1 - This Isn't the Ending I Want
Abandoned farmlands, desolate cities, people barely scraping food for a living, and crime rates hitting an all time high. The adults were out of work, the children were starving, and the human hyenas were going wild after law and order deteriorated.
Bekka never would have imagined that at the end of her revenge, what would await her homeland was destruction.
'Was I wrong? Should I have just closed my eyes and pretended that I am blind to their greed?'
It was too late to question what's done and cry over spilled milk. It was her who was wronged first. After all, she was born neither a demon nor a saint. She wouldn't have flipped the tables if those bastards didn't terrorize her and harmed her loved ones. She wouldn't have obsessed about revenge every waking second of her life. No, she would have held it in, no matter how upset she was, if she still had her family and friends with her.
However, only she was left behind, the last remaining chess piece on the board.
It shouldn't have mattered if she threw the chessboard away, hitting the players on their heads and killing them in the process…right?
'But what the fck is this?!'
On the way to the Sta. Maria Residence, the largest mansion in the entire city—no, the entire province—she seemed to have witnessed hell on Earth. There were riots on the streets, some people even threw rocks on the army jeep she was riding, and one could not even understand who were the civilians and who were the police. It was as if a hurricane had hit the buildings, and many stores were smashed and robbed. Sounds of gunfire could be heard amidst the shouts and cries of people, and from the news reports from the vehicle radio, this scene was occurring in almost every major city all over the country.
Bekka never imagined that after removing those corrupted officials, her country would deteriorate like this.
She only wanted the trash of society who had been abusing their authorities to be punished. She only wanted for them to pay the price for their crimes. She only wanted them gone.
Although she knew that at the end of her revenge, she too would be damned…she never thought it would be like this.
War.
Who would have thought that predators eyeing her country that was in civil strife would move like this? As soon as she cleaned up the people who had caused the system to be rotten, those predators took advantage of the temporary loss of central command and swooped in like a bird of prey. She had made preparations before, but due to the sudden attacks of the outsiders, they were now rendered useless.
'At the end of the day, I'm still not good enough.'
Bekka was expressionless as she clenched her fists on the steering wheel and continued to drive the large jeep to the edge of the city. Before she saw the mansion she had escaped from as a child, she saw the flames first.
The Sta. Maria Residence was burning.
'Did someone set it on fire?'
Bekka fumbled on her phone to call for firefighters, but it would not connect anywhere, saying it was out of service. It seemed like even communication was down. She could only hope there were no innocent casualties. She had witnessed too many deaths these past years, and it was by pure luck that she was able to keep her sanity at this point.
But then again, even if she were able to call for help, would anyone respond and come? It wasn't as if she was the only victim of the Sta. Marias. Many of the townspeople and city dwellers, especially those local farmers and the indigenous people, were forced out of the lands that were originally theirs, and the culprits were none other than the Sta. Marias and their henchmen.
Of course, they tried to fight. They filed cases with the help of lawyers doing pro bono work, and they tried to appeal to the media. However, there's not much a person can do if no one listens no matter how hard they scream.
Afterwards, the cases were dismissed, the lawyers and the leaders of the farmers had gone missing, and the media diverted the attention of the people to some famous actor's extramarital affairs.
The rest had no other choice but to move on. It was only because they were weak that they had to keep their silence and swallow their pride in order to continue living, and it was exactly because Bekka had no such qualms that she was able to throw away everything for the sake of revenge.
The normally closed wrought iron double gates of the Sta. Maria Residence were broken open, and countless trash and other broken items could be seen littered on the lawn and the front yard. It was as if the rioters from the city had vented out their anger here not only once or twice.
The jeep stopped a distance from the smashed front door. Bekka stepped out of it, her heavy boots hitting the gravel and then she removed her jacket. Even though the mansion was burning, it appeared like the fire started at the back and progressed slowly. However, she could already feel the sweltering heat even before she could enter the front door.
Wearing only an inconspicuous black cotton shirt and cargo pants, Bekka pulled one of the large emergency water containers at the back of the jeep and drenched her entire body with water. She then covered her face with a wet cloth tied around her head.
'Wu said they didn't leave.'
After reaching the lobby, Bekka noticed the place was a mess, stripped of anything of value and thoroughly vandalized by the rioters. The place was void of people, as if every maid and servant had long run away along with whatever things worth a little money they could bring with them.
'If it's Nessa…she should be in the General's office on the second floor.'
The iron door of the General's office had the best security system in the entire mansion, precisely because it was where the General kept his most important and controversial documents that would cause his downfall if people ever got their hands on it. From the slashes on the doorknob and the broken sticks and long knives on the floor, it appeared that the rioters had tried to pry the door open, but failed to do so.
Of course, with the General dead and Bekka getting her hands on the master key, only she could disable the other security measures and open the door from the outside.
