4 - The Magical Parade
"Justin!"
Isla's voice stood out among all our calls for Justin. Pumatay siya ng tao at pinapatay niya rin ang sarili niya pero heto kami at nagmamadaling lumapit sa kaniya para iligtas siya.
"Dude, what the fuck?!" hindi rin makapaniwalang sigaw ni Sean. Isinabit niya ang isang kamay ni Justin sa balikat niya para buhatin ang katawan nito. "Kurt!"
Kurt ran on his other side to help Sean. We all followed them as they rushed to where we entered earlier. We almost bumped each other when we tried to pass the curtain which now seemed like a concrete wall.
"Bakit..." Wren tried to move the curtain until we saw a door. She quickly turned the knob. "It's locked?" Inulit-ulit niya pang pihitin ang doorknob pero walang nangyari. "It's locked!"
Lumapit din si Chad at pinagtatadiyakan ang pinto pero wala ring nangyari.
"Tangina, baka nasa labas si Krista!" biglang sabi ni Kurt. Ibinaba nila ni Sean si Justin saka tumakbo papunta sa backstage. "Theo?! Theo?!"
Hawak-hawak ng umiiyak na si Isla ang kamay ni Justin kaya lumapit din ako. Inilabas ko ang panyo ko saka itinakip sa leeg niyang bumubulwak pa rin ng dugo.
Saglit lang, bumalik din kaagad sina Sean at Kurt. "Walang tao!"
"Tatawag ako sa 911," Saint said as he waited for his phone to turn on.
Naibalik ko ang tingin kay Justin nang marinig ko siyang suminghap. Buong buhay ko, hindi ko inakalang makakakita ako ng kaibigan na duguan, at dahil pa mismo sa sarili niyang kagagawan.
"Justin, I don't know what the hell you meant but stay with us!" pakiusap ko sa kaniya kasabay ng pagtulo ng mga luha ko.
Why am I crying?
Why am I crying for a friend when I did not shed a single tear for my own father?
Why am I trying so hard to save someone I knew from school when I just watched him throw knives at the man who raised me?
Why am I here, trying to save Justin when my dad's corpse is still down there alone?
Why do things have to be so fucked up?
Why am I so fucked up?
"Justin! Please!" Isla begged too. "I don't care what you did, just don't go like this! Please! Don't close your eyes, Justin!"
"Putangina, walang signal!" Saint screamed. My eyes searched for him and I saw him brushing his hair with his own fingers in frustration.
"Subukan mo ulit!" nagpa-panic din na sabi ni Chad.
"Justin?" Naibaba ko ulit ang tingin nang marinig ang boses ni Isla. "Justin?"
It's like my hands lifted themselves up when my eyes saw that there's no point in putting pressure to Justin's wound. His eyes are closed now. He's gone.
"Justin!" Isla cried so loud. It was their first Valentine's, and her boyfriend killed himself in front of her eyes.
"N-Nakabukas na..."
I slowly turned to Wren when she said that. The door opened on its own when Justin died.
What the fuck is happening?
"Kailangan na nating umalis dito." Halos buhatin ako ni Saint patayo dahil sa pagmamadali.
"B-Babe, si Jus—"
He wasn't listening to me. "Sean, kunin mo si Isla."
"Babe—"
"Kurt, hahanapin natin si Krista."
"Saint."
Saint only looked at me when I called him by his name. "'Wag kang bibitaw sa 'kin. Baka mawala ka."
He always says that line but that time it felt like it had a deeper meaning.
"What's happening?" I almost whispered to him as he pulled me to the entrance. I wanted to repeat that question when we got out and saw no one.
It's the same carnival. But without customers. Just us.
"A-Anong—" Chad's question was cut off by a loud blaring noise. Napabitaw ako sa kamay ni Saint para matakpan ang magkabilang tainga ko.
"Hello, players!" An unfamiliar masculine voice spoke through the speakers attached on poles around the carnival. "Liking my house's theme today? I had fun turning it into a carnival."
House? Are these all Scarper House?
"We usually have ten players but Justin wanted Trevor Alejandro to be the first to die, so we only sent out nine tickets."
Nagkatinginan kami ni Saint. We're both remembering my dad's letter and the brochure that came with it.
"S-Setup 'to?" tanong ni Chad.
"Bingo!" The voice sounded so jolly that it scared me. "I was also surprised to see that our client himself took a ticket. Our 8th boy really did want things to go smoothly."
Lahat na kami nagkatinginan. All this time, we thought Justin's talking about some cheesy surprise for Isla. We just assumed he's preparing for their first Valentine's date.
"Well, this has been 12 years in the making," sabi pa ng boses na nakapagpapikit sa 'kin.
"Justin... was never our friend?" mabagal na tanong ni Wren. "B-But..."
If this really is 12 years in the making, then these people are just here because they became close to me.
I bit my lower lip. I thought everything ended 12 years ago. All this time, I had no idea that I'm still luring people to their doom.
"So watch out for everything we have prepared."
I felt someone holding my hand. I know it's Saint.
"Scarper House says good luck."
I opened my eyes when I heard a festive music that seemed to be coming from a distance. The sound became louder and louder and we all just froze where we're standing, waiting for whatever it is to come get us.
It was a parade. A magical parade with people in costumes, dancing to the beat of the drums. Some were standing on top of colorful floats. There were mascots too.
If this is a normal night, I'd be enchanted.
But as this is not a normal night, I was scared. Then terrified when everyone in the parade pulled out weapons—spears, knives, bows and arrows, swords. And they aimed on us.
"Takbo!"
We ran as fast as we could—in zigzag, trying not to get shot by the arrows.
"Putangina talaga! Sana nakalabas si Krista," rinig ko pang sabi ni Kurt habang tumatakbo kami.
"Dito!" sigaw ni Sean saka hinila kami sa ilalim ng maliit na bridge. Doon kami nagtago habang rinig na rinig pa rin namin ang tugtog ng parade.
"Okay lang kayo—" Si Wren na mismo ang pumutol sa tanong niya nang mapansing nawala bigla ang tunog ng mga drums. "B-Bakit—"
"Sshhh!" Mahinang saway ni Saint. Siya ang nasa pinakadulo kaya sumenyas siya na siya ang sisilip. Tumango lang kami.
We all held our breaths as Saint stepped closer to the end of the wall. He was about to take a look when a huge bear head suddenly appeared from there, peaking on us. And yes, the giant bear had a weapon too. It had a gun.
"Shit!"
We ran again. But it didn't take that long when one gunshot echoed below that bridge.
For the second time that day, Isla poked my back. It's just that, this time, she was actually trying to get a hold of me. She was trying to reach for help. But the bullet was faster.
"Isla!" Nasalo ko siya bago siya tuluyang bumagsak sa lupa.
She was still gasping for her dear life when the loud noise blared again. It seemed like a cue for all parade participants to go away, leaving us confused. Isla seemed to be in a lot of pain so, instead of covering my ears, I covered hers. Then I felt Saint covering mine.
"That was... too fast?" We heard the man's voice again when the noise faded out. He sounded so disappointed, it's infuriating. "Oh, well. Let's move on to the next round."
We could only look at each other.
"Come on, Isla Ferreira's dead anyway. Let's go."
It's really annoying how he could sound so casual, like we were just playing. But, wait, what did he say?
I slowly looked down to the beautiful lady on my arms. She looked like she was just sleeping.
But she's not breathing.
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