16th Ghosting: Knees

"SHE even dyed her hair that morning," said Mrs. Toralva while sniffing. She's talking to the guests at her daughter, Hera's funeral.

"Maybe someone entered the house without the maid's knowledge. But sadly, the CCTV record was also studied by the police and nothing was captured," Mr. Toralva said angrily.

The Toralvas are now talking to Mr. & Mrs. Medina, Arielle's parents. They just got there. Arielle decided to leave the oldies and approached her friend's coffin.

Fatima and Tricia were already there, peeking out. First night of Hera Toralva's funeral. Their stupid friend who just agreed to just die that way. To the pointless death her life ended at the age of sixteen. They are still excited about college.

Tsk, death is real.

"How are you there, Hera?"

"There, she is still good up to the pit." They smiled at Fatima's joke. Of their squad, this and Hera are the closest to each other. So she is the most affected by them

.

"That's really how life is," Tricia said. Scattered flowers were arranged in Hera's coffin.

"Have you met Mark?"

"He's already here?" The Mark that her friend Tricia refers to is Arielle’s boyfriend, their schoolmate, whom she secretly meets there. "I haven't even texted here yet."

"He said he was just in the back. Of course, he shouldn't wait in the front, your parents will see him. I think there's a way out there to the back, that's also where Mark went out earlier." Trisha pointed to the way that Mark and his friends had entered to exit earlier.

"You know Mark, maybe it's better for you to go there," Fatima said, pushing Arielle away.

Her two friends signaled that they would take care of her parents. Arielle immediately ran away and left for Hera's funeral to go to her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend is Mark who is a member of the famous fraternity at their school. A rebel, so her parents don't want him for her for an obvious reason. Also, she was too young to have a boyfriend. Well, too young and too old, for Arielle, it makes no difference.

"You're just too stubborn. You don't listen to your parents!" She giggled at her own thoughts.

She can't do anything about it and she's just in love. When people are in love, should there be a reason? She's happy with Mark. She is happy when her boyfriend is happy, just like now that she brought the weeds she bought from the money she stole in their bakery.

Their family owns a bakery that currently has six branches around Metro, Manila, so Arielle knows that they will not lose the 1,000 pesos she stole there at the main branch.

"Ouch!" Arielle moaned in shock.

While she's passing by the back part of the funeral home, she slipped. It was still dark in that part. Dark and silent.

She was leaning against the cement wall when she tried to step on her feet but the sprain on her ankle seemed to worsen and she could not press it on the floor. The heel of her shoes was also quite high.

"Ah, shit!" Arielle moaned, immediately lifting her leg.

She really can't step on and walk on it. She took her phone out of the bag, she texted one of the friends. Call a friend because she's sprained from slippery, great!

"My toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head…"

"Huh? Is there anyone there?" Because if not, where did the nursery rhyme that is currently playing come from?

"Hello? Is anybody there? I need help." Arielle was just blown away by the pain in her leg.

Tricia and Fatima don't seem to want to answer her call. Her friends are really witches. Most likely, their cellphones are in silent mode. Annoyed, she just put her cellphone back in the bag and tried to walk again with her sprained left foot. It looks like she has a bruise on her heel so it's really hard for her to walk.

"Need help?"

"Yeah, my ankle's wrench got slippery a while ago," Arielle said to the man— no, the woman who just appeared in front of her.

Looks like there's a room at the end and that's where this one came from. The nursery rhyme also comes from the woman. She thinks it's a bit silly to play in the shadows, she is also a woman who is almost tall. Maybe they're the same age, why is that what she is watching or playing on the cellphone? Maybe someone knows.

Well, as if she cares. Her only concern now is that this silly person needs to help her.

The nursery rhyme was still playing on the cellphone held by the woman.

"Why are you here? There's the funeral exit," said the woman who was now supporting Arielle's shoulder.

"I'm going out using this way, this exit door, I won't go back there," she said to the woman.

Arielle's sprained leg was raised. It hurts, really.

"Did your friend die?" Arielle just nodded. Hera was the only one at that funeral by the way.

"Why are you wearing gloves?" Arielle asked, when she felt the slip of the gloves on her arm.

Actually, she could vaguely see the strange woman in the dark in that place, there was really no light in that part of the funeral home. But with the timbre of her voice, Arielle was sure that they're the same age.

"Ah, I was doing something earlier when I heard you asking for help."

"Can you take off the gloves? It's slippery. You'll have a hard time supporting me. I really can't step on my sprained ankle," Arielle dramatically begged the woman.

Of course, she just didn't want to feel the slipperiness of the gloves, so she sent them away.

"All right."

Wow, she's easy to talk with! It was only when the woman released her arm that supported Arielle, the latter was overwhelmed by her sudden release!

Arielle grunted and shouted that she wasn't sure if she had a voice when she uttered it and her eyes widened when she realized that she was going to kiss the floor tiles!

"Ouch!" Arielle burst into tears at the crash.

She wasn't mistaken, she now was face to face on the floor tiles when the stupid woman who helped her just let her go!

Her eyes glazed over as she faced the woman and shout at her, "Are you dumb stupid ?! You didn't think that when you did that, aren't you?!" Arielle is sick of it. Aside from the cold, slippery tiles, Arielle smelled something fishy and ewwy at the floor!

"Oh, you told me to take off my gloves. I just followed you," the woman's tone was sarcastic, it was far from the tone she used to hear from her earlier.

Arielle was now sure that this woman would do something to her. that she would not like. She forced her body to move. Even if she could just sit down.

"My head, my toes, my shoulder, my head…" The woman opened her cellphone and played that nursery rhyme again from there.

With a flash from a moment of light from the woman's cell phone, Arielle caught a glimpse of the woman's face— she knew her!

"Fvck you!" She cursed in an instant. Because Arielle was sure, now that she's already seen who's her, she wasn't on her side.

"Fvck you too, Arielle Medina. Can you stand up? It would be okay if you could stand up, so that the fight would be a bit fair..."

"Go to hell! You bitch!" Arielle's resort is just courage, courage and finding something to fight with the woman.

Ah, her cellphone in the bag! When she tapped the phone, she immediately dialed her friends' numbers.

"Call a friend? Haven't you contacted them before, but they didn't come to you?"

"I'd rather just hang out here, than ask for your help!" Arielle was even able to answer while typing on the cellphone. She is texting this time. She just hopes that her friends will come to her. "Shit!" It looks like the signal is still weak in that area and it doesn't want to send!

"Ah, okay. Your wish is my command!" At the same time as Arielle's cellphone was thrown away—which the woman took away— but she was still able to send a one text— the woman hit her on the knee with some cold, heavy and iron object— a pipe!

."Ahhh!" Arielle screamed in pain, but she just kept hitting by the woman at her knee.

Until she lay down because of the impact of its blow, and slipped on the floor that went straight when her head hit somewhere.

Arielle's spirit was still awake and her eyes were still awake, she could still hear that particular nursery rhyme and the creepy giggle of the woman who was wearing a uniform similar to their school uniform.

Until she couldn't stand it anymore and Arielle closed her eyes, when she felt the flow of her own hot blood on her face.

"Please go here, someone approached me and a it's—" The woman just smiled as she read Arielle's text to her friend Fatima.

It's a pity it was sent too late and cropped.

"Head, shoulder, knees and toes, knees and toes ..."

Once again, that new version of nursery rhyme is the rising tune when she leaves Hera Toralva's friend, Arielle Medina lying on the floor... lifeless and bathed in her own juicy red blood.