TRIGGER WARNING: The following scenes contain violence and sexual assault. They are needed for the story to fully develop. The author does not glorify them in any means. Reader discretion is advised.
"Ang gwapo naman ng anak mo!"
A child can be seen being accompanied by his parents. His hair was brushed up. He was wearing his usual sweater, his eyes glasses, and expressionless face.
"Saan pa nga ba magmamana?" a man said. "Syempre sa 'kin, sa tatay!"
They all laughed but the child was only observing them without any trace of emotion on his face.
His dad noticed it and gave him a glare.
"Pag tumatawa ang nasa paligid mo, makikitawa ka," he sharply said.
The child then let out an awkward smile.
Just then, the door bell rang.
"They're here," the father said and looked at his wife. "Fix this child and make sure we won't get humiliated in front of our guest!"
The mother then grabbed the child and placed him in front of the mirror, brushing his hair, making him more pleasing in the eyes.
"We're all set," the woman said.
That's when the visitors came.
"Oh, good evening! You probably travelled so far just to get in here. Come on, come inside. You guys are welcome here," said by the mother welcoming their guests.
As the child looked at them, he saw two tall men and another two with an average height. They all looked as someone in their thirties and were blue-eyed.
"Sit," his father said. "As what my wife said, you guys are always welcome here."
The four men laughed and they started narrating how their flight went and how heavy the traffic was in Manila.
They were all laughing not until one of the visitor's eyes landed on him.
A smile out of amusement curved on his lips.
"Is that him?" he asked.
They all looked at him.
"Certainly," his dad replied.
"A beautiful boy you got here," the man said and smile at him. "Come here, boy, let's meet properly."
Yet, the child was hesitant. He looked at his mom and to his dad, they both nodded.
He went to the guy and the guy let him sit on his lap.
"Are you sure this is your child?" the man said. "He looked so good to be your child."
They all laughed.
Until the man started to sniff his neck.
"He smells good," he said. "And obedient too..."
He looked at his mom and dad, both were smiling at him.
The four were looking at him as if he was some sort of a meal.
The guy stood up and looked at the other 3 guys.
"I'll go first."
He then looked at his parents.
"Let me see the room, please," the guy said.
"It's at the second floor," said by his dad.
The man held his hand as he accompanied him away.
He looked back and he saw his parents giving him an encouraging smile.
"What's your name again?" the man asked.
"Heinz..." the child uttered.
The guy just smiled.
They went inside a room, the guy locked it and lights went off.
He was 8.
He didn't know what was happening. He just knew, he had to obey his parents all the time without questioning. It went like that for few more years, his father was letting him get sexually abused by pedophiles in exchange of a high pay. Afterall, he was a beautiful child worthy of the money.
Not until as he grew up, he started having his own consciousness different from what his parents groomed him to be. He started to know what was wrong and what was right. But he can't do anything about it.
Afterall, they were his parents.
Not until one night, his father himself touched him for pleasure. His mom knew but she remained silent. It did not even happen once, not twice, not even thrice as he lost count of how many nights his dad would go to his bed at night and will touch him.
Until he had enough.
He can't take it anymore.
There was no way out.
They had to die.
But he was scared, he didn't know if doing it would benefit him. Afterall, he was just twelve.
So he let the destiny to meddle. He called the police.
"I DREAMT MY PARENTS WILL DIE TONIGHT," he said. "PLEASE SAVE THEM!"
But the police did not believe him as they perceived it as a prank.
So that night, on their table, he put a liquid good enough to make his parents dizzy. And with the knife from the kitchen, he killed them.
He struck the knife on his dad's eyes and blood naturally came out from it. He started slicing him, opening his body to see how the bones inside looked like.
On the other hand, he just struck the knife on his mother's chest, enough to directly pierce her heart—an instant death.
In a snap, they were both dead.
He stood up and saw his own reflection. He was full of blood.
Until he heard the rain was pouring so hard. He went out and started running as if someone was chasing him, out of the blue, he felt tears in his eyes.
A tears of joy, perhaps.
He reached the police station. He faked what happened. They believed him. As people started to give him sympathy, he can't help himself but to smile inside.
He felt like he did nothing wrong.
"They deserved it..." he murmured to himself.
He became an outcast in school not because of what happened to him, but because he will glare at any student and will make them shake in fear.
When he was placed in an orphanage, he wasn't bullied. He was actually the bully. He often food poisoned some kids and will put pillows on their face while they sleep so they can't breathe and later die.
He sneaked out of the orphanage because the desire to kill people and the sound of their pain were pleasing for him.
He wanted more.
He was thirsty for more.
But while on a run, a group of men wanted to abduct him, as they said, they wanted to create a new religion to honor the devil.
And he liked it.
He liked the idea of being a god, the thrill he would get by controlling their lives.
And that's how he was reborn.
In order to attract followers, he had to show why he is a god.
So he started as a prophet who sees death.
Whatever he will say, he will do it for him. They will kill them, as an honor to him, perfectly the way he imagined it.
And he wanted the publicity. He wanted the popularity as they know seeing death equates a demonic power so he publicized his faked ability, as if it would be an asset to the authorities.
