“Ha ha ha, that shit is hilarious!” Shouted the man susunod to him in glee. He had his arm resting over the couch, his long punk hair hanging down his back like a drape, wearing a black shirt, torn blue jeans and boots, his face was riddled with acne and stubble from a kamakailan shave. His pale cracked skin showed some substance abuse as well, mixed with his jacked teeth. His arm rested on the head of the couch, right susunod to Claudio, the smell of BO and booze fresh on his stained shirt. Claudio’s eyes turned from the man on his right to his left side. There he saw the man’s counterpart, a large, dimwitted man with a shaved head, beady eyes, a plump bottom lip and a crooked nose. He was wearing a sando for some band no one heard of and baggy black pants with shoes. He was holding a camera up to his face. Mixed with the dark, it was hard to get a good look at the giant oaf. A little to the left of him sat Claudio’s family. His mother and sister, tied up, tears in their eyes, but silent. And between them, his father, limped over, a bullet wound in his head and a pool of blood underneath him.
2 Hours Prior
Claudio sat in his room, eating his pagkain sa pamamagitan ng himself. It was a common thing to do at this point. His parents' marriage was strained, a marriage that was only there to last until Claudio left. It wasn’t a malicious marriage, no cheating, abuse, or anything. But he could see that the spark was long gone when he was born. It didn’t give him much self esteem, it only made him feel madami like a burden. Not helped that everyone kept to themselves in the household, a few greetings here and there and that was it. Even when his parents went on vacation, it didn’t change a thing. It was still an air of melancholy when his family was around. Claudio didn’t hate his family, but he wasn’t sure if he particularly loved them.
There was a doorbell. A rapid ringing from someone impatient at the door. The heavy footsteps of his father could be heard making its way down the stairs. A moment of silence. The words Claudio could hear were muffled, but they were not ones he recognized. A few madami moments, the conversation only got dimmer and dimmer. Until.
“Sherin, Claudio, Matilda. Come downstairs now!”
He spoke sternly, yet there was something… off. The way he sinabi it, it was less of a demand. It was madami like a plee. Claudio stood up in his curiosity and made his way down. His mom was the first down the stairs, and Marien did the same. His mom was madami of the sweeter one of the household, though Claudio only considered her kindness an obligation as a parent. If he was any other kid, would she do the same for them? Just animal instincts. His sister, Matilda, on the other hand, was crude. Just cause she was the older sibling, she believed she had authority in every way. It annoyed Claudio and he was not too unfamiliar with tossing a few derogatory slurs her way. As he stepped outside, Matilda would jokingly push him against the door.
“Outta the way, nerd” She sinabi with a grin and made her way down the stairs, to Claudio’s annoyance. A feeling that would bleed away instantly when what followed was his mothers horrid shriek. Like a ghost just passed her by. Claudio was quick to pull himself off his door and make his way down the stairs. Each step he took, felt like some sort of weight was getting put onto his soul. He didn’t know what waited for him down there, but it only got worse and worse. Once he was in the line of sight of the entrance hall of the house, he saw it. Two rugged men, high or drunk or both, standing at the doorway, closing it behind them. The larger one was holding a camera, and the skinner one, a revolver in his hand. He looked up at Claudio with a smile, his rotted teeth being the first thing that caught Claudio’s attention.
“Hey kid” He sinabi as calmly as he could, that rancid grin of his still present. “You Claudio?”
Claudio didn't want to answer. Seeing the look on everyone else's faces, he didn’t want to reply.
“Y-Yes, he’s my so-”
“Hey!” the man shouted, not even angry, madami annoyed. He looked to Claudio’s father and spoke. “I’m not asking you, am I?”
The man turned his face back to a smile on the fly as he turned to Claudio again and spoke, “Now tell me, what’s your name?”
Claudio felt like a lump was in his throat. It was hard to swallow, and just as hard to breathe. He couldn’t speak. Instead he gave a hastened nod.
“Hmmm, nice. I wonder if I should kill you first”
“No! Please!” Claudio’s mother rushed over to the man, grabbing at him, only to be picked up sa pamamagitan ng the larger man and thrown against a wall, hitting her back against it and groaning in pain. The man looked at her with an annoyed expression and spoke. “Alright, everyone, to the living room… ilipat it. Bishop, you got the pato tape, right?”
Ten minutos Prior
“I think I got the camera working, Kevin”
“Good, good. You see anywhere that looks nice”
“They all look the same. Buncha rich fucks”
“Calm down, Bishop. We’re not here cause they’re rich. I don’t know what company you keep, but it’s not the money that makes people turn rotten”
“It’s not?”
