"Why, of course, it"s not, my son!" Mother said before uttering a hearty laugh. The people standing behind her also chuckled along with her; Jimmy did the same as if he thought what I just said was something that warrants such a mocking gesture. "Why would I even joke about something like that?"

"You..." I said as my trembling hand rose while pointing at Mother with helpless lump forming around my throat, making it hard for me to utter the questions in which I wish to scream out of my system. "You want me to kill my wife?"

"As much as it pained me to say this, but... Yes!" Mother said with a condescending chuckle as she shrugged while looking at the people standing behind her. They all then laughed once more; the breath coming out of their mouth almost extinguished the flames on the candles they"re holding. "She has been a poison creeping behind you all the time, and it"s really making your Mother very upset with her. I"m sure you would find a place in your heart to understand that what I am doing right now is for your own good." Mother continued to speak amid the many laughing people around her as the fire they"re carrying dances around in different directions, forming different shadowy shapes around the room. "Once you"re done, just call Brother Jimmy and tell him that you"ve been a good boy for mommy."

I dropped my hand with a sigh before looking at the unchanging words written on the piece of paper that Mother had just handed me earlier. "What if I refuse?"

"Are you refusing to do a ch.o.r.e, son—a ch.o.r.e that I specifically tailored for you?" Mother then looked at me with eyes wide open and lips clutched tightly. "I have placed all of my love into it and thought about the many things it could better your should. Is this really what you want? Going against your Mother"s pure intentions?"

"Yes, Mother. I..." I started to feel a sort of liberating sadness spewing out of my gut when I finally managed to say the words I tried my hardest to form in my now blank head. However, when I saw that sharp gaze that Mother had just given me when I heard my words of refusal, I started to lose the ability to speak again.

Mother then looked at the floor with a downcast gaze. However, when I was about to feel the sadness spewing out of her melancholic expression, I saw Mother"s lips gradually contorting into a smile until she inevitably roared a high-pitched laugh that echoed throughout the room with her arms overstretched, revealing the smoothness of her long arms. Her voice bounced through all the different corners of the room, but none of her companions laughed with her—they were just looking at me with grim expressions and widened eyes. Even Jimmy isn"t smiling.

Mother then stomped her feet, making me hear the ringing sound of her heels. It made me shudder from the top of my scalp to the very last skin of my toes, making me jump off involuntarily with a yelp.

"Do you have no idea how much I"ve done for you?" She then started to walk around from side to side like she"s reciting some kind of Shakespearian monologue before continuing. "Can you even imagine how much effort I have done to make your life better with your b.i.t.c.h of a wife and your annoying little mistake? Can you? CAN YOU?" Her voice roared like the sound of countless papers being ripped at the same time. I almost felt sorry for her throat because the veins around her neck were bulging so hard that it made me scared of it being ripped apart into tiny little pieces. A girl standing beside Mother tried to approach her, but Mother stopped the worried girl from doing so by placing her palm in front of the girl"s face—Mother didn"t even look at the girl, but the understanding icon member understood enough and remained standing still. Mother then turned her head towards me, showing me her deeply sunken emerald eyes. "No. No, you can"t. I bet you can"t even IMAGINE how much I"ve sweated and how much I"ve exhausted myself for you. YOU CAN"T! You know why? Because your soul is blind, my son! You let this little thing you"ve made with your wife turn you away from your REAL family! Can"t you see what she"s doing to you? She"s even etched deep inside of your soul now, son! She"s telling you to go against your Mother, against your brothers and sisters!" Mother then slowly chuckled as a disgusted grimace crept upon her face. "She is a parasite! A LEECH! She had sucked the blood out of you and Plural Heights for far too long!"

"You are mistaken, Mother! She hasn"t forgotten her loyalty to you! She has done her best to do all of her ch.o.r.es to the best of her abilities!" I said as I fell on my knees, pleading with all that I have as tears started to flow out my eyes. "Just like her, I will do everything for you, Mother, you know that I will... But this? I... I can"t do this, Mother. Please, anything but this!"

"Why?" Mother uttered as she hurriedly walked towards me. She then knelt in front of me, making my heart sink even lower as she very gently stroked my face with her soft and velvet-like skin. "Mother is really confused right now. How could you forget your love for me just because another woman had already come into your way?"

