(POV: UNKNOWN #6)

 

                We arrive at my place. We chat for a bit, talking about casual things. She then brings up Nikki’s case. We share some stories and stuff that we know as she was discussing it. She also asked me some questions about high school and all that. My relationship with Nikki, and stuff like that. I feel like she was asking questions that were too personal, but I answered them anyway. She then explains some more stuff and then wraps it up.

 

“…And that’s what happened. I know it’s hard to digest, but I’m 80% sure about my little theory.”

 

                She told me everything she knew and her opinion about Nikki’s dilemma. I have to say, it’s quite a shocking tale. Who could’ve thought that the culprits would also be some of Nikki’s good friends… In the first place, can I really trust this information? Well, for now, I don’t really have a choice but to believe in her.

 

“So what about the remaining 20%?” I ask.

“Well, I could still be wrong. I’m not perfect, so yeah. Anyway, did anything big happen while I was in Japan?” She replies.

“You missed quire a lot, actually.”

“Like what?”

“Well, I’ve heard from the others that a lot of guys from your group had recently died.”

“Like who?”

“Nathan, he jumped off a building to end his misery..”

“Cut to the chase. Tell me about all the casualties..”

 

I clear my throat after she says that. How could she be so calm and insensitive at the same time? It makes my blood boil. I calm down a bit and I start to talk.

 

“Pat was found hanging behind her apartment door, though she died because of a gunshot. Miguel was also shot to death with a 9mm pistol, and finally this guy named Matthew Weimer, one of Zoe’s friends, was poisoned.” I take a deep breath after saying that.

 

“…” She begins to contemplate on what had happened. After a while, she finally speaks up again.

 

“I see.. Well, for my part, Takamina-san died in Japan after a giant chandelier fell on her since it was shot down by what looked like bullets from a 9mm pistol.”

“How is that related?”

“Takamina is Pat Obordo.. I didn’t think that they’d involve her as well. As I said earlier, this whole thing revolves around Nikki. It makes no sense killing her since she’s so far away, in fact she doesn’t even give-“ She suddenly stops.

“What?” I ask.

“Maybe they asked for Pato’s assistance..”

“I see where you’re going. They must’ve killed her for not cooperating. But, do you think the 9mm pistol has anything to do with this at all?”

“Of course not, dumbass. They just like using that same gun, that’s all. But I’m pretty sure they’d use an AK-47 if they didn’t have to be so sneaky. And that information is totally useless right now since we already know who all of the culprits are.”

“Right, sorry.. But, how will you be able to prove this in court? You have traces of evidence, but it still isn’t enough I assume.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s the only reason why I haven’t said it to anyone yet. I still need sufficient evidence to prove my theory right... But we don’t have much time to ponder. They’ve killed a lot more than what I had expected within such a short period of time.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“Find evidence, obviously. The best option to look would be in Matthew’s place, I guess.”

“Why his?”

“He’s involved in this; he wouldn’t be killed if he weren’t. I have a feeling that he was trying to stop them, but failed to.”

“About what you said earlier, don’t you think there are more than just four people involved? The murders were too simultaneous.”

“Yeah.. They must’ve hired some extra muscle, some people out of the group since I know that most of us would object to killing Nikki.”

“Who do you think they could’ve hired? It can’t be just anyone, or else they’d be arrested.”
“I think I know who they’d hire..”

“And who would that be?”

“The people I generally don’t get along with, they probably have a criminal record as well. And with that, I’ll call ma’am.”

“Ma’am?”

“One of my profs. She’d probably know where some of them went off to after college.”

“Wait, you already have some specific people in mind?”

“Yep. I’ll bet those little shits are really mad at me and my cousin. After all, we were the reason why they were jailed.”

“Wouldn’t they still be in jail then?”

“It was a pretty minor offence; they only stayed in jail for around a month or so.”

“What did you guys do?”

“They beat my cousin up and force him to join a fraternity.. So in return, I kicked their asses. Of course, doing that alone would be boring, so I did get a little help from his ex. She did a splendid job of executing them.”

“Remind me again not to mess with you.”

“Sure senpai.”

“What’s with the senpai?”

“I don’t know either. I’m bored I guess? Anyway, it’s too dangerous to do actual field work and explore so we’ll search for evidence on my amazing laptop.”

“I doubt we’d get anywhere..”

“That’s true, but if there’s a chance, why not take it?” She says that as she takes out her laptop from her suitcase. She then sets it on a table and turns it on.

