Speechless Chapters 1 to 3 (Posted 1-14-2026)
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2026 4:29 am
Okay, this is a story long in the making. It has a rather slow start, but I needed to get everything in place. As a result, I am posting the first three chapters all at once. This sets up the premise for whatever I want to do as Bella learns not to fear her own skin.
INDEX
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 - viewtopic.php?p=47343#p47343
Chapter 3 - viewtopic.php?p=47344#p47344
Chapter 1
Bella paced nervously. Vicky was presenting her report to the board of directors right now. She had been consulting for the revenue operations department for the past two years. Six months ago, all of her models pointed to a 75% year-over-year growth for this quarter. Nobody could have predicted the economic downturn. She had to report the adjustments to the board with her recommendations for the next quarter.
“Bella.” Said a very timid-sounding Joel.
“What?” She snapped. He was the only one on the team who had complained that her assessment was too aggressive. He had been an intern when she started working with the company, and she had no desire to listen to his “I told you so’s”.
“I…” Joel started, but Bella cut him off.
“Not now!” She screamed. “I have no time for you.”
“But.” Joel began.
“Out.” She demanded. “Get out of my cubicle.”
Joel hesitated. She remembered berating him many times over the past two years. He never seemed to fight back directly. Instead, she would wait until Bella was out of the room and undermine her with his own hysterical delusions. Even if he was right, it wasn’t because he was smart, just that he guessed correctly.
Bella was glad Joel didn’t press her. With the board meeting going on, she had no patience for his nonsense. Her phone beeped, indicating a text message.
“Any word?” asked her friend, Mark. Where Joel was an irritant, Mark was a comfort. He had always been a shoulder to cry on or someone who would make her laugh or go shopping with her.
“Waiting” she texted back.
His response was a thumbs-up emoji and a message that said. “U GOT THS!”
She smiled to herself. She wished she were half as confident as Mark pretended to be.
Another beep, “Where are you?” This was from Vicky.
“In my cubicle.” She answered.
“Come to my office, now. Bring your laptop.” Vicky texted back.
She gathered her laptop and quickly made the short trip to Vicky’s office. She had known Vicky since grad school, and truth be told, Vicky was the only reason she had this job in the first place. She walked into her friend’s office and immediately noticed that something was not right. She looked more stressed than Bella had ever seen her. She also realized that there was another person in the meeting. Eric from legal was sitting across from her with a green binder.
“Why didn’t you come when Joel came for you?” Vicky asked.
“He nev…” She began, but Vicky cut her off.
“Never mind, I’ll deal with him later. Please close the door.”
Bella turned back to shut the door, in the process taking a moment to compose herself. Clearly, the board meeting did not go as expected. “Vicky…” Bella started. She wanted to take the initiative before this conversation got out of hand.
“We’re done.” Vicky said with finality.
“Done with what?” Bella asked.
“The board has canceled your contract.” Vicky said flatly.
“This is discrimination! Just because I am a woman and an Asian…” Bella stopped when she noticed Eric, who finally stood up to join the conversation. It didn’t help her argument that Vicky was also Asian, but she still wanted to make a case.
“We are buying out your remaining three months.” He said coolly, opening the binder to reveal the contract that she had signed last January.
“Why?” Bella pleaded.
“Because we lost.” Vicky said. “We made projections based on your models, and they failed.”
“My models can’t change the economy!” Bella screamed. “This is NOT my fault.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Vicky said stiffly. “The company made capital expenditures based on the numbers that we predicted, and now they need to cut back to avoid bankruptcy. Yours isn’t the only contract being cut short. The whole company is taking a 40% cost reduction.”
“You need to sign this.” Eric said, holding the contract exit agreement. Bella was stunned, but still took a minute to review the document. It simply said that they would pay out the final three months of her contract today, and she would agree not to sue for any breach. He explained that if she didn’t sign, they were prepared to fight in court, and she would not get the payout.
Bella reluctantly signed the paper and took her final check. Before handing her the check, Eric also made her hand over the keys to the company car she had been driving. It had been negotiated as part of the contract, but now that was gone. When she was done, she left her phone and laptop with Vicky and was escorted out of the building.
