[Athena's POV]
Unlike the others, my story is not that bloody and mysterious. I simply grew up from a not-so-poor but not-so-rich family. When I was young, I already love to write. I can actually make a story that was all based on my wonderful imagination. I mostly write crime stories but not to mature. My work commonly contained a princess being the hostage of some bad guys to be saved by her knight in shining armor. Some of the time, I write a story of a rich family having the darkest secrets.
The scenes I had created in my imagination before is currently happening. It's exciting but scary as well.
All my life, I never imagined that I'm going to be part of an unofficial investigating team searching for something unsure. But one thing's for sure, what we are doing is the right thing to clear things up. Revealing the wrongdoings of other people is the purpose of journalism. Spreading the truth is also the ultimate goal of journalists.
BEHIND THE TALL TREE
Love Janine and Jean did their plan to trick the security guard. They went in a different direction. Love Janine went to talk to the security guard, while Jean went to her parked not so far from where the security guard was standing. We watched Love Janine talk to the guard as they planned to act like Jean was hurt or something. Nevertheless, Love Janine succeeded to bring the guard in Jean's car as we quickly entered the publication office.
We quickly walked going to the ground floor's old room as we saw the caller inside the old room. I was right. I knew this man. I first met him when I passed all the requirements needed for my work, he's also a writer there. He was the one who did my interview and not Ms. Phumsri just like others.
He's Frank. Mr. Frank Yoshida. Half Filipino, half Japanese.
"You really know even his race, huh?" Luke talked to me.
"Uh, we just had a small talk back then." I answered.
"Close the door now." Mr. Yoshida commanded.
Joven closed the door as we sat in the corner part of the room. It doesn't seem like an old room after all. I mean, yeah it was messy and dirty but uhm, I don't know. I don't want to explain it right now.
"So, Mr. Yoshida, why are you helping us?" I asked.
"First of all, call me Frank because I'm just a little older than you all. To answer your question, maybe because I'm so sick of the crimes that happened here before up until now. It's just never-ending and none of the crimes that happened inside this publication office were reported on national television. In short, all the crimes that happened here have been kept as a secret and no one ever tried to investigate, but now, you're doing it that's why I want to help." Frank explained.
"It's not going to be easy; I'm telling you. Connection is something you guys need to break." He added.
"Connection? What do you mean by connection? I quickly asked.
"It's the connection between the bad and the supposed to be good. For example, the policemen are supposed to be good people, but they are under the hands of the bad people." He briefly replied.
"They supposed to be the opposing team of these bad people. Why are they being controlled? I just can't understand." I said.
"No idea." Frank answered.
"Excuse me, Frank. If you really wanted to do this, why didn't you do it before?" Luke asked.
"No one wanted to do this, just me. I can't do it alone." Frank explained.
"So, how-"
I wasn't able to ask a question when we heard a knock on the door.
The knock caught our attention as we all walked to go behind the door.
A person from the other side of the door whispered, "Open the door. It's Jean."
Marco quickly but silently opened the door for both Jean and Love Janine.
As Jean and Love Janine entered the old room, we all went to sit down on the floor again forming a shape of a not-so-perfect circle and wait for the whole plan execution.
Jean opened up a conversation.
"Are you the caller earlier? The one who called Athena." She was talking to Frank.
"Yes." Frank shortly replied.
"Are you some kind of spy? Can we trust you?" Love Janine straightly questioned Frank.
"Of course, he'll say yes. We're not just sure if he's telling the truth." Jean replied to Love Janine.
"Wait, uh. Look, it may sound hard to believe that I'm going to help you, but that's true." Frank said as he defended himself.
"Then, how do you know Athena?" Jean asked.
"Let's not talk about it now. We should get going." Marco said.
"Fine. Now, it's currently 5:23. We still have some minutes to decide if we're going to continue this so-called investigation." Jean opened up.
"There's no turning back." Joven swiftly said while being focused staring the floor.