 

                I decide to get seats and drinks for both of us. When I get back from the kitchen, I place two glasses of sparkling water on the table near her laptop. I also offer her a seat and I then sit right beside her to see what she was doing. She types at an extraordinary speed, what she was doing left me dumbfounded. Random patterns of 1 and 0 flash on screen, followed by random codes and walls of text that I couldn’t even comprehend. After a short while, something suddenly pops up on the screen.

 

“Got it.” She suddenly says.

“Uh..?” I couldn’t really mutter anything else. I didn’t know what was going on.

“Alright, use your phone’s internet to search about the deaths of the five.”

“You mean, just use google? Isn’t that a-“ She cuts me off.

“I turned on multiple proxies; no one would be able to tell our location even if you do search. And their deaths weren’t ordinary, so I’m expecting at least pictures or a news article about it. Send me whatever you find.”

“Alright.. What’ll you do?”

“Leave me to my work and I’ll tell you what I find.”

“Alright.”

 

We work vigorously for hours. I didn’t know what she was doing, but my work was pretty challenging. I was grabbing all the links I could find that were at least related to their deaths and everything that was happening. I stretch and let out a sigh. This is getting tiring.

 

“Do you want something to eat?” I ask.

“Ice cream or chocolate would be great if you have some.” She replies.

“Alright.” I get up and go to the kitchen.

 

                As I was getting ice cream, my phone rings. I check my phone’s screen. An unknown number is calling me..

 

“Hey nigga, is that your phone? Whatever you do, don’t answer it.” She shouts from the other room. I follow her since I do think that’s the best solution. I ignore it and continue to get some food.

 

My phone rings once again, and I do the same thing; I ignore it.

 

…

After a while, my phone goes off again. This is getting really annoying, I must say. I check my phone’s screen. This time, Zoe was calling.. Should I answer it? As I was deciding whether to answer the call or not, she walks in the room.

 

“Dammit Albert, shut your phone up.” She says in an annoyed tone.

“It’s Zoe on the phone.. Should I answer it?” I ask.

“Jesus’ daughter says no.” She replies. I let out a little chuckle. I didn’t think she’d joke about that.

“Anyway, you’re taking too long. Look, the ice cream’s already melting.” She says as she takes the bowl of ice cream from the counter.

“What if she was calling about something important?”

“Like what? ‘If you don’t get here in 5 minutes, I’ll kill Nikki.’ Pshhh, don’t be ridiculous.” She replies carelessly, it ticked me off.

“What if she was going to say that!?” I shout.
“Well, it’s a dumb idea to call with your own number. We’d know her location immediately. Besides, she can’t just kill her right then and there. They may not be in the airport anymore, but I know that the whole group is together doing something fun or some shit. Zoe wouldn’t kill her not unless she found a way to isolate her. In the first place, I don’t think Zoe would kill her.”

“And why not?”
“Because someone else has taken that position.”

“And who would that be?”

“Weren’t you listening to my story at all?”

“Sorry.. I sort of spaced out. You were talking for a whole hour.”
“The girl who killed Pato has already reserved the right to do so.”

“Why does it have to be her?”
“Because she’s Nikki’s best friend and enemy.”

“Wha-“

“Stop asking and think. What happened between you and Nikki during high school. Which bastard decided to ‘try out’ both of them? You told me this story yourself.”

“…” I couldn’t say anything more. She’s right.

“Anyway, I have enough information now. I can tell you the whole story, but I don’t exactly know the reasons to what drove them to do all of this shit.”

“…Alright.”

“Get a bag of chips and sit down.” I follow her and begin to attentively listen to what she had to say.

“So it begins like this: Nikki goes out on a wonderful night with Marc, she thinks that he’s going to propose to her at the Treasure Chest. But, she’s fucking wrong. Her whole night turns into a mess and Marc and his little ‘angels’ try to kill Nikki. But they fucking failed and so they had to think of another plan. Since Marc was caught holding a gun, he was thrown in prison, giving his angels a harder time. They couldn’t talk to him every now and then since the place he was jailed in was really far away and people would get suspicious. So, the unknown number one decides to first visit Marc to-“

“Unknown number one… seriously?”

“Okay fine, let’s just say I visited him.”
“You’re a-“

“No idiot, I’m just concealing everyone’s names, except for Marc’s since he’s already revealed.”

“Why would you do that? It’s just the two of us here.”

“Eh, let me have my fun.”

“Fine.”