Only then did she realize she was going to have to navigate her way back to her apartment without a car or phone. She initially walked across the street to her bank. She did not feel comfortable walking around with a six-figure check in her hand. She also needs to get some cash for the bus fare.
It had been years since Bella had taken a bus before. She studied the map for a few minutes to find the correct route that would put her close to her apartment. Fortunately, there was a single line that would take her all the way to her block. It did pass through downtown, which was not a great area, but she would rather take a chance there than try to find a route around it.
When she got on the bus, it was already mostly full. The first three rows were full. In the fourth row, a white woman with short dark hair, black lipstick, and several piercings in her ears and lips was sitting alone. The very look of her made Bella flinch. What kind of woman dresses like that? Bella thought to herself. She was wearing torn jeans and a ratty concert tee shirt for the Misfits.
Bella kept walking, but the rest of the bus was already full. She turned back, but the bus had started moving. She held the handrail and decided to be content not having to sit next to any of these unwashed bus riders. Even the smell of the bus made her want to vomit. She wondered if someone else had beaten her to it, and that was what she smelt.
She held on for the next several stops; people got off the bus, but were quickly replaced by others getting on. Bella never attempted to find a seat. It was getting close to downtown, and she could see the decay of society pass by as the bus made its way toward her home.
At the next stop, two of the filthiest homeless men she had ever seen suddenly got on. They were walking toward her, but seemed to be in an argument with one another, bickering over something that Bella couldn’t make out. She eyed the still-empty seat next to the misfits chic. It would be better than being here when these two guys made it to her. As she took a step toward the empty seat, the bus lurched forward, causing the homeless guys to fall toward her.
Panic set in as it looked like they were about to crash into her. Just then, everything seemed to happen all at once. There was a large CRACK sound, and the world seemed to spin out of control. The bus was suddenly moving impossibly sideways. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to spin as the bus began rolling onto its side.
Momentum threw two lunatics right into Bella, and the three of them went piling through the large glass window on the side of the bus and onto the ground outside. Bella was dazed, but as her vision returned, she could see the now still bus hanging over her, being propped up by an awning on the side of the building they had landed next to. Something was tugging at her, but she was pinned down by a heavy weight on her legs.
Bella’s eyes popped all the way open when she realized that they weren’t tugging on her, but were trying to strip her clothes off. The two men were no longer fighting, but now seemed to be collaborating and seemed intent on victimizing the Asian woman who was not completely trapped.
Visions of rape and murder ran through her head. She could hear herself screaming for help and nobody willing to give her a moment’s thought. Her entire life flashed before her. In every scene, she had maintained control: of herself, her circumstances and for the most part of the people around her. She had always been able to dominate people into doing things they way she wanted them done. Everything in her life that had led to this moment was based on the idea that she was in charge of her own fate.
Now, at the end, she was trapped and other people with bad intentions now had full control over her. Over her body and over her life. Fear took over. How could she let herself be controlled by anyone, especially these two vagabonds? In her mind, she screamed for them to leave her alone. She screamed for the police or anyone to come rescue her… that was such a foreign thought.
This was Bella Chen, the woman who controlled her own fate. How could she need rescuing? She scolded herself for refusing to admit reality. It was as if another person was living in her head telling her what was happening. She could hear the voice screaming. She wanted, with every fiber of her being, to argue with the voice, but reality could not be talked into submission.
“Leave her alone!” a voice screamed. Bella wasn’t sure if the voice was real or her imagination.
Her eyes peeled open as wide as they could go, through what happened next was so quick it appeared as a blur. “I said, leave her alone!” Bella’s eyes focused for a moment. Standing over her was the misfit woman from the bus holding a knife in her right hand and something that looked like a small hairspray can in the other.
She sprayed whatever was in the can, and everyone around screamed out. Suddenly, Bella realized as the waft of pepper spray made its way down toward her. She closed her eyes tightly. She could hear sirens in the distance as blackness retook her.