I then sniffed as a hot liquid start to crawl out of my reddened nose. "Because I love her, Mother. I will be nothing without her. I am nothing without her. Please, I beg of you, please—this will be the first, and the last time I will be asking for this favor, Mother! Change the ch.o.r.e." My voice then slowly trembled as Mother slowly pulled her hands away from me with a sullen expression painted all over her face. "Please." I whispered as I pulled all the strength left in me from my gut and utter in defiance, which rang around my head stronger than a shout.

Mother then stood up and slowly walked into her chair like a wobbling drunkard. She then sighed by the time her body fell onto her seat.

"Somebody give my son here a chair, please." She weakly uttered as I saw a single tear dropping out of her left eyes with her head lying softly onto her tightened fist. She then slowly shook her head as she wiped her face with her palms before a pained expression crawled through her beautiful face.

Without further ado, Jimmy and two other men placed their candlesticks onto the floor and went towards me with hurried steps. Jimmy then took a chair somewhere from an unlit part of the room while the two other men gently pulled me up into my feet. Jimmy then scurried behind me as he pushed the chair he"s holding forward. The two men who"re lifting my body upward then dropped me onto the soft linen chair before they both left and headed towards their position behind the Mother. Jimmy was the only one who stayed behind me, but he also left shortly after whispering softly into my ears with his hands on my shoulders.

"Do the right thing." He said vaguely, which made me gulp my saliva downward forcefully. When all of Mother"s icons were not in their previous position, standing behind her, she slowly opened her lips again while her emerald eyes pierced through my now blob-like countenance.

"Do you know what happens to bad children who say no to momma, my son?" She uttered weakly with a pair of dead eyes looking towards me. Her tone made her look so pained and worried because of the words coming out of her mouth.

"They..." I said with a trembling voice as I tried my hardest to speak as politely as I can. "They will be removed from Plural Heights, Mother."

"And?" She said, expecting me to say more, but her words just confused me more than anything she had said today.

"Uhm..." I said before clearing my throat after hearing my raspy voice. "I believe that"s it, Mother."

Mother then slowly heaved a weak sigh at me as she clapped her hands twice. As she did so, two women from behind her placed their candlesticks on the ground. They then took something behind her and walked towards Mother. A lady with long hair put a metallic basket a few inches in front of the Mother. Meanwhile, another lady with a pixie haircut gave the Mother three long and thick brown envelopes, and I could only imagine the number of doc.u.ments placed inside of them.

When the two ladies returned to their previous positions, Mother then slowly moved her hands to brush her head upwards with her fingers. She then crossed her legs while pulling the doc.u.ments away from the first brown envelope.

"Are you saying that you would rather quit the group rather removing the cause of why your soul remains tainted, my dear son?" She said while reading the doc.u.ments on her hands.

I inhaled a deep breath before replying deeply to her. "Yes, Mother. I would like to quit Plural Heights now if it means my wife will survive."

"Even if it means that I will be stripping all that I have given away from you?" She replied with a raised eyebrow.

I then closed my eyes tightly as I tilted my head back. "Yes, Mother," I said weakly like a defeated soldier. It was the only thing I could tell.

"I see." She threw the doc.u.ments she"s carrying into the metal basket before uttering a few words, "That"s your Plural Heights membership doc.u.ments. Without all of that, your daughter will have 0 chances of getting free education from us anymore, no matter how much you begged. That also contains the membership of your wife and your daughter. Without all of that, your daughter"s "future" will not be as stable as you thought it would be since she will no longer be able to enjoy Plural Height"s free education program. Do you still want to quit even after knowing all of that?"

"Yes, Mother," I said as I slowly feel all of my spirit spewing down away from me, spilling loudly into the ground and drowning me into endless primordial water, making it hard for me to breathe. However, I snapped out of the bright illusions that are invading my psyche as I continued to speak. "I"m working in a very stable job right now, and I feel like I can support my family well with the money that I"m receiving from my salary."

"I see." She said as she quickly took the doc.u.ments inside of the second brown envelope she"s carrying. She then quickly read through it as she allowed the brown envelope to fall from her lap onto the ground. "Do you know who owns your company, child?" She said without looking at me, her attention is rooted solely in that doc.u.ment she"s holding.

