Snow White is a Gangster (Published under Cloak Pop Fiction)

Chapter 42: Nightmares

I turned to look at the painter and I met his eyes. And suddenly it all became strange. I was staring into blank dark eyes with a cold expression on his face. Suddenly, the stranger became him. Suddenly, he became the stranger. And it terrified me.

It pained me to see him change into someone I didn't know. So I went to look back at the painting and I was horrified at what I saw. The painting was bleeding–-the petals of the black roses were melting and turning into blood. It was dripping through the canvas and sending drops of red blood on the wooden floor of the tree house. The place became darker and the air became colder. Suddenly, the lively tree house became a grave. And I couldn't bear to watch it so I ran. I ran until I had no floorboards to step in. I ran until I felt myself flying and falling to the ground.

And that was when I opened my eyes.

"Finally!" Malakas na sabi ng isang tinig. At first I couldn't see anything because of the darkness so I waited until my eyes got used to it. The man lighted a cigarette and somehow, it started to bring pale and bright orange in the darkness of the room.

"The sleeping beauty is finally awake," wika ng isang babae na malamang ay hindi nalalayo sa akin ang edad. Agad kong naramdaman ang panghihina at sakit sa iba't ibang parte ng aking katawan. Bagamat mahigpit na nakagapos ako sa isang upuan ay napansin ko pa rin ang pagkakabenda ng aking isang binti.

"What did you do to me?" Tanong ko. Nananatiling malabo at hindi malinaw ang mukha ng mga personang naroroon. Maliban sa pagkaladkad sa akin papasok ng yate ay wala na akong matandaan sa huling pangyayari bago ako nawalan ng malay.

The man smoking cigarette walked and leaned towards me. His face was inches from mine when he said, "I happened to keep an EOL for myself. Unfortunately, I had to use it on you because we were ordered not to kill you yet. That was the only way to incapacitate you without planting more bullets to your body. And now, I had no more of that precious little thing."

Ilang segundo akong nakatitig sa kanyang mukha at nang mapagsino ko ang nasa harap ko, agad kong kinuyom ang aking mga kamay at nagpumilit kumawala. When I couldn't even lift myself, I spat on his face and screamed, "Murderer!"

Subalit hindi man lang sya natinag at sinuklian niya iyon ng malalakas na tawa. I would never forget his face. Once I freed myself from this, I would get back to him and kill him. "So you're still mad about your brother's death." Naglalaro ang mapanlinlang na mga ngiti sa kanyang labi.

"I'll never stop until I kill you!" Humihingal kong sigaw. Ang galit na nararamdaman ko ngayon ay tila umuubos sa natitira ko pang lakas.

"I made you a deal and you failed me. You chose the traitor over your little one, so you killed your brother."

I glared at him wishing glares could kill. But it didn't make a single scratch, not even erase the annoying smirk on his face. "I was trying to save him from you! And you killed him!"

Bumuga siya ng usok sa harap ko na naging dahilan upang mahirapan akong huminga bago siya tumayo. "Yeah. Make yourself believe that it wasn't your fault," nang-iinsulto niyang wika.