Guardian Evil

CHAPTER 45: The Father, The Son, and The Girl who suffered

“RUN!”

Romina heard something clinking behind her and she immediately turned her head and saw a figure holding a baseball bat. She was about to be hit by it but the shadow was thrown away by a powerful force. Romina immediately felt an arm wrapped around her waist securely.

She immediately turned her head on Luciel and Simeon who were glowing because of their forms.

“We made it on time,” Simeon said. “I didn’t expect that he’s the one behind the murder.”

“Yeah… me too,” Luciel agreed as they looked at the guy who slowly got up on his feet.

Romina’s eyes settled on the guy and she gasped in utter shock as soon as she saw the face of the said murderer. “How… this is impossible…”

“I…”

“I didn’t expect that it was our school guard who murdered Caroline Singson.”

Still confused, Romina looked at Luciel then to the school guard who was about to stand up but using Luciel’s powerful chains, he couldn’t. “M-Mang Melchor? Ho-How? Why? Why did you do that to Caroline?”

Mang Melchor, one of their long-termed school guard. He’s one of the two bodyguards of the school and he’s also the oldest. He even witnessed so many students who graduated and teachers who come and go to the school.

“He’s not actually the one who killed Caroline,” Simeon said. “His son did the murder.”

“W-What? But Luciel said that he’s the one who—”

“Well, being the accomplice of someone’s murder is also considered as the murderer. That’s it,” Luciel said.

Luciel turned his head and saw Caroline standing between him and Simeon. The tears from her eyes fell on her rotten cheeks the moment she saw Mang Melchor. Mang Melchor was also shocked and terrified when he saw the ghost of Caroline that he was left speechless. Sweat from his forehead rolled down his cheek.

He was shocked and terrified, just like what he felt when he sees Caroline’s ghost when he roamed around the school, especially the music room.

“Miguelito Paterno. 18 years old. That’s the name of the guy who murdered Caroline,” Simeon said. “Currently, he’s in Pampanga and he stopped school one month before graduation… and just two weeks after he killed Caroline.”

“Mang Melchor…” they could hear the tone of betrayal from Caroline’s voice. “I-I trusted you. I even consider you as my father because you’re nice to me. How did you do this to me? Why did you kill me?!”

“My son…” Mang Melchor trailed off. “My son just loves you so much, Caroline. Even if we… he’s not in the same level as yours. Even if he’s not as smart and as talented as you are, even if you’re not in the same class, he still tried his best to be close to you, for you to notice him… that’s why, even if he didn’t have any talent in music, he still joined in the music club to see you… to be with you. He’s just so in love with you that he did everything for you. He pursued to practice baseball to join the baseball team but he gave it up for the music club just to be with you.”

The four of them went silent and continued to listen to Mang Melchor.

“He did everything… to the point that he’ll do anything just to stop your admirers to come to you to the point also that he’ll do things bad to them when they’ll approach you or worst, he’ll hurt them. ‘Caroline is mine and mine alone’, he said,” the school guard shook his head and continued. “I tried to stop him but I couldn’t. He even threatened me that he’ll hate me and run away from home if I’ll try to stop him so I made myself blind and deaf to everything that he does. He’s the only family that I have so I don’t want to lose him. When you turned him down, when you rejected him... he couldn’t take the rejection and things happened. That night… that very night… that happened.”

Caroline all of a sudden halted singing when the power went off. She glanced up at the top of a room and spoke. “A blackout?”

She look at the window and saw a few houses out the school that still have lights on and she saw that those houses have the same power line as the school.

“But there’s still power on those houses. What happening—?” Before she manage to finish what she was saying, she sensed something weighty that hit her head and she fell to the ground.

“Who-Who are you—ack!” She then sensed enormous hands wrapped around her neck, choking her. She wrestled, trying to take those hands away from her neck. She tried to breathe but she couldn’t anymore.

“L-Let m-me ack go—” She kept on wrestling, slapping that person to let her go but the latter punched her jaw so hard that she could taste her own blood and choked her even more.

“You better off dead, Caroline…” Miguelito said as he smothered Caroline more. “If you can’t be mine, never will have you!”

Caroline tried to push the boy on top of her continuously. He once again punched her on the jaw that she could feel her blood leaking from her mouth. She still struggled, tried to push him continuously but she sensed herself becoming feeble and she couldn’t breathe anymore until she gave up and died on the spot.

Realizing what he acted, Miguelito shortly let go of Caroline and tried to shake her, as if waking her up. “Caroline? Caroline? Caroline, I’m-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean to hurt you! Please revive! Please! Please, wake up!”

“Miguelito!” Miguelito rapidly turned his head to his father, the school guard named Melchor as the man illuminated the room up with his flashlight. He was shocked when he saw the scene before him—his son Miguelito with b****y hands and Caroline who’s already dead.

“P-Pa…” Miguelito called him and this time, he was already weeping. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. I didn’t mean to kill her. I’m sorry…”

“Stop crying, son. Let’s take the dead body somewhere away from here.”

“For the sake of your son, even if he did such the worst thing to me, you tolerated it and you didn’t save me. You abandoned me in that cold backyard, in that cold ground! How dare you! You took away my life and my dreams! You’re heartless!” Caroline turned a ghost in forlorn and immediately attacked Mang Melchor. Because he was tied up, Mang Melchor couldn’t dodge or run away.

The ghost was about to choke him when Luciel appeared in front of her and immediately held her tight. Caroline struggled in his hold. “Let go of me! Let go of me, you demon!”

“Can you please shut the f**k up and calm down, you gloomy ghost?! If you don’t want to get dragged to hell by me, shut up,” Luciel told her, threatening her even.

Mang Melchor bowed his head and started to sob. “He just loves you that much… he didn’t mean to hurt you…”

“This is what I don’t like about humans. Just because of this thing called love, y’all become tainted and evil,” Luciel said and looked at Mang Melchor. “What your son felt and shown is not love. Just straight-up obsession. An obsession that caused him to destroy both of your lives. That’s not what love is. Love makes you stronger in times that you’re weak. Love gives you warmth when you felt cold. Love makes you feel secure when you felt defenseless. Love makes you feel free. That’s how… amazing love is. You don’t need so much power nor so much wealth or you don’t have to be extravagant just to show to the ones you cherish how much you love them. It just felt so peaceful and warm when there was love. You can feel love, not for other being but also love for yourself. These are the things that your son failed to realize… and you failed to let him feel as well. The obsession destroyed the love inside your son’s heart that he destroyed the both of you… and even himself.”

“I appreciate your feelings for me, Miguelito but I couldn’t accept it. Having a romantic relationship… it’s not in my mind as of this moment. But, we could be friends. I like being friends with you.”

“I did everything to be with you. Why can’t you love me?”

Caroline felt weak in Luciel’s hold that she couldn’t help but cry. Mang Melchor cried louder than earlier.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry that I didn’t save you that I took away your life and dream and you suffered because of us… I’m sorry, Caroline.”