Red Princess

41. A Cruel Twist

Kaidon

I never really believed in God. I was always a man of reason and logic. How can you believe in something that you can't see, feel, hear? Having faith in something, however intangible it may be, it should at least be something one can experience. But there have been moments in my life when my atheism was put to question and it stood gaping, watching as the events unfolded before me. Those moments truly made me believe that there really was someone out there, who one may refer to as "God", but who honestly is just a trickster, son of a bitch, mocking and enjoying the drama they create in the lives of people.

Four years and three sixty four days.

It's another Christmas Eve today. My birthday. Also the day I hate the most.

I didn't remember when I fell asleep. I was drinking all night. I feared sleeping because the nightmares always haunted me. It was like living thaf dreadful day over and over and over again.

I opened my eyes to the annoying cacophony of what they refer to as Christmas jingles, being sung on the sidewalk of the street I lived on. I was lying on the right side of the mattress, because I still couldn't get used to the absence, and I would often reach out my hand in my sleep, hoping to feel her soft figure on my left.

I sat up with my back to the headboard and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. There was a text from Romano and another from an unknown number. I opened up Romano's first.

"Sergio, the boss ordered to move in on Vitelli tonight."

Finally. After all that effort, I can finally eliminate this guy.

I opened the second text from the unknown number.

"Happy Birthday!" Followed by an emoticon of a white dove. This was Rihanna for sure. I asked her not to contact me unless necessary but she never learns.

I dialled back the number. She picked up on the fifth ring and I was welcomed by the musical voice of my little sister.

"K-Sergio, you know what time is it right now?" She mumbled with a sleep clad voice. I chuckled and checked my watch.

"Uhh 7 AM in the morning?"

"Well it's not my fault you live half way across the world. It's past midnight here, I got a date tomorrow, let me sleep."

I narrowed my eyes at that as my brotherly instincts kicked in. "And who dares to take my little sister out on a date?"

"It's a secret." She chimed.

Of course it's that little brat, Alexander Reed. There was nothing really wrong with him though, I must admit. It's just what a brother feels like when he finally witnesses his baby sister become a woman. Alex grew up to be a smart young man, charming, talented. The day I left for this mission, he graduated from the academy, one of the first agents to ever do that within three years.

If I didn't feel so guilty towards him, may be I could have seen more eye to eye with him. But I couldn't bring myself to really console him since that day. Thankfully Rihanna took up that job and lifted some burden off my chest.

It was my fault yet again. Yet again, I lost my most precious person to my helplessness and arrogance.

At first I was in denial. Because the body was half burned, I didn't believe that she was dead for over six months. I looked relentlessly, for any hint, any trace of her. But the regular DNA tests, the independent ones, even the ones I got conducted right under my scrutiny were all positive. Not even a single one said otherwise. It killed off any flicker of hope that was burning inside of me.