I laid her down on the backseat of the car and said the magic words.
"Sweet dream, sweetie."
A kiss on her cheek and we are ready to go.
"There's a lot of people in there," Domdom said in an attempt to start a conversation.
If you look out of the window, you will see a bunch of mass parked their cars and dressed properly―at least some people do unlike these insects with their casual clothes―to a certain event.
"My people here to praise me early."
Everyone came together to create this wonderful scenery―except you, insects with your casual clothes.
"Are there anything happened between you and these zealots."
"Nothing, sadly. Jealous that much, Domdom?" I teased him a bit.
"I'm just worried, knowing your status and… Never mind."
"My millions of charms, isn't it?"
"No."
Sometimes, I can't tell if he was dense or teased me back with that flat face and response. Anyway, back to the topic.
"But this was nice, wasn't it? Compare to what we have before."
When I looked out the window, all I saw was a people, a people who emerged when the sun was still above the horizon in the west.
"Just a bunch of people sought redemption here. The couple was there for their love to be protected. The homeless―even with their tattered shirt―came with a tear in theirs, unlike other casual. The man and woman were present to cleanse their sins. And all of them prayed for the angel that shielded them from between the sun and moon."
I saw a reflection of mine on this glass window and the crowd behind it. All of them are the face of content.
"The population statistic certainly agreed with it," he said as the car started moving away from the park.
"Um, okay?" Rigid as always.
"You sound like rusted serrations, Dom."
He always like this, if this old-fashioned car wasn't enough proof of it. There's one time I remember vividly he used to read atlas as his childhood book―that made the both of us in terms of bizarreness. He's always like this. He's always―
"Rusted…"
When I'm on my trip of memory, that word specifically sparked something in my head. In that instance, I pulled my breath from my mouth before stating,
"I just remembered something."
Domini asked me about what I meant. What I remember. What I find odd about it. Something I found in the park. Not about the corpse. Not found by the eyes.
The smell.
"Ehhhh, let's discuss it later."
I yawned a bit, relaxed my head, and not a single bit of my gas was left in my veins. The time spent playing soccer, walking while carrying Tenten and our bag and sleeping late at night finally caught up to me.
"Domini, can you do me a favor?"
"Anything for you, partner."
I looked at my daughter in the backseat, looking at a small angel in her slumber with my eyes drooping shut each second.
Ahhhhhh~ no good~ I'm about to die. I better sent my last word. My final wish.
"Wake me up when we arrived!"
Then, my overdramatic brain can rest in peace.
And my ear vividly heard the last words from Domini in his soothing voice.
"Sleep well, you two."
This coziness, remind me of my childhood.
Back when I saw a blue sky for the first time, I thought the cloud was the bed anyone can ever wish for. After all, anything is a better bed than what I had at the time. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that a living mortal can't sleep in a lump of water vapor. That's if you were a mortal.
This coziness, this's it, like a drifting spirit. I'm floating. The sun rubs my skin in its care and the soft clouds on the surface. I'm…contradicting myself?
…
Since when I can fly?
…
"Urghh."
I groaned as if I was drowned―in my drool. Then, I swam my way up to reality.
"Yaaaaaawn~."
I lifted my body from this comfortable bed. The second it took to sit on the edge of it, the blur started to get clearer. My soul watched from the eyes and saw a room.
An unpainted brick wall, a nothing-special table, neatly-put souvenirs on the shelf consisting of; a lot of The Angel of Sin's miniature figure, expensive-looking watches, a diamond ring, a 'work' equipment, a family photo, and a make-up set. This is my bedroom, alright.
Why am I here again?
Wake me up when we arrived!
That's right! My plan was for him to wake me up, so I can carry my daughter to her home. Yet, that's not what happened if I'm still asleep till now.
Thankfully, I noticed a paper tucked in my clenched hand when I fell asleep. It stated,
Sorry for carrying you with your daughter. I've tried to wake you up in various ways. Poke in your cheek, call your name, even yell a bit with no prevail. So, I decided to not interrupt you two. You both look peaceful. Once again, I apologize for my inappropriate behavior.
Sincerely, Domini.
"Hehe~"
What can I say? Can't be ungrateful with a plate on the table, ya'know. Though, I don't know what to think about a grown mom with her daughter getting carried into their bedroom. I'll let him know next time we met.
"There's more."
I, who turned the sheet of paper, found another note behind it. A special message for me, no, for 'her.'
I can think about it later, along with 'that' topic in mind.
I still had thirty minutes left before our 'night date.' I better did my daily activity during night time. Take a bath, have dinner, and check on my daughter. Better get straight to my priority, I visited my daughter's bedroom―right beside my room.
No one is here. Huh?
"Tenten!"
I yelled out her name. Only the wave on the shore outside can be heard. Oh no.
"Don't play hide and seek with me, Tenten!"
