Chapter 3: A painful past is always hard to forget

"Give me the tape or else… " She pressed the knife deeper causing the bald man's throat to bleed. The bald man handed the tape to Beatrice, as Beatrice, without a hesitation, took it.

"Now, what's your name?" She asked "Mouser Dargis" the bald man who is known as Mouser quivered in fear… a fear of death. Beatrice narrowed her eyes.

"Are you the leader of the Snake organization?" Mouser's eyes widened, he shook in fear, he felt like he had been eyed by the reaper while he was the prey. One wrong moved will cause death.

"I'm not! I'm just a special ranked member in that organization! So please spare me!" Mouser cried for mercy as he kneeled on the ground. Beatrice eyes remained emotionless as he begged for to not be killed.

Beatrice retreated the knife away making Mouser look up to her in hope, but it all crashed down when she pressed the pressure point at Mouser's neck causing him to pass out.

"I don't like messy work if it's not necessary, so I'll just make this quick and not messy." Beatrice stated blankly as she grabbed a hidden needles from her thighs and pierced it to Mouser's neck like what she did to his two henchman that she fought.

After Beatrice made sure that is finally dead, she hid all the evidence that could be used as a clue for the investigations. She also tried the tape if it was really the right one and she sighed in relief when it is, as she continued to watch… it got to the part where she is talking to the mirror, and when she watched it… she didn't see anything in the mirror at all. Except that, she is only talking at her own reflection who didn't even talk back.

Beatrice look at the CCTV camera in shock. "So… that is all only a hallucination. Am I getting crazy? Because as far as I know… I was talking to my manipulative self of me that time…" She was confused as she finished the camera tape. She grabbed the tape and run outside.

Beatrice lit up the tape by the use of a match at she always keep in her pocket, it was the only way of erasing the evidence, by burning the tape into ashes.

"If only I could control the time and rewind it to repeat my mistakes and make it right. Then, that incident won't probably happen and my mom would probably like in the past." She said in despair.

In the room 392, Beatrice mother shed a tear in her comatose state, as if she felt her daughter's longingness. "Nrgh… argh…" Beatrice mother groaned as if telling someone that 'don't cry' but it was in vain since no one can hear as she went back to silence again.

It started raining outside and Beatrice still didn't went home, causing her to get wet, she emotionlessly look at the sky as she heard a voice, a very very familiar voice spoke to her. "don't give up sweetie… there's still hope." Beatrice look towards the voice is coming from and there, she saw her mom standing in front of her wearing the dress that she wore during the incident.

"You're not real…" Beatrice stated in a monotone. "Mom's words felt warm when she said something to me, but when you say those encouragement… it felt empty… nothing sparked." She spoke what she feels.

Her mother's figure stayed silent. "Not even father's words matter to me anymore… for all I know, he probably cheated to mom" Beatrice continued. "No one cared… no one even see who the real me is, they just see the happy go lucky me… it doesn't even matter to me anymore, if I die no one would remember me because they are all fake." She finished and chuckled bitterly.

"Why am I saying this to you anyway? Your not real, your just a hallucination. Nothing more, nothing less… your not my real mo-" the hallucination of Beatrice mother cut Beatrice sentence off.

"What about Crisanto then?" The hallucination of her mother asked and Beatrice got confused. "Why him?" she spoke.

"You smiled when you saw how pure he is. Didn't you feel something? Something like a pull? You wouldn't have saved him without a good reason right?" The hallucination of her mother vanished after said those words.

Beatrice walked away from the place and went home that her family used to stay. The warm house from the past turned into a cold and eerily quiet one.

She went in the bathroom and took a warm shower so she won't get sick. While showering, Beatrice noticed that the bracelet she keep and treasured disappeared so suddenly. The bracelet was gifted to her by her mother, so she can't afford to lose it. She immediately washed her hair and went out of the house after she wore her nightwear.

Since the rain had stopped and it's already dark, she had to bring a flashlight to use to light up the way so she can see, she also bring her phone with her in case there's a message.

Beatrice begone her search by going back to the places she went and if she were lucky enough, she will manage to find it in one of those places, but her search goes in vain as she still couldn't find it. She even went back to her school hoping that she had accidentally dropped it there, but there's nothing.

"Just where did I dropped it?! I promised mom to not take it off, ever! But here I am, I couldn't find where is it anywhere!" Beatrice whispered in frustration. "I can't afford to lose it too!"

She sat down on the nearby bench, helplessly and hug her knees. "That's my treasured thing because mom gift it to me when the whole family was complete… that was the happiest day of my life in my fifth birthday, but I managed to lost that remembrance." She stated as her voice got muffled because she buried her face at her knees.

"That is the only thing that comforts me when I miss mom." She mumbled as she felt the cold wind of the night pass by. "Mom… I'm sorry… I broke my promise… I lost the bracelet… I'm such a fool."