13 - Instinct

A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means it has not yet been proofread or edited.

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It's Friday and it's such a good day for Kalonice. To this day, she's still elated about the auction that will be happening at YAECC's main headquarters. Yes, she will fly to America with the Yzaguirres! The news about the auction will be posted this coming Sunday. She will defend her thesis first on Monday and leave for America on Tuesday.

"You're happy. I want to ruin your day."

Midas is so annoyed. He don't know why, but he just couldn't stand seeing Kalonice Montecristo so happy that she had to skip while humming a song.

She ignored him and skipped faster.

"Hey, wait!"

Kalonice suddenly stopped when her heart skipped a beat.

An instinct.

Something felt off.

Midas caught up and was about to yell at her when she noticed how strange she's acting.

It was subtle at first---an odd chill curling down her spine, the kind that made the hairs on her arms stand on end.

"What's the matter?"

Kalonice pat her chest.

Goosebumps. A heaviness in her chest. A gnawing restlessness that wouldn't go away.

"Nothing. I just...had a bad feeling."

Midas raised an eyebrow, "If it's bad, don't ignore it."

It is bad.

But Kalonice swallowed it and shook her head.

"Maybe I got tired from skipping. I'm exhausted."

Midas rolled his eyes.

"You had me worried for nothing! I'm leaving!" And he took the different path, to the Engineering Building. Hers is on the left.

She went about her usual routine, forcing herself to focus. Meetings, sketches, calculations. But no matter what she did, her mind kept drifting back to that strange sense of dread. It clung to her like a shadow, whispering at the edges of her consciousness.

Gradually, it becomes a frustration. She can't pinpoint what it is. She's been anxiously biting her fingers and the butt of her pencils and pens.

But as the day went on, the feeling only grew stronger.

Now, she's with Midas again. In the library, working together on a blueprint Larry asked them to finish. He was doing it himself but an urgent meeting came up and had to pass it on them.

"You know what, you're making me anxious, too. What the hell is wrong?" Midas confronted when he couldn't ignore it anymore. He can't focus! Her deep, sharp breaths, constant water drinking, and pen tapping are distracting him!

Her phone buzzed. The feeling that had been screaming at her all day grew stronger and made her snatch her phone up from her bag.

The frantic voice on the other end made her blood run ice-cold.

"Ms. Montecristo... " Her heart skipped beats. "Candice...is missing. We can't find her anywhere in school.. She didn't attend her afternoon class---"

The world around her tilted.

For a moment, she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.

That feeling. That awful, unshakable feeling.

It hadn't been for nothing. Something was wrong. And now, it was happening.

Her body moved before her mind could even catch up.

Her chair screeched against the floor as she shoved back from her desk, her heart pounding against her ribs like it was trying to escape. The phone was still pressed to her ear, her breath coming in short, frantic bursts.

"Hey! What the---!?"

Midas pushed his chair back and ran after her.

Her heels clacked against the polished floor as she rushed past stunned school mates, ignoring their confused stares and calls of her name. The world around her felt like a blur---elevator buttons, doors swinging open, the rush of the wind hitting her like a slap as she stepped outside.

"KALONICE MONTECRISTO!"

Midas grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. He was astounded when he saw the look of fear all over her face and hysteria.

"Let me go! Candice... Candice is missing, Midas! She's missing!"

He wasted no time and brought her to the parking lot. He opened the door for her and pushed her inside. Then, he slide on the front of his car to get to the other side and drove off.

"Candice... Candice... Oh my god, please. My baby!" Kalonice clasped her hands together as she pray out loud.

Midas called his father.

His father, a very powerful and wealthy man.

"Dad, send your men after me! Her sister is missing! Save the questions for later and do it NOW!" And he hang up the call to focus on driving fast. In a few minutes they're in the school premises.

"Ate! Candice---!"

Ali ran to her as soon as she arrived.

"Where is Candice!? Francis---Where's Francis!?"

Francis is out with the local authorities to search for the girl. The Principal is taking things under her control, asking the nearest facilities to check their surveillance cameras. The school is a public institution under the government. It's small and you could say run down and old. That said, they have no security cameras nor security guards.

"Where's Candice!? You're teachers! Why did you let her out of your sights!?" Kalonice screamed, not thinking straight.

Midas tried to calm her down.

"Calm down, Montecristo! We will find her!"

"What if we won't!? This is all because of you!" Kalonice pushed him away.

And both of them were stunned from what they have heard. Kalonice tweak her hair and paced back and forth. She shouldn't have said tha, but she did because of the heat of the moment. She doesn't want to jump into conclusions.

The barangay captain came with a bad news.

"She's seen going with a strange man---"

Kalonice broke down and fainted.

When Larry received the call from his son, he stopped the important meeting and bolted out of the room to go to his office. He sent out his men to follow Midas's location and ordered them to search all the strangest places to look for a little girl. Midas had told him about Candice when he first met her and her siblings.

And somewhere in the woods, the man who took Candice pinned her down against the muddy soil, pressing his body on her.

"MOMMY! HEL---MMMP!"

"Shhh, Shh. Hmm, you smell so nice. Little girl, I told you, we're going to play. We're going to play, okay?"

It was as if she heard her, Kalonice ran away. She doesn't know where to go, but her feet is leading her somewhere. While on her way, her eye caught an image of a sharp object. A knife being used by a butcher of a meat shop.

"GIVE ME THAT!" She snatched the knife from him and ran again with Midas tailing her.

"Montecristo!" He called, but she's not listening.

Her adrenaline rush is winning over her logic and reason. Whoever took Candice only had evil intentions in his mind. And she will kill him.

SHE WILL KILL HIM.

'That's right, Kalonice. Kill him,' the voices inside her head provoked.

The event triggered her.

Now, the ropes they put on them are loosening.