I yelled out her name louder. Still the same result. No no no, where are you?
"Tenten!"
Where? Where? Where? This house only had four major rooms, the bathroom, two bedrooms, and a kitchen mixed with the guest room. The easiest solution is to shut my eyes and detect the physical presence / thermal image in this house. The result,
No person is within her 500-meter radius.
…/+-=0: -|!――
No, calmed down. Let's think through this with a clear mind. Processing the facts in the gravity of this situation. Tenten was a stalwart kid, she has a big chance to survive any dangers. And, there are only two probabilities on her whereabouts. Whether she left on her own term, or/+-=. This is not helping.
Let's make one thing clear before jumping to a conclusion. Was it true there is no clue or note in this house? Turned out, there is one.
The smell.
Unlike the corpse, this is the exact opposite of rotten. This is the smell of freshly cooked fish meat mixed with a grassy aroma of olive oil. A plate of stuffed peppers on our dinner table, and a cleaned plate in the sink. Here's where I relieved a breath upon seeing a written note on top of the dinner table.
Good night, Mama, or morning? Tenten hopes Mama found this note before Mama was panicking. Tenten made Mama the stuffed peppers we were promising in an earlier bet. Tenten hopes Mama like it. Unfortunately, there isn't any salt in our kitchen. Coincidentally, Tenten will be on her way for community work in the theater. Might tried Tenten's luck along the way. Who knows if stumble upon a salt from one of the theatre members or Uncle Dom if he was there. Tenten will be going home when the sun rises. There's no need to worry about Tenten.
P.S. Tenten refused to eat the pepper. Help Tenten to not waste it, ok? Love Mama!
-Tenten.
"Sometimes I wonder who's the mother in our family."
I turned the sheet of paper again and found a bingo card―with a written title saying, Guessing Mama After Coming Home. All twenty-five squares on it have been circled.
I could say a thousand things here about me being a proud mother and all that. Finally, I could put my heart at ease. For now.
I grabbed an empty plate, fetch some stuffed pepper into my plate, and poured ketchup on the side of it. I took a bite of it.
"Too much olive oil," I reviewed it. The strong taste made it eight out of ten. But every meal is ten out of ten when they are made by the loved one―especially when accompanied by the sound of the waves outside the window. Just kidding, it's the ketchup. It's ten out of ten thanks to the ketchup. Sorry, professional chefs around the world.
Thanks for the meal, I said it in my heart.
Then, I took a quick bath, wore my work clothes―a jacket that contains my fancy equipment, and clipped in my left bang. The red moon opens to stare back at the crescent moon in the sky.
"What's the ransom, mister handsome?"
I called someone. For it is the time for our night date.
"Let's get into the business, Angel of Sin."
"First, congratulations on your mission to infiltrate the government's basement. Your service has met our expectations. We hope for the same for tonight."
This cold side of his made it hard to bring a casual conversation―about the time he carried me earlier. The night's temperature permeated the soul of Domdom, or should I call "The Sheep of Judgement." Na-nah, "partner" will always more natural for me.
"The report you just sent earlier about the manufacturer, their data of every notable member, and the key point route of the sewer wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that this might be the turning point for ours.
"It's only a matter of time for our emperor to make our move."
That Grandpa never failed to be a shadow that followed us around, especially Domini. At least the front-end glory all centered around me.
While I'm in the middle of his briefing, my mind wandered around more than usual on this night. The usual patrol itself was one month ago because there were tigers that I have to take care of in their zoo. This patrol was what I considered another part of my vacation, me with my hobby.
"C'mon, let's get straight into my mission or give me my payment already!"
Impatience started to grow within me after one month of patience in the zoo. I'm looking left and right toward the cramped hallway as the only watchtower this town had and kept myself busy with no event happening.
"Before heading to your mission's brief," Domini said. "I would like to inform you of the background first―bear with me here.
"Last night, one of my men was gone missing." Hearing that, I sent my condolence even though the inside didn't conform with my words.
"Yesterday, we are on the call when he went missing at the place of your tonight's mission. He was tailing one of the executives of the government from the basement you were tasked on," he informed.
"Yes, you left one of the rats alive. Not to blame you. As I said earlier, your service has met our expectations. By any means not exceeding it."
I didn't want to defend myself or anything. A mission is a mission. I have to hear it like a good employee while keeping my free will from that old man. Like the mission, a me is me, a captain obvious and The Angel of Sin.
"Where did that man was last gone?" I asked and he answered,
"The Oripeccatum Park."
The park that we visited earlier. The kingdom that called me from afar.
"I'm already on my way."
"Already?" Domini questioned. Immediately, he closed the question with his conclusion. "That's explained the running."
My step was consistently running toward that place. It was loud enough for it to be heard from the phone.
"You said you have something to discuss after you visited that park."