She heard maniacal laughter the moment she opened the door of the office.
"I knew you would come, you devil spawn—"
A woman in her early thirties, hair a mess and missing in some spots, eyes red and bulging, mouth twisted in a grotesque smile, wearing a simple white sleeping gown torn at the edges…and a little boy only three years of age, sleeping soundly in her arms. One of the woman's hands held a long jungle knife, and she was lightly, ever-so-lightly, caressing the cheek of the boy with the edge of the serrated blade.
"---ungrateful btch, a dirty whore…" the woman continued to mutter as she laughed.
At the crazy sight before her, Bekka froze, unable to step forward and enter the room. She let out a shaky breath and with a soft voice, she tried to communicate with Vanessa Sta. Maria, the only living sibling she had.
"I came to fetch you and Zak."
From childhood, the two of them were never close, but that also meant they were never hostile either. In fact, Nessa had lived most of her life abroad, away from the dark influence of the family. Among the Sta. Marias, Nessa could be considered the only person who saw other people outside the family as fellow humans.
"I already arranged for you to leave the country, and I've prepared documents for your new identities—"
"You're pathetic!" her older half-sister screamed, causing the little boy to be jolted awake. "Because Daddy didn't love you, you did this to our family! You're pathetic! You shouldn't have been born! Everything is your fault! This is all your fault!"
"Nessa—"
"Mommy…?" The little boy, Zak, didn't even notice the stinging wound on his cheek as he reached out to Nessa's tear-stained face. "Why you crying, Mommy? You have boo boo? Where boo boo? I kiss boo boo…"
Bekka stifled the emotions resurging inside her as she tried to calmly assess the situation. She knew that her half-sister was no longer sane, and if she were to do or say something that would trigger her, the little boy in her arms would be in danger.
She forced herself to sound gentler. "Why don't you place Zak on the floor first? Look, his face is hurt. Should we stop the bleeding—"
"No! Don't enter the room! Stay where you are! If you enter, I will kill Zak and then kill myself!"
At this point, Bekka knew there was no time for her to persuade Nessa. She could already see that the hallway was starting to be filled with smoke. She then lunged forward, aiming to disarm the older woman.
"I told you not to enter! Ahhh—"
Just as she was about to stab Little Zak, Bekka was able to use her arm to protect the child's head. Blood splashed as the jungle knife embedded itself deeply on Bekka's flesh. The three of them rolled on the carpeted floor, and Bekka used her body to pin her half-sister under her.
"Ahh! It's not me, it's you! You're at fault! You are the one at fault!" Nessa screamed as she laughed-sobbed.
However, although Bekka was successful in saving her nephew, she failed to consider what her crazy sibling would do. Nessa grabbed the hilt of the knife and pulled it out of Bekka's arm.
"I know, I know! Let's all die—the three of us together. Ha ha, that's it! Let's just die!" she sang manically as she brought down the knife again, hitting Bekka in the shoulder blade. Bekka tried to rolly away, but Nessa grabbed her arm and wouldn't let go. "Die! Die, you btch! Die—"
Bang!
Nessa's lifeless body slumped on the floor. There was a bullet in the middle of her forehead.
"Mommy! Waaaah! Mommy!!!"
Only Zak's heart-wrenching cry echoed within the mansion as Bekka felt her arms loosen around his body. She didn't know how many stabs she received, and she couldn't even remember where she was hit because everything happened too fast. The only thing she knew was that she was starting to lose strength, and her body was losing heat.
"...ka, can you hear me?" she heard a familiar male voice inside the room.
Ram? It was Ram. But wasn't Ram in the frontlines of the battlefield? Wasn't he the commander keeping the outsiders at bay? She wanted to call out his name, but when she opened her mouth, her voice would not come out.
"Calen, bring the kid," she heard him say.
Another voice could be heard nearby. "How about Vanessa Sta. Maria, sir?"
"Will she die again if she burns?"
"No, sir."
Footsteps.
Doors slamming.
Bekka didn't realize she was being carried in Ram's arms. At this point, her body had lost all sensation. Even the sounds she's hearing sometimes become fuzzy and unclear.
"...don't die. You forget… not yet paid your debt… with me…"
Bekka recalled the resentment in Nessa's eyes. Even in death—no, it was precisely because her half-sister died, the hatred in those eyes would forever haunt Bekka.
"Perhaps… I was wrong…"
"No! You are not wrong! We are not wrong! Bekka! Bekka? Hey, Bekka?"
'My country. Will it disappear? Will we become a province of another nation? Will more people suffer? Will more people die?'
'Zak. How would Zak live on from now? Will he ever heal from the trauma of witnessing his mother's death?'
'Wu. Will he cry if I'm gone? Will he go crazy too? Will he chase after me in the afterlife?'
'Ram. Will he—'
"I…regret…"