Chapter 3 He Died

"This is not true! I never tried to covet your wife!"

Red explained to Sonny. But Delilah was eager to frame him.

"Lies!" Delilah screamed while crying hysterically. "Y-You

forced yourself inside my room and confessed that you liked me. When I rejected

you, you threatened me and tried to hold me!"

"No!" Red declined. "I never d..."

Red stopped when Sonny

pinned the gun muzzle onto his forehead.

Click.

There was a clicking sound as Sonny put the gun's hammer

down.

"My wife would not lie to me, bastard," Sonny said.

"But I really did not..."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Red realized that no matter what he said, Sonny would never

believe a driver like him.

"You touched something which isn't yours, young man." With

bulging eyes, he stared down at Red and added, "The only punishment for

coveting what isn't yours is death."

Sonny placed his index finger onto the gun's trigger, when

suddenly, someone shouted, "That's impossible!"

Everyone looked at Alfredo.

"Red won't ever do that!" Alfredo said.

Eyes rounded, Red looked at his one and only friend. Alfredo

was a coward, but now, he was trying to save Red!

"What is this wimp..." Sonny paused to look at Alfredo's wet

pants before he continued, "...talking about?"

Alfredo was so scared that he peed on his pants. Either way,

he doesn't want to see Red die.

"A moment ago, I a-asked a maid," Alfredo said. "It was

Madam Delilah who called Red in her room."

Delilah's face turned bright red. Whoever leaked this

information, she vowed to kill that person next.

"T-That's not true!" Delilah uttered, gripping her husband's

arm. "I am the victim here! He's telling a lie just to save his bastard friend!"

Sonny, who will absolutely take his wife's side, nodded his

head.

"Call the maids," Sonny said.

And they called the maids and asked them.

"Madam Delilah is...," one of the maids started giving her

statement. She glanced at Delilah and saw her glaring at her.

If the maid says the truth, then she knows Delilah will kill

her next.

Therefore, she shut her eyes and decided to save her life

instead.

"T-The driver went inside M-Madam's room!" the maid shouted

a lie. "I heard Madam shouting and asking him to stop. B-But, the driver

threatened her life. If the madam won't let him do what he wants, then she

could just give him money to pay his debts."

Then, the maid showed the bank cheque that she had found

inside Delilah's room and gave it to Sonny.

$500,000.

It is the exact amount that Red needs to pay his wife's

debts.

No more words were needed; Sonny aimed the gun at Red.

He will die tonight. That's final.

Hanging his head low, Red stared at his swaying shadow. With

no strength left, he bent down and kissed the ground.

"My family has nothing to do with this. P-Please,

spare them."

"I will think about that once I find them. They are currently

missing. Did you tell them beforehand?"

Red's loosened eyes lifted.

What does it mean that his family was missing?

Red looked at Alfredo. The only one who knows his family is

his friend.

'Does it mean that Alfredo told my wife to escape

beforehand?'

Now he realized why Alfredo kept on telling him to stay

where he was and hide. But it was too late to regret.

"You begged me to spare your family. Does it mean that

you're admitting your crime?" Sonny asked.

Red bit his lips firmly as he curled his mitts into menacing

missiles. He kept his mouth closed as if this was the only way to aid Sonny's

anger and protect his wife and son.

"Red! What are you doing? Tell the truth! You didn't do it!"

Alfredo shouted.

"Ahhh sh*t. Dog knows how to bark," Sonny complained before

he aimed his gun at Alfredo instead and pulled the gun's trigger.

Bang!

"Ahhhh!" a loud piercing shot resonated in the cold

air.

Alfredo cried out loud while holding the gunshot in his

injured leg.

As Red watched his friend wriggling in pain, he lost more

hope.

Sonny aimed the gun back at Red and demanded, "Speak."

Palpitating, Red started to Sonny. If he keeps on staying

quiet, Alfredo will die.

Red can't do this to his friend.

Alfredo saved his family, so he had to do the same.

"Kill me. Just kill me!" Red shouted; blue lines hissed on

his neck.

Sonny laughed menacingly as he saw Red's desperation.

"Kill you?" Sonny asked. "If I pull this trigger right now,

everything will end just like that. Do you think that would satisfy me and my

wife?"

The old man raised his hand and grabbed Red's cheek. He

squeezed it tight while his foot stepped on Red's hand.

"Ugggh!" Red groaned in pain as he glared back at Sonny.

"I won't give you a painless death, you lowly and dirty

beggar!"

Sonny's secretary gave something to him.

Red watched the whole scene before him and saw a blue and

red tablet in Sonny's hand.

'What is that? A drug? A poison?'

As Sonny held him tightly, he showed him the drug in his

hand and grinned.

"Do you know this? Without this, you wouldn't be able to

work in this place. There will be no corpse to deliver without this

thing."

For a year, Red was curious why there were so many corpses

going in and out of the mansion. Finally, he figured out the answer. It is

because of that drug. Where it came from and what it is for, Red has no time to

know that.

One thing is for sure. Red delivered hundreds of corpses who

died after taking this drug, and now, it is his turn.

"Take this, and meet your family in the next life," Sonny

laughed before he forcefully put the drug inside Red's mouth.

"Hmmff!"

One man pinned him down. Others covered their mouths.

As Red struggled to spit out the drug, he recalled his

wife's smile and his son's laugh. to

After that, he won't be able to see them again.

'Maybe this is my punishment,' Red thought while the

drug slowly melted on his tongue.

Just like the corpse, he would vanish from the world without

a trace. And Red thinks it is his punishment for doing something so evil for

the sake of money.

When the drug entered his system, Red quickly noticed the

subtle hallucinogenic effect in his body. He saw the yellow swirly-tinged film

covering his vision.

He felt himself slipping further and further from reality,

and that's when the intoxicating calmness rushed over him. He fell on the

ground.

Thud.

Someone yelled his name from a distance.

"Red! Red!"

He opened his lids.

Red saw the people who were watching him die slowly and

painfully.

Sonny, who threatened his family and forced him to kill

himself.

Delilah, who wrongly accused him of a crime he did not

do.

The maid who lied.

The men who dragged him down.

The secretary of Sonny, who hired him in this place.

And last, Alfredo, who's lying on the floor covered with

blood.

Tears flowed like hot flames. His throat sobbed, yet no

words came out. He had no strength left and all he wanted to do was to close his

eyes.

'I don't want to die.'

But at one point, Red accepted that it was likely

bound to happen.

Accepting his defeat, he lay down on the ground and looked

at the night sky.

He remembered his wife's smile, his son's laugh, and the

promise that he would make them happy.

'I am sorry.'

With those three words, Red apologized for everything. For

being a worthless husband, and for being a negligible father.

He was so sorry that he couldn't fulfill them anymore.

'I'm sorry that you married a worthless guy like me,' he

apologized to his wife.

'I am sorry, I wasn't the kind of father you wanted to

boast to your friends,' he apologized to his son.

When Red closed his eyes, he recalled the bloody man in the

cadaver bag.

Before he decided to save him, he made a bet to see who was

lucky among them. In the end, Red believes that he never stood a chance.

He laughed with tears and slowly lost consciousness.

Red stopped breathing.

He ceased moving.

Everyone thinks he is dead.

'But they were wrong.'