The rules were simple: We follow the police to where they were going, we observe what they were going to do, and we find where were the rest of our classmates. However, there was one golden rule: we must not be caught.
As we slowly take our walk following the traces of the four police men who were still secretive in telling us what was exactly happening, we stopped in a full halt when we found out that we were heading towards the neighboring building only. The building with the highest numbers of floors, about thirty four or something, was only on the left of side of the covered gym where we were unfortunately stuck. There were two men in uniform heading our way, and we had no choice but to go back to the protest queue and just wait. That was so fucked up! We were only few meters away from entering the building but we were forced to head back! If only we moved a few moments earlier than them, the police men, then perhaps we would have had successfully searched t
“Excuse me, officer. But am I allowed to know what is happening there inside? Mind you, I am now the one in charge of this Hamlet Creek University since the principal has died now, right? So I think I have all the rights to know what exactly is happening inside one of the many buildings under my care,” Mr. Morales, the vice principal said while keeping his fingers busy by letting them strangle one after the other. I could see it in his eyes that he was really concern. That he was indeed not able to keep himself at a cooler temper because he knew, just like we did too, that there was really something going on inside. With all the set up, with the yellow caution tape and barriers put in front of the building, it was already pretty obvious that something horrible and morbid took place again. “If you don’t tell me the truth, then I will report you to the higher government. Now, allow me to ask you again. What is happening inside? Remember, if you refuse to answer
JACELIt was surreal to all of us when we heard that it was the sophomore student who was killed and that it was Travis Exposito who was beaten to unconsciousness. Now, the urgent increasing of anger in our hearts did not took long before it took into place, and that in every single word we say, we guaranteed we were going to be more angry ast the time would pass by.It even came to the point that we jumped out of hiding underneath the window of the patrol car to meet the detective and the vice principal. They were still standing on their feet, but not for long, we knew for sure that they were going to walk away. That was why before it even happened, we revealed ourselves and did not mind what was going to be our fate anymore. What was important to us that time was, we would be able to know where the rest of our friends (also know as our classmates) were hiding. Now that we knew what happened to Travis, we b
VHYNZI was not missing, just to be clear. I was not with Travis, and Rabiya, and Chuck, and Janvic, and even with Philip. I was not with them. With any of them. I had no idea where did they come from, what did they do, and how did they ended up missing the entire four hours of the afternoon. Nor did I even had the slightest clue why Travis suffered from that evilly demise.However, I was the one who happened to find one of them. I found Philip. It was when I decided to leave the protest area without asking the permission from any of the police and cops assigned to guard the place, and find my serene place to unwind. That was the only thing that made me pursue leaving the protest space. To unwind. Nothing more, nothing less. However, little did I know that what I thought was just a simple unwinding and finding peace amid the chaos would bring me to a disastrous yet relieving relief. There, somewhere on the o
VHYNZI was not missing, just to be clear. I was not with Travis, and Rabiya, and Chuck, and Janvic, and even with Philip. I was not with them. With any of them. I had no idea where did they come from, what did they do, and how did they ended up missing the entire four hours of the afternoon. Nor did I even had the slightest clue why Travis suffered from that evilly demise.However, I was the one who happened to find one of them. I found Philip. It was when I decided to leave the protest area without asking the permission from any of the police and cops assigned to guard the place, and find my serene place to unwind. That was the only thing that made me pursue leaving the protest space. To unwind. Nothing more, nothing less. However, little did I know that what I thought was just a simple unwinding and finding peace amid the chaos would bring me to a disastrous yet relieving relief. There, somewhere on the o
Philip looked me straight into the eyes, and then blinked a few more times before he stared away. Afterwards, he made a slight shake on his head and then heaved out a heavy sigh. “If I am to tell you the truth, it will going to take us a long time. If you really want to know, then we better begin to find a good spot to stay on. What about over there?” he said, pointing to the round table made of carved wood painted in white, the fourth one from the last study table of the students’ study area.“Anywhere is fine with me. But yeah, okay. Let us go there,” I agreed without having any second thought. With him ending up saying those words, there were only three possibilities that came to me. One (1) perhaps he had something like an emotional encounter with himself that was why he wanted to talk it through as a form of therapy; Two (2) just like me, he was just trying to unwind but later ended up having something that went on with him, or
