Episode 2: Home
The jeepney Mateo rode parked in a terminal, with the neon sign on the facade of the building saying
"Bahay City Transport Terminal". Their little mall invasion wasn't for the water or the cash, it was his perfect cover-up. He checked his pockets and unloaded from the vehicle. Looking around the familiar place, he headed to a small canteen where the drivers of jeepneys, taxis, and buses rest. As he opened the door, smoke from cigarettes and vape start to pour out. Mateo approached a man with a vape on one hand, a phone on another, and golden chains on his neck and asked. "Are you Boy 2 Quizon?"
The man looked at the teen and grabbed him by the arm. He dragged him to a corner and asked. "Did you do the Ayala Premiere Mall invasion this morning?" Mateo nodded and the man laughed. "Ha! Idol! Do you have the money?" Mateo remained quiet and handed a bill that is equal to $10, to which Boy 2 whispered. "Go to this address: Meadow Hills Apartments, Virtue Street, Barangay
[1] San Pablo. Once there, enter the building and knock on room 205. Just whisper 'Another unfortunate victim, how sad.' and they'll let you in. Just a note, be ready financially, physically, and mentally." Quizon said before letting go of Mateo's arm. The man turned around and typed on his phone, contacting somebody, "Code Green, password number 3."
By the time Mateo has finished his business in the canteen, the hazy, smoky air was beginning to make him feel lightheaded. Maneuvering through the tables of gamblers and drunks, he took a deep breath as he stepped outside, coughing as the clean-ish air filled his lungs once more. He looked at his bruised arm, pressing it to lessen the pain and started walking. He raised his hand to stop a jeepney but he thought. “
If I ride the jeep, many petite might recognize my face, plus pickpocket syndicates are rampant in jeepneys now. Taxis would make sense but they’re required to have cameras so that’s a no-go.” He walked for a few minutes before stealing an unattended bike on the sidewalks. Before turning to a corner, he abandoned his bike in the gutter and let someone else take it. He walked towards the run down flats. A group of youth is standing nearby, who were judging Mateo. As he entered, rats and cockroaches alike ran hurried, but the smell of the trash lingered. Going up to the second floor, with each step on the stairs felt like it's going to collapse. Mateo approached the door labeled with the room number he was looking for.
Mateo knocked and heard muffled muttering and mumbling and a young man opened the door. His red-stained eyes started blankly at Mateo, who then uttered in Filipino. "Another unfortunate victim, how sad." The man, who reeked with weed, beer, and whatever he was snorting nodded, and unlocked the chain lock on the door. As Mateo entered, the stench grew, and saw a fairly attractive half-naked woman. The red-eyed man shouted at her. "Babe, I got a costumer!" The woman looked at the two men and groaned before entering another room. The man then asked Mateo, who so far remained quiet. "So, I presume that you would buy something. What would it be?" Mateo looked around, and then replied. "Do you have a butterfly knife? Preferably sharp. Also if you have lock pick, that would be nice." The red-eyed man shuffled through a drawer, then found one. "So, all these are $100 and, where are you doing this heist?" Mateo was struck surprised but said. "Barangay Greenhills, I have a political target, if you would call it that." He handed over the money and took the items and turned back around. The thin red-eyed man blurted out. "Don't say you're hitting the Minister of Defense's house." Mateo just looked back, gave a shrugged and exited the room. He unfolded the knife and folded back, just to test the product. Then, Mateo went outside.
Barangay Greenhills is a gated exclusive subdivision, where most of the houses are more than $5 million dollars worth. Although gated, the guard can be easily killed, and so Mateo did, he punched him in the face and stabbed him in the back. Inside the guard house, he cut the wires of the cameras. In the dead of the midnight, almost everyone was asleep, even the personal guards of the elites. He looked at the electric posts and sure enough, his missing posters were nowhere to be found. As he approached a house, he leaned into its black gate, and inserted the pick inside. As silent as he could be, and trying to remember what he did back in a Wewazkangz Kid's Camp. Then, the door on the gate swung open. Inside, he saw three cars, two were familiar while another SUV sat there. Mateo dashed through the gate as quietly as he could; noticing an awkwardly-placed potted plant off the side of the path. Lifting the potted plant slightly, he discovered the master key to the door sat in front of him. Delicately, he unlocked the door and pushed it open just enough to slink inside, without hitting the wooden chimes that dangled at the entrance. Mateo was finally home.
(OOC: MAYBE GRAPHIC? I'M JUST FOLLOWING GUIDELINES)As he closed the door, he crouched and went to the basement. He picked the lock once again and was successful, however, the pick broke. He shut down every cameras watching inside and outside the house. Mateo climbed upstairs, and inside the master's room, the snoring echoed like he was in a cave. As the air conditioner blew loudly, Mateo woke up the snoring man. "Dad, I've come back." He whispered, prompting his father to turn around. Taken aback by the return of his son, he responded. "Mat-Mat? You've returned? I thought you were dead! Now you've proven to me that you're strong." Mateo then pushed his father back and stabbed him on his right chest, just a few centimeters from the heart and lungs. The old man gasped in agony as the knife hour a major artery. "Isn't it ironic, Dad? You're the Minister of Defense yet you're defenseless. How weak of you!" He taunted his father while covering the mouth to stop him from screaming in pain. "Does this seem familiar, huh? A person silenced and is not given the freedom to live. Ah, of course, that's what you did to me." He said, emotionless and trying to sound like the person-in-charge. "Now, I'll let you say your last words, and this suffering will end." The Minister merely moved and said. "I hope you join your mother in Hell, you and that..!" Mateo pulled the knife to the left and pulled it out. Blood gushed out and stained the whole bed. As Mateo pulled out the knife from the chest, bits of flesh stuck on the knife, which he just cleaned on the corpse of his father. He looked back at the body and saw the hole he made on the chest cavity. The heart was visible with more blood coming out of it, but the lungs still seemed to move. Mateo then slashed his father's throat, saying. "Good night, Dad." He then went downstairs and opened the safe containing at least a thousand dollars worth in cash. He then grabbed his father's phone and left. His home back in Fort Bonifacio was a safer place than there.