I then looked up at Jimmy, and she looked at me with a pair of sad but tearless eyes. "I believe that Brother Jimmy owns the company I"m working in right now

"That"s a good guess, my son..." She said with a gentle smile like that of a G.o.ddess that came from heaven itself. However, after a few seconds, it turned into the face of a wretched beast, ready to devour its food. "Wrong! WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WROOOONG!" Mother uttered with eyes filled with a fit of eruptive anger that made me feel like her eyes contain two of the strongest volcanoes in the universe. "WRONG! Jimmy is just the vice president of that company! WRONG!" She then threw the doc.u.ment she"s holding into the metal tray, making it shake and wobble around similar to how my brain shuddered after hearing what she had just said. "I am the owner of that company—ME! I gave you that job as a gift that I took from the deepest crevices of my now grieving heart. I am sure you already know this, but Plural Heights is ME! Plural Heights is YOUR MOTHER! Everything I personally gave you is something that Plural Heights handed to you graciously with its generous hands. ME! And if I told Jimmy that you"re out of this job that you"re clinging ever so tightly right now, then he will do so without question because I am his Mother—I am your Mother! Just like any Mother, I want you to flap your wings high into endless possibilities above the clouds, but if it means that you will rot forever with that awful wrench of a wife that you have, then I would rather clip your wings and cage you here in my nest forever!"

"I... I"m sorry, I..." I then looked at Mother and Jimmy alternately with my jaws dropped. "I don"t understand..." Those are the only words I could utter with a sigh.

"You don"t have to understand." Mother then pulled the doc.u.ment from the third envelope and threw it into the metal basket with the greatest of ease, but the darn thing was already so full that some papers in it had fallen off into the ground. "All you have to do is obey, just like a good boy. You"re a good boy, my son, a very, very good boy." She then placed her hands above her b.r.e.a.s.t.s tightly, with eyes filled with tears. "You don"t have to do the wrong thing now, my son. I know you are better than this. I know because I am your Mother! I know you well enough to know that you will KILL YOUR WIFE because it"s the right thing to do."

I then looked at the doc.u.ments that Mother had placed onto the basket. Since she didn"t even waste her time looking at it, whatever that it must have been nothing important. I thought that way with a composed look on my face until I realized that they were all bank statements along with many, many other doc.u.ments from my bank account. I then looked at my Mother once more, ever so gracious as always amid her love-filled anger. I could faintly see her halos appearing above her head, and it"s enough for me to know that she meant every word she spoke of to me.

She loves me, and I love her, but I can"t do what she"s asking me to do! I just can"t! Not even a saintess like her can change my mind now.

That was when my gaze feels upon the doc.u.ments in the basket once more.

"What is this, Mother?" I said as I tried to stand up but suddenly realized that, since Mother ordered me to sit, I have no right to stand up anymore unless she told me to do so.

"Your money. All of it." She lazily said while swinging her right feet freely to and fro into the air. "You know that your Mother had never really been a big fan of currency. It"s just another poison corrupting our society—corrupting you like worms infesting your brain. I can"t stand it!" She then took a lighter from a pocket in her skirt and threw it into the metal basket, unlit. "This is very hard for me to do, my son, but you should treat that as my final scolding to you—my way of showing what will happen to all of those pieces of paper if you still wish to be adamant in your refusal to leave Plural Heights. I am not heartless, my son, I understand how you feel, for even I was once bitten by those snakes and placed a poison called love into my heart, so I am giving you another chance. Do you still want to leave Plural Heights?"

I

"I see that you"re still unsure about your decision. I understand, my child, I really do. That"s why I have to do this for you." She then clapped three times, which seemed like a signal for all ten of her icons to leave the room. When they all did so one after another, walking past me without even giving me the slightest of their attention, including Jimmy, the room was finally engulfed in alluring darkness that further caused my insides to be thrown into a deep-seethed turmoil. Mother than clapped once, which signaled something from behind her to shone brightly at me.

I covered my eyes with the back of my hands before I slowly got used to the sudden blinding light that flashed right through me. What I saw then when I dropped my hands into my lap was a gigantic television placed on the wall a few feet away from the Mother. I hadn"t seen it earlier, for the light coming from the candles and the shadows cast by the icons covered the humongous flat-screen television into nothing but shrouding darkness.

When Mother clapped four times, the blank screen turned into many surveillance screens that displayed whatever is happening inside of my home at that moment. After counting all of them, I realized that there are twelve different places around my familiar house showing right in front of me on the huge TV screen.

"Remember when we bought your house, my child?" Mother said while twirling a portion of her long hair playfully.

"Yes, Mother... I... I remember it all clear as day." I said, still stuttering after realizing that someone must have placed these hidden cameras all over my home without my knowledge, and now, Mother is showing it to me, more her magical ways of putting her stubborn members in line.

