Walking
with the Devil
by Catalina de Antoinette
I have told a lie.
Not a big deal, right? I mean, we tell a lie everyday, don’t we? We want to
avoid hurting others’ feelings, or to prevent others to know something they
don’t want to. Sometimes, things are best not known than to be known. Those
were the lies I told. And later on, we will forget about it as if nothing has
happened. It’s okay to tell those lies anyway, because you are not hurting
anybody.
But it was different this time. This time, I lied because I needed to
save myself from the prison. I was guilty, and I was hiding my crime by lying.
But no matter what. I could
NOT forget it no matter how hard I try. A crime is a crime. A sin would not be
washed away, unless under the name of God. In a situation like mine, you cannot
go to the priest, because even the priest would turn you in.
My heart was itching. I was
fighting against myself in my mind. My brain was burning like crazy. I could not
think clearly. It was all in confusion. Every second, my brain was telling me
“Calixta, you’ve told a lie… Why did you tell a lie? Especially to someone
you love so deeply.”
How did I know why? I just did lie! I could keep on arguing with myself
like this, regretting all my life, but this would not bring her back. It never
would.
Elita was dead.
Elita, the chosen one. Ironic, right? Her name’s definition is ‘the
chosen one’. I have to laugh. She was the chosen one.
The chosen one to put my perfect life in devastation.
The chosen one to die.
Could God be more kind?
Or could I be crueler?
But then she was brutal, too.
I didn’t kill her for no particular reason, did I? I killed her because
she was evil. I was saving the world! But no one would ever understand. They all
love Elita too much.
So I never committed my crime. I had to lie about it. What else can I
say? “Hi, Mom. Hey, Dad. Guess what? You never can. I killed somebody today?
Whom? My best friend Elita! The girl who is like a daughter to you!” It
will kill them if they knew this.
It wouldn’t just kill them,
it would kill me.
If they know, I would be put
behind the bars, and my future would be lost in the hands of the cold prison
room.
Me, who was so ambitious. Me, the best student was the school. Me, who
was going to be a top scientist. Me, who had chains of guys standing outside my
door. Me, who have the best of everything… Can life be more perfect?
It was, until Elita came along.
She was another perfection. She was the shining star of the school. She
stole the home-coming throne from me. She aced everything. She was actually
better than me! She was that filthy rich girl, who had got everything she
wanted. She stole others’ boyfriends, my admirers from me, and needless to
say, my boyfriend.
To everyone, she was the Virgin Mary. An angel from heaven.
But I know all about her ‘good deeds’.
That girl could kill. She was the devil from hell. She liked killing. She
would go out to the beach at night, kill whoever she spots, then put the blame
on someone else.
Paradoxically, I put up with her on that. I’d to gain popularity. If I
did not go with her, everyone would turn against me, and I’d lose my place as
a second to Elita. I would drop to the bottom.
Most importantly, I knew if I tell anybody, Elita would kill me.
So everyday, I told little lies. Saying how good she was, how much I love
her… I was safe for as long as I know. And everyone was happy.
But when things got to the boiling point, and I could not bear it
anymore, she stole my family.
How in the world did she did that, I did not know.
That little witch! I swore in the name of God that my parents were under
her spell.
When her parents died and left her without a penny, my parents’
sympathy for her was so great that even God couldn’t be as loving and kind.
They took her in, adapted her, and treated her as if she was their own
precious darling.
Where did I stand? Nowhere. I used to be the queen of the Panesca Villa.
Now, I was just a maid-in-waiting to Elita, so was my sister.
We waited on her, hands and feet. She beat us whenever desired…
How could I tolerate that? I could not. Nor can my sister. So young, so
sweet, so innocent was she.
She told our parents about all the things Elita did to us. Our parents
were outraged. “How can you treat Elita like that, she was such a poor little
girl!” They got into a huge argument.
Needless to say, Elita overheard that. She killed my little sister that
night. Her body was found on the beach. They claimed that she was drowned.
I swore that I would seek revenge for my sister. For months, I garnered a
perfect plan to destroy Elita. You cannot kill
her. Can you kill Satan? You can just
destroy it.
I spent nights in the library and on the Internet, searching for
information about evils. I know she is a spirit, which they called ‘The
Elementals’. How do I know, that was not important.
At last, I found a way to destroy her.
That lovely night of December 13th, 1999, I took my family out
for dinner. I sent Elita’s boyfriend to make Elita to stay at home.
Then I burnt down the house with Elita and her boy in it.
My own house.
The one and only Panesca Villa.
The blood and creation of my ancestors.
They were all gone, a hundred year’s creation, burnt in an hour.
I cried when I did that.
But for everyone’s sake. I had to do that.
My parents cried, too. Not for the Villa, but for Elita. Funny, I
didn’t see them bawling like this when my sister died.
They all swore to find out whoever that killed Elita. To kill her.
I could not let them find out, can I? I am Calixte, the queen of the
universe. Me, being caught? What a laugh!
So I told a little lie. Telling my parents how sorry I
was. Saying that it’s Elita’s boyfriend, my ex-boyfriend, who burnt down the
house. It was because he caught her cheating on him.
A perfect lie. It was because Elita’s boyfriend ‘was trapped in his
own plan’ and had died.
What did I call this lie? A white lie? A lie to save myself?
This was human nature. How many murderers were there out there in the
world? Wandering freely? Still not caught for the lies they told at the court. I
could just be another of them.
We are all just liars to ourselves. Everyone told lie, why could I not?
But my parents would not stop mourning for Elita. My
mother became a harridan. Sometimes, I wondered if they worshipped her. I was
fed up with their attitude towards Elita.
But danger was still there. They still wanted the murderer of
Elita dead. I have to go before someone found out the truth. And the only
way to go, was the gate of death.
There I killed myself. Not wanting anymore of my parents’ sorrows for
Elita.
I, Calixte, savior of the world from Elita the Satan. No one will thank
me for what I’d done for them. I went to my grave with my lie. Forever I
rested.
Here I am, a ghost wandering. Wondering whether to regret or feel proud
of my good deed. Thinking about my lies.
Everyone tells lies.
Elita told lies. Lots of lies, uncountable number of lies. All the time
she was living she lied. When she went to her grave as a liar. She told those
lies just to cover up her true personality. She used them to hide the truth, to
save herself. Imagine what could happen to her if they found that she was a
serial killer.
I told a lot of lies, too. But they were white lies. Lies to save
others’ feelings. They would breakdown immediately if they found out their
angel, Elita was a devil from hell. Or were they lies to save myself?
Maybe both.
Sometimes, that incident with Elita still haunted me. I killed her, and I
lied. I remember saying how reckless those people not committing their crime.
Now I am one of them.
Maybe they will forever haunt me.
But they will never be as devastating as the lies Elita told to penetrate
my life.