Chapter 471: Killed by Me and Sasha
Chapter 471: Chapter 471: Killed by Me and Sasha
"Okay," Renee Jennings agreed to Layla’s request. "Snacks, pretty things—we have it all."
She opened the video app on her backup phone and handed it to Zachary Conway. "Zachary, could you please record this for us?"
"Okay!" Zachary Conway took the phone.
Michelle Fuller, meanwhile, took a snack and a pearl hair clip from her small bag. She slowly crouched down. "Layla, do you like these? If you do, come and get them."
Layla definitely liked them. And since Sasha wasn’t around, she could eat the snack all by herself and only have to hand over the pretty hair clip.
Layla cautiously approached. Only after confirming that these humans wouldn’t hurt her did she take the lychee and hair clip from Michelle Fuller’s palm.
She bit open the lychee’s shell and started eating the fruit inside.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," Michelle Fuller said in amazement. "She even knows how to peel it! She’s so smart!"
A contented look spread across Layla’s face as she ate the sweet lychee.
"Should I help you put the pearl clip in your hair?" Michelle Fuller asked.
At the mention of this, Layla immediately shook her head. "No, no. If Sasha sees it, she’ll get angry."
Hearing this, Renee Jennings asked gently, "Layla, you haven’t told me yet. Why are you so afraid of Sasha getting angry?"
"Because Sasha is terrifying when she’s angry."
"Terrifying how?"
"Sasha hits me. It hurts so, so much. She pulls out my fur, too, and that hurts so, so much!" Knowing she was bad-mouthing Sasha, Layla kept glancing around warily, afraid Sasha might be nearby.
Bonnie’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at her. "Sasha... Did Sasha bully you?"
"Yeah!" Layla nodded emphatically. "Sasha always scares me when I’m trying to sleep. She won’t let me sleep. I have to do what she says, or she’ll bully me."
Renee Jennings summarized, "So you became Sasha’s little sidekick and helped her bully the other orangutans?"
"Yeah!"
"Did you bully Sparkle together?"
"Yeah!" Layla nodded, her attention fixed on studying the pearl hair clip.
In fact, humans had given her hair clips before, but she never got a good look at them before having to hand them over to Sasha.
Bonnie hadn’t realized that Sparkle had been bullied by Sasha, too!
Renee Jennings: "Why did you bully Sparkle?"
Layla looked up at her. "Because Sasha doesn’t like Sparkle. Sasha said all the humans like Sparkle, and she wouldn’t allow it."
Renee Jennings frowned. "So Sasha had you bully Sparkle not to make her obedient, but because she was popular with the humans?"
Layla tilted her little head, trying hard to think of how to answer this question.
’Didn’t Sasha want Sparkle to listen to her?’
"She did. Sasha wanted Sparkle to obey her and give her the things humans gave Sparkle. But Sparkle wouldn’t."
Renee Jennings wanted to ask more, but her phone suddenly rang shrilly.
Both Bonnie and Layla flinched, startled.
Renee Jennings quickly patted Bonnie’s back soothingly and also stroked Layla’s head. "Don’t be afraid, it’s just the phone ringing."
She took out her phone. The caller ID showed it was Hilary.
Renee Jennings answered the phone. "Hilary, we ran into Layla and are talking with her. Are you with Sasha right now?"
At the sound of Sasha’s name, Layla grew visibly tense and began to look around nervously.
"Yes, Ms. Jennings," Hilary replied from the other end of the line. "Should we come find you later then?"
"Okay," Renee Jennings said. "I’ll call you in a bit."
Seeing her put down the phone, Layla asked anxiously, "Is Sasha coming?"
"No," Renee Jennings chuckled lightly. "You don’t have to worry. If Sasha comes over, I’ll tell you."
"Then can you put this on me?" Layla wanted to look pretty, just like Bonnie. "I’ll take it off when Sasha gets here."
She held up the pearl hair clip in her hand.
Renee Jennings could feel that Layla was truly terrified of Sasha.
"Okay, I’ll have my friend put it on for you." She nodded and said to Michelle Fuller, "Michelle, can you help Layla with the pearl clip?"
"Sure." Michelle Fuller gently helped Layla put on the hair clip.
Layla touched the clip on her head and asked, "Am I as pretty as Bonnie now?"
"You are," Renee Jennings smiled. "You look very pretty."
Bonnie thought for a moment and then chimed in with her own praise, "Layla’s pretty."
When Layla heard this, her gaze fell on Bonnie’s face. She clearly hadn’t expected to be called pretty by her, and her eyes filled with astonishment. "Bonnie... you praised me... But I helped Sasha bully you..."
"Sasha is the bad one." Bonnie remembered that Sasha had bullied Layla too. ’Layla only bullied me because Sasha made her, so she wouldn’t get bullied herself. Layla isn’t the bad one, Sasha is.’
Layla stared at Bonnie, her dark, round eyes misting over. A sense of guilt suddenly washed over her. "Bonnie..."
Bonnie tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"
Layla sniffled and sobbed, "Bonnie, I’m sorry."
Renee Jennings raised an eyebrow. ’Layla is apologizing to Bonnie on her own? It seems her nature isn’t bad after all; she was just led astray by Sasha.’
Bonnie hadn’t expected Layla to apologize either. She didn’t know how to respond and looked helplessly at Renee Jennings, as if to ask, ’What do I do? What should I do now?’
Renee Jennings asked softly, "Bonnie, if Layla doesn’t bully you anymore, would you be willing to be friends with her?"
Layla stared intently at Bonnie, her knuckles curling unconsciously, her heart full of anticipation.
Bonnie looked back at Layla. After thinking it over seriously, she slowly nodded. "Yeah!"
Seeing this, the corners of Layla’s mouth instantly turned up.
’This is great! Bonnie is still willing to be my friend!’
"But..." Bonnie thought of a very serious problem. "If Layla is my friend, Sasha will bully her too, just like me. What do we do?"
This problem also made Layla worried. "What do we do? Sasha will bully us."
"I’ll handle it." Renee Jennings brought the topic back to Sparkle. "Layla, you said earlier that Sparkle was unwilling to give Sasha the things humans gave her. What happened after that?"
"Sasha took me to scare Sparkle in the middle of the night and pull out her fur," Layla answered. "Every time there was food, we would snatch Sparkle’s food, throw it in the mud and roll it around, then force Sparkle to eat it."
"And then?" Bonnie asked nervously.
"After that, Sparkle would hide whenever she saw me and Sasha. When Sasha found out, she started picking times when there were lots of tourists to go ’play’ with Sparkle. It looked like they were playing, but she was actually bullying Sparkle."
"After many days, on a rainy night, Sasha and I went to bully Sparkle as usual. We found Sparkle lying on the ground. No matter how we pulled her fur, she didn’t react."
"We didn’t find out until the next day... that Sparkle was already dead..."
Layla sobbed, "Sparkle... I think... I think Sasha and I killed her... WAAAH..."
Bonnie was also trembling, afraid she would become the next Sparkle.