Project LOKI ③

Chapter 47: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Prologue)

A/N: And I'm back! Sorry if it took a while. I had to finish working on the "Chronicles of the QED Club" before continuing the wave of updates.

For those who aren't aware, the "Chronicles" or "COQC" is a book that I'm gonna self-publish soon! If you're interested in having a copy, please wait for the official announcement and order details this November! You can also read the chapters here on Wattpad.

Enough with the shameless plug! Let's get back to the game!

HEL

POOR DAD. I wish I could be there to console him.

I was scrolling through my newsfeed when I saw this amateur video from a random netizen. A female high school student got run over by a reckless driver. At first, I thought this was just a usual clip. The ones you commonly see on the internet. But when I paused the video and zoomed it on the people around the girl's unconscious body, I saw a familiar face.

It was my dad. And his loyal sidechick.

In the age of social media, hindi na kailangang dumepende sa media sites para makasagap ng balita. Anyone can be a journalist—a citizen journalist to be specific—as long as they have a smartphone, a social media profle, and an internet connection.

Thanks to the video uploader, I got an idea of what might be going on in my dad's life right now. He knelt down before the body. He sat frozen for minutes. He looked genuinely concerned in the video, as if he cared for the girl lying in front of him.

That didn't look like him. I heard from multiple sources that he's cold and harsh sometimes. He doesn't feel emotions the way normal humans do. So this crack in the personality that I've known him for? It's kinda strange to me.

But he's a human after all. Like me. Like everyone else. Humans can change over time. Good turn evil. Evil turn good.

"I knew her."

I looked to my left. Officer Gareth Estrada was firmly clutching on the steering wheel. I was seated beside him. High school students like me aren't supposed to be chilling in a police car unless I'm a victim or a suspect. But the officer made an exemption for me. After all, we had a case to solve.

"Margarette Fernandez..." Sandaling nagawi ang kanyang tingin sa akin. "Hindi kami naging close noong ako pa ang chief ng campus police, pero ilang beses na nagkrus ang landas namin. She was the head of the student executive committee, I think? Pero ang pinakatumatak sa akin ay ang aming encounter early this year."

"What was it?" I curiously asked.

"She went to my office and begged me to do everything to catch the mysterious M," the officer answered, his eyes blinking as if he was reminiscing the good old days. "Naikuwento ko na sa 'yo ang tungkol kay M, 'di ba? O hindi pa?"

"You told me some things about that person," I recalled. He was only giving me snippets of what he knew, but I still managed to put together a picture of what he's trying to say. So there's this evil mastermind who's planning and executing crimes in Clark High. That person's the reason why the officer, then-inspector, lost his position in the campus police.