It Only Takes One Saturday

It was an ordinary Saturday morning. Mrs. Salvacion woke up at 7 o’clock, immediately put her apron and pony tailed her hair as she prepared for her family’s meal. She was concentrating at her kitchen timer as it ticked to its last few seconds, making sure everything’s perfect.

5…4…3…2…

“Chicken’s Ready!” she shouted to her family that seemed to be having their own world. She waited few seconds for an answer but none came. Probably her husband, Michael, was still watching the TV or playing video games again while their twins, Jess and Jessica, were playing in their bedroom.

She gave a big sigh and put out the half-eaten chicken from the oven which was slightly burnt having recooked from yesterday’s dinner. 

Actually, she knew this would happen (as always) but she would never be going to be used to it. She was cutting everyone’s share as tears fell down. She wiped those and cringed when she touched her black eye.

Her fight with her husband yesterday was immense. She was trying not to cry that day as he hurt her because the twins were watching. Their faces stared at them blankly because this scenario had been part of their everyday life.

Mrs. Salvacion just wanted a happy family.

This is enough.

She thought and stormed out to the living room.

She had not noticed her little son, Jess, who was peeping through the kitchen door for quite a while, wondering how he could get his share of chicken.

***

Saturday was Michael Salvacion’s favorite day.

“Anna will come,” he muttered to himself and smiled. He was passing time by playing the latest video game that Leo, his colleague, had introduced to him last week and ever since, he was stuck in their living room and refused to go to work.

Why does a man need to work? 

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and did not know the meaning of RESPONSIBILITY. It was an unfortunate night when he got Mrs. Salvacion pregnant and his parents had disowned him for marrying the gardener’s daughter.

“You are a curse!” he shouted yesterday. His punches and kicks landed on every part of her body.

She deserved this for ruining my life. Those bruises would never be enough.

He looked at the clock showing 12 noon and annoyed by how the time passed slowly.

“5 hours more,” he said but he heard heavy footsteps approaching. He slowly dropped the controller and pretended to sleep because he was not in the mood to see his battered wife and ruin his day again before Anna comes.

He started to lose patience as his wife kept on slapping his arms and face. He grabbed one of her hands and pulled her to the sofa then to the floor. Her body slammed against the cold floor tiles as he tried to strangle her.

She was turning purple but he did not care.

The bedroom door opened and the twins came out. The sofa was obscuring their poor mother that was crying for help but no words were coming out. Mrs. Salvacion’s body became limp.

Michael worried for a split second that the twins would run and call for help.

He stood up and walked towards his children.

***

Saturday was D-day.

Jessica looked at his brother who fell asleep on the floor after they ate the chicken legs he ‘stole’ from the kitchen. She was only 30 minutes older than her brother but it seemed like their age gap was 5 years. Jess’ mind was that of three years old and still could not talk. Jessica, on the other hand, was the matured and responsible sister and, knowing their unlucky parents who were just tools for them to be in this world, decided to take care of her beloved brother in their stead.

“Anna will come in an hour,” she said trying to say the magic words to her brother.

Jess scratched his eyes as he slowly sat up and looked at her sister.

“It’s 4’o clock,” she said trying to guess her brother’s thoughts.

Anna was Jess’ speech therapist and would come every Saturdays. Last month, she agreed to do this part time job for free because of the following reasons: she could gain training and experience while still studying; and of course, Salvacion Family could not afford a private tutor much less a therapist.

But Jessica saw Anna as their only hope to get help. She wanted to call the authority for a long time but their paranoid mother and good-for-nothing father had kept them prisoners. It was only a very lucky day when Anna randomly came by to their house and offered her tutorial service.

“Open and drink it,” she would say every time she gives a soda can to Anna before her father would send the student therapist off their house. All the cans contained the secret plan that she was desperately hoping Anna would consider.

She could have said her plans during their study time but she didn’t want her brother to be burdened and completely understand what was going on in their house.

After a month of long efforts and after seeing the twins’ fresh bruises every time she visited, Anna was convinced of the plan: she would come to Salvacion’s house discreetly tagging along some police officers with her.

They heard their mother screaming and a loud thud on the floor. Jessie waited for another round of fight but silence crept in. 

“Stay here,” Jessie said. She stood up and slowly opened the door.

Her father’s head was the only thing visible behind the sofa but it was clear that he was strangling something----or someone. Their mother was nowhere in sight. She could hear pounds on the floor and soft cries coming from where their father was. After a few moments, there was a complete silence.

Michael looked straight at her and then to someone behind her. Jessica looked back and saw her wide-eyed brother peeping over her shoulders, witnessing the same.

She immediately pushed her brother inside and locked the door.

‘’Jess, help me,’’ she said as they both pushed the small drawer to cover the door.

There was a loud bang and they both screamed.

‘’I won’t hurt you. Open the door…please,’’ Michael said.

‘’You killed her!’’ Jessica shouted half crying. Her brother looked like he could not understand anything or maybe it was too much for him to understand everything.

Jessica had to make a choice. Michael was still forcing his way in and anytime soon the twins’ haven will be compromised.  

‘’Jess, if I say Run, you have to run as fast as you can outside through the front door and look for Anna. She will save you. Find her no matter what and tell her everything…everything that you saw…everything that you know. Understand?’’ Jessica said trying to sound calm while holding her brother’s shoulder. They hugged each other tightly.