CHUCKEveryone in the protest area went wild and cautious when we noticed that there were four men running off the building while pushing a wheeled stretcher with them. There was a guy laid on top of it, covered in blood, and even barely conscious. I knew since the very beginning when the first cop set his left foot out the building that it was Travis, because I, I mean the four of us, were there back on the ninth floor during the set up happened. Watching our plan slowly and carefully succeeded made me thought that maybe, just maybe, our plan would eventually turn out to be a success.I let out a fine sigh as I wiggled my butt to move myself to the direction of a mini circle composed of four of my friends; Janvic, Philip, Rabiya, and Andrei. Basically, among them four, Andrei was the most clueless and the most uninformed. He did not have even a single idea that what happened to Travis was not true, and that
RABIYA If I were to describe the scenario that happened, I would say it was all fast and abrupt.Few hours later, after Travis was sent to the hospital, and after the dead body of the sophomore student was finally taken out of the crime scene, the rest of the people were left hanging on the protest area. That would include us, our circle of friends, other students from fresh men year to junior year, the faculty, the staff, and even the vice principal and the detective. None of them, as well as none of us, were able to predict what was going to happen next. Even the cops, the highest in the position, had no idea which action should he implement to do next. We just stayed there, on our spot, standing while waiting for another dramatic scene to flash in and take the whole place into a new set of stage play again.While we remained in the same circle where we had been staying the whole thirty five min
TRAVIS Every second mattered. Every breathe I took in and I took out indicated my chances of surviving this another mess I stuck my nose into. There was no right time to perform yet another act. In fact, there was not even a time for that. As I prolonged my eyes watching how the white lights on the ceiling of the hospital ran past the rushing wheeled-stretched where I was laid and pushed forward by the three nurses, I thought of things that were about to end the moment we would reach our destination--the ER. Better known as the Emergency Room. I had seen people, there was too many of them actually, as we continued venturing the isle. I was not able to see the reactions made by their faces, but I had the ears who heard all the gasps and gossips they let out as they saw me laying on my so called ‘death bed.’ Their reactions were terrible. Their gestures showed too much concern and worry, something that I h
SAMANTHA Everything went so fast and abrupt since we decided to ditch the police and never show up in either of anyone’s houses. The best part was that, I felt what it was like being a villain. Yes, the way we moved, the way we established plans, and the way we executed them, it surely the same as how villains did their job on movies.By around this time, we were now inside our house. The black truck was parked outside the gate, as all of us entered inside to take a short break. While the rest were slouching on the sofa beds, I and my twin brother Vhynz searched the house to look for the map of the island where our slaughterhouse business was located. Well, the thing was, neither of us two was able to remember where we put that thing. All I could remember was the passcode of the safe where the credit cards and the money was left by our parents. When I checked it the moment we arrived, the map wa
CHUCKLooking at Travis when he followed to cop to lead him to where our tents were located was already a pain in the eyes to me. I could sense the fear he was feeling from afar, and I could hear the loud drum rolls of his heart as he walked steps farther away that us. It was already given that if someone was here in this island with us, chances was that, he or should could have planted the evidences that linked to us inside one of those tents. There could be a slim possibility that we would be proven guilty. Every single one of us were drunk and wasted last night; it would have been a perfect opportunity for the killer to get our fingerprints or perhaps, to be more believable, tag the murder weapon in our hands right after killing Janvic with it. But until now, I still did not realize how Janvic was killed. There were bruises and stabbed wounds all over his body, but they were scattered. Was it a brutal way of slaughtering? Or
A not so long time had passed but still none of Noel Hummingbird’s so called disciples had went out of the cottage to give us at least the tiniest update they could provide regarding on how was the status of the conversation. It has been an hour already since the clash between Philip and the detective had happened, but still, here we were, pinned down to the ground just yet, feeling the intense numbing of our arms, and the pain on our necks as we contest on our nerves about who will stay longer in this position and who will remain surviving until the end of the investigation protocol. While we were trying our best not to collapse and get passed out on our spot where everyone of us friends were gathered, I decided maybe it was best if we had our own little chitchat just to shut down the dead air that had been wrapping and suffocating us. I initiated the conversation, and thank all the heavens above my classmates chimed in and made it as fluent as possible. “Are you still
TRAVISWhen we heard the sirens wailed from afar, we already suspected that it was them already; Philip with the rest of our friends, and then the police car. Hearing them made us skip each of our things that we were doing and ran out of the cottage to meet them half way. There were some signs of relief in my heart, but at the same time I could not deny the fact that there were also nerves of nervousness trying to ruin the day. Obviously, none of us three who were left here in the cottage was the killer, and there supposedly have no reason for us to be feeling guilty. But why are we feeling the complete opposite? Why, while running going outside, are we feeling as if we wanted to hide something only to make sure that we could prove ourselves innocent? And lastly, why did I feel like here would go another round of spitting lies again, only to assure that this time, I, or neither of Rabiya and Chuck, would not be accused a killer?
