Comeback

Chapter 11

NAILA

THE GENTLE breeze suddenly became harsher as it hit my skin. The loud place earlier just got muted with a heavy and mysterious presence going around. Hindi pa rin ako makapaniwala. The man who shot Luiz and also was about to kill both Ephraim and I are now lying on the ground, lifeless.

His eyes are white with no trace of the iris and the pupil of the eye. Ang itsura rin ng kaniyang balat ay nakakapangilabot. It's pale white as if its body has been dead for days but no, he just died seconds ago. Bakit naging ganito kaagad ang katawan niya? It's like his life has been sucked out of him.

Who did this to him? Bakit naging ganito ang kaniyang itsura? Bakit naging ganito siya? Why did he suddenly die?

Wala kaming ginawa ni Ephraim. We were shocked at what he was about to do that we couldn't even move—I was in terror! How do you expect someone to think accordingly when death is just in front?

I gazed at the dead body again as I felt my body tremble in fear. "E-Ephraim... What just happened?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

I lowered my eyes to Luiz who's sitting on the ground, almost curled up with his still bleeding arm. He also looked shocked.

"Do you know what happened to him?" I asked Luiz.

I expected him to answer me with an explanation, but he also shook his head leaving me disappointed.

"The sudden seizure can be suspected as a symptom of epilepsy but with that amount of movement, I can't be so sure. With the fact that his eyes are white with no pupil and iris, I can't say it's for sure epilepsy. This could be a mystery for us."

I gasped for air. The air around us seems to have become thin. Para akong hindi makahinga dahil sa nangyari.

"What should we do?" I asked the two men.

Ephraim turned his eyes on me. "Nobody should know about this."

My forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Why? Shouldn't the authority know about this so they could investigate what happened and the cause of his death?" Bakit hindi dapat malaman ng iba? Paano namin malalaman ang nangyayari kung hindi namin sasabihin sa mga awtoridad ang nangyari?

"They would be suspicious of us. We could be suspected as the murderers, Naila."

"But why?" Hindi ko pa rin maintindihan. Bakit naman kami paghihinalaan na pumatay sa lalaking ito?

"I might have his fingerprints on his body when I punched and beat him and the guns have my fingerprints so does Luiz's. Kaya kung may paghihinalaan man ng pumatay sa kaniya, maaaring ako at si Luiz 'yon."

Luiz gasped for air. I went to him and worriedly looked at his bleeding wound. "Ephraim is right, Naila. And abducting you could be used as a motive for us to kill him."

"P-Pero..." I sighed. "So we'll just leave them here? What if those guys wake up? They could tell the government about this and still point us as the suspects. Wala tayong takas."

The two became silent after I expressed my worries. Ngunit kaagad din itong nawala nang may kumalabog sa likod ko, parang may nahulog. I eyed it and looked at Ephraim. He stood up and went closer to it.

"What's in there?" I asked.

May kung anong pinulot ito at bumalik sa pwesto namin ni Luiz. "It's a camera."

"A camera? Why is there a camera in there?"

"They must've put it there as a document."

"For what?" I asked.