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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20
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I OVERSLEPT IN the bus.
It is already 1 AM.
I got off the beach.
The night is so cold, the evening skies are full of the shining stars. The sea is waving at me and the tide is low. The moon is white, like an opal . . . and I wonder if Amethyst belongs in the stars now. I just think she is so bright.
That thought in mind, my eyes dropped down to a figure of a girl, standing on the shoreline. Her hair is ash brown, but I'm not sure — it is just too dark.
I stepped.
Then another.
I stepped again.
I'm a little closer now. I tilted my head, my eyes squinted, recognizing a very family figure. The girl is wearing a bag that seemed heavy. She is looking up. Her hair is swaying with the wind.
She looked at me.
Her tears shone on the dark.
She was crying.
"Vin."
I opened my eyes, gasping.
I began to breathe hard while grasping in my chest, and I swallowed. I checked my clock to see it is already 6 AM. I continued breathing hard to calm myself, as the dream I just had disoriented me.
Today's a Saturday. Kahapon, nag-usap kami ni Cinna tungkol kay Amethyst hanggang sa napadpad sa pagsabi ko sa kanya ng totoo. She freaked out and told me that there are three corpses found, which meant that if that isn't Hannah Fuller, who the hell could that be, since Amethyst is alive and well? I am not schizophrenic, I know what I am talking about.
But I am sure that it is Hannah Fuller. She is the only one who disappeared aside from Amethyst . . . which meant that Oliver, that day, was truly telling the truth.
Amethyst herself put the house on fire.
Amethyst murdered the fifteen year old girl.
I realized I woke up in the sofa bed. I just wanted to sleep in her scent . . . am I creepy? Bumangon na ako saka huminga nang malalim. I reached for my phone and saw that Cinna sent me a text message.
I opened it.
Too late. The family cremated the bodies! They never knew that it wasn't her.
What do we do, Vin?
"Dyaryo!"
I closed the phone and wore a shirt to collect the newspaper outside. Kinuha ko ang dyaryo na hinagis ng tagahatid ng dyaryo saka tumingin doon habang pumapasok sa bahay.
Opening the door without Amethyst to be seen feels really, really off. I made my own coffee. I cooked my own bacons. I cooked my own rice. In silence . . . without Amethyst's voice in the background.
