The Heartless (Original Version)

Epilogue

She was thirteen when I first saw her.

"Ano 'to?" tanong ko kay Ski, tinutukoy ang malaking litrato ng isang bagay.

"That's Alvarez. Alvarez, Winter Snow. Thirteen years old. Nothing special. Public high school. First year. Father's a businessman," tamad niyang pakilala. May inilapag siyang isa pang larawan sa mesa ko. "Or so we thought."

Tinitigan ko ang kuha ng "Alvarez" sa imahe. It was a still-shot from CCTV footage. Doon ay makikitang nakikipagbakbakan ang hangal sa mahigit sampung katao.

"Remember the 'Heartless' that made its rounds in the underworld a few months back? That's her," said Ski in a neutral voice. "Let's recruit her."

I was amused. Not at knowing who and what the junk was. But at how foolish it could be at its young age. Heartless? Lame.

I threw away the pictures. "Forget that dumb." It was as good as dead, anyway, coming just like that in the open.

It's too naïve. Doing shitty exhibitions in this world like it wasn't the newcomer it was.

Ski was slightly taken aback by my nonchalance. But he shrugged it off nevertheless. He took back the wastes he just showed me.

"How are our recruits?" I asked.

"Nothing new. More deaths than survivals. There's this one bastard without a name, he's young but he's good with cars."

That caught my attention. I heard we had a problem with transportation. My eyes narrowed. That fucking department. Troublemakers.

And so I personally came to check the kid. He passed my "challenge" but not with flying colors. The way he cringed upon taking the life of the little girl was vivid in my eyes. He couldn't completely take the kill. He was no one.

I called Ice beside me with a motion of my hand. He obliged so I whispered what I had in mind, and then I shifted my attention back to the papers that Ski wanted me to see.

"Hey, bro! Ice," pakilala ni Ice do'n sa bagong tanggap. "Code name: Um... Hunter. Yeah, right. I am the Hunter of... of... Phantoms!"

Napailing ako habang nakatuon pa rin ang atensyon sa papeles. It was the price list of new weapons in the military. I was reviewing what Ski chose to order. This would be the very first task of the kid: to accept these shits and safely deliver them to me.

"This one here is—You already know him, dude. I'll shoot your eyeball if you don't. He is code named... um... Darke." Humalakhak si Ice sa pagbanggit sa "code name" ko raw. If it weren't for his big mouth, I wouldn't have to hear his bullshits.

That's when the legend of the Phantom began. From the fucker's big mouth and airhead.

I was just fifteen at the time. But that's also when my life had started, finally. My father had flown back to Sicily to take care of "important things" I had no idea of—nor did I care to know.

All I cared about that time was getting myself familiarized with our "business". Because at the age of fifteen, I had decided it's time to kill my own father and take over the mafia.

Three years after, everything was the way I had always wanted it to be. Ski stayed loyal as my consigliere. Ice was receiving orders directly from me. Under him were three caporegimes: Ash, Autumn and the twins—November and Rebmevon.

At first I had doubts for the twins. I expected them to cause me some problems. But it seemed like they're too twins that they thought exactly alike; disagreement was almost impossible. They managed my soldiers well.