First Kill (III)

07:50 P.M.

Carmela Torres' Residence. 

June 21st, the year 2018. Thursday. 

The rain halted abruptly. Carmela closed the bedroom door while holding her forehead between her hands. She closed her eyes as she remembered Marcus's words earlier. 

She got out the envelope in the backside pocket of her jeans and threw it on the other side of the room. It's been hours since she was thinking about opening it, but she can't. 

It's 10 minutes before 8 now, and Marcus reminded her to brace herself for what she has to see inside it. Marcus didn't want to open it, and he wished Carmela would be the one who would be the first to skim it. 

For sure, Marcus wanted to help Carmela. Torres Productions was the only company she inherited. The search for the culprit in the exploitation of the funds was never a simple task. Carmela had to call Marcus upon seeing the names written inside it. She wanted them verified.

Their company was falling apart in the last months of summer. Finally, Carmela's aunt had no choice but to close it in the first week of July. They had to pay for the compensation of all the employees. Also gave them their last bonuses for their length of service. 

Carmela didn't want to disagree with her aunt, they needed to close it for the better. How can they sustain their life if the money that's left were the ones she inherited? 

Carmela didn't know what to do anymore. She slumped herself on her bed and tried to fight the tears back. How about Hannah? How can she grow up well when we are starving now? 

Carmela knew her job as Margo's assistant was all gone. Blown by the wind forever. She only had one job now, at Kelly's Diner. But she didn't go to work today because she doesn't want to see Michie. The one to blame on why Margo lost her career and why Carmela was thinking critically about the next few days. Their stomachs would grumble in the matter of a few months. 

The wind gust outside of the window and Carmela stood up from the bed. She draped the curtains aside and opened the window. She leaned over the wall and looked outside. 

The road was wet, and the trees swayed with the chilly breeze. The rays of the moonlight shone through the window. Carmela didn't even bother opening the lights. She looked up through the clouds and stared over the frost color of the moon.

She averted her eyes over the side where the crinkled envelope laying there. Carmela had the urge to open it and see it for herself. Even if she controls the desire to see, her mind and heart would say the same thing to wake her up. 

"Avenge your parents so they will have their justifiable death," Carmela whispered. 

She huffed an air, brace herself, and crouched down to pick up the envelope. She tore open the right side and got the two pieces of paper there. It was a report back to the year 1998, the year when Carmela's parents died. She scanned the paper and saw the name: Cece. 

Carmela furrowed her eyebrows. She tried to remember where she heard the name because it sounds so familiar. But something fell out of the two papers she was holding as she changed them. 

She shifted her eyes towards there and picked up the folded piece. She put down the two long bond papers on her side and opened the other one. 

It took her back and screamed as she saw merlot, and bloody letters combined. She panted as she read the letters and creased her forehead angrily. 

      'Margo Monteverde's death day will come before the dawn of Friday, I swear.'

She put her hand over her mouth as she picked it up again and scrutinized the letters. The dried bloody letters. It was rather scratchy. Carmela glanced at the clock above the door and saw that it was 15 minutes after 8. 

After that, she stood up hurriedly, opened the lights, and hastily stared at the calendar on her table. 

"It is Thursday today. Before the dawn of Friday...," Carmela whispered. She quickly grabbed a hold of her cell phone and dialed Margo's number while her hands were shaking. Few rings had passed, and no one answered. 

"Margo, please answer the damn phone," Carmela muttered anxiously. She tried to call her once again. Several rings had rung on her ear and it turned into a voicemail. 

"Margo Monteverde, the popular actress ahead of you! Please leave the message after the beep!" 

Carmela bit her lips and paced back and forth when she heard Margo's voice message over the line. She dialed Marcus's number rapidly, and he responded in a millisecond. 

"Carmela, did you open the---" 

"Marcus, I need your help," Carmela cut him off by saying it with a hunch of breath. 

"Wait... why do you sound so anxious?" Marcus asked. 

"There was something in the envelope. And it doesn't have to do with my parent's company," Carmela said. 

"What is it?"

"It says that Margo Monteverde will be dead before the dawn of Friday, tomorrow," Carmela said. 