We went into a complete silence after what Joven said.
Then Marco shared something.
"By the way, I've got what we need to open the locked room upstairs." He said as he opened his black bag to get something. The thing he was talking about is a screwdriver.
"Wait, a screwdriver?" Prim asked as she finally talked.
"Oh, Prim, I didn't know you're here. You've been really silent, huh. Well, you're right. This screwdriver will definitely screw up those locked doors." Marco responded.
"How come do you have a screwdriver inside your bag? That's weird." I asked Marco.
"For protection. I mean, it's just stuff for self-defense when someone attacks me." Marco explained.
"Your screwdriver can't defend you from a gunshot." Luke slightly laughed as he talked to Marco.
"Never mind. I just bring this screwdriver since high school days. Is it that weird?" Marco asked Luke back.
"Yeah, very weird." Luke instantly replied.
"Do you even know how that screwdriver works?" Frank asked Marco.
"Of course. I've watched a lot of life hacks videos on YouTube and this one is really helpful." Marco replied.
"Oh, by the way. What's actually your work here?" Marco asked Frank.
"I'm currently a field reporter." Frank answered.
"Woah, that's really nice. I mean, that's huge for a second-year worker here." I commended Frank.
"You're exaggerating. It's just, uhm, passion and uhm, perseverance, you know." He responded.
"Nevertheless, you're indeed passionate, huh." I said.
"Maybe." Frank said.
Jean changed the topic as she said, "So guys, are going upstairs altogether?"
"Yes, of course. I mean, the more, the stronger." Frank responded.
Joven disagreed as he said, "No. I think we should separate into like, two to three groups so that we can execute our plan fast and efficient."
"Since we are more than seven, we're eight. We can divide ourselves into three groups. Marco, you will join Athena and Mr. Yoshida to search for something in Ms. Phumsri's room, her office you know. That's on the second floor. Take the stairs silently. Luke and Jean, you guys proceed to our room, the thing called Room of Lucky Seven. Also take the stairs. Then, I, Prim and Love Janine will go to the basement."
"What are going to find on Ms. Phumsri's room." I asked.
"I don't know. Just search for everything. But leave no trace. That's why Luke and Jean will stay at our room, they will save the photos we're going to take, or they will save the files we'll get and send it to them." Joven explained.
"And, why are we going to the basement?" Prim asked Joven.
"Remember the last time we were there? We weren't able to open and read the remaining files in the cabinet. And there, I also saw my brother's photo, right? I feel like there's so much more that's why we're going to the basement." Joven replied.
"How about the director's office?" Frank talked.
"What about his office?" Marco asked Frank.
"Maybe there's something we can find and might help us do this thing you all planned." Frank replied.
"If we still have time, we'll go there. But in the meantime, our respective places are Ms. Phumsri's office, the basement, and the Lucky Seven Room, or The Room of Lucky Seven. Whatever." Joven responded to Frank.
"Okay." Frank shortly replied as he breathed deeply.
"Luke and Jean, once you're inside the place you are going to, quickly open your laptops or your phones. You can also use the Wi-Fi in the room as we send you guys either files or photos." Joven explained.
"We can just take the files or anything. That's easier to do. We take everything, then we leave this building." Love Janine suggested.
"We can't do that." Joven said.
"Why can't we do that?" Prim asked.
"Because it'll be obvious. Every morning, the janitor goes to the basement to clean it even it doesn't look like it was cleaned. Then, Ms. Phumsri is always in her room and I'm pretty sure that she always looks and checks her stuff and everything there. Again, we should leave no trace so that they won't suspect us that we're doing something in secret." Joven explained as he looked like the leader of this so-called investigatory team, and not Marco anymore.
"Joven's right. If we ever touch anything in the respective rooms we're going to, let's turn them all back to its exact place. Got it?" Marco said as he looked like the Co-Leader.
"I'm feeling good. I mean, I'm really excited about this." Luke talked.
