The Deadly Dinner #1 - The Beginning Page 2

  “Her,” Emmy pursed her lips towards Bree. “I actually bumped into her at the powder room, she spilled her drink on my dress and she just looked so nervous.” She took a deep breath, “I feel like her nervousness has a lot to do with their engagement. Like, maybe, she’s not ready for it because I don’t know…maybe she likes the guy. Or she’s protective of the girl.” She sighed, “I really shouldn’t be thinking about this, huh?”

  They both laughed and thanked the maitre’d for sending them their orders: lamb chops, a scallop and shrimp bowl, and mango-lychee and strawberry-mandarin cakes. The wine was divine, too—like Daniel chose it especially for this occasion.

  “You know,” Daniel said. “Sometimes, I feel like I wasn’t able to give you a proper proposal. Like, there’s more that I could’ve done.”

  Emmy laughed. “Nonsense,” She said. “I’m glad for how things turned out between us, for us, and…” She squeezed Daniel’s hand. “I’m glad because I’m with you.” She smiled. “Now, should we eat or what?”

  They laughed and started working on their meals.

  I used to believe in love.

  I used to believe that when you like someone, the universe will work in such a way that it will be good for you both; that things will work out between you two.

  I was so young when I first realized that I liked him. I was so young when I thought that I could be with him, that we’d go to the prom together, that maybe when we graduate from High School, we could leave this town and we could start over, just the two of us.

  But she ruined everything.

  Or maybe, he did.

  Maybe, he just never saw me as someone he could be together with. Maybe, I was too plain. Maybe, I just wasn’t his type.

  But somehow, it didn’t feel that way. Somehow, when you kissed me that afternoon, I knew that you also had feelings for me. I knew that the way you looked at me had a lot to do with how you really saw me; I knew you wanted it to be something bigger than it was.

  That’s what you said, right?

  You told me you’ll end it with her, and we’d be good and blah blah blah.

  PROMISES.

  Promises could kill.

  I was so young when I first fell for you.

  And now…I’m still young, but everything about me feels old.

  ***

  Chapter 4

  Scream For Your Life

  “It’s so funny how she wants to actually put fireplaces in almost every part of the house,” Daniel said. He was telling Emmy a story about one of his clients, one Elizabeth Grant who apparently was obsessed with installing fireplaces in her house. Daniel was now back to his architectural roots, practicing what he studied once again. He stopped for a while to take on freelancing jobs, but he decided to go back to work after they got married so he’d be able to provide more for her—and for their future. “Talk about a crazy kind of obsession!”

  Emmy laughed as she took a bite of the mango-lychee cake. “Aren’t all obsessions crazy?” she asked. “I mean, when you think about it, Lena was pretty obsessed about dad so that led her to do all those things. And then Annabeth was so crazy about being the perfect daughter and all that so she forgot that her feelings were actually real and valid. She forgot that she had the right to choose her own path, instead of just living up to everyone’s expectations, you know what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” Daniel said. “I guess you could say that things are never really in black and white, at least not most of the time.”

  “You could say that,” Emmy said. “Audrina called, by the way.”

  “Yeah? How is she?”

  “She’s good,” Emmy smiled. “You know, I feel like an engagement is coming for her and dad soon.”

  “Yeah?” Daniel asked. “And how’d you feel about that?”

  “You know what?” She said. “It’s fine. I mean it’s awkward, of course, but she’s in the right age and dad’s smitten with her. She makes him happy. When I left, dad was so devastated and…and I thought I’d never see him happy again. He loved mom, and mom will always be my mother but…I wouldn’t stand in the way of their happiness. Audrina’s amazing.”

  “She is,” Daniel said. “If I were her, I probably wouldn’t have forgiven us when we accused her of—“

  “I know,” Emmy took a deep breath. “Oh well, at least we all have moved on from that.”

  “And Tripp and Lena are both incarcerated.”

