His Secretary

Prologue

Prologue

Huff. Huff. Huff.

I can hear myself breathing heavily. My chest rises and lowers and I keep doing that until I have enough air to inhale.

Huff. Huff. Huff.

I breathed into my mouth and exhaled deeply.

Kanina ko pa nararamdaman ang pagkatuyo ng aking lalamunan. If I could only drink the sweat coming from my body then I will gladly do that. I never knew I am capable of sweating like I could fill a bucket. Kahit ang mga palad ko ay pinagpapawisan kahit napakalamig ng paligid. What do I expect? It's in the middle of the night and so the temperature is lower than usual. Pero kahit ganon, tumatagaktak pa rin ang aking pawis kahit natanggal ko na ang jacket na suot ko. Ramdam ko na rin nag pagsakit ng aking buong katawan pero wala akong oras na dapat sayangin sa pagpapahinga. Kahit sumasakit ang mga palad ko ay patuloy pa rin ako sa paghuhukay. I almost grit my teeth. Why those other people looked effortless in using a shovel? Nobody told me shovelling is such a hard work.

I know at any moment, my body will fail me so I have to hurry and dig deeper unless I want other people witnessing how I buried a body in here.

Napatingin ako sa katawan na nakabalot ng puting tela na nakalagay sa lapag at wala na akong oras na sinayang at pinagpatuloy ang pagpala ng dumi. Using my feet and my weight, I push the shovel in the ground and scoop out a big chunk of a dirt.

I wonder how many feet I should dig to bury a dead body without people knowing that there is a body buried deep within. Six feet? Eight feet? Jee...zus! I should have googled this first before signing up to do this.

If someone ever saw me doing this, I don't have a way out. No excuses could save me from going to prison. Kaya kailangan ko itong pagbutihan o ito ang tatapos sa aking buhay. Growing up, I knew there was no life ahead of me. My future is a dark state that I couldn't even paint with my not-so-colorful present. My life is like a monochrome color. Dull. Complex. Uncertain. That's why despite the place being dark, it doesn't bother me anymore. I am used to it. And now I have a body to bury. A real body. Cold and heavy and definitely not breathing.

I've been doing the same process over and over again by using my feet to push the shovel into the ground and scoop out the dirt from underneath until my body couldn't move anymore. And when I am sure that I have dug deep enough to bury the body, I throw the shovel to the side and walk toward the body.

Walang pagalinlangan na tinulak ko ang nakabalot na katawan papunta sa hukay na ginawa ko at mabilis na tinakpan ito ng lupa. Sinigurado kong mabuti na natatakpan ang katawan ng maayos upang wala ng makakita pa. The body will now feel eternal darkness and lost in the abyss forever.

I made sure to cover the grave with dried leaves and twigs before getting all my belongings. I had to double—triple—check that no one would ever find the body here or else I would spend my sweet time in prison. I don't want that to happen. Ever. Before leaving the place, there are questions that have been running through my mind:

What went wrong?

Where does this start?

How did I end up like this?

God, I just murdered someone and I'm glad I did it.

***

Note: New story alert. Will be written mostly in English.