Morrie was busy with his own thesis that night, but not too busy to answer my question.

"Hey, would you know if there's someone from the university who's a contributor in Tattle-Crime?" I randomly asked whilst petting Tony.

"Yeah," he replied as he continued typing. "Joey Estrella. He's a Behavioral Science major, I think."

"Oh," I murmured. "I see."

"He's the one who followed Jack Crawford after the lecture, aside from you." Morrie said, still not lifting an eye from his laptop.

I raised a brow at him. "You were following me?"

"Well, duh, you passed by my classroom."

"You were not paying attention in class then." I said as Tony climbed unto my lap.

"Geez," Morrie muttered under his breath. "Is every conversation we make gonna end up with an argument?"

I sighed and gently plucked his dog from my lap. "If that's the case then I'm going to sleep."

"Good night." Morrie said curtly.

"Good luck," I replied. "With whatever it is you're doing." I said before heading to bed. I lulled myself to sleep with musings of Joey's fate.

My adviser called me to meet her the next day. I went armed with the transcription of the interview with Hannibal Lecter. I knew it would surprise her, but the look she gave me when I entered the office made me self-conscious and sent frost to my fingertips.

We exchanged greetings, but even as I walked towards her table, her gaze was peculiarly fixed on me.

"I interviewed Hannibal Lecter yesterday," I said as calm as I could despite my nervousness. "Here's the transcript of the interview, Ma'am." I handed her the papers.

"Place it on the table, Mr. Urbonas," she said. "There is something pressing I want to talk to you about." It took her a moment to say the word 'pressing' and I wondered what the matter was.

I sat on the chair she motioned for me to sit on before my adviser proceeded.

"Dr. Bedelia du Maurier is sponsoring your education, right?" She asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." I replied.

"May I ask how she came to do so?"

"My father used to be her patient." I replied. "She used to know my parents."

"And where are your parents now?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Gone, I guess." I answered. "I never met them." I said, looking her in the eye.

"Do you know what their names are?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No, Ma'am."

"Your surname, then...?"

"It's my guardian's." I replied without batting an eyelash.

My adviser nodded to herself and tapped a finger on the table. She seemed to consider something for a few moments. "Okay, I'll review the transcript later, Mr. Urbonas." She said. "You may go."

I thanked her before leaving. I knew what was going on. Estrella could not keep things to himself.

It was a Friday evening, and most of the students were sure to go clubbing or have a few drinks at the nearby bars. Morrie did not seem to contradict when I told him I will be out for the night.

I found Joey Estrella in one of those bars. He was in the company of several others whom I recognized were also students from the university. None of them noticed me enter the bar and sit by myself by a table in the corner. They talked rather boisterously for more than an hour, during which I had emptied four bottles of beer while pretending to focus on my laptop. Joey excused himself from his friends after a while, saying he still had an article to write for 'the site'. After he walked out of the bar, I waited for two more people to cross the threshold before following him.

After I killed those bullies ten years ago, I promised that I would restrain myself. I swore an oath that I will not be a murderer like my fathers, and after that incident, I would not take more lives no matter how the world makes me suffer. Killing, though, is like opening a bag of chips. You take one piece, and then two, and the next thing you know, you will want to eat them all. It does not matter even if you try to fold the bag close and store it away, you will still open it one day to have some more because, after all, you have already opened the bag. Perhaps, I have already broken that promise. It would not matter if I break it further. Those were the things I told myself as I caught up with Joey Estrella that night.

"Good evening," I greeted, walking beside the tipsy Joey.

He groaned in reply. "Who the hell are you?" He asked, looking at me with furrowed brows.

"I'm Abiel."

It took him a while before he stopped his tracks and glared at me. "Why are you following me?"

"I don't know," I replied, shrugging. "You tell me." I said, looking at him squarely.

"I don't know what you're planning to do," Joey said, stepping away from me. "But I know who you are." He said with a threatening tone that did not do much for him.

I grinned and stepped towards him. "Who am I?"

The fright I saw in Joey's eyes was strangely gratifying. "Y-you're the son of the Chesapeake Ripper." He said. Though he tried to conceal it, I knew he was shaking.

I took out my pocket knife and flicked it open as I stepped forward. "Did you tell anyone else about me?"

Joey gulped and stepped back again only to find that he was caught between me and a wire fence. It was almost funny, but I was also disappointed at how much of a coward he was for a supposed 'journalist'.

"Must I repeat myself, Joey?" I asked, placing a hand on the fence with my arm resting on his shoulder. "Did you tell anyone else about me?"

Joey flinched from my arm, but I pressed my knife against his throat. He was shaking and gasping for breath, and yet he could not tear himself away from my gaze to even let out a cry for help. It was very amusing.

"Joey?" I called in a sing-song voice. I saw my own reflection in his dark brown eyes and wondered if a devil ever looked so menacingly happy.

"J-just Freddie a-and your degree program c-coordinator." He replied, sweating profusely. "Please, let me go."

I smirked, and pressed the knife further on his throat. It was about to cut through the flesh, and I was about to actually slash him or stab him, when someone called.

"Oh, it's Abiel! Hey Abiel!" The call was loud, but slurred and slow, and sounded almost too stupidly happy.

I pushed myself away from Joey and sought whoever distracted me from killing someone.

The culprit was not difficult to spot, as Morrie stood a few meters away from us near an alley. He was waving at me with what looked like a cigarette between his fingers.

Enraged, I turned to Joey who was still pressed against the fence. "You are NOT telling anybody else, you hear me?!" I told him.

"Yes! I won't, just please—"

"Go!" I roared at Joey and kicked his side.

Joey almost collapsed, but forced himself to stand and run away as fast as he could.

"You have luck on your side tonight, Estrella!" I called after him as Joey vanished into the night.

Morrie had walked towards me, reeking of what was obviously not tobacco. "Yo, hey dude, fancy meeting you here." He said, his voice slurred and his speech slow.

I covered my nose with my collar. "Morrie, is that cannabis?"

Morrie laughed as if I told him the funniest joke in the world. "Yeah, man, yeah. Cannabis, pfft, such an oldies word."

"Hey, Morrie!" Someone from the alley called him.

I cursed under my breath. "Morrie, tell them you're going home." I said. My rage earlier was replaced by the thought of getting my stoned roommate home as soon as possible.

Morrie was obedient enough to yell, "Nah, dudes, I'm going home!" at whoever was there in the alley.

"Oh, okay!" Was the flippant reply.

"Come, let's go home." I said, snatching the joint from him and throwing it on the pavement.

"Wha—but why?" Morrie's protested weakly as I dragged him away.

"You're going to your parents' tomorrow. You can't go to them high." I replied.

"But why?" He asked again.

"Morrie, if you don't shut up, I'll tell your parents you smoke weed." I said sternly.

After that, Morrie was quiet throughout the walk back to our flat. I was thankful that he was high enough not to realize I did not even know his parents.

Author's Note:

I changed the summary to contain warnings. To be honest, I did not foresee that things will take a darker turn when I started writing this.

By the way, you maybe all like 'was pot-smoking necessary?' the answer is yes. You may ask 'why?' then I have to tell you to just keep reading or follow the story.

Please review too!