WHO IS THE ENEMY

“Do you have any idea who would want to scare you like this?” The officer asks because what we are explaining seems a bit confusing.

And it is. I mean, the weird people from the media, the incident that separated me and my sister for a fleeting moment before she was thrown back to me, the strange and apparently the same men that kidnapped Grace a while ago for a minute, and they are the same people that returned her. And the van. Those are the same people. That man? Who wouldn’t get confused, huh?

“I have had only one enemy, and as far as I know, officers, he is dead, right?” I ask because I am so afraid that all this is making me remember that man. The black attire and the goddamned van add more fear because that was his signature theme. I am hating this.

“As far as we all know, he is gone for good. This Ejay, did he have relatives that could be coming after you?” The officer says:.

No, right? I mean, we are his only survivors, right? His adoptive parents are both dead. My parents are dead. Beyond that small circle, we never got to know anyone else. My father and his adopted father were born as the only siblings. So there is no one. And he is dead, right? That man is dead. I killed him.

“I have no one in mind, officer. Actually, my sister and I are his only surviving relatives. He was the adopted son of our only uncle. Maybe we look for his biological parents or something.” I say.

“Do you know where they adopted him from? How old was he when they adopted him?” The officer asks.

“Unfortunately, no. We have no idea. And he was already of age when he was adopted. He was actually twenty, if I am not mistaken.” Grace speaks.

“That will be difficult to investigate. The law of this country does not support the adoption of persons of age, and neither are orphanage centers allowed to keep children over 18 years old. It seems like the adoption was done illegally.” The officer explains.

“So, does it mean it will be difficult to locate where that man came from?” I ask. I honestly cannot believe that that man is still giving me a headache even after his death.

“It will, but it won’t be impossible given that we have his full name. We will find him in the end.” The officer says:.

“Please do your best, officer. I don’t like it that I am being reminded of that nightmare. I want everything about that man and what just happened to be closed as soon as possible.” I say.

“We will do our very best to resolve this, Miss Gia. We understand that you cannot even push your career under these circumstances, and we don’t want that. Trust us that we will make this our top priority.” The officer assures me.

Just then, something crossed my mind. I don’t want to entertain these thoughts, but I can't seem to shake them off my mind either. They are tormenting me so much, and I need to clear my head before it explodes. “Officer? Just one question.” I speak.

“Yes. What is it?” The officer says:.

“The journalist who bombarded me earlier asked me a question that is bothering me so much. I would like to have clarity on that.” I state this, remembering that foolish idiot and how stern he seemed as he asked me that. It was like he could see through me that there was something that I did not know. Or maybe I am paranoid, but that is how I felt.

“You said that he asked about Ejay. Was there something out of the ordinary about his question? What did he ask about?” He asks, banking all his curiosity on me, just like his partners do.

“He asked whether I saw it with my eyes—Ejay being taken away by the police. He further went ahead to question me about whether I knew exactly where Ejay was being detained. It does not seem right to me, officer.” I explain, and I can see even the officers are shocked.

“Why would a journalist ask such a question? They know that such questions are out of bounds, especially in some high-profile cases like this one. I am sorry, but Miss Gia is right. Something feels odd about those journalists.” One officer says:.

“What do you mean?” Grace speaks on my behalf.

“It is either the journalist was so inexperienced and so new to his line of work, or he knows something that he is not supposed to know, and he was trying to make that point. And if it is the latter, then he wouldn’t want to put that message across unless he had a motive.” The same officer speaks.

At least I can now confirm that I am not being paranoid. This is exactly how I felt. I love how this officer is connecting the dots. I love his theory and how he is putting his brain to better use. But I am hating it with equal energy and everything in me. If some cursed soul out there knows that I killed Ejay and that he is not behind bars, as we made everyone believe, why would they want to rub it on my face that they know what I did? That information was even highly confidential, so how did he know? And if he indeed wanted to rub it on my face that he knew the truth, what was the meaning of that incident that followed, huh? Were the two incidents connected? If yes, what kind of message is that?

“Allow me to ask exactly that journalist or whoever he was asked, officer. After all, we all know the truth here.” I speak, my mind spinning rapidly as my heart throbs hard in my chest.

“Go ahead.” The officer speaks.

“Where was Ejay’s body taken? Was it buried? Cremated? Burned? Where is it?” I ask.

Dang!

A fleeting moment of pure confusion passes as the officers stare at each other back and forth in utter befuddlement. Okay, this is freaking me out too. There is no possible way that they don’t know about the answer, so why the fuck are they hesitant to speak, huh? They were informed about my case since part of my life while I was still with that monster was captured here. “Why the hesitation, officer?"

The head officer looks at me. “Don’t you know?” He asks.

What a rhetorical question is that, huh? Would I be asking if I knew? “Know what? I have never asked about it because I thought I had closed that chapter. But now I am afraid I have to rule out everything. So, where was this monster’s body taken?” I explain.

“That information was concealed from us. It was only shared with the police group that you were dealing with. Only they know what happened to that body, according to the superiors.” The officer explains, pulling me into a state of confusion as I look at my sister, who also seems as shocked as I am.

Paul? How come he has not mentioned any damn sh*t about it to me? I know I didn’t ask about it. Maybe it is my fault for not following up on that. But he knew so damn well that I wouldn’t have minded knowing what kind of last respect that monster was given. So, why?