Beauty is your Curse

57th Curse

Hindi tumigil si Kristine. Hanggang mapuno ng dugo ang kamay at braso nya.

Si Elmo naman ay tumatakbong pabalik, tulala sa kanyang nakita. Kristine, hand dipped in blood.

Then she did the strangest thing. She leaned down Ceejays lifeless body, whispered something in his ear, before kissing his corpse.

[Glimmer's POV]

I ran after Psaricka, who seems to be running with direction. Palinga linga sya, that made following her hard, pero nasundan ko sya. I am very skilled at this.

She reached a room, sa basement. Nagtago ako sa katapat na kwarto. A plain room. The uninviteds room.

For several seconds, I waited. At noong umalis na sya, nagantay pa rin ako ng mga ilang sandali. Baka bumalik sya. Ng masiguro kong wala na talaga si Psa, lumabas ako ng kwarto at pinasok ko ang kasunod.

Well, look what we have here?

Punong puno ito ng kabaong. The smell of death and injustice lingering in the air. I opened the coffins. Isa isa. Pero puro mannequin ang laman nito. One mannequin in particular is wearing a plain dress. The uninvited's attire.

Binuksan ko ang mga ito, hoping I can find something valuable. I am opening my fifth coffin when I noticed a coffin pushed out back. Chains around it and a lock.

I pushed down the other coffins.  Till I reached that one. Nakalock to, pero that doesn't stop me. I opened the lock using a bobbly pin I found in my hair. When I woke up in a ballerina's attire and my hair neatly put up.

Ng mabuksan ko ang kabaong, isang tunay na bangkay ang bumungad sa akin.

I never really knew her. Christine. The one they are friends with. Ceejay's ex. She died months ago. Pero eto sya, completely preserved and beautiful.

Thousand theories that are being validated by this are running through my mind, but I don't have time for that. Dahil isa ang bagay na mahalaga.

Sa kamay ng bangkay ni Christine, isang envelope ang nakaipit.

Clever clever, Psaricka. She must have found out about the corpse. And what better place to hide but a place no one would look at. Sa isang bangkay.

Alam ko na kung ano ang envelope na yun bago ko pa kunin. But I have to make sure. I grabbed the envelope and opened it.

The uninvited's letter. Cinderella's letter.

With a smile, kinuha ko ang envelope and closed the coffin. Then I begin to look at the mannequins, for a change of outfit. I found one and wore it. It's a white dress pero meron itong pocket. Enough para itago ang sulat.

I rushed upwards, back to the main hall. Basa ang paligid. The fire is already estinguished. Everywhere is wet. And there is blood?

Sinalubong ako ni Alli.

"Did you find it? The letter?" Hindi ako sumagot, but I raised a brow and tapped my pocket.

Napangiti sya. Sometimes, Alli is child like. Easy to please. But that doesn't mean she isn't mature. She is. Such a brave soul.

"Sino? Yung uninvited?"

That time Psaricka is already there. Talking with Alex. I looked at her direction. I didn't point at her. Hindi ko sya nginuso. I just looked at her. That's enough.

Alli followed my line of sight, and saw who I am looking at. Psaricka. Her adoptive sister.

Her small mouth fell open.

"Talaga?" I nodded.

"Go get her. Stop this game once and for all." Ani pa nya.

Years ago, almost a lifetime ago, I told myself that human connections are none sense, fruitless. A burden. Almost a lifetime ago, I promised myself not to care for anyone but myself.

Pero ngayon?

Hindi ko alam kung ano ang sumapi sa akin. It's like for a moment, Glimmer is gone. And I am back. Niyakap ko si Alli. And kissed her cheeks.

"If I didn't make it, win this game for me. Don't let any of this smug looking elites win." Bulong ko sa kanya, bago ako bumitaw at tumakbo patungo sa tower.

———

It really is a tower. Rapunzel's tower to be exact. Walang pinto or entrance. Just a very thick rope that looked like hair na nakaladlad. The tower's wall is built like an indoor rock climbing wall, with spaces for your feet to go through. Kaya inakyat ko yun. The letter in my pocket, the uninvited's name in my mind, I went up the tower.

When I reached the room, it was dark. Wala akong makita. Pero naaninag ko ang isang mesa, and a pen. A place where I should write the uninviteds name. Nilabas ko ang letter, at tinaob yun, ready to write the uninvited's name. Psaricka Jullienne Di Levertis.

Nang may marinig akong kaluskos. Nilagay ko ang letter sa aking bulsa. At hawak ko ang pen na tila isang sandata at handang itusok sa mata ng kung sino man.

"Oh. Were you startled. I should've wait till you finished writing the uninvited's name. Go on, write it down."

The same sarcasm and sass I have during this kind of situation. The same tone. It was as if I am listening to me.

I turned at her, at sa kaonting liwanag, naaninag ko ang mukha nya. Sharp features. Features that resembles mine.

It was as if I am staring into a mirror. A distorted one.

We are not alike like twins are alike. We are alike like sisters are. No, we are not sisters.

We are alike how random strangers, in a combination of chance and coincidence, look like each other.

Sa unang tingin, tila magkamukha kami. But if you are observant, you'll notice how her features are more prominent than mine. How she has this random moles under her eyes and I have mine. How my lip is thinner than hers.

But if you are not. It would be easy to mistake one as the other.

"Hi, Glimmer. Hiding in your tower , as you always did." Bati ko pa sa kanya. With all the indifference I have.

"I don't have time for hi and hellos. If you could just right down the uninvited's name and I could kill you little Mina." I flinched at what she called me. A name from a lifetime ago. A different life. The real me.

"Don't call me that, Glim." Sabi ko pa sa kanya. Weird calling her Glimmer, her real name, when I have been using it, all this time.

"Why? You don't like nicknames? Or do you prefer I call you Domina?"