Evelyn looking down at the dead man. At the man she had killed. The rain fell around them, soaking her hair, causing his blood to drip from her face. She knew she should feel something. Panic, remorse, anything, but the only emotion that penetrated through the fog of her mind was confusion. She couldn’t understand what had happened, how she had ended up killing another human being.

It felt like an eternity passed before flashing lights and the sound of slamming doors and shouting voices surrounded her. She barely noticed. Someone grabbed her, ripping her umbrella from her shaking hand. The city lights reflected off the damp fabric, the area around the umbrella’s tip glistening red. Someone spoke next to her, but their words didn’t reach her, and she winced as her arms were pulled behind her back. The handcuffs were cold against her bare, wet wrists. As they guided her away, she shut her eyes, taking solace in the darkness.

The police station was cold. Evelyn couldn’t stop shivering, despite the blanket wrapped around her shoulders. They had given her scrubs to change into, and some privacy to wipe the blood off of her face and neck. Someone had given her a cup of tea, but she hadn’t touched it. Then they had escorted her to a small, square room, where she now sat waiting.

The sound of the door opening made her look up. An officer entered. He stepped forward, pulled out the chair on the opposite side of the table, and sat, placing a tablet, a notepad, and a small folio in front of him.

“Please state your name for the record,” he said, looking up at her. His voice was soft, with a slight Mandarin accent.

They had her ID. They knew who she was. Taking a deep, calming breath, she sat up straighter in the chair.

“Evelyn Williams.” The officer pulled a pen from his breast pocket and scribbled a note.

“Ms. Williams, my name is Officer Tan. How long have you lived in Singapore?”

“Two years.” She replied.

“What brought you here?”

“I was hired as a translator at the Marina Bay Sands.”

Officer Tan’s pen paused, and he looked at her with marginally more interest. The Marina Bay Sands was one of the most famous hotels in Singapore City. When Evelyn had gotten the offer letter two years ago, it had almost kindled a spark of excitement in her. Almost.

“Alright Ms. Williams,” Officer Tan continued. “Walk me through what happened tonight.”

Evelyn closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts. “I was on my way home from work. That man…the man, he was on the train. I had seen him before. I caught him staring at me a few times, I think he was drunk. I was polite, but didn’t encourage him.``

“Seems a little late to be getting off work,” Officer Tan cut in. “You must have caught one of the last trains. Is that normal?”

“It depends. I stay as long as they need me to. Some clients work late.” She thought back to the meeting that evening, followed by dinner and drinks. The high-profile client had been happy to sit, sipping his wine and talking business late into the evening. He was French, which was why she had volunteered to stay. They had hired her for her fluency in Japanese, which was the language she normally worked in. French, however, would always be her first love, and she didn’t want to lose it, even though speaking it was still painful.

“Did you notice the man getting off at your station?” Officer Tan asked, interrupting Evelyn’s wandering thoughts.

“No,” she responded. “I didn’t notice he was following me until I was back at my apartment.”

“Alright, and what happened then?”

“He snuck up on me. Tried to get me to go with him. When I said no, he got angry, tried to grab me. I defended myself. I didn’t mean to… didn’t mean for what happened to happen. I was just scared.”

That was a lie. She hadn’t been scared, not by the end. She had been mad. There was so much pent-up anger inside of her. She hadn’t meant to kill him, but she had wanted to hurt him.

Officer Tan didn’t respond, scribbling a few more notes. He finally stopped and looked directly at her. “Ms. Williams, let’s talk about your umbrella.”

Evelyn glanced up at him for the first time, meeting his hard, almond eyes. She had been holding onto a faint hope they wouldn’t notice.

“I have to give you credit Ma’am, this was a first. In fourteen years on the force, I have never seen anyone killed with an umbrella before. We couldn’t figure out how you managed it, until we inspected the umbrella in question. It’s clearly designed to be a weapon. It’s not technically illegal to own, but in Singapore, using it is against the law, even in self-defense.”

He stared at her, gauging her reaction. She looked away, choosing to remain silent.