Beep, beep, beep… Bella awoke to the sounds of a hospital room. She could remember being on the bus, and the girl with the pepper spray. Nothing made sense though. She had no idea what had happened, but her head still hurt badly.
“You’re awake?” Said a familiar woman’s voice.
Bella blinked and then looked to her right. The misfit girl was sitting next to her with a cellphone in her hand. She tried to answer, but no words came out. Instead, Bella nodded at the girl.
Unable to speak, Bella mouthed the words she was trying to say.
“What happened?” The girl asked. “The fucking bus driver drove through a red light and we got tee-boned by a sanitation truck. We are lucky to be alive, especially you!”
Bella listened, but could only nod.
“The bus got cut in half, and you and those two tweakers flew out onto the sidewalk. That all was bad enough, but with everyone nursing their wounds, it almost started a homeless frenzy. It the cops were an slower getting there we could have been killed or worse.”
“Thank you.” Bella managed to whisper in a painfully raspy voice, taking a moment to squeeze the woman’s hand as she said it.
The girl smiled, accepting her thanks graciously. “I’m Alice, by the way.”
Bella waved ‘Hi’ to her, instead of attempting to speak again. Just then the doctor wandered into the room. He was surprised to see Bella up and communicating, but took the time to do an assessment.
He did a neurological test and checked her head wound. He was a bit confused at why she was unable to speak, as she had not damaged her throat. Bella tolerated it as best she could, but whenever she tried to say anything, no sound came out. She knew the words, but even the raspiness went away. The doctor suggested that something internal that he could not fully diagnose had caused paralysis in her vocal cords.
“Neurologically, you seem healthy as a horse… hopefully your voice will return in a few days.” The doctor informed. Bella offered a hopeful nod, but was at the moment was happy enough not having to speak.
“Let’s see how well you can stand.” He ordered, before lowering the safety rail on her bed and helping her to her feet. Alice was at her side offering Bella additional support.
It took a few seconds to stead herself, but once satisfied that she wasn’t going to fall, the doctor let go of her arm to stand on her own. “Alice, Bella needs to stand by herself for a minute.”
Reluctantly, Alice tried letting go. It took a few seconds for Bella to loosen her grip on Alice’s sleeve, but then she was standing by herself, facing the window with the door to the hospital corridor at her back. Suddenly, Bella was aware of a draft behind her. Subconsciously, she reached behind her and felt her bare bottom.
Bella felt her face turn crimson. She quickly secured both sided of the patient gown with her hands and snapped them shut. Thoughts rambled rapidly through her head, ‘what had happened to her undergarment?’ and ‘how many people had walked past as she stood there with her butt bare to the world?’ and most importantly, ‘who saw her naked when she was unconscious?’.
“Are you okay?” asked Alice? “You look like someone just walked over your grave.”
Bella did her best to relax her features, but this was absolutely humiliating. She wanted to sit down and wrap herself in a blanket, but the doctor was still here assessing her. For his part, he apologized for not closing the curtain before standing her up. “Here.” He said. “Let’s tie this up for you.” He then proceeded the tie the strings to hold the back of her gown closed. For some reason, Alice thought the whole thing was amusing.
Once her modesty was secured, she was instructed to walk to the door and back. The doctor and Alice walked along side of her, but they didn’t hold onto her and she was pretty stead on her feet. Once he was satisfied, he let her lie back down and Alice helped cover her up with the blanket.
Sometime after the doctor had left, the entire experience had really started to sink in. Her loss of a job, the accident, the attack, and now her lost speech. It was too much. Bella began weeping, silently at first and finally outright crying. She had not cried in many years, but today it all came out.
She felt Alice’s hand clasp hers. It felt good to have someone, even a stranger, be there for her. Again, Bella was aware that this was a greater loss of control. She was crying inconsolably, and as much as she tried to stop herself, the tears just poured out all the harder. Control was the issue. She had always had it. Nevertheless, today she realized that she was not in control.