"Okay, I will gather all the police officers here to find her. Did you call her?" Marcus said hastily and signed to the other members of his team outside of the office.

Carmela picked a jacket inside her closet and got out of the bedroom while saying, "I'll call Margo again. Marcus, please track her location. I called her earlier in the morning but I don't know where she is." 

"Yeah. Don't worry. We'll get going now," Marcus mumbled. 

"I'll try to find her, too. Thank you, Marcus," Carmela went downstairs while hanging up the phone. She rapidly went outside of the gate and unlocked the car by pressing the tiny remote control. She climbed in her car, fastened her seatbelt, and stepped onto the gas pedal.

... 

Margo drove off the outside of the outskirts of Manila through the other wide road. The citizens don't bother taking it. The shrubby trees and the solitude road in between the forest were frightening. 

She glanced at the darkness inside the forest and still zoomed continuously. She took the path where nobody could ever find. 

She threw on her clothes through a suitcase and onto the backside of her car. She didn't even bring her cell phone. It felt like a retreat for her. 

Margo permitted Nanny Margarette earlier to take a week off. She paid her transportation fee towards her province. 

The lamp post on both sides of the street has no light on it that makes the road completely dark. Margo's car headlights were the only source of light on the road. 

A blinding light caught her eye, and Margo halted right in front of a convenience store. The lights blinded her sight for a moment and she saw it was the only store on these roads. She observed the surroundings first. She saw a post, saying the way to Tundra Trip. 

If she zoomed past 5km right after the store, she would reach the destination

"Might as well go there to get some fresh air at dawn," Margo muttered to herself and looked at her wristwatch. It was only 8 in the night, and she thought she needed food from the convenience store. 

She put on the dandelion hood of her jacket over her head and climbed out of the car. She exhaled and pocketed her hands on the jacket. Margo ran over to the entrance of the store and pushed the glass door.

She got out a basket from the rack and rummaged in the chip's corner. Margo picked the diet and vegetable chips. Some alcoholic beverages in the refrigerator, and 1 gallon of cow's milk on another corner. 

She got three large bottles of crystal clear water and headed straight to the counter. The cashier scanned the barcodes one by one. 

The cashier looked over her face and widened as she saw the popular actress Margo Monteverde. Margo stared at the price of each item and shifted her eyes towards the cashier again. The cashier averted her eyes and avoided her gaze. 

"How much is it?" Margo asked while fumbling for her wallet on the backside of her jeans. 

"It's 500 pesos," the cashier mumbled shyly to her. Margo got out a one thousand peso bill and gave it to her. The cashier glanced at her face carefully. She pressed the buttons on a computer screen. 

Margo doesn't seem to care now for every person who would see her in the public. She just lost her career earlier. She is not an actress anymore. 

While Margo was waiting for the cashier to give her change, she felt something was missing. Margo fumbled for her jeans pockets and she knew it was her car keys missing. She searched for it on her hoodie and heard the jingling of the coins on the counter. 

"Here's your change," the cashier muttered softly and bowed. But Margo tried to search for the keys everywhere. She anxiously looked around as the cashier furrowed her eyebrows. 

Margo picked up the plastic bag containing the items she bought and left the change. 

"Your money!" the cashier shouted at her, but Margo pushed the glass door and ran over to her car. She put down the bags first and tried to open the door, but there was no luck. 

"Aish! Where are my keys?!" Margo rumbled to herself. She looked around the corners of the car, but there were no stray keys on the road. Margo held her forehead and didn't know what to do. She left her cell phone at her house and she regretted it at the last minute. 

"How can I get home? It's too cold at night here," Margo whispered. She leaned over her car and skidded her shoes on the road.

Until she heard something like a metal tinkling on each other. She stood upright and looked at both sides of the street. She squinted her eyes as she saw figure-eight feet away from her. 

Margo saw the person was wearing a black hoodie and jeans. The person's ebony shoes are in match with his jacket. 

Margo stared at the face, but it turns out. The figure was wearing a mask. It was covering entirely his identity from her while chiming her keys in his gloved hands.