Evelyn had suspected her umbrella might not be legal when she purchased it. Singapore City was considered safe, but it was still a city. She knew that fire-arms and other weapons of self-defense were illegal, but had convinced herself that an umbrella would go unnoticed. It was a “tactical umbrella”, made with a thick steel shaft, a sharp carbide tipped feral, and cut resistant fabric. It also had a small speaker built into the hook shaped handle which, at the push of a button, would blare an impressively loud police siren. The moment the umbrella arrived in the mail, she had tested the fabric with a kitchen knife, and executed a few of her favorite Kendo forms. Kendo, a Japanese form of fencing, had been a passion of hers since middle school. It had been many years since she had competed, but she hadn’t let herself get rusty.

“Ms. Williams, are you aware that your neighbor, Mrs. Lee, has a doorbell camera installed?” Officer Tan asked after a pause. Evelyn could feel his cold eyes glaring down at her. Her heart sank. She hadn’t known that. He continued, “I’m going to review the footage with you. There are some discrepancies between what it shows and your statement. You’re going to need to explain them.”

Evelyn hesitated, then nodded, knowing what the video would show.

Officer Tan picked up the tablet, turned it on, and propped it up on the table where they could both watch the screen. The frozen picture it displayed was grainy, but easy to distinguish. There she was, halfway up the stairway leading to her second-floor apartment. It was a narrow outdoor stairwell covered by an awning, and she was frozen in the process of shaking water off her umbrella.

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The officer hit play. On the screen, Evelyn made her way up the final few stairs. As she got closer to the camera, her features became visible, despite the poor quality. They were forgettable. Average height, average build, with frizzy, shoulder-length brown hair and uninteresting hazel eyes. Evelyn had always joked that she donated her “attractiveness genes“ to her twin sister, Mildred. She was happy to be unremarkable in exchange for her sister’s breathtaking beauty. Mildred had been a very successful model, a career that had surprised no one.

Evelyn closed her eyes, forcing her mind away from her sister. As always, thoughts of Mildred brought all her old emotions to the surface, a swirling mix of guilt, anger, and grief that threatened to consume her. She took a deep, studying breath, and pushed the torrent back down. Over the last three years, she had mastered this skill. She’d learned to keep her feelings locked deep inside, never letting them take control.

Until tonight.

After a moment, she opened her eyes, looking back at the screen. She was at her apartment door, fiddling with her key. The man had appeared behind her, already halfway up the stairs. The video had no audio, but Evelyn’s mind filled in the silence.

“Hey there, sexy.”

The voice came from uncomfortably close behind her. It was loud, a little slurred. Evelyn jumped, dropping her keys, and spun around. Behind her, only a few feet away, was the man. His hand rested on the railing, and his outline swayed slightly against the stairwell lights.

“I’ve been watching you. On the train. Come with me. I’ll show you a good time.” He walked towards her, slow but steady, up the last remaining stairs.

Every muscle in Evelyn’s body tensed. She took a step back, bumping into her apartment door. Her keys had fallen down the first two steps, and the man now stood over them. Fear spiked inside of her, trying to push through to the surface. Evelyn forced it down.

“It’s late, and I’m not interested.” She made her voice firm.

“Come on!!” His voice was louder, his inebriation more obvious than it had been before. “I’ve seen how you’ve been looking at me. Don’t play games, little girl.” He took another step forward, one foot on the edge of the small walkway in front of her door.

“You need to back up.” Anger replaced her fear. It boiled inside her, beating against her internal walls. Is this what had happened to Mildred? Had she been alone, caught off guard, unable to defend herself?

“Come on!! Stop playing hard to get,” He slurred, and reached for her.

Years of training took over. She slipped into a defensive stance, brought her umbrella up, and slammed it hard into the man’s wrist, knocking it aside with an audible CRACK. For a moment, he stood there, frozen with shock, staring down at his wrist. Then his eyes snapped back up to hers.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He screamed, “You broke my fucking wrist you little cunt!”

The damn inside of Evelyn broke. Anger that she had kept caged for years exploded through her, and she directed every ounce at the man. She swung again, hitting him violently on the side of his head. Blood gushed down his temple, his skin split open.

She screamed, striking him again and again, driving him back. He stumbled, feet slipping on the stairs as he raised his hands, trying to protect himself. Her rage boiled beyond the point of control. She, unlike her sister, was not defenseless. She moved to finish him with a match ending thrust to the chest, putting all of her weight, terror and years of pent-up anguish into the blow.

