Chapter XI
1063 Words
Rosette entered back to the hostel and spotted the couple at the bottom of the stair.
Joven was pulling their carry-on luggage with a backpack on his back. While Clarisse was carrying the smaller ones.
Rosette quickened her steps and approached them. "You are leaving now?" she asked. Her heart immediately felt empty.
"I'll go first, hon. I'll leave you two to talk a bit." Joven kissed the cheek of Clarisse before bidding farewell to her.
She nodded at Joven and did the same.
When Joven left, Clarisse put the bags down, smiled tenderly and took her hand. "I'm sorry about yesterday, Rosette. I really am. I know it was not your fault," she said in her most apologetic tone.
"Let's forget about it, sis. I understand that you are just shock from what happened. We all are." Rosette affectionately rubbed her shoulder with her free hand.
"Thank you." Clarisse gave her a hug. A tight and warm friendly hug.
She returned it with the same warmness and waited for Clarisse to let go first. "Let me help and accompany you to the floating dock." Rosette took a bag from the floor without waiting for her answer, to avoid her refusal.
"Are you sure? It's far from here and you'll come back here on your own." Clarisse was hesitant. She was thinking of Rosette's safety on her way back to the hostel.
"No worries. It's fine for me. I just want to cherish this moment with you. Come on." Rosette lead the way and Clarisse followed. They continued talking and even exchanged their numbers.
"Where's your boyfriend, by the way?" Clarisse asked when they were halfway to their destination.
"He was busy shooting his vlog." Rosette chuckled. Her mind float to Collin, to what he's been doing before she left him in her room.
He was wearing her clothes and put some makeup on as part of his challenge. Her mind was preoccupied with Collin that she had not paid notice to what Clarisse was saying.
She was pulled back to reality when Clarisse coughed. "Sorry. What did you say again?"
"Ahm... Do you really think that Melvin..." Clarisse gave her a you-know-what-I-mean look.
Rosette shook her head. "I don't really believe it," she honestly said. There was no point in hiding what she believed in. She thought that sharing it would lessen the weight.
"Yes, you should not." Clarisse nodded at her. "Be careful in your stay at the hostel. If I were you, you should leave the place as soon as possible," she warned.
"What do you mean? Do you know something?" Rosette asked as she was puzzled by Clarisse's words.
Did they also experience something unusual in their room?
Rosette had so many questions buzzing in her mind, waiting for the answers. And she was determined to find them.
"The hostel has some secrets. And they were hiding it from us," Clarisse finally voiced it out.
"Yah... That's what I am trying to figure out," she agreed. "But they won't say a thing." She smiled bitterly as she remembered the response of Mang Rolly and Sally.
They were already nearing to the floating dock, where Joven was waiting for his wife.
"By the way." Clarisse ceased her step to face her. "I left something in our room. Something you should see for yourself. I hid it under my pillow."
"What is it?" Rosette's brows met. She really wanted to know but Clarisse won't tell her what she hid.
"Take it and keep it away from prying eyes. You could use it as an evidence," Clarisse added, totally avoided her question.
"The boat has arrived. Shall we leave now?" Joven shouted from a distance.
"Just a sec," Clarisse shouted back. She hugged her for the last time. "Melvin was killed. That is a fact," she whispered.
Rosette dropped her jaw. She was unable to say anything even after her friend moved away and started walking.
"Goodbye, Rosette. Let's meet again when you get back to the city." Clarisse turned around and waved at her.
Rosette waved back. She waited for them to get into the boat before she decided to move.
She managed to come back to the hostel without paying attention to it. All she had in mind was the thing that Clarisse was pertaining to.
The sound of her footsteps echoed all around the hall when she ran up to the second floor. She tried to open the door of the room, where the couple had stayed.
It was locked.
She went into her room to get the pins and immediately came back. She was successful in opening the lock.
Rosette wasted no time and ran to the only bed in the room, lifted up the pillow closest to her and saw nothing. She did the same to the other one but it was still empty.
Where could it be? She was not trying to fool me, was she?
Her shoulders dropped as she sat on the edge of the bed. She got tired of nothing. Clarisse did not lie to her, she was sure about it. And she believed every word that she said.
Wait... Where's Collin?
She got up instantly when she remembered that no one was in her room. No motion even, except hers.
Her heart started to beat rigidly. She ran back to her room and looked for Collin.
"Collin?" She searched every corner of her room and in the bathroom but Collin wasn't there.
Did he go outside?
Worry consumed her when she thought that maybe he tried to find her when she was at the port.
She was about to step out when a phone produced a noise. It sounded like a video recording.
Rosette found it at the top of her bedsheet. It was Collin's video. No. The phone of Collin captured his vlog from a different angle.
Who would do this?
She threw the phone back to her bed. The coldness from her hand crawled in every part of her body.
The video died out after Collin went out of the room. No sign that Collin came back to turn off the video and put it on her bed.
Rosette went out to look for Collin outside the hostel without bringing Collin's phone. She had no time to study the whole video for something odder.
- Writer
