by M.G. Marquez
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
MAGGIE
“Maj, can we talk? 11 at mcdo. -Lyn”
It’s 9 in the morning when I received this text message. I don’t feel like meeting her today, after what I’ve done to Yvan weeks ago. I just dumped her best friend, and that’s not the greatest thing one would want to happen to their best friends.
I felt like the Harshest Person in the World.
I arrived at the said place ten minutes before 11. My bodyguards sat five tables away from me because I said I have an important meeting they would not want to hear about. I looked back and gave them a wink.
I saw Lyn crossing the street in such haste. From whom could she be running away from?
“Maj, let’s do this real quick.” In a second, she’s sitting in front of me. In the next second, she pushed a small, plastic card in front of me. “You are being watched, you and Guji. You are in danger. One of you could be dead –”
“Whoa there! Can you please talk slowly? I can’t follow –”
“Maj, he’s one of your friends! Someone’s been a traitor to you and Guji all along! He wants you dead, especially Guji’s family. His real name is Syne. He’s –”
SWISH.
Everything felt like an illusion after that. Time slowed, my vision blurred, the sounds became thick and heavy. I watched how Lyn’s head dramatically dropped with a thud, how her blood slowly ran down her neck, painting the table red.
“Lyn?!” I stood up hysterically. I touched her shoulder, her arms, her pulse. She’s failing, I’m scared. “Lyn, answer me!”
“Ms. Janella!” Benj and Harold protectively wrapped their arms around me, pulling me away from my friend. I forced myself free. “LET ME GO! LET ME GO! LYN!”
“Ms. Janella, please be calm!”
“DON’T ASK ME TO BE CALM! My friend could be dying!” When I could not make myself free struggling, I did it biting.
I bit their arms so hard they let me go. I ran towards Lyn and touched her pale face, trembling. When I saw a dart sticking out of her nape, I gasped. “Not you too, Lyn…”
“…Maj.” My eyes cried their hardest when I heard her voice speaking to me again.
“Lyn, listen to me! Breathe. Breathe with me, okay?”
“…Maj, take care of Yvan for me…” She’s trying to talk to me though she’s choking on her own blood. I could see that her eyes were closing slowly.
“NO LYN. Don’t close your eyes. Breathe with me. One, two, three, breathe. Do it with me, c’mon!” I could taste my own tears but I don’t mind. I want to hear her breathe. I want to see her breathe. “One, two, three breathe! LYN just breathe with me! Why are you not breathing with me?! One… two, three! C’mon!”
I’m getting frustrated minute by minute and I could not take it anymore. “Can you at least call an ambulance?! Anyone, please?! Can’t you see that my friend is dying here?!”
No one responded. Some of them were screaming, some running for their own lives, and others were just plainly staring at us. Why are they like that?
Benj held my arm and pulled me away from Lyn again. He’s trying to keep me calm by squeezing my hand over and over again. “I already called the medics. They’ll be here in a minute. So please be calm,”
“What should I do… what should I do…” he hugged me tight and smoothed my back.
Then my eyes ran dry of tears.
I was on the hospital hallway, sitting, watching everyone come and go.
Lyn’s out of danger for now. The dart which hit her has poison on it, and if not attended immediately, could get her killed. I felt my heart fell to the core, burning.
Why am I here? Why is death following me like a black cat? What am I in my past life? Am I a criminal that everyone wished to be dead?
I stood up and walked along this hallway. I don’t know where I want to go. I just want to go out. Seek peace, real light.
While I was walking, I saw Cantos running past me, toward Lyn’s room I guess. There’s an angry look painted on his face. He didn’t pay me any attention. I’m not that shocked anyway.
When I got out of the hospital and have walked a few steps away from it, a little boy stopped in front of me. He smiled sweetly and handed me a rose.
A black rose.
“Hi there! Someone asked me to give you this. Have a great day!” That second when the child ran away, I flipped the card hanging on its leaf. It read,
Be still. I’m right behind you.
I panicked. I felt my blood bursting in all of my veins, the coldness I’ve always knew wrapped my whole body. Fear’s on its way to conquering my conscious mind, devouring my will. I covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming.
I felt a sharp, thin, cold blade grazing my skin. I bet my neck’s bleeding a bit.
“Janella Ponce. How are you?” His voice sounded like a chamber, vast and deep. He’s the same man I saw in Grandma’s party, the same man I bumped into the road, the same man in my dreams. In an overcoat.
“I couldn’t be better.” I lied.
“Really? What if I kill you right now?”
“Do it as you please.”
I closed my eyes and braced myself for anything he would do. But nothing happened. “What did I do to you? Why do you want to kill me?”
I heard him chuckle in my hair, I felt his warm breath on my skin. I trembled. “This is the game we call ‘The Chain.’ Your lives in exchange for one that was lost, your punishment for a sin made by one of your class. You should be regretting the day you met them now. Deny them. I might spare you if you do,”
“Deny your ass –”
“Choose your words wisely. I can rip your neck right now.”
When the thought of stepping on his foot and kicking his crotch occurred to me, that’s when Klein and Fred came shouting my name from afar. The man behind me hissed and cursed before he let me go.
“I’m warning you Ponce. Don’t walk alone.” I heard his footsteps behind me, running away. Klein ran after him. Fred stopped in front of me and caught me just in time when my knees finally failed me. I placed a hand over my bleeding neck.
“Boss your neck is bleeding! I’ll bring you back to the hospital!”
“No –” I choked and coughed. “No thanks. I can do this. I’ll go home by myself,”
“No way! I can’t let you go like that –”
“Fred,” I looked at him intently and told him mentally I should go alone. “I will go home now.”
He nodded at last and helped me stand up. Lightheaded, I walked by myself.
He’s one of your friends, Lyn told me. If that’s the case, I should be more cautious. Even though it hurts to doubt my own friends, I should be more careful.
This is serious.