Chapter 9:
My Three Dying Rules
Setting: At the psychologist / present
Doctor: You’re such a sl-
Pandora: Stop.
Setting: At a club, disco / 24th June 2022
Yuuji: P-Pandora, I shouldn’t…
Pandora: I’ll close my eyes and let you do whatever you feel like. Better hurry or your girlfriend comes back. (She closes her eyes.)
Yuuji starts to sweat and still gazes on her breasts. He lifts his right hand and brings it closer and closer to her chest. As he is about to touch her, Pandora grabs his hand, making him stop.
Pandora: You disgust me.
Yuuji: U-uhm, I wouldn’t have done it!!
Marina is seen coming back from the restroom, Yuuji focuses his attention on returning Marina. Pandora notices something sticking from Yuuji’s pocket, she takes it swiftly as Marina comes to the table.
Marina: Hey, wanna go dance now?
Pandora: (Jumps out of her seat.) Marina! Your stupid boyfriend was molesting me!!
Marina: What? (Confused)
Yuuji: Hey!! I didn’t do anything, y-you tried to seduce me!!
Pandora: Of course, the first attempt of every predator, accuse the victim!!
Marina: Yuuji, what did you do? Pandora, did you try to seduce him?
Pandora: Didn’t you ever notice how he nastily stares at me all the time?!
Yuuji: No, I don’t!!
Marina: Yuuji… I did notice how you often stare at other women… but I thought it was normal for young boys…
Pandora: You try anything else and my boyfriend is gonna end you!
Yuuji: Why the hell are you lying so much? You did offer me to touch you without me doing anything!!
Marina: Pandora- (She suddenly thinks of what happened the other day when Pandora was accused by Chloe that she broke her promise.) … You did try to seduce him, didn’t you?
Pandora: You know what? I don’t need to tell you anything. It’s your fault you left me here alone with him!
Marina: But I needed to take my medicine and calm down a little, my illness have be-
Pandora: Blah, blah, blah, illness this, sickness that. I am so tired of hearing about it. You’re still coughing and sneezing disgustingly, I am so ashamed whenever I am in public with you! (Inner monologue) I’m not, I am so sorry for your condition, you have no idea how it breaks my heart.
Marina: Pandora…? How could you say that…? My life is endangered because of that sickness and you know that.
Yuuji: What?
Pandora: Hm. What a good girlfriend you are, not even saying your boyfriend about such a serious element in your life.
Yuuji: Marina… is that true?
Marina: It’s not confirmed yet, the doctors haven’t been able to diagnose it properly, but it is a possibility.
Pandora: Such a crybaby. You and your health issues really get on my nerves. I don’t wanna hang out with somebody who skips our plans just because of some cough.
Marina: (Starts crying.) P-Pandora… how can you say that…?
Yuuji: (He suddenly jumps at Pandora and slaps her.) That’s enough!!
Pandora: (With a red cheek.) So you finally got your chance to touch me properly how you’ve always wanted. Bravo. (She takes her bag and leaves, Yuuji hugs crying Marina in the background.)
In the fantasy, the pillar cracks significantly but is still standing still.
Setting: At the psychologist / present
Doctor: Oh, so you’re not a sl-
Pandora: Stop.
Doctor: You’re getting beaten a lot.
Pandora: You’re surprised?
Doctor: No, I’m thrilled.
Pandora: Ehm…when I got home, I…
Setting: Pandora’s house, living room / 24th June 2022
Pandora’s father is watching TV on a couch.
Father: Oh, welcome b- … were you crying?
Pandora’s eyes are red and wet, slightly swollen.
Pandora: What? Eh, this is nothing! (She tries to fix her eyes with her fingers.)
Mother: (Comes from a kitchen.) Pandora… can you sit down for a while? (Her mother has a worried and sad look on her face. Pandora sits down with her parents.)
Father: There’s two things… first. I got a call from your school today. It was quite surprising as they never call me, only to your mother. I didn’t even know they had my phone number. But regardless, your teacher wants to have a 1 to 1 meeting with me because of you.
Mother: Your home teacher is worried. You skipped that important boxing match, your cultural festival concert was disturbed, your grades are getting worse.
Father: He even mentioned you are not being seen having lunch with Alyssa for the first time in … ever. Is there anything bothering you?
Pandora: No, absolutely nothing. I was just feeling overwhelmed. I wanted to take some time only for me.
Father: I see…
Mother: Well, if there is anything, I am here for you as always, sweetie.
Pandora: I know. Thank you mom, dad.
Mother: And the second thing, on the more positive note. We’re coming to see your grandpa in the village for your summer break. We haven’t been there for quite a while, will you come with us next week?
Pandora: Of course! Did I ever miss a trip to grandpa’s?? I’d love to see him! Thanks for the good news! I’ll be in my room.