"Indeed, we all look like an investigatory team of a western movie trying to reveal a company's darkest secrets." Prim added.
"Then, we're going to die also? Hell no!" I said being afraid about what was going on. It's indeed exciting, but scary as well.
"Chill. We can do this." Jean said as a piece of encouragement.
"Love Janine, Prim, and Athena will be the ones to activate their phones into standby mode as we have a group call. Use your earphones or AirPods, whatever you possess, use it so that the voice from the other line will remain a silent one. Understand?" Joven commanded.
Then, we, three agreed.
"Sure."
"Understand."
"Yeah, let's do this."
"Jean, time?" Joven asked.
"We can go and execute the plan now. The time is 6:11." Jean responded.
"Let's go!" Luke said.
We all slowly walked out of the old room as we proceed to our respective places to go.
Actually, the elevator is in the front of the old room that's why Joven, Prim, and Love Janine immediately went inside the elevator to go to the basement.
The remaining five people who were us, slowly went to the stairs as we silently took a step at a time so no one can hear us. It was actually dark, but maybe there are other people still there in the building. Then we reached the second floor. The first room to the right is the Lucky Seven Room and the room next to it is Ms. Isabel's. I wonder why Joven and Luke found a man there last Monday, or the first day.
By the way, next to that room is Ms. Phumsri's office. We all walked to the right side as Luke and Jean went inside the Lucky Seven Room.
"Bye. We'll go to Ms. Phumsri's office now." Marco said to the two.
We continued to walk as we reached the door of Ms. Phumsri's office.
"Where's your screwdriver?" Frank asked Marco.
Marco pulled up a screwdriver from the pocket of his pants at the back and said, "Here."
"Open it now, hurry up." I commanded.
Marco inserted and pushed the screwdriver as far as he can into the hole of the doorknob. Then, he turned and twisted the screwdriver until it caught the groove as the lock clicked open. Marco succeeded as we quickly went inside Ms. Phumsri's office. I locked back the door.
I STARTED THE GROUP CALL
DIALING...
Love Janine answered the call as well as Prim.
"Hello guys, how are you guys doing? We just broke inside Ms. Phumsri's office." I started.
"Laptops ready. We will now wait for the files and photos and updates there from Ms. Phumsri's office and the basement, respectively." Jean responded.
"We just arrived here in the basement." Prim responded.
We're now walking to the cabinet." Love Janine added.
"Okay. Let's start searching now. Jean, just standby." I said.
"Will do." Jean replied.
Ms. Phumsri's office has only one big cabinet, one desk with four drawers. Her laptop wasn't there.
Marco easily opened the cabinet because it wasn't even locked. Frank went to check the drawer from the desk. And for me, I just helped Marco checking the papers and folders inside the cabinet.
"Guys, any update?" Jean asked.
"Jean, listen. I'll take photos of the files here in the basement's cabinet. Someone just went here earlier. There are new photos here. Even the photo of the dead body earlier on the third floor is here." Joven said from the other line.
"Okay." Jean responded.
"Guys, I found a flash drive." Marco said.
I quickly responded, "Insert it to yo-"
"I didn't bring my laptop in my bag. Frank, do you have your laptop in your bag?" Marco asked Frank.
"No, I don't have it. It's on the third floor, in my room. By the way, I also found something. Look at this list." Frank said.
Marco and I immediately took a look at what Frank was saying. The paper he found was a list of names with checkmarks. It was just a pure list of names. Then Marco noticed something.
"Guys, Jean and Luke, Love Janine, Prim, and Joven, listen to me now. Celine's boyfriend's name is Dan Louie, right? That was what Celine mentioned earlier when she said, "Dan Louie's dead." Marco opened up.
"Yeah, I remember that. Then?" Joven replied.
"His name has a checkmark here in this list. It may sound weird, but I think that the names listed here are the ones that they are going to murder." Marco said.
The talk suddenly stopped when we heard a phone ringing like someone's calling.
"Whose phone is that?" I asked.