"We had a great time, didn"t we?" She said as she breathed a deep sigh with her eyes closed, reminiscing the days we spent looking for the best home for my family. "You also remember that you personally agreed with your own consent that I can be a co-owner of the house, correct?" Mother said, now looking at me while leaning her body towards me with a playful smile.

When I finally realized what she"s trying to tell me, I  stood up swiftly with widened eyes and mouth agape widely, trying my hardest to say something, anything to beg her not to do anything to my home.

"Ah-ah!" She said while extending her hands towards me with her forefinger perking upward. "Sit down, my son. Mother is not done talking yet."

After seeing Mother"s clearly threatening gaze towards me, I slowly moved my a.s.s down into the soft chair while looking at the live video of my wife playing with my daughter in the living room.

"That"s right. Good boy." She said as she gazed at me with a relaxed smile. "Now, just like you, I am also the owner of this house. Not only that, but it is one of the many, many things I have very graciously given to you throughout the years you have spent receiving my love as a part of my one big family. Now, you would have to forgive Mother because of what I had done, but you need to realize that I did it for you and no else but you. That"s how much I love you, my son. Remember that!" She then sighed as if she was about to reveal a great bombsh.e.l.l she didn"t wish to utter but was forced to speak because of my stubbornness. "I took the liberty of placing "things" around OUR house, just like how you put all that furniture and decorations all over the place."

"Things..." I said, now realizing what Mother is trying to say as I rested my head on my left palm. "So, you"ve placed all of these cameras everywhere then?" I spoke with an exhausted tone, not even wanting to be polite to Mother anymore.

Mother must have sensed this preposterous change in my tone as she knitted her eyebrows tightly, but she didn"t really voice out her displeasure away. "Yes, things, just like the cameras, some of them aren"t even flashing on the screen right now..." She said while gesturing her hand towards the large TV behind her. "... and many, many bombs."

"Wh-"

Before I could even utter anything, the surveillance screens showing on the TV started to change one after another. It looks like footages from cameras placed at the dusty corners throughout my house, and they"re all pointed at many countless pieces of dynamites.

"That"s right, bombs—dynamite, to be more precise. I love them! They"re a cla.s.sic! I"m sure you know what those are since I had shown it to you once when we went to the Bahamas!" She then smiled brightly, which showed more of her holiness so much that I could swear I saw a pair of white and shining wings appearing behind her. "2000 of them are scattered all over your house right now. Look, camera 1 is on top of your pipes, camera 2 to 4 is underneath your house, and look, camera 8 is around your roof, on top of your attic. There"s even some underneath your bas.e.m.e.nt, but... I guess they"re not really showing in the feed right now. Oh well. You get the point!" Mother uttered with a lazy gaze.

I then shook my head, not believing the things in front of my very eyes right now as tears finally started to gush out of my eyes.

"And if I just clapped my hands five times right now..." Veronica said as she raised both of her hands slowly into the air, "your house will go "kaboom"—gone, like your love for your Mother! And in a way, that means you would still fulfill your ch.o.r.es, though it was done indirectly! See? This is how much your Mother loves you—I have even given you a Plan B, and I"m sure you would realize that I have done the right thing when you remember this conversation of ours five years from now! And after all that, I will burn these papers and your house, and only then will you be able to leave this place and my family unharmed forever like a beautiful b.u.t.terfly among the many pretty flowers in the wild." She then gently creased her lips to turn into a crescent shape as she chuckled slowly, making her eyes squint like two dark moons.

I then shook my head as my final wordless defiance against her, and she didn"t like that. She didn"t like that at all, for her face contorted into a wicked grimace so ugly that I never thought she could ever pull off.

"My son," She said with a sigh. It seemed like her anger flew out of her system, along with the breath she had released. "I want you to prove that your love for your Mother transcends the love you have for this small family you created and all these material things that I can give more to you in the future... She"s taking you away from me; you know that I would really hate myself if I take your daughter away from this world if it means getting rid of her once and for all..." She then clasped her hands together, pleading me with the remaining goodness in her heart, begging me to kill my wife already and stop this charade already. "I don"t want to clap five times. Don"t let Mother do it, my son."

"You"re cruel..." I whispered as I laid my weakened body onto the sofa.

"What"s that?" Mother said as she leaned her body forward. "I can"t quite hear you, my son."

"You"re sick, Veronica! YOU"RE SICK!" I said as I stood up while pointing my finger at her, imagining that I could shoot bullets through my fingers to blast her head off. "You"re a sick little b.i.t.c.h!