Pandora goes upstairs but doesn’t head for her room, instead, she opens the door in the room next to hers. She takes ‘something’ out of her bag and places it under the bed. She then exits the room but to her surprise she bumps into Leon.
Leon: What were you doing in my room, brat? (Annoyed)
Pandora: Oh, Leon!! I was looking for my best big brooo~! (She jumps into his arms.)
Leon: What do you want? I wanna go sleep already.
Pandora: I just wanted to ask you if you’re going to grandpa’s with us?
Leon: Of course I am. Now get lost. (He pushes her away and enters his room and closes the door.)
Pandora goes to her room. She stands in front of a mirror and tears start quietly pouring from her eyes.
Pandora: I’m so sorry Marina. That was just too cruel of me… if only I had courage to go along with my initial plan to seduce Yuuji. But I don’t want to do this… I don’t want to hurt Vulcan this way.
Setting: At the psychologist / present
Doctor: Why? Isn’t that your goal?
Pandora: If he knew I somehow cheated on him, he would never trust another woman and he would evade further relationships. That’s not what I wanted. After my death, he needs to move forward as soon as possible, with another girl.
Setting: Pandora’s house, Pandora’s room / 24th June 2022
Pandora keeps staring into the mirror but her phone beeps, which distracts her. She opens the messages and notices that in a group chat with Marina and Chloe, something is happening. The conversation in the chat goes on.
Marina: He just straight up broke up with me!! Because of my illness! (Crying emoticons.)
Chloe: Don’t worry Marina, he wasn’t worth it.
Marina: I am so devastated right now… is Sunday still planned…?
Chloe: Yes. I know this week was rough for us. But those are all just stupid little things. The real deal is still happening from my side. Are you with me?
Marina: I am. We made a promise long time ago. Pandora?
Chloe: Pandora?
Marina: Pandora.
Chloe: Answer us. We see you are reading this.
Pandora watches the chat and shakes her head as if she doesn’t believe what is going on.
Setting: At the psychologist / present
Doctor: What was gonna happen on Sunday? Were they talking about the… triple suicide?
Pandora: Yes. We had the date planned for a while, we said that if we didn’t change our minds by Sunday, 26th June, we would go ahead and do it. The pillar of these two was still not destroyed. That’s when I realized that the thought of the suicide might have not been a joke for them anymore. And so whatever I did, they just brushed it off because they simply… didn’t care. They wanted to die.
Setting: Pandora’s house, Pandora’s room / 24th June 2022
Pandora watches the chat and new messages keep coming. Her look in the eyes turns from unbelief to a determination. So she replies.
Pandora: Of course. Let’s do this. Let’s die together.
Setting: Bridge above a river / 26th June 2022
Pandora, Marina and Chloe are together on a bridge during late night. There are no cars frequently riding on it at this hour.
Pandora: Did you bring them?
Chloe: Yep.
Marina: Of course.
The girls take out big headphones.
Marina: This was actually a really nice idea, Pandora!
Chloe: Yeah, if I do say so myself.
Pandora: I always imagined that when we jump off of this bridge, we should listen to this song, all at once.
Chloe: I don’t care about music that much but the lyrics of this song is fitting for us.
Marina: Even though the heroine doesn’t do it in the end according to the last verse.
Pandora: What about your wills? Did you leave them?
Marina: I wrote mine… and left it home. I wrote that I am just devastated from my life, that I don’t wanna wait until my illness kills me. And they I love my family and hope they could forgive me.
Chloe: I just wrote I am gonna do it. And that maybe the society will finally understand what they lost once I am gone.
Pandora looks below the bridge which is quite high above the river. She starts to fantasizing about her death again. The scenery turns black and white as she imagines herself jumping, while she describes what is going on.
Pandora: (inner monologue) I can see it. I jump off. I no longer have solid ground below me. I am falling with immense speed. I wonder if I change my mind as I am about to hit the water? Will I regret jumping off? As I hit the river, the pressure from the fall makes me go unconscious. The water fills under my eyes, in my mouth, in my nose… and it floods my lungs. My skin is getting more and more pale, my lips are getting purple. And I stay there for years while my body decomposes. Maybe I'll be at least food for some fish.
Chloe: Pandora, we haven’t forgiven you. You’ll meet your end at the bottom of this river without ever finding salvation.
Marina: What you’ve done has hurt me a lot. But since we’re dying today, I guess it doesn’t even matter. Hmph.
Pandora: It’s time, girls. Let’s start the song. I’ll count to three and on “go” we just jump off.
Pandora, Marina and Chloe climb onto the railing that is just wide enough for their feet to stand on. Pandora is in the middle and she holds both girls’ hands. They have their headphones on and eyes closed.
Pandora: Three… two… one… GO.
CHAPTER 9: END
Please log in to leave a comment.