The Murderer In My Shadow

Heavy rains were pouring endlessly on the little island of Araray, Masbate. Thunders and lightning were visible. The humid air was entering inside the body of a girl. She has been running around the forest escaping from the hands of a murderer. “Yoho! Where are you?” Here comes the voice again. She's very tired, but she must find a way to hide from his shadow. He killed so many people, and she never expected that she will become his next target. And fighting him earlier was the least he can do to flee from him. “Do you still remember the first day we've met? I remember you are head over hills with me, right? Where are you?” He tried to bewitch her with his voice. Yes, she clearly remembered the first day they've met. She admitted that she fell from him the first time he smiled at her. But, that was just a fake encounter. “Are you not going to come out and hug me, my darling?” Coincidentally, her eyes continued to drop a tears while heavy rains keeps on dropping into the ground. She ignored his stupid innocent faked voice and hid very well at the back of the big narra tree. Dripping and soaked in rain, she embraced her knees to warm her body. “Found you!” Fears shocked her upon seeing the silhouette of the guy she was trying to avoid, almost two hours of running inside the forest. The guy suddenly grabbed her hands and pulled her out. “Just let me go! You're a murderer!” He tightened his grip on her hands. The girl slapped his face, but he just smiled at him. She can only see his face when thunder and lightning flashes their surrounding. “I told you earlier that you cannot escape my eyes. Now, it's about time to execute my plan on you.” Creeps of terror suddenly rushes into her body. A sharp, pointed tool was waving in his hands ready to stab her. She immediately bit his hands holding her, and the guy released her. Running was her only choice, but she failed again because he grabbed her hair and pulled her back to him. “You still want to play hide-and-seek huh? I'm sorry, but I cannot let you. This game must end NOW!” The dagger was about to fall from her eyes, but she parried the thrust of the guy using her right hand. She tried to control his hands, avoiding the pointed head of the dagger reaching her eyes, however she's too weak to push it away from her. She cannot escape her death. Her only way is to bite his hands again. She made it and without further ado, she kicked his balls and punched his face. She immediately grab the dagger and slashed him on his hands and face. The guy moved back and saw drips of bloods flowing out his face. “Do you ever think I cannot kill you? You're wrong!” She pointed the dagger and jabbed his stomach many times. Jabbing him on that part is not enough, so she stabbed his chest, pushing the edge of the dagger into his heart. He tried to pull it out, but the girl is uncontrollable. Stabbing him more. Jabbing many times. Thrusting and staking the dagger several times into his heart until his breath stops, made her feel satisfied. She checked the body and confirmed that he's dead. In the midst of torrential rains, and continued roaring of thunders and flashing of lightning, the girl whose clothes were stained with blood, holding a sharp weapon, shouted angrily in the middle of the forest. ... FIVE years later, summer of 2021, a country girl married a rich young man from Manila and became her husband. She's a happy and contented lady living in a mansion full of chambermaids and butlers. All her desires were granted by her husband and later on, God gave them a gift. The country girl became pregnant. A little girl was born with an ugly face and the girl was hesitant to raise her. Her husband saw her expression and decided to carry his child and promised her that he will do everything to make her daughter beautiful. So, they spend most of their time working, trying to spend their money to pay for the plastic surgery of their daughter. But all were failed. The moon shape scars both in her left and right cheeks cannot be removed, leaving her face becoming uglier. “I'm sorry, Amberlene. We tried our best to remove the scars on your face even when you were young, but your father and I failed,” she tried to control her emotions while looking at her only daughter happily playing in her room. Her husband hugged him and kissed her forehead. “It's okay, dear. Like you said, we did everything we could. What we can do now is to let her grow and accept her fate. We'll just pray that when she reached puberty stage, she will be able to accept it. For now, let's focus on providing her needs. I will assign twenty chambermaids and butlers to our daughter while we continue with our work away from her.” Her wife nodded to her husband's idea. They both watched her smilingly playing with her Barbie dolls, without having to think what lies ahead of her. For a country girl who became her mother, she will do her best to provide her needed love, care, and affection. What matters to them right now is their precious child and not what other people think outside the box about the condition of their only daughter. “I hope that you grow healthy and strong, Amberlene. Giving you what others cannot gain are the only thing we can do for now. One day, you'll understand and accept your God-given beauty.” Amberlene grew up surrounded by twenty chambermaids and twenty butlers all in her mansion in Masbate, alone. An introvert kind of girl where no one has ever seen her face. Whenever she goes out of her room, she always made sure that no one is around her. Sometimes, she tends to send them away for an errand, so she can freely walk in the hallway of their mansion. The moon shape scars both in her left and right cheeks were present on her since birth, making her anxious whenever she's in front of her parents. Her parents tried everything to remove the scars, but they failed. Plastic surgeries cannot even make her beautiful. And the journey of her life begins in one ugly look.