The man was a step below her, trying, unsuccessfully, to get away. The tip of her umbrella hit him right above his collarbone. Two inches of the sharpened, carbide tipped feral slid easily into the side of his neck. She yanked it back, and blood spurted everywhere, soaking the front of her shirt and hitting her in the face. It was in her mouth, though she barely registered the coppery taste, or felt it dripping, warm and sticky, down her cheek. She watched him fall, slowly, backwards. There was a thud and some clatter as he slid and rolled to the bottom of the staircase.

Evelyn watched herself on the screen, slowly descending the stairs. The man had come to rest on the sidewalk. She remembered the sound of his gasping breath, gurgling through his ruined throat as a dark pool spread around his head. He looked frightened. Had begged with his eyes for her help.

She hadn’t.

The video played for a few more seconds, distantly showing her looking down at the man, doing nothing. Officer Tan leaned forward and turned off the screen.

Evelyn stared at the table, refusing to meet the officers’ eyes.

“Ms. Williams,” he continued, after it was clear that she would not be the one to break the silence. “It’s obvious that the man was harassing you. But your reaction was… extreme. He looked like he was trying to get away from you. Why didn’t you let him go?”

Evelyn said nothing.

“Your umbrella has a built-in alarm. Why didn’t you use it?” Officer Tan asked, his voice growing louder.

Evelyn said nothing.

Officer Tan examined her. He opened the small folio and pushed it forward in front of Evelyn. Two pages sat displayed in front of her, printed on white loose-leaf paper.

The first was a screenshot of a newspaper article listing the results from the 2017 Shoryuhai Intercollegiate Kendo Tournament. The Shoryuhai was the largest Kendo competition in the United States. Someone had highlighted Evelyn's name. She had placed fifth in the country that year, her senior year of college. Mildred had been so excited for her. She always flew in to watch Evelyn compete.

By then Mildred had been at the height of her modeling career, with a packed schedule of fashion shows and photo shoots all over the world. She was frequently busy through the summer months and holidays, but every year she would clear her schedule for the weekend of the Shoryuhai. It became a tradition, even after Evelyn had graduated and could no longer compete. They would go months without talking, both becoming absorbed in their individual lives, but every March they would come together to watch the competition, and it would be like no time had passed.

The second page was also a screenshot of a newspaper article. The date at the top read July 7, 2019. Evelyn stared down at the picture of her sister, one of her most famous magazine covers. Next to it read the headline: Super-Model, Mildred Williams, Missing, Presumed Dead, in Human Trafficking Incident.

Evelyn shut her eyes, taking quick, deep breaths.

“You’re an impressive athlete, Ms. Williams.” Officer Tan continued, his voice hard. “You knew when that man was no longer a threat.”

Evelyn said nothing, squeezing her eyes tighter together.

“I understand why being attacked by a man would be… uniquely difficult for you. I imagine it brought up some painful memories.” He laid a hand on Mildred’s photo. “You were twins, right? I read that you were close.”

Evelyn said nothing, clenching her jaw and trying to block out the cacophony of silence that threatened to destroy the last ounce of control she clung to.

The 2022 Shoryuhai was next weekend. It was the first since the pandemic. Evelyn had pulled up the Facebook page on the train. She had thought, maybe, that three years had been long enough. That she could finally revisit the Shoryuhai without being overwhelmed by thoughts of Mildred. She had been wrong.

Officer Tan stared at her for another full minute, waiting to see if she would say anything. Finally, he snapped the folio shut and stood.

“We can give you a few more minutes to pull yourself together, Ms. Williams. But we’re going to have this conversation.”

Evelyn didn’t move or look up. The sound of the door shutting marked Officer Tan’s exit. She should have asked for a lawyer. Singapore was infamous for its strict judicial system, and she knew she was in real trouble. She couldn’t bring herself to care.

It took a long time for Evelyn to regain control of herself. She opened her eyes and suddenly noticed how silent everything had become. Until a few moments ago, sounds of conversation and other office noises had been audible through the wall, but they were gone now. The silence was eerie, unnatural. The lights flickered, causing her to look up right as the green indicator on the camera in the corner blinked once and went out. Then she heard footsteps, soft at first, rapidly approaching, the “click click” of a pair of stilettos on a hard floor. They grew louder, stopping right outside, and the door opened.

The thing that entered wasn’t human.