“No. You look around, you see all this shit going on in the world. I mean, we got our asses handed to us sa pamamagitan ng some kanin framing chinks in Vietnam. Us, America. The strongest in the world. All cause we were too damn greedy for our own good and we let a businessman into office. We’re in the worst economy since the Great Depression. We voted for a real dickhead. We brought this on ourselves, Bishop!”
“We did?”
“Yes, we did. It’s not the money that makes people go bad, man. It’s the mental exhaustion. When you’re drained sa pamamagitan ng all this shit, you’re bound to snap. You’re bound to just go fucking ape shit, man.”
“How do you know all this”
“Cause I fucking snapped, man. We fucking snapped. You can kill them over money or hierarchy or whatever. I’m not killing out of hate. Quite the opposite, way I see it, I’m killing them as a fucking favor.”
Kevin takes a swig of his alcohol with a loud sigh
“Do they even deserve that kinda mercy? I say we torture them first”
“Calm down, man. Calm down. No soldier kills out of hatred, you hear me. This is just a mission, man. A mission from us”
“Huh”
“There, that’s the place.”
Kevin puts the car in park and gets out, heading for the large white house, 627 Albany Street
Kevin slams his finger on the doorbell
Foot steps
A man with slicked brown hair and black rim glasses, tight lipped, white dress sando and black pants opens the door.
“Is something the matter, boys”
“Yeah, yeah, we were in the neighborhood and we just wanted to know if you could let us come in, check the place out, hang around”
“Nice try, I think the AA meeting is downtown though”
As the man goes to close the door, Kevin takes out his revolver.
“I think you should let us in right now.”
“H-Hey, guys, I don’t want trouble”
“We don’t want trouble either, so why are you making it difficult for us”
“L-L-Look, if it’s money you want, I-I got-”
“No, no money, no money at all. Just get your family down here”
“W-W-W-W-What? M-My…”
Kevin clicks the gun
“Sherin, Claudio, Matilda, come downstairs now!” He shouted
30 minutos Have Passed
Claudio and the rest of his family were taped to the couches with a roll of duct tape. Claudio could tell that whatever they were doing, they were prepared. The man had everyone sat in a chair brought from the dining room, while Claudio was kept on a sopa susunod to the ragged man. He was looking over the revolver, counting the bullets that were inside of it. A six shooter with only six bullets. madami than enough for everyone in the room. Claudio could see that his mom and sister were terrified. Even his dad was shaken up about the entire thing. Claudio though, he just sat there, expressionless. He was scared. He was terrified. But he wasn’t sure how he should emote. The rotten man looked down at Claudio, and spoke softly.
“Huh, I bet you’re really scared right now, huh? Don’t be. I’m doing you and your family a real big favor here, kid. You’ve seen this world, you’ve seen the utter shit hole that it’s falling into. You wanna live to see World War 3? Nah, you want to avoid that shit. I’m Kevin, sa pamamagitan ng the way. Call me Uncle Kevin, if you like.”
His kind words were broken sa pamamagitan ng a scream. He looked over to see his companion trying to film up Sherin’s skirt, trying to get a good shot up her dress. It wasn’t much as Kevin grabbed him sa pamamagitan ng the shoulder and threw him back.
“Keep it in your pants, Bishop! You’re here to film the actual thing, not shoot a softcore porn”
“S-Sorry, Kevin.” He said, clearly a lot slower then his counterpart.
“Please” Claudio’s father was the first to speak. “What do you want”
“What do I want?” The man sinabi as he looked to the father of the family, looking over his expression. “Ya know, you look a lot like the fucks that destroyed this country. Destroyed this damn world. You work in politics?”
“I-I’m a lawyer” He replied immediately, the fear in his voice ever present
“Ah, a lawyer. A defense attorney, I bet. How many child fuckers and human traffickers did you save? How many times did you take justice from the mga kaibigan and families of victims all to line your own pocket.”
The man took a unan from the couch, weighing it in his hand as he looked at his father with a smile. “Lucky for me, I’m no better”
In an instance, he pressed the unan against his face, smothering him with it and keeping him down. He pressed the barrel of the revolver against the unan and pulled the trigger. The screams from Sherin and Matilda were louder than the blast that came from the gun, piercing through the unan and into their father’s head, bloos soaking his white sando in a paliguan of red and drenching the unan before he pulled it back. Sherin and Matilda were crying harshly, turning away from the corpse of their father. Claudio, however, stared straight on, stared at the sight of his dad’s corpse. It left a pit in his stomach, a sort of terrible feeling that he wasn’t sure would ever leave him. And as he looked at the men again, he knew that his night was only starting, that the torment had only just begun.
