The One To Blame (I)

08:00 P.M. 

Bella's National Highway. 

June 21st, the year 2018. Thursday. 

Every police officer climbed into their car. Marcus Dela Rosa, the head detective, raised the alarm on finding Margo Monteverde. Their plan was to search from the curb and radius of her place towards the destination where she was last seen. 

They tracked the location of her cell phone and they found out that it was at her house. The assigned team that searched her house had brought bad news to them. 

The clothes seem to have vanished before they even got there. It looked like she was heading towards the outside of the outskirts of Manila. Lieutenant Marcus Dela Rosa was all alone in his car when he turned on his cell phone and called Carmela. 

He was driving towards the national road and there was no luck in searching for the whereabouts of Margo. 

"Carmela, where are you? Any updates?" Marcus called out from the other end of the line.

"Marcus, I am driving on another national road. We can try on the road that's surrounded by the forest," Carmela cried out. Stepping onto the gas pedal, she sped up the zigzag way of the road. There were no cars around. It feels creepiest when you're alone. Carmela hoped she could find Margo there. 

"Why are you there? It's dangerous inside there, there were no cars around on that road!" Marcus yelled towards the cell phone while looking straight down the road. He halted right in the corner street and grabbed his cell phone. 

"Where exactly are you, Carmela?!" Marcus barked. 

"I am here on the other side of the national road, Marcus! Before you argue with me, please, drive here so I can have someone behind my back!" Carmela shrieked. Marcus sighed and held his forehead before rotating the steering wheel and made a U-turn. He drove off towards the other road and swiveled onto the corner.

…

She fell on the ground. Margo felt her knees get weak, seeing two people entirely covering their identities. The other one that killed the cashier from the convenience store. 

She tried to stand up from the ground when the person across from her car sprinted to Margo. It stabbed her in the abdomen. 

Margo lay down on the floor in an instant as she gaped. The unbearable pain that came from the abdomen was so much for Margo. She couldn't resist screaming in the middle of the night. 

She heard the loud barks of the dog kilometers away as she held the right side of her trunk, close to her stomach. She looked up from the floor, raised her head a little. Margo saw the crimson blood spurting out from her body as the person watched her die out of the pain.

The person crouched down on her left side and grabbed a hold of her wrist. Margo can't seem to pull off her arm from the tight grip. He yielded and inscribed something through her skin. The person was using a sharp-lined metal dagger. 

Margo shrieked as the owl hooted from the upper barks of the trees just by hearing her loud voice. She can feel the dagger deeper into the superficial layer of her skin. It could make her die any second. 

The pain coming from her arm was the same feeling coming from her trunk, and she knew she couldn't survive it. The tears poured down her eyes continuously. She looked towards the cashier laying down in the convenience store. Her last fan was now lifeless and will never come back. 

She felt her breath intensified as she looked at her arm. Her vision became blurry, and she felt the spewing blood from the side. Margo felt the heat from it and she said something that takes up a lot of her strength. 

She tilted her head from the side as she gasped while whimpering, "If you were Katrina, I want to say sorry for what I had done. If you are here, I want to say that my life's sucked out of my soul now because you stabbed your sword at me. I don't want to be a burden, so it's better if you kill me now."

The person wearing the black hoodie showed his mannerism once again. That tilting head while looking at someone. Margo felt that she had to hold her breath before she died. 

As the other one rejoiced with the person who stabbed Margo, they both nodded at their parts. Margo said something again that made the two people knuckle their fists. 

"It's better if you two would be in hell right now," Margo whispered, then cackled. 

The person holding her keys wielded the knife deeper on the wound. It made Margo screeched out in pain with the last strength she has. She lay down her head back on the floor and gazed upon the stars that were shining in the dim light. 

The angry tears streamed down from her eyes as she left her mouth open at the rustle of the two people's feet. They ran into the forest and left Margo bleeding to death. 

She chuckled as she saw the clouds moving at its own accord, showing the smiling moon towards her. She held her deep wound on her side as she heard a voice from afar. Margo saw someone climbing out of her car and there came red and blue lights dancing around the road.

"Margo!" Carmela bellowed as much as she could and ran over to the side of Margo. Her hands shook, seeing the pool of blood that was spurting out of her lifeless body. She tried to breathe slowly and carefully. Margo averted her eyes from the police cars and looked at Carmela. 

"Margo, I am here. We are here," Carmela muttered to her. She shouted to the police officers, commanding them to provide stretchers. They called the ambulance immediately. Margo grabbed a hold of Carmela's right arm and she stared at Margo's droopy eyes. 

"Carmela... you are here," Margo mumbled softly with the last breaths she had stored for a few minutes now. She gasped as she felt the numbness rising from the abdomen up to the upper part of her body and on the lower part.

"Yes. I am here to save you," Carmela mumbled and held her head above the ground. Margo sobbed for the first time and felt the tears in her eyes. She looked at the store, seeing the police officers were taking a picture of the crime scene. The body was being taken away from the floor. Margo saw they draped a white blanket over her body, signaling that she was dead. 

"Who did this to you?" Carmela asked her while standing up from the floor and let the officers hustle her up from the ground. Carmela saw the stained blood in the frosty night floor and shifted her eyes from there to the ambulance. 

She scampered over to the ambulance. Marcus gripped her arm tightly in hers, resisting her from going inside. 

"Marcus, I need to talk to Margo please," Carmela pleaded as the heavy tears poured down her cheeks. Marcus didn't hesitate to let go and scratched his head. He stared upon the bloodstain. He called out the forensic team to capture the blood sample and if there were any fingerprints.

Carmela climbed in the ambulance car. The nurses inside applied pressure on the wound. The two nurses looked at each other as if saying to each other that there was no chance for her to survive. San Miguel's Hospital was far away. The chance of Margo surviving from her stab was slim. 

The nurse beside Carmela tried to put up the oxygen on her, but she resisted first. She said something that made Carmela leaned over from the seat and put up her ear close to her lips. She panted and heard those words that made her tears fall. 

"I thought no one would save me, Carmela," Margo whispered while gasping for more breath. The nurse put a nasal cannula on her naris. The cloth on her abdomen soaked with blood. It must have damaged her underlying organs. Carmela held her forehead, accepting the fact that Margo cannot survive through this.

The knife exertion was so deep through the side that it can damage the organs in no time. The blood can also poison her in no time. A nurse tore off that part of the jacket and stared at the thin, red lines that were creeping up from the skin. Carmela closed her eyes, as she was always correct with her instinct.

Margo's vital signs were declining. Carmela saw that her left arm fell at the corner of the bed, hanging from the air. The monitor beeped louder, her heartbeat became slower than usual. She squinted her eyes as something caught her eye on the wrist. 

Carmela grabbed a hold of her arms, rolled up the sleeves of the jacket. She found a deep, inscribed figure on her nerves. The blood oozed out, and Carmela shook her head, gasping, bewildered about the letter.