UNNIE | JenLisa

CHAPTER III

It was early hours of the morning and the sun is just about to peek out but one particular house, a very big one, was already, completely, shaken awake. Police and EMS vehicles already surrounded the area. A yellow barrier tape lining the perimeters.

Based on the account of a maid, the first person who came upon the bloody crime scene and immediately called the police, she was instructed by her boss last night to wake her up hours earlier than the usual since she has to go to a business trip. Mrs. Young, an already widowed middle-aged woman, was not a morning person so it’s a regular thing for her to request such thing. But to the surprise of the maid, when she opened the door since her boss was not responding from her knocks, the room was empty and the bed was still made. For a moment, the maid wondered whether Mrs. Young already woke up and went downstairs for breakfast but then she wouldn’t have missed her since she herself came through the kitchen and the one who turned on the lights on her way up here.

The maid then eyed the closed door of the en suite. Thinking that maybe Mrs. Young was already inside, showering, even though she’s not hearing any sound inside that could prove that. She took a step back then turned around, planning to go back downstairs to start preparing breakfast while her boss was getting ready but for reason unknown something made her stop from taking further steps to exit . Something is amiss. Something is definitely wrong.

The maid turned back again and walked towards the closed door of the en suite. She called Mrs. Young’s name multiple times and when only silence responded to her, she turned the knob.

Red.

She never realized how vibrant and alive the color of blood is until that moment.

When the policemen arrived, Mrs. Young’s body was still bend over the sink, head was cracked open and bloated down the water - and blood - filled sink. Hands tied to the faucet over. And based on the spider-web-like crack on the mirror ahead it was obvious where the murderer smashed Mrs. Young’s head repeatedly.

But it’s not the only thing that made their own blood to run cold. It was also the existence of a message written on the same wide mirror where the victim’s head was smashed open.

Someone took a picture of it multiple times in every angle for investigation and once done, he brought down his camera and look at the message again in the flesh, gulping. Because written in, what they figured out, a red colored lipstick, with all letters capitalized is:

DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR

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Have an early meeting. Please be careful on your way to school.

Love you for always,
Unnie

It was the note says, written in red marker on the magnetic whiteboard on their fridge.

Lisa just shrugged and sat down on the stool in front of her breakfast meals prepared and left by her unnie. Her lunch bag’s already there, certainly packed with the usual healthy stuff courtesy, of course, of her sister.

Lisa winced a little when she felt a dull ache on the side of her head. Earlier this morning, she woke up with a groan because of the throbbing pain on her head. That seldom happens and she already talked to Jennie about it. They went to hospital to check it up and the doctor told them that it’s nothing serious but she was still given medicine for when the headache reappear.

So Lisa started to consume her breakfast so that she could take the medicine right after.

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