"It's mine. Guys, keep silent. I'll answer the call." Love Janine said.
Love Janine answered the call she received.
"Hello?" She started.
"Uhm, hello. Is this Love Janine Articulo?" The caller asked.
"Yes, why? Who is this?" Love Janine asked the caller.
"It's Rochelle. Rochelle from the coffee shop. I think you forgot your handkerchief. It has your name in it. You can get it tomorrow." The caller said.
"Oh, yeah. I was being clumsy that I forgot that. Uhm, yeah, I'll get it tomorrow afternoon." Love Janine said to the caller named Rochelle.
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
"So, where were we?" Prim asked.
"The list, yeah, the list Marco was talking about." Joven said.
"I already took a photo of this list. I just sent it to the group." Marco said.
"Yeah, we have received it." Luke said.
"Guys, listen. Listen carefully. I opened the photo Marco sent just now, the list contains Frank's name." Luke said.
"Wait, what?" I asked as Frank, Marco and I looked to the list again.
"Oh, my God! You're right, Prim. Frank Valderama Yoshida is listed here." I said.
"Am I going to die?" Frank curiously asked.
"I don't know. Maybe this list is just a normal list." I said.
"By the way, what else you got there?" I asked Joven, Prim, and Love Janine.
"Nothing much. Wait, someone texted me." Love Janine said.
"Who texted you?" Prim asked.
"It's Rochelle from the coffee shop." Love Janine replied.
"What non-sense did she say? Is it about your handkerchief again?" I asked.
"No. Guys, listen. I'll read her text." Love Janine said as she read the text.
Hi. This is Rochelle. I know that you're inside your building now. I just want to say something. The admission officer or the woman called Ms. Phumsri went here just now. Then she noticed that she forgot something in her room. Now, she's going back there. Get yourselves out there now!
"Oh, my God! We should leave now." Love Janine asked.
"Let's get out of here." I said.
"What are we going to do? She's maybe on her way now." Prim panicked.
"Okay. Guys, listen. Let's all meet in the elevator. Come down now, we'll also go up now." Joven commanded.
"Okay. We're going down now." Jean said.
"Marco, Frank, and Athena, leave no trace." Joven said.
"Got it. We're putting everything now in its original position. Almost done. We're going down now." I was also panicking. Gosh, I'm so scared and nervous right now.
We, three all went down walking fast to the ground floor to go inside the elevator.
"Athena, where are you guys? Prim and Luke have arrived here inside right now." Love Janine said from the other line.
"We're coming. We're almost there." I said while we ran towards the elevator.
We have arrived just in time as we were all inside the elevator.
"Oh, my God. That was fun!" Luke started a conversation.
"No. It's scary." I contrasted him.
"What are we going to do now?" Prim asked.
"We'll just wait for Ms. Phumsri." Joven said.
"Are we going to kill her?" Marco said.
"Stop saying nonsense. We are not bad." Jean said.
"Kidding." Marco replied to Jean.
"We'll wait for her to take the stairs and go up in her room, then we go out of this building."
"Oh, my God! How about your car, Jean? Prim asked.
"Is it in the front?" I asked.
"Ms. Phumsri may have seen it already." Luke said as he lost his smile.
"Fuck! We're dead now." Frank talked.
"Stop worrying guys, I parked it at the back of this building." Jean said as it made us all feel relieved.
We stopped talking as we heard the door being opened by someone. We were sure that it was Ms. Phumsri.
FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING...
FOOTSTEPS SOUND GETS LOUDER...
IT WAS APPROACHING TOWARDS THE ELEVATOR...
Then, there was a vibration. Sounded like someone's calling. The sound came from the person outside which was Ms. Phumsri. Someone's calling her.
Ms. Phumsri answered the call.
"Hello?" She said.
We couldn't hear that the caller was saying all throughout.
"Yes, I just forgot something." She said.
"I'm taking the elevator now." She added.
WHAT THE HELL?!