It was a thought that, by all accounts, should have had her in a panic, but today, letting someone else be in control was a comfort to her. Control was pain, and at least for now, she was done with it. Bella continued to weep, but she clung tightly to Alice’s hand and in her heart she began to feel something else she had not felt in a long time… hope.
INDEX
Chapter 1
Chapter 2 - viewtopic.php?p=47343#p47343
Chapter 3 - viewtopic.php?p=47344#p47344
Chapter 1
Bella paced nervously. Vicky was presenting her report to the board of directors right now. She had been consulting for the revenue operations department for the past two years. Six months ago, all of her models pointed to a 75% year-over-year growth for this quarter. Nobody could have predicted the economic downturn. She had to report the adjustments to the board with her recommendations for the next quarter.
“Bella.” Said a very timid-sounding Joel.
“What?” She snapped. He was the only one on the team who had complained that her assessment was too aggressive. He had been an intern when she started working with the company, and she had no desire to listen to his “I told you so’s”.
“I…” Joel started, but Bella cut him off.
“Not now!” She screamed. “I have no time for you.”
“But.” Joel began.
“Out.” She demanded. “Get out of my cubicle.”
Joel hesitated. She remembered berating him many times over the past two years. He never seemed to fight back directly. Instead, she would wait until Bella was out of the room and undermine her with his own hysterical delusions. Even if he was right, it wasn’t because he was smart, just that he guessed correctly.
Bella was glad Joel didn’t press her. With the board meeting going on, she had no patience for his nonsense. Her phone beeped, indicating a text message.
“Any word?” asked her friend, Mark. Where Joel was an irritant, Mark was a comfort. He had always been a shoulder to cry on or someone who would make her laugh or go shopping with her.
“Waiting” she texted back.
His response was a thumbs-up emoji and a message that said. “U GOT THS!”
She smiled to herself. She wished she were half as confident as Mark pretended to be.
Another beep, “Where are you?” This was from Vicky.
“In my cubicle.” She answered.
“Come to my office, now. Bring your laptop.” Vicky texted back.
She gathered her laptop and quickly made the short trip to Vicky’s office. She had known Vicky since grad school, and truth be told, Vicky was the only reason she had this job in the first place. She walked into her friend’s office and immediately noticed that something was not right. She looked more stressed than Bella had ever seen her. She also realized that there was another person in the meeting. Eric from legal was sitting across from her with a green binder.
“Why didn’t you come when Joel came for you?” Vicky asked.
“He nev…” She began, but Vicky cut her off.
“Never mind, I’ll deal with him later. Please close the door.”
Bella turned back to shut the door, in the process taking a moment to compose herself. Clearly, the board meeting did not go as expected. “Vicky…” Bella started. She wanted to take the initiative before this conversation got out of hand.
“We’re done.” Vicky said with finality.
“Done with what?” Bella asked.
“The board has canceled your contract.” Vicky said flatly.
“This is discrimination! Just because I am a woman and an Asian…” Bella stopped when she noticed Eric, who finally stood up to join the conversation. It didn’t help her argument that Vicky was also Asian, but she still wanted to make a case.
“We are buying out your remaining three months.” He said coolly, opening the binder to reveal the contract that she had signed last January.
“Why?” Bella pleaded.
“Because we lost.” Vicky said. “We made projections based on your models, and they failed.”
“My models can’t change the economy!” Bella screamed. “This is NOT my fault.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Vicky said stiffly. “The company made capital expenditures based on the numbers that we predicted, and now they need to cut back to avoid bankruptcy. Yours isn’t the only contract being cut short. The whole company is taking a 40% cost reduction.”
“You need to sign this.” Eric said, holding the contract exit agreement. Bella was stunned, but still took a minute to review the document. It simply said that they would pay out the final three months of her contract today, and she would agree not to sue for any breach. He explained that if she didn’t sign, they were prepared to fight in court, and she would not get the payout.
Bella reluctantly signed the paper and took her final check. Before handing her the check, Eric also made her hand over the keys to the company car she had been driving. It had been negotiated as part of the contract, but now that was gone. When she was done, she left her phone and laptop with Vicky and was escorted out of the building.
