Malediction

Exposed

"I am telling you this for the last time, Mr.Gonzalez and I don't have any relationship whatsoever. It's all in your imagination, Elo!" Amanda shouted from the master's bedroom. "You're lying! You were not alone when you requested a vacation!" Elo kept up with her high tone. "Of course, I wasn't. I had Sandra and guards with me like I always had for all the years we were married together." She was exasperated with Elo's persistence with the issue. "Wasn't it you who would demand me to be not alone?" She asked in defense. "But there are no guards that I know now. You've changed them." Elo replied in a growl. I saw him step closer to her where their faces were mere inches apart. "I wouldn't want any incompetent men taking care of my safety. Especially not you." She said as her final response, mocking him face to face. Their gazes lingered with despise for each other. I thought it would never break away but Amanda took a step back.

"I helped you become one of the most successful governors in the country, and what do I get? All I get is an inconsiderate, unloving and possessive man for a husband!" Amanda screamed at Elo, pointing at him while her voice broke. She threw things at him from their cabinet top. First it was just pillows, but the items she pulls get heavier and sturdier as time passes. He raised his arms in a defensive stance as he tried to get closer to her. "Get away from me! You made me this way!" She cried and continued to throw things randomly. "Amanda, stop playing victim!" Books and pens flew through the air, along with some ornaments that kept breaking on the floor. It was utter chaos. "NO! YOU ARE. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Amanda was a mess of flowing tears and sadness, far from her intimidating sophisticated stature. She continued to break things when she had nothing to throw. Elo was trying to stop her but she was far from calming down.

This was something new to me after meeting the woman who had intimidated me not too long ago. It was almost unbelievable even to see it with our own eyes. Tim and I were a few steps away from their room with its door unhinged enough for us to see the whole scene. We were just there to make sure none of them were critically harmed as the argument ensued.

Steps from the ground floor echoed through the walls, which gradually became louder. Matilda was coming for them. "Mom... Dad." I heard her say to herself repeatedly as she hurried to the master's bedroom. When Matilda arrived, she ran past us and went into the room where her parents' love deteriorated to hatred. Her tears were already falling from her eyes as she called for them in a worrisome voice. "Mom, dad please stop."

Both of them were surprised to see their grown daughter in tears and of no care for refinement in that very moment. It was a first. They were to enormed with themselves that they hadn't noticed how grown she was for the past decade where she could completely handle the decision making for her, and for all of them. Matilda looked like her mother, even with the mess of tears. "Mom, please." Matilda begged Amanda. Matilda gripped to random items Amanda was about to fling across the room and looked into the identical eyes red and brimmed with tears. With this, Matilda tried her best to calm down her mother Amanda while they sat down by the floors. The only daughter didn’t need to do much, her presence was enough for them to stop the fight. She whispered something to her mother’s ear that would make Amanda at ease, even happy. It brought her mother senses to a more bearable knotch. She nodded to Elo and smiled.

Sandra was beside me. She had seen it all too. Looking at her, she seemed amused but she never said a word. A phone was on in her hand as if she was taking a video of it, but no. Upon closer look , it was a call. A call that was ongoing for the last hour was seen on the screen. It was the same time Elo and Amanda had been fighting.

"Who's that?" I asked in a whisper. Sandra turned to me with a face that said she was achieving something out of this. “Jerry.” She mouthed cautiously in one moment’s glance. I nodded. So, to Amanda this was all for show. It was an act played like what I saw in theatres. All it took was one shot and it was wonderfully executed nevertheless.Even I thought Amanda’s acting was the real deal. She even requested an audience with the only man that continues to ruin the Pelaez family, Jerry. Amanda wasn’t thinking about how Matilda would cope with this fake display of emotions.Matilda, her only child, wasn't her first concern. She didn’t mind at all, she was heartless.

Elo came out of the room with a dark expression, as if what Matilda did wasn’t enough to make him feel easy, even for one bit. He motioned for us to follow him as he silently walked back to his car. Then from one glance, I thought of Elo smiling mischievously. I wasn’t sure if it was my mind playing tricks with me again but I’m sure this family isn’t the typical one. It felt like each and one of them had an ulterior motive for each family member, be it for the wife or child.

He stopped walking from a comfortable distance while Amanda was being released from the room with a blanket wrapped around her, Sandra and Matilda on each arm, assisting her weakened legs from the encounter. They were both in the hallway, looking to each other blankly, as if they were strangers who only met that time. Elo sighed from seeing the situation Amanda was in.

"I want a divorce." Was what the governor said that broke their silence. "That would be better for us than playing with ourselves, pretending we still love each other." He said firmly. Matilda looked down on the ground with a vine of

Amanda, in her disheveled state, smiled warmly at Elo. "We could talk about that when our heads are clear. Yes?" She offered. Elo smiled as well, infected with Amanda's sweet one. "Yes, we can.”

The sudden change of mood from anger to a light feeling one was confusing. It was as if they understood each other so well. Then what would make Amanda wander to different men when Elo was not around when they had this level of communication?

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Andrea was sorting out the data we gathered for the past week. She was in shock to know that the hacienda holds an illegal activity under its wing. The more we stay here, the more we plunge into the dark activities of the people we investigate.

We really don't know now how to give all the information to the public at once, but Andrea was already writing drafts of everything that was substantial.

"Do you really leave your windows with an opening?" I asked her as I noticed a window hanging slightly ajar, pushed to the inside of the apartment we temporarily lived in. "Sometimes it can be hot in here. I might've forgotten to lock that." She replied. "You should be careful, we never know who would take advantage of this." I said in concern. She shrugged it off. " It's okay. The window lock is not working anyway." She said complacently, starting to get lazy from all the paperwork. I checked it and what she said was true, and it was.

The lock seemed to be hacked a long time ago with a smaller one trying to do its job, but barely closes the window airtight.

Andrea's phone chimed multiple times but she ignored every single one of them. She was probably immune to the sound of notifications telling her to check her phone but I'm not. I took her phone to put it on vibrate. I glanced at her if she was to contradict my actions but she seemed unbothered and extremely focused on her task. I opened her phone. It was a couple of chat messages that continued to pop up as I unlocked her phone. I clicked the chat only to see pictures of Andrea being continuously taken as I scroll. And it wasn't the old ones. It was at that moment. Her bed hair, her clothes, a pile of paper and a laptop in front of her was exactly as it was now. I looked out the windows to see if there was anyone outside. There was none.

And the last picture he sent was me, looking out straight to the camera. He went offline.