30 Doors

26th Door

She was spared the slow, steady droplets of blood that began to spatter the beds, drip, drip, drip, painting the white sheets in shocked flowers of red" -Chris Wooding
***

The blood spatters. The picture of the bloodstains flashes randomly as we started running towards the fire exit. I was at the head of the stairs when I pictured the position of every individual on that floor. Bloodstains range in both amount of blood and type of pattern, from pools of blood around a body to obvious spatter patterns on the walls. There was no suspect, to begin with, but the people around us can help me determine the killer.

I need to pool all the information from those who remained alive after the 27th floor.

From my trigonometric view, the shape of the bloodstain pattern will depend greatly on the force used to propel the blood as well as the surface it lands on. Base sa pagkakahiwa sa lalamunan nina Emerald at Kyziel, I know for sure that the suspect used a long double-sided blade. The spatter was obvious that the attack came from the left side.

The way I analyze it, a gunshot wound, a forward shot, per se, will typically form smaller droplets spread over a wide area. Larger drops and more concentrated drops in the areas directly adjacent to the action can be formed from an impact spatter.

Parehas ang paraan ng pagkakagilit sa leeg ng dalawa which means, there is only one person who did it.

One of you is the killer. Alala kong sabi ng mailer kaninang nasa taas pa kami.

The blood can be the evidence now. Blood demonstrates surface tension, or cohesive forces that act like an outer skin, a rough surface for example, disrupts the surface tension and causes the drops to break apart. Mas mahirap basahin ang blood spatter sa mga carpeted area. Pero sigurado akong galing sa kanan ang pumatay kay Emerald Reyes. As far as I can remember, nasa kanang side nina Claina at Emerald sina Satana at Kid. Nicolla and Athena, Maxine, Bella and Angelyn were on the left side.

Either Satana or Kid did it or someone who's not from the group. Kung sina Kid at Satana man ang salarin, sana'y narinig ko ang paggalaw nila. It was even impossible for them to move that fast dahil wala akong naramdaman at narinig sa mga oras na 'yon kundi mga kalabog.

Maddie and Thrina were beside Kyziel when the crime happened. Maddielyn has blood stain on her shirt while Thrina seemed to have not gained any spatter. Either Thrina might have done it so fast and killed Emerald after or Maddielyn pretends to be innocent so she used the bloodstain to cover herself.

Pero hindi ba't sina Zyril at Kyziel ang magkasama? Bakit biglang sina Maddie at Thrina ang kasama ni Kyziel noong namatay ito?

"Vlad," Zyril's broken voice cut me. Tumabi ito saakin habang nakatutok ako sa laptop. Nasa isang conference room kami ng 26th floor kung saan tanaw namin ang buong ka-Maynilaan.

"What's up?" bati ko sabay tiklop sa laptop. Ayokong makita nito ang pag-iimbestiga ko sa kanila. I pretended normal like the way we used to before the killings happened.

"Sorry!" She started crying. Nanginginig ito. "Kyziel was one of your best agents. Kung hindi ko siya iniwan noong nakarinig ako ng kalabog, siguro buhay pa siya ngayon."

My eyebrows met. I flung my head instantly in her direction. This was my chance to know more about her whereabouts the hour Kyziel and Emerald died. "You followed that sound? Sinubukan mong huliin ang kriminal?"

Tumango-tango ito. She leaned against the glass wall that separates the room from the production floor. She was sighing the whole time like she was so guilty of Kyziel's death. Kahit papaano'y may pinagsamahan sila ng yumaong empleyado. "I did." Tipid nitong sagot.