“Anyway, I visit Marc so I would know what the hell is going on and shit. He didn’t want to talk about it, he was just putting on a façade, but judging from how he acted, it was obvious that he had to have some other people to help him pursue his little plan. He was still an overconfident bitch, which got me thinking, who would help him? Meanwhile, unknown number 2 pretty much became the amazing sleeping beauty. No one knows how the fuck she survived that jump, but she did. Anyway, let’s fast forward to the first death that involved Marc’s angels… Maxine Perez. She did nothing wrong, in fact, she wasn’t supposed to be a target… I was.”

“So, number 2 is Nikki… What happened to Max and why were they targeting you when it was Nikki they wanted dead?”

“It was because I was beginning to know too much, information I wasn’t supposed to know surfaced. So, The unknown number 3 somehow manages to get in my house and tweak my beloved computer chair. She knows that I work and live on that chair; I use it more often than my own bed, so that should’ve killed me as soon as my fat ass sits on it. Unfortunately enough, Max decides to sit on it, causing her death. Though it wasn’t entirely part of the plan, our unknown number 3 was happy. She could finally be with him, her true love, Nathan.”

“That’s pretty tragic… What happens next?”
“So if you haven’t processed it yet, number 3 is Zoe. Anyway, Marc’s angels realized their mistake. But it was too late, they had murdered someone out of the equation. And if someone else were to discover this, they’re screwed. Left with no choice, they decide to kill anyone who could be involved and who could know about what was going on behind the scenes. And that leads to the deaths of Pat, who knew absolutely nothing, I’m pretty sure they killed her for the hell of it. Poor girl. Miguel and Takamina. Right now, I’m sure they’re still plotting on how to kill me, Arissa, Blake and Mij. You could be a target as well.”

“How about Matthew?”

“Yeah… I don’t see how he fits in at all. Maybe his death was by someone else, but Bianca was with him the time he was dying.”

 

(POV: THE UNKNOWN #3)

 

                Tch, he isn’t answering my calls. Well, I expected this to happen already. It’s all her fault for failing to kill that stupid bitch in Japan! Ugh, I don’t know why I decide to work and interact around idiots. In fact, I’m surrounded by them! Well, not anymore. For now, I’m currently alone in my office. This day was quite eventful, I must say. Too bad nothing too ‘interesting’ really escalated from that ‘reunion’ of ours. Anyway, I can’t even think of anything anymore. I’ve ran out of ideas. We’re on a losing streak. But, there is one option that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Pulling it off would be the dumbest decision I’ve ever done in my life…

 

                But you know what? Fuck my life! It’s already screwed up anyway. But I won’t allow my life alone to be this fucked, they’re gonna die with me whether they like it or not! I suddenly start to laugh like the evil villain I am. I then slap myself in the face so I could realize how stupid that was. I take a seat and continue doing my work. I tire myself from all my random thoughts and incoherent ramblings.. I know I’m really going insane this time, but who cares? Life has no more meaning and relevance anymore.. Oh fuck, I still have work to do. I continue to do my work. I read various papers, sign some of them and then just trash the others. The work of a boss is no joke.

 

                As I was looking through random business papers and such, an envelope falls out of the pile. I pick it up and read the content…

 

“Oh, it’s just trash.” I tell myself.

 

                But at the same time, I couldn’t let go of it. It was a letter from Matthew. The first time I received it, I thought it would be a love letter or a friendly letter of sorts. But, it wasn’t. It was more of a death threat. He knew my plans because he was the only one I really could talk to. I trusted him with my whole heart. I know he tried his best to stop me since it wasn’t right. That’s how he was. But, I already knew that it was too late to back out. I know he would get me arrested if I just let him be, I had to do something about it… Killing him was absolutely necessary.

 

                But killing him with my own gun, with my own hands, is impossible. I deeply cared for him, I couldn’t just do that.. It’s not that easy to just kill anyone and everyone either, so I decided to pass the burden on to my dear sister. She must feel guilty, even up until now. She can’t take this anymore either, I feel bad for the both of us. Well, even more for her since I forced her into this bullshit… Anyway, I mustn’t waste my time anymore. I’ve got things to do.

 

I call the blonde-headed bastard who decided to call me and the others his ‘angels.’

 

“What?”

“You know, we’re failing..”

“No we aren’t. We’re just getting to the fun part, baby.”

“Don’t call me that, manwhore.”
“Alright, alright. Maybe a week or a few days from now, we’ll make a move. Can you order some more guns for us, honey? We’re running out.”

“Don’t call me by that either, shithead. And why do I have to order more? I got us sufficient firearms.”

“Well my cute little marshmallow wants some more, so just go with it.”

 

He ends the call.

 

What a piece of shit. After this is done, I’m going to shoot a hole through is head.