Round 3, Match 2: Supersession vs TheDUCK. Supersession:

Round 3, Match 2: Supersession vs TheDUCK.

Prompt: This isn't even my final form.

Participant: Supersession (https://www.honeyfeed.fm/u/7049)

Yesterday, the gag order protecting my brother’s identity had been lifted for the entire world to see. 

Well, to be more precise, it wasn’t so much intended to protect my brother as it was to prevent the identity of his victims from being uncovered, but the way the case had played out it was evident that hiding the perp’s identity was to his own benefit and no one else’s. All eight victims had ‘unanimously’ voiced out their desire for the voyeur’s identity to be revealed to the public—though depending on who you asked, this was either a form of childish vengeance or so that potential victims could step forward without fear. I personally believed it to be the former, but I know that probably sounds like the bias of a family member. 

Conveniently, the two victims (of the initial ten) who dissented had been removed from the prosecution’s list of clients they were pressing charges for, so they ‘were no longer involved’ with the decision to reveal my brother’s identity or not. 

*** 

I don’t want to sound like I’m some sort of sympathiser to sexual abusers, but I can’t help but disagree with the court’s decision. 

In a country as small as the one I live in, nepotism runs rampant. Where you get a job and how far your career advances is often linked to who you know rather than what you can do. For instance, my father found his current job as the Chief Technology Officer of a high-profile government company simply because the CEO happened to serve in the same platoon as he did during their army days. 

Similarly, my mother (who was an air stewardess) managed to land a well-paying job as a manager precisely because she knew the right people. 

I’m not trying to say that my parents were shit at their jobs. I’m sure they did a respectable job within the roles they’d been afforded, since they managed to hold each position for four and eight years respectively. I just can’t help but feel they might have been a tad underqualified. 

In any case, they were both fired once their identities had been linked to my brother. 

*** 

When it rains, it pours—but platitudes are called platitudes for a reason. 

For example, take the following quote from a poem by Charles Bukowski: 

People run from rain, but sit in bathtubs full of water. 

It makes no sense. When rephrased, it’s the equivalent of saying the following: 

People want to eat, yet duck in the face of thrown apples. 

Sure, I’ve ruined the cadence and taken the line out of context, but ‘profound’ statements tend to irk me. I used to subscribe to r/im14andthisisdeep and constantly made fun of edgy atheists. 

Recently, however, I’ve found myself trying to find the deeper meaning in life—as well as being more religious in general. 

Over the past month or so, I’ve prayed to a variety of Gods and even partook in a bunch of superstitious acts. I’ve prayed to God, Allah, Yama and Dharma regarding my brother’s case. I’ve even burned joss paper and lit incense sticks for my father in heaven, and I don’t mean that Father. 

Papa killed himself after being unable to pay off our family’s debts from moving to a new house. I don’t blame him for taking the easy way out—how could anyone have predicted this? One day you’re a happy father with a son in Cambridge and a daughter about to wrap up secondary school, and the next you’re saddled with legal fees and unemployment without a severance package. 

Still, I wished he would have at least told Mum or myself. 

I’m not sure what to do anymore. All I can do is pray. 

*** 

My brother’s mental state has been deteriorating ever since the sentencing for his case came out. He paces back and forth around the house with ragged breaths, mouthing over and over that the world is unfair. 

Statistically speaking, 80% of voyeurism cases in Singapore end up with probation or a similar non-jail sentence if you plead guilty. The other 20% involve jail sentences with up to 1 year for each charge of outrage of modesty. My brother faces seventeen of those charges. 

It’s not just my brother; Mum also seems to be having a lot of panic attacks lately, as if anxiety is a coronavirus of some sort. I’ll admit that I’ve been feeling the heat too. No one has been doing the laundry properly, so my uniforms are grey and crumpled. I couldn’t afford a Netflix subscription anymore, so I’ve been borrowing books from the library and making do with that. There’s no denying it, my family is piss poor—though I don’t qualify for the school’s low-income support scheme since my house exceeds their maximum allotted amount of square feet. According to them, I’m ‘middle-income’. 

It’s a travesty. 

Still, what’s the worst that could happen? My brother killing himself? My mother reduced to a semi-vegetative mental state, just as she is now? Those two outcomes don’t sound half bad at all. To be frank, I would probably prefer it if I could be unchained from my family. 

I just want to study, do well for my exams, and get a good job. I’ve survived all of this. I think I can do it—barring no black swan events. 

*** 

GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER DRAWN-OUT BULLYING SCANDAL AT SCHOOL 

By Desmond Quek 

The Island Times 

SINGAPORE — A ‘spirited girl’ as described by her teachers has taken her own life after being bullied at school for being poor, sources say. 

Her body was found in a tub of her own blood with deep incisions made across each wrist. Her mother, aged 48, has been taken into police custody on grounds of abetment of suicide. 

***

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Judge's Feedback

znf: Yes, Charles Bukowski sucks, and yet....you sometimes write like the prototypical redditor who adores him. Unfortunate.

OscarHM: Again, interesting take on the prompt. I don't think I have much to say about your prose or writing style because it's mostly very well done. I would just beg you to fight the urge to put such huge reddit energy in like one paragraph per story. The 'r/im14andthisisdeep' line really took me out of this story, and almost cost you my vote. Otherwise, the story is well executed and reads well.

otkrlj: Overall liked this one. short on time so I cat say much, but good job overall