One sunny afternoon, Ethan Montessori, his friends, and a girl died in a fire. No one knows how it happened, there was no loophole, and no one had any idea what has happened. Only the five of them know.
- written in filipino -
TW: this story contain...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
iv. // Victim
------
Mael <3: Baby, I prepared something. Meet me at the park, pretty please? I love you!
It was saturday when Mael suddenly texted me that. It wasn't our monthsary or anything and I am getting tired of her occasional plans for a rendezvous with me.
Sometimes I just make excuses to not meet her, I never wanted to repeat what happened in our first monthsary. Minsan sila Drake pa ang gumagawa ng excuse para lang hindi ako makasama kay Mael.
And to correct whatever you all are thinking, I wasn't the one who put a heart emoticon on Mael's name in my contacts. It was her.
Saglit akong nag isip kung sasama ba talaga ako o hindi. Ngunit nang naisip kong medyo matagal na din mula nung huling date namin at madalas pa pag nagkikita kami ay nagpapagawa lang ako ng essays sa kaniya.
She might think I'm just using her, which is true. I sighed and exhaled the smoke from my cigarette. I typed in for a reply.
Me: Okay, baby.
Tumayo ako mula sa kama ko at kinuha ang itim na hoodie na nakalapag sa kama. Isinuot ko iyon and I went out. A few blocks from our mansion is the park where Mael surprised me for our monthsary.
I think this is her favorite place.
I immediately saw her sitting on the swing of the park. It was 3pm in the afternoon and the park's aura is kind of gloomy, masiyado kasing madaming puno at halos hindi nasisinagan ng araw.
Mael was wearing a white dress, a knee-length sock and a sneakers. Her long brunette hair is being blown by the wind as she slowly move the swing. She was fighting the cold through a gray jacket. The jacket was mine, I gave her that in our monthsary.
It was also in this park when we stayed over for the night, talking about extraterrestrial things, ghosts and many more. It was a peaceful night and she was cold so I gave her the jacket.
She looks so lonely from afar.
Instead of just staring, I decided to let her know my presence.
"Hey,"
Mael stopped herself from swinging when she heard my voice. Mabilis siyang lumingon sa akin at nakita ko agad ang maliwanag niyang mga ngiti.
"Baby," she moved towards me for a hug. "I missed you!"
She enveloped me with her warm body. I sighed and gave her back the hug. Pumikit ako at bahagyang ninamnam ang init na dala ng kaniyang katawan.