Only then did she realize she was going to have to navigate her way back to her apartment without a car or phone. She initially walked across the street to her bank. She did not feel comfortable walking around with a six-figure check in her hand. She also needs to get some cash for the bus fare.
It had been years since Bella had taken a bus before. She studied the map for a few minutes to find the correct route that would put her close to her apartment. Fortunately, there was a single line that would take her all the way to her block. It did pass through downtown, which was not a great area, but she would rather take a chance there than try to find a route around it.
When she got on the bus, it was already mostly full. The first three rows were full. In the fourth row, a white woman with short dark hair, black lipstick, and several piercings in her ears and lips was sitting alone. The very look of her made Bella flinch. What kind of woman dresses like that? Bella thought to herself. She was wearing torn jeans and a ratty concert tee shirt for the Misfits.
Bella kept walking, but the rest of the bus was already full. She turned back, but the bus had started moving. She held the handrail and decided to be content not having to sit next to any of these unwashed bus riders. Even the smell of the bus made her want to vomit. She wondered if someone else had beaten her to it, and that was what she smelt.
She held on for the next several stops; people got off the bus, but were quickly replaced by others getting on. Bella never attempted to find a seat. It was getting close to downtown, and she could see the decay of society pass by as the bus made its way toward her home.
At the next stop, two of the filthiest homeless men she had ever seen suddenly got on. They were walking toward her, but seemed to be in an argument with one another, bickering over something that Bella couldn’t make out. She eyed the still-empty seat next to the misfits chic. It would be better than being here when these two guys made it to her. As she took a step toward the empty seat, the bus lurched forward, causing the homeless guys to fall toward her.
Panic set in as it looked like they were about to crash into her. Just then, everything seemed to happen all at once. There was a large CRACK sound, and the world seemed to spin out of control. The bus was suddenly moving impossibly sideways. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to spin as the bus began rolling onto its side.
Momentum threw two lunatics right into Bella, and the three of them went piling through the large glass window on the side of the bus and onto the ground outside. Bella was dazed, but as her vision returned, she could see the now still bus hanging over her, being propped up by an awning on the side of the building they had landed next to. Something was tugging at her, but she was pinned down by a heavy weight on her legs.
Bella’s eyes popped all the way open when she realized that they weren’t tugging on her, but were trying to strip her clothes off. The two men were no longer fighting, but now seemed to be collaborating and seemed intent on victimizing the Asian woman who was not completely trapped.
Visions of rape and murder ran through her head. She could hear herself screaming for help and nobody willing to give her a moment’s thought. Her entire life flashed before her. In every scene, she had maintained control: of herself, her circumstances and for the most part of the people around her. She had always been able to dominate people into doing things they way she wanted them done. Everything in her life that had led to this moment was based on the idea that she was in charge of her own fate.
Now, at the end, she was trapped and other people with bad intentions now had full control over her. Over her body and over her life. Fear took over. How could she let herself be controlled by anyone, especially these two vagabonds? In her mind, she screamed for them to leave her alone. She screamed for the police or anyone to come rescue her… that was such a foreign thought.
This was Bella Chen, the woman who controlled her own fate. How could she need rescuing? She scolded herself for refusing to admit reality. It was as if another person was living in her head telling her what was happening. She could hear the voice screaming. She wanted, with every fiber of her being, to argue with the voice, but reality could not be talked into submission.
“Leave her alone!” a voice screamed. Bella wasn’t sure if the voice was real or her imagination.
Her eyes peeled open as wide as they could go, through what happened next was so quick it appeared as a blur. “I said, leave her alone!” Bella’s eyes focused for a moment. Standing over her was the misfit woman from the bus holding a knife in her right hand and something that looked like a small hairspray can in the other.
She sprayed whatever was in the can, and everyone around screamed out. Suddenly, Bella realized as the waft of pepper spray made its way down toward her. She closed her eyes tightly. She could hear sirens in the distance as blackness retook her.
Beep, beep, beep… Bella awoke to the sounds of a hospital room. She could remember being on the bus, and the girl with the pepper spray. Nothing made sense though. She had no idea what had happened, but her head still hurt badly.