  “They’re insane, both of them,” Emmy said. “I couldn’t believe they were able to do all that. And Selena’s still keen on putting me down, even setting up this hate page for me.”

  “Some people at work talk about that, you know,” he said. “But don’t worry, honey, you have more fans than haters.”

  “Fans, huh?”

  “You’re a star,” he said, “and quite frankly, you cook better than the people here.”

  “See? I told you,” she teased. “But then again…your surprise was amazing. I think you deserve a gift tonight.”

  He grinned, “Really? Should I dress up for it? Or maybe, dress down—“

  She tapped him gently on the arm. “Shut. Up,” She said.

  They continued eating and chatting and were still having some fun when suddenly, everyone were disrupted by the shrill screams of someone from the powder room, her screams a knife cutting the silence down.

  “AAHHHHHHH!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

  Death is a funny thing.

  You know how when you’re a kid, you thought that you’d be so scared of death and that it’ll only happen when you’re old and lanky and wrinkly… but alas, death could come knocking on your door any time, any day!

  Sometimes, I wonder how things would’ve turned out if I stayed alive; if I didn’t go out of this world the way I did. Sometimes, I wonder how it would have been like if the person who killed me was caught.

  Of course, that wouldn’t bring me back to life, but still…

  I remember events from that day.

  I remember almost everything but when it comes to my death…it’s painful.

  You think death ends pain?

  Think again.

  How can I not be in pain when it’s been years and my killer is still out there, celebrating?

  You know what I remember the most, though?

  I remember confusion. I remember the feel of water on my skin, the smell of that place…

  And mostly, I remember betrayal.

  I remember betrayal more than anything else.

  I remember how I trusted her; how I trusted them, and what did I ever get from that?

  Nothing.

  Nothing but death.

  ***

  Chapter 5

  Goodbye Angeline

  “AHHHHHH!!!!” The woman’s screams were still so loud that a few people were prompted to check what was happening. The maitre’d asked everyone to stay in their seats, but of course, some people couldn’t just sit down after hearing all those things.

  The manager of the restaurant made her way to the powder room, and when the door was opened everyone gasped and were left in shock to see Angeline, the woman who just got engaged earlier, lying down on the floor. She appeared lifeless.

  “Angie!” Her fiancé, Tyler screamed, “Oh no, Angie!” He then pushed through the swarming crowd and hastily made his way towards the body of his fiancé. He shook her. “Angie! What happened?! Call the doctor, please! Call the police!” He was panicking now and everyone else was on their toes, too.

  Bree, who apparently was Angeline’s sister, was also sitting down on the floor, hugging herself. She was crying and shaking.

  “What happened?!” Tyler asked her. “Bree, what happened?!”

  “I don’t know!” Bree spat at him. “How will I know? I was inside one of those cubicles and when I got out, I found her like that. She was…she’s on the floor, her mouth bubbling. I…I have no idea how this could have happened. Oh my god. That’s my sister!” She cried, buckets of tears flowing out of her eyes.
“Please…please help us.”

  “Everyone, please go home,” The manager said. “I am so sorry for this inconvenience—“

  “Inconvenience?!” Tyler shouted. “My fiancée’s—”

  “We just called 911 and the police—”

  “Everyone please go home.”

  People slowly but hesitantly made their way out of the restaurant, talking about how things could have been that way and how everything was so peaceful earlier. Even Emmy was shook up; she didn’t know how to react.

  As they made their way to the limo, they bumped into the woman who spoke to them earlier, the one who said she was thankful that Lena McMahon was gone. “Oh,” she said as she saw Daniel and Emmy, “sorry…that was…that was quite unfortunate.”

  Emmy nodded, “Looks like the troubles in Sky Valley are starting again.”

  “Calm down, child,” the woman said. “We still don’t know what this is. “Anyway, we have to go. Do take care of yourselves.”

  Emmy nodded and let Dan open the car door for her. She couldn’t wait to go home.

  Old habits die hard, they say.

  And you know what? I believe them.

