wattys 2020 winner • mystery/thriller
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Everyone thinks she is dead. Even I thought so, too.
While the town spoke of her dead name, Amethyst Cambray is actually alive, and she is asking for my help.
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17
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TANYA CLOSED THE shop.
Niño and our other workmates were devastated, but not Cinna and I. After what we've discovered, we truly needed space from her.
Ngayon kapag nadaraanan ko ang shop at nakita kong nakasara 'yon, I think of all the memories I had in there, and feel nostalgic for a moment. A part of me breaks for Tanya because she was still a friend of mine, but a bigger part of me breaks for Amethyst, because she had the chance to get the help she needed, and yet . . .
After knowing that, I just couldn't look at her the same way anymore. My heart breaks extremely.
I'm sad, because she experienced all that nightmare and I never even knew. Gusto ko lang naman na . . . ewan ko. I want her to open up to me, tell me something. But she won't. I understand that, but it's killing me. It's fucking killing me.
Another week has passed and Amethyst still hasn't talked to me.
One dinner, I just couldn't take it anymore. I know I should be patient, but I also know there are some things I don't know yet, and for as long as Amethyst is inside my house, she should be cooperating with me, and I can't do that if she refuses to talk.
"May ginawa ba 'ko?" I asked. "D-Did I do something that hurt you?"
Amethyst paused. Dahan-dahan siyang huminga nang malalim saka tiningnan ako sa mga mata ko. Her eyes returned to being dead.
"Vin," she said.
Halos mahugutan ako ng hininga.
Hindi ko alam kung si Amethyst pa ba ang nakatingin sa 'kin.
"Mabigat 'tong hinihingi ko sa 'yo," sabi niya. "But after all this is done, everything will return to normal again. Everyone will then turn their eyes to you. And I'd be the reason why. You hate spotlights, I know as much."
I don't know where she's getting at. I just frowned.
"I realized that I shouldn't be really so close to you," she said. Nanlaki ang mga mata ko ro'n saka napakunot ng noo. "Once you're done helping me, I would be leaving the town because my relatives will take me in." She stopped eating. I looked down, my heart starting to feel heavy. "And I don't want to be so attached."
What the hell? I was about to say something — I don't know what — probably anything, probably something that will make her change her mind — but I couldn't say anything. She is suddenly standing up, bringing her own plates with her.
I can't explain the pain in my chest. It's like I have been punched on my stomach. It hurts . . . more than anything else.
What's wrong with her?
—
PIERRE WAS LOOKING distracted and worn out when I came to school this Wednesday morning, not the usual energetic one. He's got his earphones in and looking at somewhere. Ni hindi niya nga napansing tinabihan ko na siya. He was like that and I can't shake him off his oblivion until I just smacked his head while we were walking on the hallways.
