Remember That Day

Chapter 13

“So, how did you get here?” Jayda asked Damek.

Just as Damek slowly stood to face Jayda, he answered, “Ah, yes. I live here. I went here to clear things with you.”

Jayda’s forehead creased. “You live here? In this hotel? How? And what are you talking about you want to clear things...”

“I live in the same floor with you in this hotel, in the 8th unit. We’re neighbors.”

With that being said, Jayda realized that it wasn’t a dream. That the guy he saw before she passed out was him. It was Damek all the time whom she had suspected for a quite long time.

“You...” Jayda began to stutter in fear again. “You’re the murderer!”

“That... that is what I wanted to talk about with you,” Damek complained as he removed the hood from his head. “Please, let’s talk—”

“No! Don’t come any closer!”

Damek shut his eyes out of surprise when Jayda shouted that echoed all over the room.

“All this time, you were the suspicious guy in the hood at the pool? The guy whom I always hear on a phone call threatening someone? You were the murderer I was looking for!”

Damek couldn’t express how he felt as how Jayda blamed him for some criminal and a killer he would never be.

“Listen to me, Jayda! I don’t know how you ended up thinking that I’m the murderer that you’re talking about, but you’re blaming the wrong person! I will never kill anyone!”

“I don’t believe you!” Jayda snarled, reaching the pile of books on her table. “You better get out here before I throw this all to you!”

“Fine! Throw them to me all you want, but I won’t leave here without you hearing my side!”

“Fine!”

One by one, Jayda tossed the books to him from the thinnest to thickest, but Damek was skilled enough to avoid all of what Jayda was throwing at him.

The room went mess after it. Just as Damek noticed that Jayda’s temper subsided, he calmly spoke to her again.

“Please, let me introduce myself to you before you tell me that I’m the murderer you’re looking for,” he said. “If you find me still suspicious after, I will let you call the police. But please, hear me out first.”

Jayda just stared at him, gasping for air as she almost exhaust herself tossing everything that her hand touched to the guy.

“I am Damek... Damek Ivanov,” Damek proceeded. Just as he saw his comic book on the floor which Jayda bought at the book store when they were both in the mall, he picked it up then he added, “I am a Webtoon artist and this comic book you bought is one of my works. I’m known as D’Ivanov.”

Damek raised the book with his hand then waved it to Jayda. The woman was muted as she tried to listen to him, looking at the comic book he was claiming as his work.

“I had a long day today. I drove for two hours for a fan signing event and when I came back here, a rumor filled my ears. I was at the lobby when I heard some girls talking over the guy living in this floor, at the 8th unit which is me, and about a girl living at the 10th unit, this room 715 in the same floor which I had come to know that it’s you, Jayda.”

“Maybe she needs medical attention,” a woman in her early twenties said to her friend at same age.

“I think so. How could she make a show almost twice here telling everybody that there’s a killer inside this hotel?”

“She saw a dead body she say? But securities didn’t see any traces that a crime was committed. That’s really impossible!”

“I agree. She should have just get another room from other hotel instead of accusing the guy on floor seven in the 8th unit of being a murderer. If the guy is really a killer, she should’ve been dead already when in fact she’s in the 10th unit and they’re neighbors! She’s scaring people here.”

“I haven’t seen her all day!”

“Embarrassed for being crazy, I guess?”

“I’m not crazy!” Jayda snarled, making her buckled her knees out of frustration. A little sob she made was all she could do.

Luckily, Damek was fast enough to support her fall. He held her arms then slowly helped Jayda to sit on her bed.

“I came here to ask you, but when you opened the door and saw me, you got scared. Believe me, I wasn’t aware that you really live here. So I thought, it’s better if I scare you because of blaming me. But when I realized that it’s you and then eventually you collapsed, I got panicked because I had only just realized that you’re burning. I called a doctor and he told me that stress caused your fever which I made worse. I also remember before you lost your consciousness, you whispered that someone wanted to kill you. I just couldn’t understand...”

Jayda wiped her cheeks then looked at Damek. Just as she felt that he could be any help, she told him everything she remembered. Still, Jayda was not sure about Damek if she could trust him or not, but she had no choice. Her head might explode if she wouldn’t try to tell it to anyone.

“It was October 25th when I came back here from my friend’s party...” said Jayda.

Jayda felt tired and worn out from the party, so she thought of ditching her writing schedule tonight to have a good night sleep, but it didn’t end that way.

After the elevator opened, she suddenly felt her chest became heavy. It was maybe the result of being a coffee addict.

Few more steps and she reached the door of her room. As soon as she twisted the door knob, a woman’s dead body welcomed her, making her staggered backwards because of surprise.

No trace of blood, probably died by choking. No. How would she know? 

Her knees had weakened before she could be able to shout for help.

“Help! Somebody help me! There’s... there’s a body! Someone is dead!” she stuttered.

Gathering all her strength, she managed to stand and ran back to the elevator, then down to the lobby where she asked a receptionist to call a police.

Her chest became heavier as she desperately gasped for an air. Her actions drew the attention of almost everyone.

“Okay, Miss, stay calm. Where is the body?” a security asked, waving his hands down as if it would help Jayda to composed herself back to normal.