"What a coincidence, right?" Too much of a coincidence after what I did, at this current time on the calendar. All pieces of my imagination, or should I call my prediction, assembled themselves. Contrary to the jumbled mess inside my chest from envisioning the visionary's puzzle.
I placed one of the puzzle pieces with a high probability.
"There's a possibility that they knew who I am, isn't it?"
"Yes."
The piece is a match.
"His report on the call said the boss and his follower brought a lot of explosions to the park. Then―"
"They all suddenly disappeared, and there are only two probabilities on your man and the rats' whereabouts. Either a collaborative attempt by them to remove your man's corpse including the evidence or they were all swallowed up by the earth including the rats." I've been here before, but I can't imagine the feeling if there wasn't any concrete clue. What a bunch of coincidences, it makes me believe everything in this world is connected. Or maybe it does.
It was no surprise when Domdom confirmed my prediction. So far, this prediction was more leaning toward precognition.
Our jumbled mess that plays with our hearts is one of the connected things in this world. Only one difference between us.
"How did you know?" Domdom asked, left behind in uncertainty. While I discovered the inevitable, not with this red eye but by―
"The smell of blood."
It smells like rusted metal, sweet and pungent, penetrating the nose hole just to suffocate you. One drop smells redolent; evocate some might say. While a spill is―
"It is like the inside of a haunted beehive―mixed with the smell of rusted metal. The fragrant smell stung, sweet but all over the place and it was just festering with the remains of the dead bee."
Meanwhile, Oripeccatum Park was sighted from here. I got closer and closer to the park, while our conversation still hasn't finished.
"All over the place?" inquires Domdom.
On this park, a park that fitted a wannabe white house and another soccer field behind it. I detailed that it only smells in some twenty to fifty percent of the garden―I imagined it is the size of a whale. It's all over the place, especially in everything near the entrance gate, near the fountain, around the statue
"Yet there's no visible blood anywhere."
That increased the probability of the governor collaborating to get rid of the evidence.
Only two things debunked it.
"The horrendous state of one of their member's corpses." The corpse of the afternoon that had a tattoo behind its tattered clothes, full of sharp rips and bullet holes.
"The untainted statue." Despite being surrounded by the reek of blood "Not a single smell of blood tainted it"
There's a third party who killed a group of adults, managed to clean up the whole park, and had unconditional love for the statue.
The smell of blood stung my nostrils the more I got closer to the park. I can't tell the reason behind this suffocation anymore. It has to be because of the blood, right? I have to seek the uncertainty of "certainty". I need to see it with my own eyes. The certainty…
"I forgot to say. The last thing before he went missing, I heard it from our call." Before I arrived at the park's entrance gate, the final piece of the puzzle made the vision clear.
"There was a gibberish song."
". . ."
"Your mission is simple. Find and took out the mastermind behind it."
". . ."
"Good luck." Domini wished with his nonchalant and rigid tone all the way until the end of our call.
". . ."
Closer and closer, the suffocation throttled my breathing. Heavy, like the burden in my feet. The best thing I could and always do is to keep moving forward even if I have to drag my feet.
". . ."
I'm finally here, standing frozen by the entrance gate. Under the moon, the song greets me.
"E mi et le escontina~."
I can see from afar away a silhouette of a long, spread shadow in front of the statue. The shadow seems familiar, too familiar. So familiar that she regretted questioning its identity.
The wing of the fallen angel.
"O plenitas o colindia~."
The pole light shined my way as the weight became heavier with each step I took. I dragged the invisible ball and chain so I can stand tall against her. Other than my sorrowful face, what was in front of me was the only thing clear.
The color that nullified every color.
"Mi mortis sicle ha juus costro~."
My heart ached. I pressed my hand on the chest and squeezed my fingers. The beat of shattered heart knowing that I couldn't rewind time. Regret and guilt. A jumbled mess of everything. With the heart refusing to stop beating, she felt guilty because she felt that melody was redeeming her mess.
The song from heaven.
"Mawé poco entalius~."
From the previous life, a song by my daughter.
"Taan ma taan."
"La la lu la la loo."
"Plaute tai mi fai o gunema."
Fate has once again decided for us to meet again surrounded by these corpses.
"Hey, Tenten."
The little girl's head―faced toward the statue―reacted to that name.
"Who are you?"
Ouch! It's hurt to hear that. It's as if fate told her to rewind the event. It was nostalgic. This heartbeat of mine was oddly no longer a pain.
I'm helpless. I'm helpless when someone asked about me. There's no use in dwindling in my regrets anyway. This is my pride. This is my mission. I must do what mother must do. To punish their kid's wrongdoings.
Time to make it right.
"I'm your savior and―"
I faced her once more after seven years. To become what I had ignored.
"I'm your villain."
The red moon in my eye watched my daughter with excitement.
The blue moon stared back with a vile.
"Bad adult detected."