Saving Pandora

The next day, I received the weekly newspaper published by the Lighthouse. It was not as I expected it to be. Not a single page was dedicated to Bria. Not even the feature article that was supposedly written by her damned sister! Nobody even informed me nor Luna that they were going to publish it today. The death of Bria is being taken lightly in this school, when it shouldn't be! A life was took in an instant! And I'm still frustrated by the fact that we still don't know the person who killed Bria.

I hurriedly went to the headquarters and slammed the newspaper at the table as soon as I got there.

"What the hell is this?" they all looked at me like I'm some crazy witch.

"Eurydice, you need to relax." Terrence said.

He stood up and was about to touch my hand but I slapped it away.

"What do you mean relax? A student is dead! More importantly, she's a part of our team! She's our photojournalist! And what do I see here?! Everything is about the festival! Not a single page dedicated to Bria."

"We must move on, Eury. If it was hard for you, how much more is it to Andrea?" Klein commented.

"Don't get me started with that girl! She's her twin sister, yet she couldn't even write a single feature article for her!" I felt dizzy and cold. All of these emotions surging through me, is making me dizzy.

"A feature article's purpose is to entertain the readers, Eury! Do you think readers would be entertained if it was about their schoolmate who committed suicide?" Terrence defended in place of Andrea, since Andrea started to fake tears. Now, everybody's on her side, except Luna of course.

"And you," I raised my index finger at Klein. "News articles are supposed to give the truth. Heck, journalism should be about the truth and nothing but the truth. And what does it say in here? It's romanticizing the tragic event called 'School's 30th Anniversary'." Klein looked so pissed off at my comment, his jaw clenched and fists were pumped.

"Eury. Eury you should stop this." Terrence tried to hold me by my shoulders, but I shrugged it off.

"No, Terrence!"

"I will report you to the Principal if you continue this!" he threatened. But I am not in the state to be threatened. This is life and justice that we're talking about.

"Fine! Go on and do that. You couldn't even write a good editorial article that could have pointed out the flaws of this school and its rapist of a Principal!"

"That's it! I'm done with you Eurydice! Your position as the reporter will be given to someone else, deserving of that spot!"

"You don't need to. Because I quit!" I tore the armband and dropped it on the floor.

"I quit too!" Luna, with tears rolling down her cheeks, cried. She removed her armband and left it on top of her desk.

I got my things and took Bria's left bag out. Andrea tried to stop me. But even she knew that she wasn't deserving of this bag, since she isn't even deserving of being called 'sister'.

Luna and I decided to run up towards the rooftop and lock ourselves there. Hermione frantically knocked, and so we opened it. And to our utmost surprise, Leon was present too.

"What the heck happened, to you two?" Hermione asked, voice laced with concern.

"Eurydice not giving a damn happened." I deadpanned.

"We just... got so full of what happened. The newspaper, the Lighthouse. It was all not worth breathing for."

"Hey..." I poked Leon. "Are you just gonna stay silent in there?"

"Do you all know about Pandora? The Greek woman? In the myths?" He asked, without glancing at us. He just stared at the vivid blue sky. Just like it was on that moment.

Nobody answered him, but he still spoke as if we did.

"She was known as the 'all-gifted'. She was blessed with the beauty, the skills, and the intelligence, all of the gods gifted her with something. But she was also gifted the shameful mind, deceitful nature, the ability of speech to construct lies and crafty words. Doesn't it remind you of anyone?" his question was the most intriguing of them all. Who does it remind me...

"Bria. Bria is exactly like Pandora. She's everything good, but her deceitful nature. Nobody really knows her. What she says or does to someone, is the opposite to another. Hermione and I are a good example of that contradiction. Nobody really knows which is a lie or not. But all we know is that Pandora has a box. She had a box that contained something precious. And I believe that Bria also has it. It's what she always said to me. 'I'm Pandora, and I have the Pandora's box.'"

"What are you trying to say?"

"What is the thing that Bria always had with her?"

His question made us all fall into a deep trance and ponder for the answer. What thing... does Bria... always had with her... I tried remembering all of the memories of her with me. And all of those had one thing in common. The camera in her hands.

"Her camera!" I declared. "It's her camera, isn't it?!"

"Correct," Leon agreed.

"But where is her camera? It would be the answer to all of these!" Luna squealed.

Terrence shook his head and sighed. "The location, I do not know."

"But I do..." Hermione said. She slowly stood up and went to the other side of the rooftop, where the worn-out chairs are messily stacked. She leaned forward and reached out for something inside the gaps of the chairs. And when she took her hand out, a gold camera is seen in her hand.

"This is the camera..."

Everybody was shocked to see Hermione hold the camera, that was supposedly only Bria knows where it is located.

"How did you know about it?" Luna asked.

"I hid it... after her death..." Hermione answered, almost a whisper.

My knees felt weak as I tried to stand up. My whole body felt weak. "Y-You were there... You're the one who killed Bria?" my ability to be angry or to shout seemed to have been taken away. But all these times... "You were just playing with us? All these times?!" the anger that welled up inside of me made me feel alive.

It enabled me to shout. To be angry, at Hermione. "I wasn't, okay?!"

"Then what do you call the past days? A plan to clean your name? Wash your hands of a murder? You killed her Hermione! You did!"

She was crying heavily. "I did not kill her! And I would never! My only mistake was... I just watched her. As she released her grip... I did nothing."

Memories of the time my sister and I were kidnapped flooded back like a tsunami. Every single moment, words, tears. They all came back ruthlessly.

"Everything... everything you need and want to know is in that camera." Hermione stated.

Luna reached for the camera and motioned for us to sit down next to her and stay silent, as she played the videos and the photos that were captured by Bria herself. Here it is. Pandora's box.

The answer to everything that's left unanswered. The answer to why we've been saving Pandora... when it was impossible to do so.

Images and videos of others is what can be seen in her camera. Not a single picture of her is present. Only pictures and videos of random people, smiling, laughing, and having fun. If you based her personality from here, you'd think she's an optimistic person. But the truth is, she's the irony of optimism. She thinks of everything in a positive light, but it only brings her more harm than good.

As we strolled through her camera... we found ourselves smiling. Smiling at the unexpected emotion that came out from us. Because these images and videos... they are the proof, that we had choices. Bria chose to capture happiness through these moments, than to create her own happy moment.

"Bria..." I stared at the bright morning sky, the clouds, and the birds that flittered by. "She wasn't asking to be saved... she wanted to be the one who saves."