05:02 P.M.
Katrina Fajardo's Residence.
July 20th, the year 2018. Friday.
Auntie Karyn screamed at the top of her lungs to stop fighting as Katrina moved, coerced from her place.
Mina smacked Xian's face hard. He stopped right away when he saw Katrina go out of the garden as her auntie shouted her name.
Mina stood up from punching Xian and went outside to the garden, too. Auntie Karyn was so confused about what happened that she didn't know what to do. Xian looked up at the sky as he felt the blood coming out from the sides of his mouth.
He chuckled like a maniac. Xian thought that everything that was happening was because of that person. The one wearing a black hoodie. He closed his eyes right away and cried silently as Katrina's aunt asked if he was okay.
Mina slammed the gate closed as he looked worriedly on both sides of the street. Katrina was out of nowhere. Mina realized she may run out of the village's exit. He impatiently tapped both of his feet on the ground. He thought hard about whether Katrina would run over the left side or the other.
Mina shrugged it all off, headed straight to the right side. He retrieved his cell phone from his pockets while running.
...
Katrina ran over the corner street where Mina should have seen her, but he missed the chance. Katrina's vision blurred, sprinting her one foot to another. She stopped after she reached the exit of the village. Katrina leaned over the tree trunk, covering her identity with the dandelion hoodie. Paparazzi will no longer identify her.
She bowed her head down as she trotted out of the village.
...
Mina dialed Marcus's number. He walked fast in every corner of the village. He swallowed, his nervousness reached its maximum level. Mina's heartbeat thumped, hearing the click on the other end of the line.
"Marcus, thank God," Mina panted as he stopped running kilometers away from the exit of the village. The skies were turning into an orange one. Mina looked over the surroundings, but there was still no sign of Katrina. Mina put his left hand over his hips as Marcus worriedly asked what happened.
"Why are you calling? Is there something wrong?" Marcus stood up straight from his desk and placed the pen back on its rack. He looked outside the window as he clenched his jaw.
"It's Katrina, she burst out of the house... after Xian said everything to her," Mina panted as he said those words. He continued running from the walkway of the streets. The rustle of wind through the trees got him shivering.
"Xian went there?!" Marcus bellowed over the office that made his teammates peeped at him from the outside. He punched his desk and retrieved the jacket angrily from the adjacent couch. He opened the door of the office, dashing out.
"Yeah, and what was Xian saying?! About the fingerprint results?!" Mina shouted over the phone. He stopped at the front of the pedestrian lane. He felt the tears brimming in his eyes. Mina scrutinized every person passing ahead of him, searching for Katrina.
"I'll tell you everything later! We need to find Katrina first!" Marcus shrieked over the line. Mina impatiently brushed his face and didn't know what to say.
"I'll send some backup on finding her! Where are you right now, Mina?!" Marcus yelled as he motioned for a police officer to approach him. Mina looked over at the sign that had the name of the village. He was near the pedestrian lane of Pristine's Village.
"We need some backup over the Pristine's Village. If I call later, answer the telephone immediately, understand?" Marcus said those instructions to the officer he approached and put the cell phone back on his ear again.
"Walk a few feet away, and wait for me there," Marcus mumbled and opened his car suddenly. He unbuckled his seatbelt rapidly as Mina bit his lip. He darted his eyes everywhere, but he couldn't find any sign of Katrina. Mina followed Marcus's order.
"Katrina, where are you?" Mina whispered anxiously to himself as he lost hope of finding her after a few minutes. She was so fast at hiding and running that Mina didn't even have the chance to grab a hold of her arm.
Marcus slammed the steering wheel. He fumed as he recalled the scene Xian made earlier. Someone else was listening to them, someone else was also watching them from afar, and they didn't know who it was. He traced his bottom lip as he stepped on the gas pedal and sped up so fast at the highway.
...
The sunset at the western horizon now gave off a darker orange tinge to the clouds. The wind whistled the chilly breeze from the east. Katrina tucked in her hands over her jacket as she looked down at her feet, walking one after another. Katrina stopped midway over the bridge of the Bella's Main Highway. It's kilometers away from her village.
She saw it was fifteen minutes after five on her wristwatch. Katrina glanced gloomily over the waters underneath the bridge.
She looked up at the sky and saw the fluffy clouds smiling down at her. All the words repeated through her mind. It was unbearable to even think of. She can feel the pain. when Xian played that message. Over the minutes that had passed, she felt numb. Worthless, and helpless, like the world didn't have that granted use for her.
She turned her heel back around again and walked towards the end of the bridge. When she had a quarrel with Carmela over the Kingston Restaurant because she was so jealous of Margo. Everyone thought she's dumb to even cause a scene.
When she had to repeat the same scene over again because a director didn't like her acting skills. It's too painful to hear. That movie was the only project she could reminisce about with Margo. A few weeks before she died. The time she also realized Carmela and Mina were on her side, thinking that they're not.
The kiss between Tristan and Margo crossed her mind again. Her breath quickened as she remembered what she conveyed. She closed her eyes as she regretted the threat that tumbled out of her lips. Katrina felt the tears brimming in her eyes as she whispered an apology of herself.
"I'm sorry, Margo... I'm sorry," Katrina mumbled. She convinced herself that she didn't kill Margo physically. But then, she killed her dignity verbally.
She continued walking until she reached the parking lot of Cruz Mall. They now switched the post street lights on, making the whole place shimmered with a soft glow.
Katrina didn't realize herself falling on the dirty street. She clasped both of her hands over her mouth. There were no people around to see her. The loud honks of the vehicles nearby the street accompanied her. Her dandelion hoodie was completely covering her identity. No one could even dare to peep over her to identify who she was.
"I'm sorry, Margo... I'm sorry I said those words...," Katrina sobbed in between the lines. Her whole buddy shuddered through the frosty late afternoon. She was just wearing shorts and her legs were now filthy because of the dust on the ground.
When she was in the middle of her grief on the street, she heard someone parked a motorcycle behind her.
She wiped the tears away from her face. Katrina noticed that someone was climbing off a vehicle. The rustle of footsteps identified her instincts correctly.
She heard a click, and Katrina stood up from the ground. Katrina faced the exit of the parking lot and looked up. She widened her eyes underneath her dandelion hoodie. The person faced towards her.
Katrina furrowed her eyebrows a little. She saw the person was also wearing an oversized black hoodie. She took one step back from her place as she tilted her head to one side. A white mask with a drawn mustache over the maxilla covered the face of the person. It was standing beside his motorcycle.
"I chased the person, and it turns out, it was a red-haired girl wearing an oversized black hoodie."
Mina's words came back to her as she scrutinized the person from head to toe. She swallowed. The person retrieved something from his back pockets.