He wasn't wrong.
Just then, many joined his religion.
And he was known, as the eagle.
They kill women because it's a mutual desire of its people.
Everything was fine, not until he predicted the death of Avery Heimsworth but his follower killed the woman living next to her unit.
It was the first time that someone survived.
So he predicted it again.
This time, it needed to be perfect.
But the woman survived again with the help of her friends and he was amused.
It was the first time that someone survived not just once, but twice.
He found out a team was created to capture him and he was even included in the line up. He wanted to laugh. When the human eye was delivered, he can't control how much he wanted to smirk seeing how terrified they were.
"Isn't it suspicious na he can predict the death? What if he orders it?"
He heard Tyler once said to Newt. Indeed, the guy was smart.
So he tried to win their trust by looking as if his ability was real. He framed up the death of a pregnant woman with a twist; a change of the point of view of his dream.
Indeed, it was successful. He won their trust, and even Avery's.
He found out Tyler had this thing with Avery. That gave him an idea to distract Tyler by confusing Avery's feelings.
He planned them.
The kiss.
The sleepless hours.
The hospital.
And the moment he saved her.
All was well planned and they fell for it.
He had been giving hints for them to know who he was not until tonight, they cracked the codes...
~~~~~
AVERY.
"Heinz..."
I uttered as tears fell from my eyes.
He planned everything.
And we fell for it!
We then heard the rain pouring hard outside.
Heinz smiled.
"Don't you know the last time the rain poured hard when I was here, 2 people were killed."
"H-Heinz... no..." I said as I stepped back since he was inching our gap.
"I tried to kill you thrice but you survived them all," he said. "Tell me, little bitch, how did you do that and how will you do that tonight that your knight in shining armor is nowhere to be found?"
I gulped.
I saw Tyler in my peripheral vision.
I turned my location on the moment he was narrating things, enough for Tyler to locate me.
"Won't you at least beg for your life, Avery, you cheap slut?"
I gulped.
I have never been this scared before.
I can even feel my knees trembling with fear.
"H-Heinz..." I said. "Y-You are just... just confused..."
His face turned dark as he revealed the knife from his back.
"No," he said. "I know what I'm doing."
"How about the tattoo?!" I asked. "Y-You don't have it..."
"Of course, I don't have the mark," he said and he smirked. "Because I AM THE MARK."
He smiled as he touched the edge of the knife.
"We're wasting too much time, Avery," he said. "It's time to see some blood!"
Just then he looked back and stabbed Tyler to his stomach.
Tyler who was trying to sneak to knock him off was shocked.
I screamed.
Heinz put all the knife inside Tyler's stomach, enough for Tyler to spit blood.
"You cannot outsmart me, you moron," Heinz said, grinning as he rotated the knife inside Tyler's stomach.
"Y-Yeah," Tyler said and grinned. "But she can."
Just then, I hit him with the chair on his head, enough for him to fall on the floor and moan in pain.
Tyler also fell to the ground, moaning because of his stab.
I immediately went to him, my eyes were teary.
"Come on, Tyler, let's... let's get out of here!"
Tyler once again spitted blood, his hands were coveeing his wound and the blood was flowing like a river.
I guided him to stand up but just when we were walking away, Heinz grabbed me by my hair and hit my head on the wall, causing me to fall on the floor and writhed in pain.
"SINO SA TINGIN NINYO GINAGAGO NINYO HA?!" Heinz exclaimed, holding his head that was bleeding.
Tyler was smirking at him.
"T-The authorities are coming... you're good as dead, you son of a bitch."
"Really?" said by Heinz. "Then might as well bring you guys with me. Let's all die together!"
He then hit Tyler with a chair on his face, causing Tyler to almost lose his consciousness.
When he saw I was trying to stand up, a solid slap landed on my face causing me to hit the ground and my lips to bleed.
Heinz looked at me, laughing.
"Look at yourself, bitch," he said. "I tried to kill you thrice and now in the fourth attempt, I'll make it successful."
He then get his knife.
"Let me predict this just for the formality," he said.
"6TH STREET, MAIN ROAD, TAFT AVENUE CORNER," he said. "IN MY RESIDENCE."
He smirked.
"YOU'LL DIE!"
Heinz was about to hit me with the knife. I screamed as closed my eyes, welcoming my ill-fated death but then it stopped. Instead, I felt blood spitting in the air and some landed on my face.
As I opened my eyes, I saw Heinz with a knife stuck on his neck, initiated by Tyler.
Heinz fell to the ground, he can't say anything as death was slowly embracing him.
The place was flooded by Heinz's blood.
He writhed in pain.
He was trying to reach me with tears in his eyes.
Until finally...
He closed his eyes.
HE DIED.
With tears in my eyes, I looked at Tyler.
He was standing there, his hand on his stomach wherein the blood was continously coming out. His face had blood as well.
No one was talking between us, and the only sound we can hear was the sound of the rain outside and the song playing through the music player.
If by Bread.
He met my eyes.
And with tears forming in it, he gulped, and he uttered,
"Convict Me, Attorney..."