Chess Pieces #1: Creed Cervantes

Epilogue

Once there was a beast who never knew how to smile, how to laugh, nor how to cry. Other babies cry when they went out to this world. It's like it's their way so that people would now notice their existence. But one is different. He never made a sound. Not even a single 'ah'.

He never met his parents. Mga naglalakihang mga tao ang nagpalaki sa kanya. He never felt being taken care of. He never felt the motherly love or even the fatherly love. All he felt was the cold metal of the gun against his hands. And the smell of that red iron filling the air.

And that beast is me.

Kinupkop ako ng mga taga El Ordre. Marami ang nag alaga sa akin. Hindi ko lang alam kung pag aalaga ba ang tawag doon. All I know is that I am a pawn. And I had to do all the things that they would want me to do. Without any complaint.

That's where I'm good at. Not muttering a single word.

"Smile, Creed!" I heard Helios' mother said. It was my friend's seventeenth birthday at kami lang ni Hunter ang dumalo. And his mother was forcing me to do a damn smile on my lips.

I was sixteen years old that time, turning seventeen. And yet, I still didn't know how to smile.

"You look cold." ang palagi sa aking sinasabi ni Lucius kapag nagkikita-kita kaming magkakaibigan. Hunter and Lucius were also a member of El Ordre. Sina Helios at Luther lang ang hindi. But these two fuckers knew that we are doing dirty works.

"It is cold." iyon ang palagi kong sinasagot sa kanya. Kahit na alam kong ibang 'cold' ang tinutukoy nya.

It was my face. 'Cause I'm not showing any emotions on my face. It's not like I can't smile. I just didn't know how or when to do it.

What? Should I smile while I'm killing people? Should I smile everytime I'm planting bullets inside their heads? Should I smile when I know that they have families who will grieve for their death?

When should I smile then?

"We got an order from the government." sabi sa akin noong malaki ang katawan nagturo sa akin kung paano humawak at gamitin ang baril. Si Leto. "El Ordre wants you to do it."

"What order?" I asked while cleaning my favorite sniper's rifle.

"To kill some drug lord. Matinik ang isang 'to. Mahirap hanapin. But I know a way on how you will find him."

I just kept my mouth closed. Tinatamad akong magsalita. Isa pa, wala naman akong kailangan sabihin habang nakikinig sa paliwanag nya.

"Just watch over this family and while you're at it,  protect them. Siguradong hindi sila hahayaang mabuhay ng drug lord na 'to."

May ibinigay sya sa aking brown envelope kaya tinapos ko na ang paglilinis sa rifle ko. Kinuha ko ang enveloped sa kanya. When I opened it, it contains all the information about a certain family.

Fiestada family. They looked like a normal family though. Except for the fact that the parents tried to sell drugs.

"What's so important about them?"

"You saw this info, right?" itinuro pa nya ang nakasulat kung saan nagsasabing naging drug pusher ang mga magulang doon. Hindi ako sumagot. Alam nya namang hindi ako bulag kaya malamang ay nabasa ko na iyon. "The parents wanted out of the syndicate. Pero ayaw silang paalisin ng drug lord kaya nagtatago ang pamilya."

"Bakit kasi sumali pa sila kung aalis din lang naman? That's bullshit."

"To pay for the hospital needs for their youngest. Nagka-dengue ang bata kaya kinailangan ng pera ng mga magulang. At nang makalabas sa ospital ay saka tumigil sa pagbebenta ng droga."