10 minutes.

Jessica just needed to buy more time.

She got her brother’s baseball bat that had been their father’s means to threaten them.

We didn’t deserve this. We had enough.

She held it tightly as Jess slowly pushed the cabinet away. The broken door burst open and their father stormed inside holding a hammer.

Jessica charged to her father aiming at his groin and shouted to Jess, ‘‘Run!’’.

And the clock struck 5’o clock.

***

Anna had barely touched her warm coffee that her secretary delivered five minutes ago when she heard a soft knock on her office door. A small nurse peeped in and was briefly distracted by the aroma of the coffee as she entered.

“Doctor, it is time. Should you have any---‘’ she said politely. She was newly hired last week and still trying to be at her best attitude in front of the Assistant Head Psychiatrist of the mental facility.

“I’m fine. I’ll be there with the team shortly,” Anna said. The nurse nodded and went back outside, hoping that she had impressed Anna in any way.

She took moments to calm her spirits for she knew that her next patient is a very special one. This patient had been with Anna since Day One of her career as psychiatrist and had been her inspiration and motivation to excel in her field. She wanted to help him.

It had been five years since the incident happened. What she had witnessed that day still haunted her every evening.

Anna was fifteen minutes late. Her heart was pounding nervously as she rang the doorbell twice. Two police officers were hiding on each side of the door both touching their guns. The silence was deafening.

She was about to ring the bell again when one of the officers knock loudly on the door.

‘’Mr. Salvacion, police officers here. We received a report and just want to ask some questions,’’ the police officer said. They paused, but still no answer. Anna was praying hard for the twins’ safety.

The officers positioned themselves and announced their forced entry to the house.

The scene was chaotic. Anna gasped as they saw blood stains on the floor as if someone that was wounded had been dragged from the front door. The police called for backup and Anna ran to the bedroom, frantically looking for the children.

Jessica’s face was smashed and pool of blood was all around her body.

‘’Bodies here!’’ one police shouted from the living room.

The killer’s hands marked on Mrs. Salvacion’s bruised neck who had died with eyes wide open. The other officer was checking Jess’ pulse who had been lying face down beside his mother. His white shirt was covered with blood. Anna’s body felt like jelly and could barely stand.

‘’Faint pulse, medics are coming,’’ the police said. They were talking on their walkie-talkies but Anna could not comprehend what they were saying. The next thing she knew, the house was full of uniformed people and someone was guiding her to an ambulance.

If only she had arrived earlier.

Several years passed and Anna was still trying her best to forgive herself and she thought that the only way was to cure Jess.

‘’He has Dissociative Identity or Multiple Personality Disorder. The rest you can read on papers,’’ Anna briefed the new nurse member of their three-man team hours before the schedule. She was diligently taking down notes and looking at the piece of patient’s medical history.

‘’OK. Noted, Doctor,’’ the nurse said.

‘’Just one thing, although I know this was also written there. All team should be waiting outside his room at 10 to 5 o’clock. Never be late,’’ Anna reminded.

It turned out that Jess was shifting his personalities based on what he had witnessed that Saturday: He would be Mrs Salvacion at 7AM; Michael would come out at almost 12noon; and he would turn as Jessica at 4PM.

They have tried to use different kinds of treatment for Jess but the only thing that seemed to be working was not to stop nor interrupt him during his DID episodes every Saturday. For the rest of the days, he would just stare outside his window while they would teach him speech lessons, hoping to add more words other than “Anna’’ which was the only thing he could speak clearly. Should they fail to follow his routine at the exact timing, Jess would stare blankly at the ceiling for the whole week and they would need to inject him liquid food in order to survive. It would only stop until the next Saturday arrived and this had happened several times.

Their every Saturday’s task was to watch Jess’ moves on a tab connected to the CCTV inside. Anna would then enter at exactly 5:15PM and cradle Jess’ on her arms after he already did his final act: a dying 8-year old boy lying face down on the floor.

‘’Anna,’’ Jess would say and the rest of the team would enter and do their assignment. They would inject him with tranquilizer and lay down the now teenage boy on his bed for a psychotherapy session.

‘’Their father died yesterday, I saw it in the local newspaper,’’ the new nurse said as they were walking towards room 506. Anna nearly stopped on their track.

‘’It’s true! I thought you already knew. It had been the talk of the town prison because he got into a big fight with one of the inmates. You know, gang fight. One officer was hurt by the way,’’ the new nurse added trailing off her voice for talking too much.

Anna walked faster and thought whether the news would be good or bad for Jess.

This is enough. We need to change our approach.

It was still 4:55PM and Anna felt that a ‘change’ should be done.

Her team was stunned as Anna opened the door and hugged Jess. He was still the same skinny boy she met five years ago. She held his face and looked into his eyes.

‘’It’s over, your father’s dead. Your safe now Jess,’’ Anna said half crying.

Jess blinked and Anna saw confusion.

His episode was still ongoing and there was no memory of Anna rescuing him before he was attacked. But Anna knew he understood and hoped desperately that the news would change him for the better.

Her hopes were draining as seconds ticked by. She about to call her team inside but then she heard something almost incomprehensible.

She shockingly looked back at Jess who said inexpressive, ‘’Where is my father?”.