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Chapter 39: The Parcels
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2024-10-29 19:42:56We were all awaken by the buzz of a long and ear-shattering sound of the University buzzer. It’s annoying rhythm stayed in the air for a while, and it didn’t stop until everyone of us was irritated and could no longer return back to our sleep. It was roughly around eight in the morning, and just like yesterday’s weather, the sun ditched us and did not show up again.
Everything was happening really, really fast, that our senses could not cope up with it. The next thing I knew, we all looked awfully stressed. And if I had to point out the reason behind it, I should say it was because of the scenario that happened the whole day—from the very first hour in the morning to the very last our hour in the night—yesterday. It was definitely one hell of a reason to end our Thursday with anger. We never had a nice rest. We were left sleeping on the floor, in our black and white outfit that we should have worn only during the fuRelated chapters
The Photo Collector Chapter 40: Money
I wish I was them. I wish I had the same fortune, the same luxury, and the same wealth as them. If only I was as blessed as they were, maybe there was no need for me to suffer emotionally and financially anymore. If only I was rich like them, maybe I did not have to write essays for others, answer quizzes for others, and do assignments for others only to earn money for my bills and dues. But it was hard to be them. I could not be them.They are elites. The rarest of gems. The untouchables. The most fortunate and the most blessed students along with the rest of the class. They need not to be smart nor to be lucky in order to book themselves a scholarship. They even don’t need to take a scholarship! With just a few bucks, their slot in Star Section is secured. They did not have to work hard for it, just like I did.While watching everyone as they opened their parcels, I forced my eyes to be strong and not shed a tear. But it was diffic
The Photo Collector Chapter 41: The Lullaby of Misery
When I entered to the bathroom, the first thing I did was to get my outdated and ‘almost broken but at least still functioning’ 3310 keypad phone between my folded apple green towel and went to my music gallery. I did not have much music on the list. In fact, I was never really into music. I was never a fan of Pop, or Ballad, Or Rhythm and Blues, or even Country Songs which Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift were dominating. I did not know any music be it from late 1800’s or even up to date, too. There are only four music on my list, and ironically speaking, they were not even close to that stage. Technically, they were lullabies. My four most treasured lullabies I used to hear from my Mom, which never would have ever grown old to me. Even up until now when I was 18 years old, I still listened to them.Before I stripped down my clothes and turned the shower, I played the most sentimental lullaby on my phone. As it began to echo in the closed doo
The Photo Collector Chapter 42: The Hurts She Never Knew
We halted outside the caution tape surrounding the transit van where the crime scene happened. Three patrol cars, including the one Philip’s Dad used last night, was parked on the left part of the chapel beside the flagpole. As the investigation team began their job, we saw the vice-principal walking from the pavement towards the vehicle where the teachers and other staff were standing; discussing about the traumatizing death of the owner of HCU and her chauffeur.The Vice Principal Mr. Morales was an invisible man. He rarely showed up. He would only go to school when the principal had meetings or errands to attend to, or when she’s absent and missing in action. Since last Thursday when the principal died, today was his first time heaving into view to manifest himself. He was an old man, dark in complexion, and had always been a grumpy person. We could see his crumpled forehead far from our spot, and his croaky voice was audible and easy to hear becaus
The Photo Collector Chapter 43: We Are Innocents
“Open it!” Janvic shouted while leaning on the corner of the room, squeezing himself between the bookshelf and the square table. “That must be Mrs. Tejada,” he added as he tried to access the only opened window facing the outside.Nicole was the nearest to the door, so she took the job of twisting the knob. Slowly and while looking at us, she swung the classroom door open. “Oh, hey! It’s you!” Nicole greeted with a vibrant smile. She swept her slightly coiled hair onto her left shoulder, and moved aside to give way to whoever it was who’s about to enter.“Look, it’s Rabiya!” Yuri snapped. She crossed through the empty seats of the last row to meet the girl wearing a black dress on the aisle at the rearmost of the room. She hugged her, and when Samantha noticed, she rushed her way to give one to Rabiya, too.“How did the interrogation go?” Saman
The Photo Collector Chapter 44: The Guessing Game
YURI(25 hours in lockdown)It just happened that an hour after lunch, we unexpectedly gathered at the center of the room—on the seats that were arranged in a big circle—and talked about random things to keep our bored asses busy. It had been almost a day since we were locked in here, and the fact that there had been no updates from the outside world made us worry about what were the things waiting for us the moment we would step outside. There was just too much topics to talk about, that even us ourselves found it confusing where to start and what to talk first. It was nothing much than a panel discussion, but something less of a debate. Exchanging ideas and beliefs, and even speculations and conspiracy theories about things that just made and made no sense.We talked about various of things. From school politics to school rules and regulations, from personal experiences to personal problems, from
The Photo Collector Chapter 45: Spin The Bottle
In Rabiya’s head, something was still processing. She zipped her lips and narrowed her eyes. One second. Two seconds. Three. Four... And on the fifth, she gave up the staring contest. She lost. She turned back to the direction of the whiteboard, and left the guy in black tank top wasted behind her. She looked on both sides, and gave Geodie and me a disapproving face. “Apologies. I don’t know what you mean,” she replied, and never dared to gaze at him again.“Abhorrent. You know what I mean. You are just afraid to be criticised; afraid to be called out for believing on things you shouldn’t believe.” Travis stepped back. He retrieved his hands from anchoring them on the backrest of Rabiya’s chair, and just walked towards the direction of the door. “What is it in the lower sections that mentioning them is a sin to us? Ask yourselves.” He bent down, fitting his face on the glass part of the wooden doo
The Photo Collector Chapter 46: Hook-Up
“After Satan had dragged us into a pitfall of filthy shits, you are still in the mood for some play time?” Philip said, shrugging his shoulders.“Yes.” Samantha responded, chin up, eyes were two balls of fire catapulting a heavy and intense stare to the guy who just questioned her will. “What? Is it not allowed now to take a break from all the curses and misfortunes we are currently going through?” She was confident she’s going to win the argument, even if it didn’t end up that way because Philip suddenly realized he had no power to overrule the great and the mighty Samantha.“Of... Of course its allowed. Okay, ‘kay. Whatever your saying. But please spare me from that stupid game. I don’t want to join in.”“No one’s not joining. Do you hear me?” Samantha flicked her eyebrows shaped like an inverted check mark to the ceiling. She f
The Photo Collector Chapter 47: "I Ship Them, Too!"
Okay. Boring. The first round of the game Spin the Bottle was utterly boring.With a blank face, Cylvia retrieved the bottle from the floor and tossed it high in the air. When it landed back between her hands, she presented it to Samantha and asked, “I believe its my turn to spin now?” she’d asked. She gave the empty container a good shake while waiting for Samantha’s answer.“Almost but not quite.” Samantha stretched her body across the circle and snatched the container from Cylvia. As she recovered her body back, she fixed the folds and creases of her night gown (It’s true, it’s only a few hours past lunch but she was already on her slumber outfit), and said, “That’s somewhat similar to how it actually works, yes! But the one who was asked to spill a truth or do a dare should be the one who would spin the bottle next. So technically, it’s Jermaine’s turn.”
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The Photo Collector Chapter 151: The Letter
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 150: Plans, We Need Plans
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 149: Torture
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 148: Suspects
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?
The Photo Collector Chapter 147: All Are Shitty
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 146: Breakfast Us Three
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 145: Safe and Sound
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.
The Photo Collector Chapter 144: Yet Another Perfect Crime
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
The Photo Collector Chapter 143: Delicately Dangerous
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