  When you know that a person is capable of betraying her closest friend, you do know that she can betray her sister, too. Sometimes, blood is not thicker than water.

  People have all these things that they want. People have other people that they want, so of course, they do have the tendency to hurt whoever gets in their way. I do understand the motive. What I don’t understand is how she could do it.

  Oh no, just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I have no idea what I’m saying.

  I’m not entirely sure, but it’s palpable. It’s not impossible that she’s the one who hurt me before, and it’s not impossible that she’s the one who hurt Angeline, too.

  She’s still her old evil self.

  I know. I had to prove it.

  And what she did today?

  That justifies that she’s really the reason why I could no longer live on this earth.

  But don’t worry, Bree, the cops will get you—and you’ll rot in prison hell forever.

  ***

  Chapter 6

  Ghosts Of Murders Past

  “What I don’t understand,” Emmy said as she put the comforter over the bed and smoothed it down, “is how that could have happened. The news says that it’s probably just food poisoning, but come on, Dan.” she said, the TV blaring news about Angeline’s death in the background.

  What the police knew, as of now, is that Angeline died due to food poisoning, and more investigations will be done. Both Tyler and Bree were taken in for questioning.

  “If she died because of food poisoning then shouldn’t it be imperative that we’ll all be poisoned, too, especially if the poison is strong enough to kill someone?” Emmy asked.

  “Yeah, I was thinking about that, too.” Daniel said. “It’s like someone did this especially for her, to hurt her.”

  “And why would anyone do that? She looks so nice…so fragile. And she just got engaged, for heaven’s sake! It’s just so unfair.”

  “Honey, nothing’s ever fair,” Dan patted Emmy on the arm.

  “I know, but…” she took a deep breath. “You know, I feel like that Bree girl has something to do with this.”

  “Because she was at the crime scene?”

  “Because of the look in her eyes when they got engaged. She’s hurt, Dan, I could totally tell. That’s not the look of someone who’s happy for her sister or for her friends, especially on an occasion like that. She wasn’t exactly celebrating. And she was so weird when I saw her at the powder room, like she was hiding something. Like—”

  “Relax,” Daniel told her as he kissed her on the lips. “You need to stop worrying. This isn’t our problem anymore.”

  “But Dan—“

  “I know it’s hard, especially since we were there, but honey…you have to learn to let go of some things. Not everything is under our control.”

  “I know,” she said, “but it just seems unfair.”

  He kissed her on the forehead then trailed his way down to her lips. “I love you,” he told her, “It’s our anniversary, Em, you have to relax.”

  She looked in his eyes and laughed. He was right, she thought, it’s their anniversary, after all. And yet, she couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, when in fact they really had nothing to do with it. Everything was just coincidence—or was it?

  Enough thinking, Emmy told herself. She then gave in and kissed Daniel passionately on the lips. Soon enough, clothes were being thrown off the floor, and they no longer cared about the world outside; only focusing on each other, wrapping themselves in sheets of flannel, making love and making dreams.

  When they were finished, both of them satisfied, Daniel looked at her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I love you,” He said.

  “I love you, too.”

  “You know,” he said, holding her hand, “sometimes, I still can’t believe that we’re married.”

  “Like you want to get divorced?”

  “What? No!” He laughed, “Where’d you get that idea? What I mean is…sometimes, all of this still seem surreal. Like, sometimes, you just look back on everything and you wonder how on earth you got to where you are right now. But with us, it’s a good thing. It’s always a good thing.”

  “Even though we’ve been through a lot?” she asked.

  “Those things don’t matter anymore.”

  They kissed and she spoke, “I kind of feel…scared.”

  “Because of what happened to Angeline? Yeah, me too, but you know…this isn’t about us anymore. It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. We’ll get through this.”

  ***

  Emmy rolled over in her sleep. Somehow she felt so cold, even though Daniel was hugging her. She didn’t know why she felt so cold when the weather was pretty humid earlier, and she’s not really the type of person who gets cold easily. She tossed and turned, but Daniel still wouldn’t budge and he was snoring.