RABIYA The amount of boxes for Travis to unpack was so overwhelming, just as overwhelming as the number of drawers I had check to make sure that not a single clue will be left unseen. Ever since we started doing what we were opt to do, we had not yet seen an evidence. Not one. Not even a little, slight, or discreet one. At this point of our semi investigation, I was now starting to think that what if there were really no clues hidden inside the cottage? What if we were just used to know that this was the usual routine every time there was a crime happening that it brought us to conclude that the same protocol should be implemented? I rested my face from frowning because of the unpleasant smell coming from the utensils that were long kept inside the drawers-- only God knew how long had they been there inside their cases. I moved three steps away from the kitchen cabinet, and then clapped the dusts off my hands. I then washed the
CHUCK After five minutes at most, Rabiya got out of the kitchen room with a serving platter and three cups of coffee. Just by the aroma of it, and just by seeing how the steam evaporated in the air sending thin clouds of visible smoke towards us, as if a hand trying to seduce us to drink it right away, I could already determine that the freshly brewed coffee were so satisfying. I jumped out of the sofa where I decided to sit for three minutes, and fetched Rabiya from the isle to get the cup she prepared for me. I determined it right away which cup was mine, because I was the only one who ordered my coffee to be black and pure. No sure, no creamer, no anything at all. “You better be sure this taste great,” I threatened Rabiya in a jokingly manner. She just gave me a good smirk, as if she was utterly confident that her brewed coffee would meet the standards of my peculiar taste buds. I then picked up another cup, the
It did not took us that long to finally accept the fact that now, starting from this moment, there will only be the three of us left here. I did not know how would I begin to internalize us, but every single time I would think about the isolation i give to our own selves, the first few things that wold cross my minds were death, conflicts, and again, another crime. Right now, just simply thinking about how big this place was for only the three of us who were left inside the beach resort, I was already defeated by the fact that we were completely overwhelmed. I did not know what was circling inside Travis’ mind at this exact moment, but there was only one thing I was sure: Whatever it was, it must be very, very complicated. I walked my feet away from the garage after the black truck Philip used to drive Janvic exited a couple of minutes ago. If not because of the wind which slapped me a cool hand on my face, never would I ever have awaken myself from that lucid daydream I had.
CHUCKIt did not took us that long to finally accept the fact that now, starting from this moment, there will only be the three of us left here. I did not know how would I begin to internalize us, but every single time I would think about the isolation i give to our own selves, the first few things that wold cross my minds were death, conflicts, and again, another crime. Right now, just simply thinking about how big this place was for only the three of us who were left inside the beach resort, I was already defeated by the fact that we were completely overwhelmed. I did not know what was circling inside Travis’ mind at this exact moment, but there was only one thing I was sure: Whatever it was, it must be very, very complicated. I walked my feet away from the garage after the black truck Philip used to drive Janvic exited a couple of minutes ago. If not because of the wind which slapped me a cool hand on my face, never wou
ANDREI Travis grouped us all into two, where each and every group had its own task to perform, all of which were very vital to the progress of our movement. The first group were merely composed of Geodie, Samantha, Cylvia, Yuri, Philip, and me. Based on the instructions of our acting leader who was Travis, we are going to be the group that will send Janvic to the nearest hospital and at the same time call the cops and bring them back here. Meanwhile, the other group which was composed of only Travis, Chuck, and Rabiya, they will be the ones that will remain here to check and investigate the place. When I asked Travis if the job was not too big for only the three of them to handle, he answered me firmly and confidently, ‘the lesser we are here, the easier the job will be.’ Well, that only made a lot of sense because it would be harder if there will be more people to stay here. The more the people will stay, the more