Lara asked me, “What happened to you?” curiously. “Why did you look so angry at them?”
I didn’t tell her anything. As I took my clothes out of my suitcase, I pretended not to hear anything. We were in our room, and it was a bad thing for me that Lawrence’s room was right next door. We had just heard that something was changing in our dorm.
Why did this have to happen? Why on earth did the dean think of that? Doesn’t he know that it’s wrong to put boys’ and girls’ rooms next to each other?
I had moved on from Lawrence, but I don’t know why. The guilt I felt didn’t go away. I knew that a long time had passed.
Oh, my! It had already been five years! I hoped he had already forgiven me by now.
Saying “Jenny!” Again, Lara called me.
When I turned to look at her, she was already standing next to me with a confused look on her face. I stopped doing what I was doing and turned to look at her.
“What’s that?”
“That’s a shame!”
“Why is it embarrassing? I’m not interested in talking to them. Go to their room if you want to talk to him.”
“And I? No!” I answered back and began taking my clothes out of the suitcase that was on my bed.
Our room was just the right size, and there was a bathroom right next to the door for each of us. Each of us had a small bed and a cupboard. We had little stuff between us, so it was easy to get things in order.
“Jenny, hurry!” Lara sat down in a chair next to where we were working. “I thought you were done with him. Why are you acting this way now?”
I sighing. I told them to forget about it and clean up over there.
If Lara had been someone else, she might have been annoyed by the way I was acting. But Lara was not another person. We were used to how each other was. She’s so friendly that I don’t even know how we became friends. I, on the other hand, would rather be alone and not talk to anyone.
We had to talk to each other because Lawrence and I were in the same class.
I found out that meeting at school was just a happy accident. When I moved away, he also moved to another college to finish his degree. And he moved back here to the countryside. He didn’t think I would be here too. After our talk, we got along again. He felt bad, but he realized we were both too young to understand at the time. He thought I should leave him because he had a change of heart.
Now, our group of four friends stays together. We often do things or work on projects together. We also eat together every time. Our old group is back, I can say that.
“What’s the matter, Carlo? Just fix it!” Lara told Carlo off.
We were working on our report in our room at the time. Lara and Carlo were writing for the newspaper.
Lawrence was using the internet to do research. I was on my bed thinking of questions about the project we were working on.
“Is everything okay? Let’s put on a happy face so Ma’am will like us,” Carlo said with a smile as he kept writing on the Manila paper.
“Carlo, stop worrying Lara about that. If she doesn’t answer, keep talking,” Lawrence made a joke.
“Eww!”
“What?!” they both asked at the same time.
Carlo’s nose got bigger, which made me laugh even harder. He went up to Lawrence and hit his knee in fun.
Just laughing, Lawrence pushed Carlo away.
“Enough with that. Let’s get this over with.” I told them, “I’m getting tired.”
“Carlo is to blame for it all!”
“Show some kindness!”
I stopped when I heard a second voice add to Lara’s. When I looked at our closed door, I felt nervous all of a sudden. I don’t know why, but it made me feel uncomfortable.
“Fix it right away!”
“Didn’t you hear that?” I asked. I put down the pen and yellow pad I was holding and moved closer to the window.
“Why are you sad, Jenny?” Lawrence was surprised and asked. I made a sign for them to shut up and listen.
“You’re a beast!”
When my heart beat faster, it felt like someone punched me in the chest. It was hard to hear. Very weak. But I could hear it clearly, and I could tell that the person was terrified. I got up and walked toward the window without stopping to think.
“Why, Jenny?”
I made a sign to tell them to be quiet. I could hear people moaning like they were in pain. I looked out the window and saw that it was dark outside. The window was made of glass that moved up and down, and it was covered by thick curtains so that no one could see inside. Since half of the door was open, I could probably hear something from outside.
When I reached for the curtain and peeked through it, it made me feel even worse.
From where I was, I could see several people not too far away. It was so dark that I couldn’t tell how many there were. The grass grew taller because there was no one there to cut it. I wouldn’t be able to see them if we weren’t on the fourth floor.
I looked at where the lights were shining. A man was on his knees, and his hands were tied behind his back. A blindfold was on him. A few seconds later, I almost jumped when I saw another light shine on the man, and he fell.
I let go of the curtain and walked away from the window.
“Who’s Jenny?”
When I felt someone grab my shoulder, I turned away right away. I looked, and it was Lawrence, who looked anxious.
“Are you alright? What did you say?”
“Huh?”
“Jenny, you have a pale face. What did you say?” Lara spoke up. She was about to walk up to the window, but I quickly got in the way.
“Not a thing! It’s no big deal.”
I turned my back on them and took a deep breath. “Someone died! “ They put the man to death! Even though I could feel my hands shaking, I tried to calm down. Even though they hadn’t opened the curtain yet, I shut and locked the window. When I turned around to face them again, all three of them were already worriedly looking at me.
“I don’t know. Let’s just do it tomorrow. I feel sick all of a sudden.”
I tried to smile at them, but it was hard.
“What makes you hurt? Need some medicine? Wait. I’ll get some.” Lawrence turned around and was about to walk out of the room, but I grabbed his clothes from behind and stopped him.
“No, it’s all right! Just let’s go. I want to go to bed. Let’s sleep!”
At first, they didn’t believe me. They thought I was sick and needed medicine. But they listened in the end, especially when we heard people shouting outside our room. Still, I was scared because I thought they could have seen me from below.
But it turned out to just be a fight between a couple.
After we cleaned up, we all went to sleep. But I didn’t fall asleep right away.
What I saw blew my mind! Behind our dorm, they killed someone. Who would do something like that? Why is our building there? The most important question is why they killed them!
I don’t remember when I went to sleep, but the fear I felt from what I saw stayed with me all night.
The next day, I woke up and looked out the window as soon as I could. I saw no more people, but I noticed that someone had stepped on some tall grass. I almost didn’t notice it, but I couldn’t stop wanting to go there until we got there. I felt like I was being called to see what was going on.
So, here I am, leaving our third topic of the day to come here in the back. Since most of us have classes, I’m sure no one will be in the rooms. As I push through the grass while walking, I’m very nervous.
I hope nobody notices me.
After a while, I find the grass that has been flattened. When I see the wet red liquid, my worry comes back. Since the blood is still fresh, I know I didn’t see things wrong. As I look at it, I bite my lip.
Whoever you are, they killed you for no reason. And why does it look like no one else saw what happened?
I look at where we live. Not too much time has passed. If I saw and heard it from the fourth floor, then maybe people on the first floor did too. They are nearer. But why didn’t I hear you talking before? Because of all the noise, the students can’t help but ask questions.
I sigh and turn around to look at the blood. What do I have to do here? There was a death. It means that there is risk. Why do I want to do this?
I’m about to leave when I turn around. But I stop when I think about something sticking out from the blood. I keep looking at it and staring. I look around. When I find a stick, I pick it up and stick the end into the blood. When I feel something hard, I crease my brow. I pull that thing away from the blood with the stick I’m holding. I pull out my handkerchief, cover my hand with it, and then go get the thing.
“A purse?” As I wipe it, I mutter.
It’s a coin purse, though. It’s so small and red that you might not notice it right away. I look again at the blood. Then I look at the wallet.
