GRIEVOUS VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 5

Janine was walking on the campus ground when she heard someone is calling her name.

"Janine." Mark walked past her, then he blocked her path.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"I apologize for what happened last time," he said in an apologetic tone. Janine saw sincerity in his eyes.

"I-it's nothing. I-I have to go." She tried to walk away from him but he blocked her way again.

"Hold on. I saw the news."

"What do you want me to do with the news?"

"I believe you," he said it while looking directly in her eyes. Janine saw how worried he is. "Please help me. I want Mina to rest in peace."

She took a deep breath and paused for a moment. "Look. It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not. There's nothing I can do about what's happening. How can I help a ghost who wants to take revenge on those people who caused her too much suffering when she was still alive? Who would believe me? You didn't even believe me before."

"Janine, you have the ability to see what she's been up to. You can see the next victim, right?" he is a little persistent while pleading. Janine understands him though. Mina is still his sibling regardless if she's haunting her bashers now.

"I don't know what kind of help I could give you." Janine will try to help Mark and Mina again this time. "But, do you really trust me now?"

"I do," Mark's definite answer.

Janine sighed. "I'm not really so sure what to do next and how to help you, but what I can do now is to see Mina and hold her casket again."

"Let's go to the funeral." Mark asked Janine to go with him, he took her to his car. He opened the passenger's seat for her. Janine hopped in. Mark hopped in to the driver's seat and started the engine.

They reached the grave of Mina's body. Lots of people are having commotion outside the funeral homes. There are press people who are harassing Mina's mother. The poor lady almost having a heart attack due to the media interrogation. She's holding her chest while talking to the press people.

"Come on, Mama can handle those bitches. She's just acting," Mark joked.

"W-what if it's true?" Janine asked worriedly.

"Believe me." Mark pulle Janine towards at the back entrance of the funeral homes. There are security guards here so no one is trying to get through the back door. Mark instructed the security first before they entered the wake room, he closed the back door then he immediately went to the main entrance to lock the doors.

No one sympathizes with Mina during these times. It's only three o'clock in the afternoon. May be later in the evening that there will be an influx of genuine sympathizers and not press people who are just gossiping.

Mark looked at Janine first, took a deep breath before nodding. This is a sign that Janine should do what she needs to do.

Janine sighed deeply before approaching Mina's casket.

"Mina, show me again, please," Janine pleaded. She held the casket of Mina. Janine immediately felt a sharp sense of pain in her forehead. The intensity of the pain she felt was exhausting. She gasped and felt she was losing her breath. She immediately saw on her vision, the name Danni is on the laptop screen. She was bashing Mina when the screen suddenly darkened and Mina came out of it. Janine felt at that moment that she is Danni, because the dead girl's hand is going in her direction. She immediately strangled Janine's neck. Mina's eyes glaze over as she smiles while choking her.

Janine sat down on the ground with both hands on her neck. Pure cough only came out of the mouth due to shortness of breath.

"Janine! What happened?!" Mark immediately rushed to the girl to support her.

"I thought it was my end. I-in my vision, it looks like I was her next victim, or I was in the body of the next victim. I was in front of the laptop and I was choked by Mina. But that is impossible because I am not a basher and I do not have a ChitChat account," Janine explained.

"Did you see who or what was the name of the person she was choking?"

"Danni is what I read on the screen." I looked at him. Asking what we will do next.

"Can we talk to my Dad? Of all the people, he will believe me that I am not a liar." Janine's eyes ask Mark, waiting for confirmation. "He's a police officer."

"Okay. What time is he coming home?"

"I do not know." Janine's shoulders dropped even more.

"Call me," Mark suggested.

"All right, wait." Janine snatched her phone from her uniform pocket and called her father. Only a few answered it.

"'Dad, what time are you going home?"

"I'm going home now, why?" her Dad answered enthusiastically.

"I have something important to say. I'm going home too." I turned to Mark. It nodded.

"All right, I'm close to home. Wait for me. Tell me later, Janine." He turned off the phone.

Mark and Janine left the funeral homes to wait for her father and tell him what was happening.

They arrived at Janine's house first. Janine's mother prepared them a snack. She does not ask why the child is with the man at home, but she keeps on looking at them.

"Mom, he's Mark. He's Mina's brother."

"Good afternoon, Ma'am," Mark greeted Janine's Mom.

"Good afternoon. Just feel at home." Mrs. Trinidad went back to the kitchen.

Just a few minutes later, his father arrived, carrying noodles and fried chicken. He is still handsome and elegant in his forties and has no beer belly. SPO3 is his rank in the police. He got promoted several times for the achievements he had in the past 20 years of being a police officer. She kissed her father on his cheek, then Janine whispered to her father. "'Dad, it's really important what Mark and I need to say to you."

Janine's father looked at the young man. His looks are questionable.

"What are you whispering, Nina?" The mother noticed the father and son whispering. Janine could not lie so she told her mother.

"It's important, 'Mom. You know I don't know how to lie, do you?" Janine waited for her parents to answer.

"Sure, I raised you well. What would you say to your father?" Janine's mother agreed.

"What is it, Janine? It seems it's too complicated to say it? You're not pregnant, are you?" Her Dad asked skeptically. He suspiciously looked at Mark.

"Oh, 'Dad, no! Cross my heart!" Janine even raised her right hand. Mark's laughter wasso loud. She glared at him.

Janine's Dad burst out laughing. "I'm just kidding. What is it?"

"'Dad, I-I visited Mina's wake the other night, didn't I? Then I went home late at night?"

Janine's father nodded. "Oh, then? That's okay because it was meaningful why you went there, you sympathize with the lost."

"Because, I-I fainted..."

"Huh? Are you okay, Janine?" Janine's father said anxiously, rubbing his son's forehead.

"I'm not in pain. It's not what I need to tell you..." Janine looked at Mark, seeking for help.

"Because, she touched the coffin of my sister, Mina, and then she suddenly saw in her mind that Mina visited a woman and then she strangled her. Then yesterday in the news, we saw Mina's basher who died from strangling. That's the woman Mina saw in her mind that night before she fainted. Even those in the news, Tamara, she also saw that Mina killed her."

The couple looked at each other. "Janine, is that all you saw in your mind?"

Janine nodded. "No. I didn't go to our afternoon class because I went back to Mina's wake earlier with Mark. I want to confirm if it was just a coincidence. But..." Janine hesitated to continue what she needs to say.

"All right, go ahead. I believe in you," Janine's father said.

"Another scene came to my mind, like that again. But this time I saw "Danni" on the screen, she sent a bullying message before she died. Maybe she was also one of Mina's bashers." Janine waited for an answer from her father.

Her father stood up and grabbed the phone. He dialed and waited for an answer on the other line. "Cruz, find out the IP address and location of one of Mina Garcia's bashers, Danni. Make it fast. We need to go to her." He hung up the phone.

"Dad, do you really believe me?" Janine asked her father incredulously.

Her father took a deep breath before speaking. "You are my daughter, so I will believe you. At least you never lied to us. Trining, don't let the kids get out of here." Then Janine's father hurried away.

"I hope they can save her."