MURDER IN AYUNGON
(AYUNGON IS A PLACE IN NEGROS ORIENTAL DERIVED FROM "AYUNG", A DEAF MAN AND "DUNGON", A TREE. THIS SHORT STORY IS ABOUT UNHEARD CRY OF AN ACHING HEART AND LATE REMORSE.)
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” a trebling shout from a female student shocked the Ayungon Secondary School. Mrs. Zamora, a Social Studies teacher, immediately went to the basement.
“What happened? What happened?” she exclaimed as she reach the basement. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” She also screamed when she saw the dead body of a girl, bathing with her own blood. Anastacia, the student who first saw the body is trembling in fear and her tears are continuously flowing on her cheeks.
“Maam, that’s E-Eliza-beth” Anastacia said between her tears. She is gasping for breath and she looks miserable right now. She is clueless of who might have done this hideous crime. Anastacia’s clouded with her thoughts. It hasn’t been a month since the last crime in Ayungon Secondary School. A boy named Marcelino was also found dead on the basement which happened to be Anastacia's first encounter with a dead body. Marcelino was Elizabeth’s boyfriend while Anastacia was Elizabeth’s best friend. Seeing her friends’ dead bodies makes her intestines up-side-down. She couldn’t take it. She couldn’t accept what is happening. Is she in a dream? If she is, she wants to wake up from it. She tried to slap herself only to find out that what’s happening is real. This is no dream!
The Principal’s Office is filled with people concerned in the case. The policemen, investigators, parent of Elizabeth, Mrs. Zamora and Anastacia makes the small room crowded.
“Marcelino’s murder case isn’t cleared yet and now there’s a new case?!” the principal yowled in despair. The bags under her eyes are turning dark, showing how stress she is since Marcelino’s death.
“Inspector, what have you found?” she asked as she turned her gaze on to Inspector Dalisay.
The inspector cleared his throat before he speaks. “We are looking on to the angle of suicide. According to the yesterday’s investigation, Marcelino was Elizabeth’s boyfriend for three years…” inspector also did an interrogation with Anastacia. According to her, before she found out Elizabeth’s body, she received a message from her saying “Ana, please come over here. I’m at the basement and I couldn’t carry alone the props that we are going to use for the dance festival” so she hurriedly went to the basement and there she found Elizabeth’s body. “According to Anastacia, Elizabeth was in grief for the past few weeks. She tried very hard to cheer her friend up but that, to no avail, did not help at all. So Elizabeth, she must be suffering from depression” The inspector explained.
A week had passed and the two consecutive deaths of two students still haunt Ayungon Secondary School. The basement is temporarily closed while the investigation is on-going. Anastacia couldn’t sleep well at night. She vividly remembers the image of her friends’ dead bodies. She’s being troubled by what happened a year ago. It was also in the basement where they tricked Pablo Dela Paz, Elizabeth’s former suitor. Who would be attracted to a guy who’s thin and pale? Pablo’s smart but he wasn’t the boyfriend-for-display type so she chose Marcelino. Back at the basement, Anastacia could exactly recall what they did Pablo.
“Pablo, I’m so sorry but I couldn’t just choose you.” Elizabeth whispered on Pablo’s ears. Her tone was teasing, indicating that Pablo won’t ever be loved by any other girls romantically. Elizabeth didn’t know that she was torturing Pablo through her words. Who would know? Pablo kept his mouth shut while Marcelino was beaming as he gave his scrutinizing look to him. Anastacia, on the other hand, was also beaming beside Marcelino. Marcelino also reported to the principal that Pablo was harassing Elizabeth at the basement and Anastacia couldn’t do anything because after all, Pablo may look weak but he is still a man.
Anastacia suddenly became fully awake as she reminisced what they did to Pablo. Could it be possible that a dead man is taking his revenge? She thought. “It can’t be!! IT CANNOT BE!” she whispered underneath her breath and began to panic. No matter how hard she tries to calm her system down, it couldn’t be helped! Her own thought is giving her goose bumps and it is making her imagine unpleasant things. She placed her hands on her face and began to cry. Her conscience is bugging her for not speaking up for Pablo during the investigation. If it is true that they are being ghosted by Pablo, her eyes widened with the thought “I might be the next!”
Meanwhile, Maria Aquino couldn’t keep her smile to herself. She’s a no one in Ayungon Secondary School just like the late Pablo Dela Paz. She isn’t being bullied nor being befriended. Her presence or absence doesn’t make any difference which is good. She doesn’t like attention, thus, she gives attention to those people who badly needs it.
The next morning, Anastacia received a message from an unregistered number saying “You are not being ghosted. Oh, don’t tremble yet! Justice is just being served. You want to know who am I? Please come over at the basement. I will be there, 5pm. Bring no cop or I’ll bring your dead body to the cops. See you!” She could hardly breathe and began to excrete greater amount of sweat. She couldn’t think straight. She might get killed if she goes there alone or the policemen would know what they did to Pablo if she, by any chance, asks assistance from the authority. But she’s more afraid to have her image disgraced rather than the possible encounter with death.
Anastacia have prayed Our Father for the nth time now but her heart still beats like it’s on a race. Upon reaching the middle part of the basement, she saw a woman facing the opposite direction. She could hardly see the woman’s face but she’s certain that she’s now with the killer.
“Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!” she had the guts to ask. The woman chuckled and it gave her goose bumps. The woman slowly turned until she’s face to face with Anastacia. “Maria? Ma-Maria A-quino??” Her breathing becomes heavy as Maria’s smile becomes creepier. She couldn’t deny Maria’s resemblance to Pablo. But how come they carry different surnames? She’s now bombarded with different questions and she doesn’t know whether she would get those questions answered.
“Oh, didn’t my brother tell you that she has a twin sister?” she asked without breaking the smile on her lips. “Poor me, I wasn’t introduced. Oh, if ever he planned to tell you about me, would you have listened?” sarcasm was all over Maria’s voice while Anastacia, she’s still dumbfounded. “Hmm, maybe not? You only listen to boys who looks sizzling hot like, uhhm..” Maria acts as if she is thinking. “.. Oh yeah! Like Marcelino, right?!”
“Maria, p-please. D-don’t do this to me” Anastacia pleaded to Maria who’s now walking towards her with a knife on her right hand.
“Please?? Wow. What a wonderful word to hear! Your tone doesn’t differ from Marcelino’s and Elizabeth’s! Indeed, birds of the same feather..” Maria is now at Anastacia’s front. She leaned further towards Anastacia’s ears and whispered “..flocks together” Anastacia growled in pain as she felt the edge of the knife on her internal organs. While Maria, after immediately cleaning herself up gave a trebling shout and again, Mrs. Zamora arrived.