“You’re awake?” Said a familiar woman’s voice.
Bella blinked and then looked to her right. The misfit girl was sitting next to her with a cellphone in her hand. She tried to answer, but no words came out. Instead, Bella nodded at the girl.
Unable to speak, Bella mouthed the words she was trying to say.
“What happened?” The girl asked. “The fucking bus driver drove through a red light and we got tee-boned by a sanitation truck. We are lucky to be alive, especially you!”
Bella listened, but could only nod.
“The bus got cut in half, and you and those two tweakers flew out onto the sidewalk. That all was bad enough, but with everyone nursing their wounds, it almost started a homeless frenzy. It the cops were an slower getting there we could have been killed or worse.”
“Thank you.” Bella managed to whisper in a painfully raspy voice, taking a moment to squeeze the woman’s hand as she said it.
The girl smiled, accepting her thanks graciously. “I’m Alice, by the way.”
Bella waved ‘Hi’ to her, instead of attempting to speak again. Just then the doctor wandered into the room. He was surprised to see Bella up and communicating, but took the time to do an assessment.
He did a neurological test and checked her head wound. He was a bit confused at why she was unable to speak, as she had not damaged her throat. Bella tolerated it as best she could, but whenever she tried to say anything, no sound came out. She knew the words, but even the raspiness went away. The doctor suggested that something internal that he could not fully diagnose had caused paralysis in her vocal cords.
“Neurologically, you seem healthy as a horse… hopefully your voice will return in a few days.” The doctor informed. Bella offered a hopeful nod, but was at the moment was happy enough not having to speak.
“Let’s see how well you can stand.” He ordered, before lowering the safety rail on her bed and helping her to her feet. Alice was at her side offering Bella additional support.
It took a few seconds to stead herself, but once satisfied that she wasn’t going to fall, the doctor let go of her arm to stand on her own. “Alice, Bella needs to stand by herself for a minute.”
Reluctantly, Alice tried letting go. It took a few seconds for Bella to loosen her grip on Alice’s sleeve, but then she was standing by herself, facing the window with the door to the hospital corridor at her back. Suddenly, Bella was aware of a draft behind her. Subconsciously, she reached behind her and felt her bare bottom.
Bella felt her face turn crimson. She quickly secured both sided of the patient gown with her hands and snapped them shut. Thoughts rambled rapidly through her head, ‘what had happened to her undergarment?’ and ‘how many people had walked past as she stood there with her butt bare to the world?’ and most importantly, ‘who saw her naked when she was unconscious?’.
“Are you okay?” asked Alice? “You look like someone just walked over your grave.”
Bella did her best to relax her features, but this was absolutely humiliating. She wanted to sit down and wrap herself in a blanket, but the doctor was still here assessing her. For his part, he apologized for not closing the curtain before standing her up. “Here.” He said. “Let’s tie this up for you.” He then proceeded the tie the strings to hold the back of her gown closed. For some reason, Alice thought the whole thing was amusing.
Once her modesty was secured, she was instructed to walk to the door and back. The doctor and Alice walked along side of her, but they didn’t hold onto her and she was pretty stead on her feet. Once he was satisfied, he let her lie back down and Alice helped cover her up with the blanket.
Sometime after the doctor had left, the entire experience had really started to sink in. Her loss of a job, the accident, the attack, and now her lost speech. It was too much. Bella began weeping, silently at first and finally outright crying. She had not cried in many years, but today it all came out.
She felt Alice’s hand clasp hers. It felt good to have someone, even a stranger, be there for her. Again, Bella was aware that this was a greater loss of control. She was crying inconsolably, and as much as she tried to stop herself, the tears just poured out all the harder. Control was the issue. She had always had it. Nevertheless, today she realized that she was not in control.
It was a thought that, by all accounts, should have had her in a panic, but today, letting someone else be in control was a comfort to her. Control was pain, and at least for now, she was done with it. Bella continued to weep, but she clung tightly to Alice’s hand and in her heart she began to feel something else she had not felt in a long time… hope.