold with different endings."
"She had entered the courthouse with a pinched smile; she left in chains, a scream of denial clipped by legal restraint."
"The punishment was not merely legal. The village made the punishment social."
"At the market, people refused to sell to her kin. The small shop's owner, Kendra, refused to accept money from any known collaborator."
"Valentina's name became a word people used when they wanted to describe someone who wore kindness like a mask."
"Her brother Forbes, who had sat in court with resignation, watched as his life's work turned into evidence against him too."
"When the cameras left and the chorus quieted, Valentina knelt in an empty room and finally showed a face no one had seen publicly: collapse."
"She pleaded with the judge for mercy, then watched as her world closed like a book."
"She was forced to confront her victims personally during a mandated reconciliation hearing. The moment they spoke their pain in faces she could not anesthetize was her slow undoing."
"Villagers who had been 'pregnant' stood and described the fear, the surgeries, the hallucinations. They named names. The testimony was a rain of stones."
"Valentina tried to smile, tried to hold on to the narrative of righteous revenge. But the ritual of public shame strips away every pretense."
"She pressed her palms over her face when calls of 'monster' echoed."
"It was a punishment more private and more public than prison: to have your crimes named, your motives peeled, your small twisted logic paraded before those you hurt."
"Valentina broke into sobs when one woman—once a 'pregnant' neighbor—read a letter naming every wound."
"Valentina's eyes reflected a hollow now, the bravado gone. She had thought she could control everything by science, by faking a face, by arranging the scene."
"But you cannot control being named."
"That naming was the punishment: to hear the truth shouted and recorded; to have the community's contempt become a mirror."
"On the last day in front of cameras, Valentina tried to speak for herself. She could not layer her voice in the calm veneer she had before. She only stumbled into a childlike plea, which the world refused."
"She was escorted away. The crowd watched until the police van drove off."
"Later, in quieter rooms, the judge read sentences, and the legal punishment followed the social one."
"The public punishment had changed lives: it gave rightful weight to victims; it left Valentina reduced to a cautionary figure."
"It also brought Mother back."
"I held her for the first time in years."
"Genevieve Tarasov was smaller somehow, but she breathed like someone who had been returned."
"'You saved them,' I told her."
"'We saved them,' she answered and let her forehead rest on mine."
"Mother's evidence forced the removal of many of the dangerous practices. The jars, the instruments, the files—they were catalogued and secured."
"The village slowly returned to a quieter kind of life."
"People spoke of the 'pregnant years' like a nightmare waking."
"But some truths remained hard."
"I would never forget the smell of the underground, the sight of jars lined like teeth."
"We organized healing circles. We fed each other soup. We cleaned. We planted a tree where the old well had been."
"My relationship with Genevieve changed."
"She began to leave the door unlocked sometimes."
"She started to laugh again."
"Once, months later, she pulled a small, faded photograph from her drawer."
"'This was me at twenty-five,' she said, voice soft. 'Before I knew too much.'"
"I looked at the young woman and felt a strange grief and gratitude."
"One day at the small village reunion, my grandmother hugged me."
"'I should have seen earlier,' she said. 'We all made mistakes.'"
"'You did what you could, Grandma,' I answered."
"Sometimes at night I dream of a dark corridor and a small iron door. Sometimes I dream of a woman smiling with a borrowed face."
"But the dreams are fewer."
"I learned how fragile trust is and how brave being stubborn can be."
"I also learned one unshakeable thing: the most dangerous experiments are those that begin with righteousness."
"Genevieve returned to her work—but now she focused on healing, on rehabilitation, on taking responsibility."
"She taught me more about biology but with human hands."
"One night before my twenty-first birthday she said, 'Madison, I owe you the truth. I owe the village the truth.'"
"'Tell me everything,' I said."
"And she did. She told me about long nights in university, about the guilt she carried seeing women die in the countryside, about the promise she made to a little girl who cried in a field."
"It was a confession and a reconciliation."
"We planted a small rosemary bush by the locust tree in memory of those who had been used and lost."
"At my birthday, friends crowded into the small house. Laughter filled the rooms."
"Someone handed me a red date cake. I smiled."
"'Don't eat too many of these,' Kendra joked."
"Mother laughed, and for once it wasn't the smile she had learned to wear; it was her own."
"At the end, when guests left and the house quieted, I sat by the window."
"I looked at the locust tree where Grandma used to stand."
"And I thought of the iron door that had kept so many secrets."
"I touched the little wrist scar I have and thought of how many ways a human can break and heal."
"Then I poured a small cup of tea and said aloud into the empty room, 'We are here.'"
"And the house answered by settling its breath."
The End
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