Cryptic Deaths - A Novel (Chapter 1)

I went to the park to have lunch with my friends. They’re Dave, Daniel, Kyle, Phoebe, Meg, and Marie. All of them were already in the lake that I was the last one to arrive. I didn’t expect to see them in the lake because it was 12 noon and the sun was warming their skin madly. As I was coming, they called for me to join them. But as I was preparing to go to the lake, I heard them crying Marie’s name.
“Marie!”
“Oh my God!”
“Help! Help!”
I didn’t know what to do.
I ran to where the sound was coming from and saw them at the lakeshore looking very scared. Phoebe and Meg hugged each other with Dave at their side. Daniel and Kyle stayed in the lake diving, took turns trying to find Marie under the water.
I was just standing there, thunderstruck. I was really confused and was unable to move any muscle.
Minutes passed and everybody was exhausted looking for Marie and crying for help. But after a few minutes, my friends argued again. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t know how to react.
Darkness filled the night and all of us were silent, stunned about the circumstances that came our way. Marie was one of our dearest friends and we knew nothing to do if ever she’s already dead. We strongly asked ourselves what to do. Must we tell it to Marie’s parents, call the police, or wait for her to come back, hoped that she was still alive.
We had our camp there and tried to sleep through the night, but we couldn’t sleep. We thought “Is she okay?”
In the middle of the night, we’ve agreed to pack our things up and go straight back home to our families.
We got aboard Kyle’s car, which was the only vehicle that was there. Kyle started the car’s engine, but something went wrong. The engine failed to start. We were very frightened. We went very wild. Meg and Phoebe shouted and cried. All of us talked and screamed our lungs out and didn’t understand what the other said. I told them to calm themselves but it was no use. Seconds were wasted and our energies depleted. We went still. I felt something weird and saw that my friends felt it too. All of us looked back at the lake. We saw a woman standing over the water, dripping wet, with a sad face and a bloody head, with her hands trying to reach us.
We froze, stared at the woman’s face and it was Marie!
Again, Kyle tried to start the engine and thankfully, it worked. He stepped on to the accelerator and we were off quickly, running away from our friend.
We cried during our journey back home. Marie’s appearance played in our minds.
We were on the road for a long while until our nerves calmed and I was the first one to talk and asked what happened in the lake. Dave, the most outspoken in the group, said, “We were having good time there in the lake, swimming. We were amazed when Marie dived from a big rock but all of a sudden, blood spread in the lake. We panicked and tried to find her but we didn’t succeed. Then the rest, I think you know, and that will be our unforgettable history.”
“I think when we were leaving the place, Marie… Oh Marie!” Meg inserted.
“I know it’s not easy to accept that she’s already dead but we can’t do anything now, so continue what you were just saying,” I said.
“I can’t believe it, she’s dead!”
“No one can accept it that fast but let us try. Please, Meg, be calm,” I saw Phoebe was crying too.
Meg wiped her tears and continued, “When we were leaving the lake, I think she showed herself to tell us not to leave her. I saw her trying to reach us with her arms. Oh God! How I wish this didn’t happen.”
The day after, we came back to the lake. The police were there and told us that they have seen nothing, barely nothing.
Her relatives would keep on grieving for not having anything after Marie’s death, not even her body.
Marie would be in the lake and wait for her friends to go back and save her grieving soul. She would stay there and haunt anybody who gets there…forever....

“Amity” - A Poem

It’s been a long time that I didn’t speak
The words just clung on my tongue’s peak
Now this is the time I’ll let them out
For you to know what it’s all about

From the very first time we got very close
I’ve felt that happiness always flowed
We followed the beat and gracefully danced
’Til the music stopped, I got exhausted

Then we went home and bid goodbyes
You didn’t know I made long sighs
As I thought of you along the way
And prayed that you wouldn’t go astray

So as I eat, I think of you
When I would pray, it’s all for you
And as I sleep, I think of you
And in my dreams, there’s me and you

After time passed, we got closer
We have been always together
Until I said this, “I love you”
Then you revealed your feelings too

But after that, we were very shy
To meet again, I didn’t know why
I cried so much ‘coz I missed you
While hoping that you missed me too

I tried to make things to be better
But as time turned, our times got bitterer
I ignored you, you did the same
Until our Christmas party came

All of the class danced to the beat
With you and me who danced in it
Oh yes we danced and sang and played
But our closeness was still buried

After the party, I hugged the class
And reserved you to be the last
So we could talk to each other longer
But we couldn’t deny that time was over

Then we went home, I drank my lime
While I imagined of our good times
Now it’s already our vacation
And it’s already our “Winter Season”

‘Til Christmas day and New Year’s finished
It’s also time our break has vanished
And now that all our class resumed
Everyone’s relaxation is doomed

Then we’ve waited for graduation to come
We’ve heard “goodbyes” from everyone’s tongue
But months before that said occasion
We didn’t talk again so I bellowed

I was very sad for what had happened
I thought my heart has already harden
I asked myself how it would happen
Because my heart wasn’t even broken

I just wanted to rest my mind
From thinking of you all the time
Because I’ll just be very sad
Maybe I’ll cry again very bad

But all I wanted now is to tell you
I want to be very close to you
But before our college days are through
I’ll repeat this again, “I love you!”

