The symbol was on the lower-right corner of the cover page. I’m very certain! It looks like the symbol marked on the dead bodies these past few days but it’s with a circle, not a heart!

 

‘𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?’ If one wasn’t looking closely I’m sure they would mistook both as the same symbols!

 

My mind was still bothered by the symbols but I pushed myself to continue. Every time I thought I was getting close to the answer, everything just showed another secret. I’m going deeper and deeper. There’s this feeling that bounds me in the dark. Like I can never get out.

 

I turned the first page of the diary. When the messy handwriting found my eyes, my head spun around — scenes were flashing again.

 

There was a toddler… trying to write a word. But I couldn’t see it clearly, everything was a blur. I can only see the starting letter of the word, M.

 

I was on the verge of crying but I pulled myself together.

 

Luis’s diary was just as strange as the emotion caressing me. Instead of saying ‘Dear diary’ Luis opted for ‘Dear Luis.’ Like he was talking to himself… reminding him what happened on that day and so on.

 

The first few pages were random words; feelings, emotions, and stuff. I continued to go over the pages until I came across a page divider. It said ‘high school.’ I was just scanning the pages until a name caught my soul.

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟵𝟵:

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝐿𝑢𝑖𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑉𝑖ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑛. 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡, 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒.

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭𝟭𝟲:

𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜, 𝐿𝑢𝑖𝑠! 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒! 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑. 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠. 

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭𝟯𝟮:

You spent a lot of time with Leo, and over time, you noticed the bruises on his arms – which he tried to cover with jackets – whenever you were together and every time he attended school.

 

'𝘓𝘦𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦?' I wondered silently as I read, then continued to read. Few more pages then I got the answer!

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭𝟯𝟲:

𝐿𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝐿𝑢𝑖𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑜’𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟.

 

'𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱?! 𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘦𝘰 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘢 𝘢𝘣𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢?' I exclaimed in my bewildered thoughts. 

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭𝟰𝟬:

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝐿𝑢𝑖𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑒𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛. 𝐹𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝐷𝑢𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑.

 

Killing was the only thing I could think of when the diary said remove. But hasty moves are not in my dictionary! I stopped reading the diary for a while to give it a thought and finally. I connected the dots.

 

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭𝟴𝟬:

𝐿𝑢𝑖𝑠, 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟! 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑜𝑚 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔, 𝐿𝑒𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐼𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑! 𝐹