"Sit down."

"NO! NO MORE! I will not follow you anymore! I"m done! Burn everything away, but just try to touch my family, and I will do all that I can to see your body rotting down there beneath me." I then walked towards her while looking at her now fuming expression. I continued pointing my fingers at her as I stomped towards her while she clenched the frames of her chair. "And know this, Veronica! When I know very well that your pretty little body is already rotting six feet under my feet, I will p.i.s.s on your gravestone and pay some random homeless s.h.i.thead to s.h.i.t on your grave!"

Veronica then screeched at me as she slammed her head onto my forehead. As if she was some kind of superhuman with a tremendous amount of strength, she pushed my head forcefully, making me take a few steps backward until my body fell into the soft chair that they had forced me to sit on.

"You have insulted your Mother for far too long, child!" Veronica howled like a maddened wolf, ready to prowl at me with her bared fangs. I then saw her green eyes

Before I could even have time to react, a hot and seething feeling suddenly burst out of my belly.

I"m bleeding.

Holy s.h.i.t, no, oh my f.u.c.king... s.h.i.t, oh f.u.c.k, it hurts. It hurts so f.u.c.king bad! f.u.c.k, no, no, no, make it stop! My stomach is bleeding, and it wouldn"t stop. I tried to cover my wound with both my hands, but something inside of me is invading my thoughts, making it impossible for me to move any muscle in my body. My face persisted, exhibiting the same shock-filled expression on my face, and I had no way of moving them, for something inside of me had stopped me from doing whatever I please.

s.h.i.t... s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, s.h.i.t, it hurts! Make it stop, I beg of you! Stop! I don"t know what to do anymore. It hurts so f.u.c.king much; it hurts so bad, so, so f.u.c.king bad. I hate this, I hate this, I hate this! No more, please, Mother, no more! I"m so sorry, I"m so, so f.u.c.king sorry!

"It seemed that I managed to remove some of your memories away from your mind but allow me to give it back to you, my son. You know that I have no right to keep anything from you, so now that you"re big enough to take it, who am I to deny it to you?"

Suddenly, an array of light flashed past my very eyes like different kaleidoscopic brilliance, shining throughout my mind like millions of fractals. Amid those many moving pieces of what seemed like movie-reels is one singular moment that had been purposely embedded into my head. No, that"s not quite right. It had always been in my head, but something just sort of pulled it out from my consciousness like a fishhook taking its price.

Then... It happened.

In less than a second, a memory that I had long forgotten suddenly streamed into my consciousness like it"s trying it"s very hardest to squeeze itself in there somehow back into its former place in my mind.

I have been...

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I was...

I remembered getting stabbed by a girl that I had met for the first time in the Clockwork shop when I first visited Plural Heights.

Somehow, that wound healed without leaving any marks or scratches.

But now, Mother had given it back to me.

"I gave you back your life," Mother squealed with a searing flame of anger from within her. "And I can take it back whenever I want!" Since she"s standing so close to me, I could feel some of her spit hitting my face.

No, no, no, no, no, no! No more, Mother! Please! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!! I BEG OF YOU!

...

I will do the ch.o.r.e.

...

Darkness.

"Very well."

And when I saw the light again, I was already standing in front of my house. I went straight into my door without knocking, and there I saw Nicole, dressed well and while putting her leather shoes on. She smiled when she met me and embraced me tightly with her welcoming touch.

I didn"t return any of her embraces as my hands drooped on my side.

She smiled at me and asked me how it went with the Mother.

I said nothing.

She told me to come to talk to her about it in the living room.

I did.

We walked towards there as I saw a worried look on her face, asking me if something happened to me.

I replied by showing her a blank expression.

She sat on the sofa beside me in the living room.

I gave her the piece of paper that Mother had given me.

She looked at it with a shocked look, but after a while, a wave of different emotions flashed through her beautiful face as she nodded finally with an understanding gaze.

I looked down into the floor when she suddenly stood up and took something from the kitchen.

She then kneeled into the ground with a knife in her hands.

I finally showed some sort of emotions into my face when I heard her say, "Do it."

She then placed the knife into my hands with her head tilted backward and arms folded on her behind, revealing her neck and her chest.

I then waited for Jimmy to answer my call as I felt her body fall into my lap along with the feeling of her blood wetting my jeans—multiple stab wounds all over her neck down to her bosom.

*click*

"It"s done."