Gust of a Mistral - A Short Story

The moon seemed like an orb in the middle of a perfectly formed ring of colors reflected from the gracefully moving clouds in the night sky. The wind blew with a soft whisper from the dancing pine trees with robins sleeping on their branches. My body shivered a bit as the winter cold bit through my skin.
“Why won’t she let us in? It’s so cold out here and I feel uneasy. This night is unusual, it creeps me out! Don’t you think...? Hey! You’re not paying attention. Are you okay?”
“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine. It’s a little bit cold out here and freaky too.” I said after hearing nothing but her last three words.
“Yeah! That’s what I just said!” exclaimed my friend Cleo.
“Ha, ha! Sorry.” Our words were made unclear by the rushing winds. “All the lights are off and we called out a couple of times and nobody answered back. Do you reckon she’s in that house?”
“With a doubt, maybe she isn’t,” answered Cleo.
“Let’s go home instead?” I suggested.
“Yes, I would love to. But in the middle of this night, it’s impossible that a vehicle would pass this way. I just wondered why Christine’s house is located this far from town.”
“We’d rather walk, if you’re not a coward,” I said after she permitted me to grin.
“Yeah, funny! Of course I’m not a coward! It’s just a kilometer away anyway.”
We walked towards the town proper and passed through a stretch of field of tall, wild grasses. We were just silent as we walked on the rocky road, jolting every time we hear a rustle from the tall grasses. Cleo was shaking and looked very nervous while she clung to my gently swaying arm. I didn’t complain about her squeezing it a couple of times.
Cleo glanced occasionally behind us, feeling that something or someone was following us.
“Aaaah!” screamed Cleo. My eardrums nearly burst.
At once, I faced what she was looking at and saw two bloated eyes in a tree. “Hey! That’s just an owl!”
“Yeah, I just realized.”
“Aaaah!” she screamed, again. For some time, I thought I’ve lost my hearing.
“Oh come on! It’s just my mobile phone.” I laughed and she apologized. I read the message and it was from Christine. I read it to Cleo – “Sorry we can’t have our movie marathon tonight. I’m out of town. I’m



here at my grand mom’s place and my car broke. Maybe we’ll have it next weekend. Sorry.”
“Good thing we decided to go home. But maybe walking isn’t an idea to be comfortable with,” she complained.
After a long, creepy and chilly walk, we finally reached Cleo’s house. After I bid goodbye to her, I walked several blocks more and reached my house and slept in my peaceful room.
I was in a long, narrow hallway. I couldn’t recognize the things that were there. As I walked, a blurry image of Cleo appeared in front of me. Her eyes bulging, her mouth dropped open, her body laid awkwardly on the floor with her arms spread wide, and her neck… her neck was bleeding, spurting so much blood from her slit throat. I ran to her and wrapped her in my arms, crying. Her eyes were soaking wet and she tried to tell me something but no words came out and blood spurt more wildly until she closed her eyes and finally rested in peace.
She died.
What happened to her? Who did it? Why was she killed?
The phone rang as if it was very angry. I woke up, breathing hard, sweating a lot. I let that moment sink into me because I knew it was a dream, just a bad dream.
The phone rang wilder so I picked it up instantly. I knew it was Christine the moment she spoke with fear evident in her tone, “I heard Cleo is in the hospital, is she okay?”
The words struck me like a burning arrow. The dream… could that be true? Thoughts circled in my mind as fear flooded me. Without a thorough conversation, I asked her instantly what hospital she’s in.
I immediately took off, thinking about my dream. My mind and heart battled each other. I hoped Cleo was okay but my heart thumped crazily, expecting the worst.
I entered her room and saw her on the bed. She looked at me in the eyes and right away, I burst into tears. I knew at that moment that she was alive. I was embarrassed when she asked why I was crying. I just hugged her and cherished the moment.
“What happened to you?” Cleo asked while a smile painted across her face.
“Never mind me,” I said instead telling her about my dream. “You? What happened to you?”
“Ha, ha. It’s so funny. Last night, I ate an apple. I sliced it using a knife. I left the knife on the floor and after I woke up, I stepped on it. And now, I have 4 stitches!”
We talked and laughed until the day faded away. After all, everything was fine.