1 oras Has Passed
The man sat down susunod to Claudio, watching the Andy Griffith ipakita while his mom and sister sat there, susunod to the large man with a camera. Claudio had no idea why he was doing this. Not just why he was killing them, but why he was taking his time. He had helped himself to the family's private wine selection, finishing off a segundo bottle and leaving during the commercials to get a segundo one. While he was, there was another scream, one that was a lot madami hateful and aggressive.
“Get off! Get the fuck off of me!” Matilda shouted as the large man was now letting his hands get all over her, trying to slide his hands up her legs. He stared over her body with a disgusting lust that was enough to make Claudio sick. It wasn’t long before the man came back and grabbed the large man.
“Now Bishop” he spoke as softly as he could. “What did I tell you about touching them? Bad enough you touched a grown asno woman, now you’re touching a teenager?”
“I-I don’t know her age. S-She’s probably eighteen”
Kevin kept a grip on his shirt, turning to Sherin and asking. “How old is she”
No reply
Kevin pointed the gun at her and spoke again. “I sinabi how old she is!?”
Sherin finally replied, if hesitantly. “F-Fifteen”
“Fifteen. Ya hear that, Bishop. Fifteen”
“I-I didn’t-”
“No, no, no, Bishop, I told you to keep your hands off of them. But like that stupid asong babae Even, you couldn’t help but sample the forbidden fruit. And you know I fucking hate kiddie fuckers, Bishop”
Before the large man could defend himself, Kevin smashed his face in with the revolver, using it as a sort of brass knuckle. Clearly breaking his nose and a few teeth as he fell to the floor. Kevin stood over him on the ground and started smashing his face in madami and more. Claudio could see blood started to spray onto the walls and the floor with each hit. This man, he wasn’t mad, not before. But now he was enraged.
Bishop reached his hands out for a weapon of some sort, taking a glass vase from the side and smashing it into Kevin’s cranium, the glass embedding into his flesh
“You fucking fat fuck-!”
Kevin covered his face in pain, long enough for Bishop to get up and grapple him, trying to pry the gun from his hand. In the struggle, Kevin was forced to apoy the gun, striking the large man in the gut. He fell to the ground, his stomach pouring out a geyser of blood onto the white carpet floor. Be it panic or be it a method of defense, the large man grabbed Kevin sa pamamagitan ng his crotch, and squeezed with all his might, in a vain attempt to subdue him, his other hand clutching his stomach. Whatever alcohol, drug, or combination of them they were on, it had finally overloaded them. Kevin screamed in agony, taking the gun to the large man's temple and firing into his skull, blood painting the white walls with a polka-dot canvas of red. He went limp and fell over, Kevin doing the same to tend to his injured scrotum. “You fucking worthless fat fuck! Worthless until the end. You just had to hold a fucking camera and that’s that. Couldn’t do a goddamn thing right. Now you got our cover blown. I was trying to keep it quiet… Now the whole fucking neighborhood is onto us”
Claudio looked to his mother and sister, covering their eyes and crying as they tried to keep their eyes from the horrifying display. Kevin stood up, a now visible limp in his step as he walked over to the two. “Now I gotta speed things up” He said, looking between the two, pointing the gun at their mother. “Eenie”
He moved the gun to Claudio “Meanie”
He moved it back to their mother “Minie”
And then moved it to his sister. “Moe”
To their mother “Catch…”
To Claudio, “The Tiger”
Their mother “By the…”
His sister. “Toe”
“If he”
“Hollers”
“Let him”
“Go”
“Eenie”
“Meanie”
“Minie”
Without even finishing, the gun rested on Claudio’s sister and followed with a gunshot, striking her in the forehead as her body fell back against the chair, resting back. At this point, Claudio and his mother were dead silent, not a word came from either one. They were completely silent now, but the choking of her tears could be heard from Claudio’s mother. Her hair hung over her face like a sheet to hide the dismay and horror that was painted on her face.
“Aww, come on, you gonna say something or what? It’s only fair to get a last word in”
No response came from her.
