Red Spider Lily (To Be Published Under PaperInk Imprints)

Chapter 07

I convinced myself I was hallucinating or just making scenarios out of my mind to write for my story. Ayoko rin naming takutin ang sarili ko. I mustered my courage to check my apartment. Hindi naman ito kalakihan. Three people could stay in. It had a mini kitchen and a dining table for two. A bathroom and a huge bed. However, this was the first time I felt scared inside my own house.

I scanned through every small spaces I could think of that a person could fit but I found no one. Natakot lang pala ako sa wala. Still, I couldn't find any logical reason from where I got these marks on my arm. And fuck it hurts.

Ibinaba ako ang hawak kong golf club saka nagtipa ng mensahe para kay Charles. I just thought he should know even though something tells me not to.

Äre you okay?

He replied after a few minutes. How predictable.

Yeah, sort of.

Hindi na siya muling nagreply. I wonder what's he up to at this hour. He seems busy that he can't reply to me as fast than he usually does. Not that I'm sulking. Masyado lang yata akong nasanay na palagi niya akong binibigyan ng atensyon kahit sa mga panahong hindi ko naman kailangan.

Pinag-abalahan ko na lang ang bago kong story sa Wattnote. Isang popular writing-reading app that writers and readers can indulge into their writing and reading habits. My goal was to write and promote my stories here. Given the wide scope of readers in the platform, my stories could easily be marketed.

Reality was, I can't even hit any of my stories to two digits of a thousand reads.

Marami ngang nagbabasa but I don't think the stories I write had pinch any luck to gain my own target readers. Most of them wants romance as shit as it can be and I can't blame the writers for that. Screw being good. We go for fame and money. That's how you survive.

Napasuntok na lang ako sa ere. I began questioning the quality of my own stories. I wrote it with all my heart. All the time I spent was all for writing yet still no good news. Ano ba ang kulang? Does it lack the spice they've been looking for?

I scrolled down my works. Mostly are completed mystery-thriller novels, they were good pieces for me. Forget being biased, my stories would even pass for shortlists.

Napangiwi ako habang binabasa ang mga romance stories na randomly nagpa-pop-up sa aking feed. All that moaning first sentence of the prologue, the improper use of coma, incorrect spelling, no indentions, and as far as I could tell—gives me the headache.

Should I try writing one? Should I even consider? Naduduwal na ako sa idea pa lang.

I accidentally pressed something when I was doing the drama of vomiting. That random story I read a few days ago that I wrote and dunny how I don't even remember even a speck of it. Given how complicated data is, I considered it to be a bug. Baka kung kaninong story ito at napadpad lang sa akin. Though I can't deny, tumatayo ang balahibo ko tuwing binabasa ito. What kind of a psycho would write like this? An average reader won't last a chapter. They would likely drop the story after this. I clicked the delete button.

I heaved air through my teeth and bit my lower lip. Sayang naman. Come to think of it, the story hits my standard of a good mystery-thriller story. The villain has not mention any motives of his killings which gives the lack of character. He kills to his likeness like a devil on the loose. That won't do.

I may have to alter his character. A villain should have motives based on the people he kills. Some for satisfaction, revenge, or for justice they only knew. Pwera na lang kung isang dakilang baliw itong killer.