Breathing in and out, she answered, “Up there... 7th floor, room 715... my room. A woman’s body. Please, call the police!”

“How come that there is a dead body—”

“I don’t know!” Jayda interrupted. Her every muscle was tensed and flames of anger shot through her. “I just arrived at my room from my friend’s party, and then you’re going to ask me why there is a dead body there? The hell would I know!”

The security pursed his lips as he massaged his temples.

“Okay. Police are coming, we are going to help you. They will be here shortly, won’t take long now,” said the security.

As minutes dragged, Jayda found herself wondering how in the world that a dead body would be inside her room.

She heaved a deep sigh as she rubbed her palms.

Who could probably do this? Who might be the person behind the murder? Of course it wouldn’t be her nor Faris! 

And why of all people, why did this thing happen to her?

After a couple of minutes of waiting, they finally heard voices entered the foyer, sirens outside; a police radio squawked down the hallway.

Jayda didn’t let any more minute to slide and she rushed towards the elevator again with the policemen.

To everyone surprise, they found nothing. What the hell? Jayda thought to herself. The corpse that only Jayda saw was no longer in the room.

She shook her head.

“No... there’s no way that it was gone right this instant! I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes! There’s a dead body—”

“Let me ask you a question, Miss Jayda,” a police with a big built interrupted her.

“Please, Officer, believe me! There is something...” she pleaded the police to believe her, but it was not easy now that the body was no longer in sight.

“You are drunk, aren’t you?”

That shut up her. Right. She was little bit tipsy, but she was sure about what she saw earlier!

“No... no, I’m not,” she denied. Jayda even brushed her hair out of frustration. 

Just as she looked straight to the Officer, she added, “I’m sure about it, Officer. Why... why don’t you check the CCTVs to prove myself to you? Check them!”

But the police glanced over his shoulder to call the hotel security. It was a middle-aged man with a shorter height.

“We are sorry to say, but the CCTVs at the 6th and 7th floor is still under maintenance. In fact,” the security simply looked behind Jayda to assure himself that there was no dead body inside her room, “there’s no trace of blood. 

There were no clue nor a sign that a crime was committed here. Maybe... maybe you’re just really drunk. We could smell the alcohol from you.”

Jayda just sat down after what she heard. No one believed her.

“What? How on Earth could that be possible?” Damek exclaimed after hearing from Jayda what had happened that night. “How could the killer got rid of the body that easy?”

“I’m sure it is still around the hotel,” Jayda said as if she was really certain about it. “The next night after that murder incident, a guy passed by in front of me when I was sitting at the pool bench. I suspected him for some reason...”

It was not long before Jayda found a long wooden seat just as if it was meant for her to sit there. Hugging herself, she silently sat on the edge only to see that there was no one around except her and the guards.

It was 10 in the evening, so probably people had already been doing their night routines before going to bed, except those who were at the lobby. And it was not her time to do so. Her head was preoccupied with the scenes from her novel and of course, the murder incident that she, herself, was the only one who had took a glimpse of it.

She was about to tilt her head skyward to watch the stars when a guy suddenly passed by in front of her. What caught her attention more was his appearance. She had this sudden feeling that he was a bum of some sort.

No, she didn’t see his face, but the guy was wearing a hood, smelled like cigarettes and alcohol. Jayda’s eyes squinted as she watched him headed to the hotel’s service door.

Does he live in this hotel? she had thought to herself before she decided to follow him.

The guy in the hood walked straight to the elevator and Jayda was sure that he was the only one inside it.

She didn’t mind what was gotten into her that she suddenly wanted to follow a guy and thought that he was maybe, just maybe the one who was behind that mysterious murder incident.

Who knows? He really looks like and smells like he is someone who would do such a thing, she had thought again before she stood in front of the elevator and waited for it to stop.

“Where is he going?” she mumbled under her breath until she saw the elevator stopped at seven.

She gasped, palm on her mouth, cussing in her head simultaneously.

“No way!” she hissed as she pressed the open button. “No. He should not stop at that floor!”

Jayda was in panicked even though she was not yet sure about anything. But to think that CCTVs were not yet working on six and seven, there was no one except her and Faris on that floor. It was ridiculous, but among the 10 units on the 7th floor, there was only one room that had been occupied for the past 4 weeks, and that was their room!

People from that hotel wouldn’t believe her, so she kept it to herself. She would have to gather evidences before spilling that there was a killer around the circle.

The moment that the elevator stopped, she stepped out of it very slowly without making any noise. There was no one on that floor except her.

Brave enough, she started from the left end. She pressed her ear to each door, wondering if she could hear anyone inside.

The first half was nothing until she came to the the 8th door which was very near to her unit.

“Damn it! He’s here,” she whispered as she pressed her ear really hard against the door.

Jayda heard several scratches and typings on the keyboard. She was not sure until she heard a steel-like sound resonated inside followed by a man’s voice that made her tremble in fear and surprise.

“She should have just died. Suits her.”

Damek froze, eyes grew bigger. He said, stuttering, “You heard it?”

Jayda nodded. “Yes, I heard you say it.”

“Okay, look. It was October 26 when I arrived here, but I’m telling you... Yes, I said it, but I wasn’t the guy you saw from the pool that night.”

“If it was not you, then why did you say those words as if you were happy that someone died?”