Kevin gave an annoyed groan as he stepped out of the room. “Fuck this, I need something else to drink. I’ll be back in ten minutes”
Claudio’s mother didn’t dare raise her head to look at her daughter. She felt it would be far too much to stomach. She just kept her head down, choking on her sobs, like she was on the verge of vomiting. Claudio was expressionless, staring forward, his eyes laying on the bodies of his father and sister, yet the fear was rising inside of him. No other words came from him, no responses. As far as he was concerned, he was already dead. And to him, the dead have nothing to say
Ten minutos Have Passed
Kevin returned to the room, pacing in annoyance now rather than anger, the old sitcoms on the TV still playing, characters giving old banter and the audience laughing on the television. Kevin turned to Claudio’s mother finally, lifting her face up with one hand, seeing the black make up that stained her cheeks, the tears painting her face. Kevin spoke softly. “Have you thought of what you wanted to say yet? Come on, you gotta have something to say?”
It was a solid twenty segundos of silence, just the two staring at each other. Claudio didn’t dare to say a word as he waited with a heavy breath, like the mere sound of his breathing would turn his wrath to him.
Finally, his mother spoke. “W-why…. Why are you doing this”
Kevin was a little surprised sa pamamagitan ng this. Hearing those words, he sat up, tapping his foot, hands on his sinturon as he looked at the ground. It was something he had to think about. That alone, Claudio could see how unsure he was, how completely uncertain he was of the whole affair. “Ya know” Kevin said, turning to her. “I can’t really say…. Guess I forgot… huh”
Without another word, he raised the gun, and fired into her head, the sheer knockback caused her to fall to the ground with the chair, still taped to it, killing her immediately. Claudio’s eyes looked to her body, and then, Claudio was starting to realize the weight of the situation. He was going to die. He was going to die right here. And yet, it didn’t scare him. He looked to his dead family, and though he knew he was supposed to feel sad, it was madami that he told himself to be sad, not that he felt sad. When he knew he was going to die, it wasn’t an instinct, it wasn’t an emotion, he told it to him as a fact, like a doctor telling you your health. It says here you are going to die. Oh, okay. That was the thought that ran through Claudio’s mind. And yet he didn’t know why. He didn’t understand this thought, he just knew that it was a fact, yet could not panic, could not scream, could not beg for his life. Was it that he was suicidal? Did he want to die. It was a possibility he was thinking of, that perhaps he wanted to die. He would prefer it in this moment rather than to live with regret and the shaem, but even then he wasn’t sure if he would feel that either.
But as Kevin finally turned to Claudio, another thing followed. Flashing lights of red and blue, the loud blaring of a police siren down the street. After what felt like hours, they had finally arrived. And Kevin had realized that too. He looked out the window.
“Well fuck” he said, matteroffactly. “I didn’t think they’d get here so soon.”
Kevin looked around the room, as if to count the bullet holes in each one's body. In fact, he was.
“One…. two… three, four… five…” He whispered to himself. He even checked the rounds in his gun to make sure, seeing only one remaining bullet, as his eyes locked with Claudio for the first time. With a smile, he locked the chamber back into place, and kicked the gun back, ready to fire.
“Enjoy your new hell, kid”
With one last whimsical smile, Kevin took the gun to his own mouth and fired, a splatter of blood behind his head caking the pader and carpet under him before he fell to the ground. Claudio sat there, taped up, in what could be mistaken for a state of shock, surrounded sa pamamagitan ng five corpses in a dark room, only illuminated sa pamamagitan ng the light of the TV, the audience on the ipakita laughing at the events taking place, clapping as the ipakita came to an end. The music and the credits played for a solid minute, and through it all, Claudio could hear the faint orders from the police, yet they were in no rush to get inside. Claudio merely sat there, the audience still clapping on the TV, surrounded sa pamamagitan ng his family and his attackers, staring forward. Finally, after what felt like an eternity in a neverending nightmare, the door was kicked in, police rushing into the entry hall with their mga baril aimed. The first thing Claudio would see would not be an officer's warm smile, but the receiving end of a 9mm from the police. It was all Claudio could see. After all, these men, to him, were his own personal devils, his own Satan. He could have been taken from this world of misfortune and misery, of torment and despair. And yet, here they came, so called bayani and saviors, left him to live his life while his family had suffered.
Claudio was sinabi to never truly recover from the situation, at least that’s what the doctors and the therapists and even his grandma said. That he was still in shock after the whole thing. They wouldn’t understand. Claudio was in shock at how someone could live in such an awful world like this, where things like this could happen. Ever since that day, Claudio had never felt joy from anything. When he was ibingiay a bike for his birthday, when he was praised for his high academics and grades, when he was loved sa pamamagitan ng his grandmother who raised him, it brought him nothing but emptiness. He didn’t think he would ever feel any joy, any thing ever again.
Until that fateful event at the coffee tindahan at the age of 19.