  She then decided to get up and have a hot cup of tea. She was still so sleepy, but she thought that she really wouldn’t be able to sleep feeling the way she does—like she was ice cold and freezing!

  And then she realized that it wasn’t her who felt ice cold—it was the room. This shocked her because as she set her foot down on the floor, she noticed that it was as if she was walking on ice. She felt so lost and confused. What was happening?

  “Dan,” She said, trying to wake up Dan. She then took her monogrammed silk robe from one of the chairs on the dresser and put it on. It almost did nothing; she still felt so cold and sick.

  She was about to get out of the room when she felt like someone was looking at her and calling her from the outside. She turned towards the window and got the shock of her life—there outside was a woman in white. Her face was so pale, her hair being blown by the wind.

  She didn’t know if she still believed in ghosts, but that woman was the closest she ever saw to what a ghost would look like.

  “Emmy,” The woman said. “Emmy, talk to me.” Her voice seemed hollow. She seemed hollow.

  “Who—who are you—” Emmy muttered.

  “Emmy—”

  “You’re not real, right? I’m just dreaming. This is just a dream and—“

  “Of course, I’m real,” the woman said. “How do you think the floor would be that cold if I wasn’t around?”

  “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Emmy couldn’t help but scream.

  It’s a funny thing, showing yourself to people.

  Most of you think that it’s so easy for us; that we show ourselves to you to scare you, but what would be the point in that?

  I have to admit, I did do it on purpose before…maybe twice, or thrice. I don’t know anymore.

  The first few times, I just wanted to scare people because they kept talking about the dead; how they want to see ghosts, how some of them didn’t believe in ghosts, yada, yada. And then, when
you show yourself to them, they get so scared they run away.

  Sometimes people could be funny. Most times, they aren’t.

  Today though, I wanted to show myself to Emmy because I want her to figure out what happened to Angeline, even though I already have an idea about what happened. But I want to be sure.

  What have I got to do with this?

  A lot, you know. But I’ll tell you about all of that later.

  For now, I have to figure out how to talk to Emmy again without scaring her.

  She’s considered the resident sleuth but she’s scared of ghosts?

  Damn, my life is screwed.

  Oh, wait.

  I actually don’t have a life anymore.

  ***

  Chapter 7

  Where Are You?

  “AHHHHHHH!!!!!”

  Emmy’s screams woke Daniel up from his slumber. He was surprised to see her slumped down on the floor, screaming like she just saw a ghost.

  “Em?” he said and hastily got out of bed to check out what was happening. He then wrapped his arms around Emmy. “What’s going on? Who’s there? What happened?”

  “A g-ghost,” She stammered.

  “What?”

  She looked at him with fear and confusion in her eyes. “There’s a ghost,” she said and pointed out the window, “right there. There’s this woman in white and she looked…she looked dead. It’s a ghost, Dan! She was just there and—“

  “What?” Daniel asked, confused. He never knew that Emmy had this thing about ghosts and stuff. “Calm down—“

  “No! We have to look for her!” she said, stood up and hastily made her way out of the room, Daniel trailing close behind.

  First, Emmy checked out the back door and Daniel went out the front door. Then they both checked the living room and the kitchen. In the kitchen, their cat Wendy started meowing. She was meowing so loud, Emmy thought that maybe she could sense the ghost too.

  “What is it, Wends?” She asked. “You can sense her too, right? She’s here, right? Where is she?”

  “Honey, no one’s here,” Daniel said.

  “But that’s impossible, because I just saw her, and look at Wendy!”

  “She’s probably just hungry,” Daniel said. He then opened the cabinet and took out some wet food for Wendy to munch on. The cat happily ate, “See?”

  Emmy sighed, “But I saw her.”

  Daniel gave her a glass of water. Emmy drank some but she still couldn’t help but think of the woman she saw. Why did she see her? What was she doing in their house? What does she want?