CANNONCREEP

PROLOGUE

[Scene 1: INT. IMAGES/SNAPSHOTS OF A FEMALE PERSON (Fem 1), MEDIUM BUILD, HAIR WITH LENGTH JUST BELOW THE SHOULDER, BRIGHT EYES, FINE NOSELINE, AND A BITTER SMILE.]


[FEMALE VO: Fem 1]
I’ll never forget that day for the rest of my life.
Every night for the past two weeks,
The scene has been repeating in my head
In my dreams
I hate Berto so much --- why did he do it?!

I hate him for my dreams, for my nightmares.
For what happened to (Male 2) ---
For what happened to us.

He ruined my life by putting me in this chair.
I hope that he’s in hell right now,
Paying for what he did to me.

[Scene 1 Sequence 1: INT. BLURRED IMAGES/SNAPSHOTS OF FEM 1'S EXPERIENCE.]

For once in my life, I can say
Without the remorse nor the guilt,
Without looking back
Without having to remind myself of the past

For once in my life, I condemned a man ---
but he was no man!! He was evil and what he did was wrong!
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

What did we do to deserve this?
Why did it have to happen to us?
Did you know that I fell in love?
We were about to celebrate our first year together ---

[CRIES SOFTLY]
Unya, ingun ana lang kadali!

[BREAKS DOWN]
I’m sorry... I can’t answer anymore --- I’m sorry...


[Scene 2: INT. IMAGES/SNAPSHOTS OF TWO FEMALE PERSONS BEING INTERVIEWED. ONE HAS A BIRTHMARK ON HER CHIN, HAS LONG HAIR, AND HAS A VERY SLIM BUILD AND IS FAIR-SKINNED (Fem 2/VO #2). THE OTHER IS DARKER, HAS A BOB HAIRCUT, AND IS HOLDING A RED HANDKERCHIEF WITH YELLOW FLOWER PRINTS (Fem 3/VO #1).]

[VOICE-OVER OF #2.]
Buotan man siya. Dili siya tabian,
And he was very courteous.
And now...
This happens and... I don’t understand why
Di man sad siya hilabtanon.

[VOICE-OVER OF #1]
It was like I was seeing who he was for the first time.
We didn’t expect na ---
We didn’t expect na psycho diay ‘tong tawhana

[MUFFLED VO OF INTERVIEWER. OFF-CAMERA.]

Yes, depraved kayo na act.
Mura man sad siya’g buang na nikalit lang ug flip!

[VO #2]
Don’t say that sad, (Fem 2), uy.

[TO THE CAMERA/INTERVIEWER]

He was quiet. He never mingled.
We thought it was only that he was simply shy.
He always finished his quota.
He never complained,
Never came in late,
He was polite;
He smiled whenever he passed by our cubicles,
When we asked questions, he would answer,
Although they were very short answers,
But he answered nevertheless.
He was shy but not timid.
Para nako, he was harmless
until all this happened.
I still can’t believe it happened
I don’t want to go to the bathroom...

[VO #1]
Harmless mu’lang!

[VO #1 FACES THE CAMERA]
Berto was a harmless as a ticking time bomb!
Honestly, I had a feeling --- from the very start, gyud ---

[TO THE CAMERA]
That there was something wrong about him;
The way he walked, the way he talked,
The way he carried himself --- Ah, basta!
I can’t explain that easily.

[MORE FORCEFULLY]
All I know is that it was he who did it. He killed them all... And he didn’t even have remorse! He smiled for crying out loud. Berto was smiling when Chito shot him...

[VO #1’S VOICE BEGINS TO GIVE WAYS TO TEARS. SHE TRIES TO HOLD BACK THE TEARS THAT ARE WELLING UP INSIDE.]
The bathroom was clean in the morning...
It was clean, do you understand?
There was no blood. As if it didn’t happen.
It’s like they all vanished!


# # #


ACT ONE


“Chito & Richard”


[Scene 3: EXT. DRIVWAY, PELAEZ BUILDING. CHITO.]

[VO. CEBUANO / ENGLISH TRANSLATION. SFX: BG NOISE. DIALOGUE IS IN ENGLISH (or, DIALOGUE IS IN CEBUANO WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES.]

[VO:CHITO]
When I first met him, Berto was a bit shy.
He would only say something in greeting like,
“Good morning,” or “Excuse me,” or,
If he was on his way out, he would say,
“Una na ko.” That was it.
I hold the door open for him
and he would slip in quickly,
as if the door would fall on him.

[LAUGHS SOFTLY]
As far as I know, and as far as I could see,
He was not a problem at all.

When he first started working
Nobody minded him.
Everyone thought that bag-o nga taga-admin
He worked in the front, you see.
He was actually part of Bal’s team.
But I doubt if anybody, except for Bal, knew.

I would ask Marissa or Richard about him
And they would say, “Ambot,
Basta ni-graduate na siya ug Masscomm.
Paspas daw mu trabaho.
Mahuman daw niya dayon ang iyang quota.”
Beyond that, there was nothing else we knew.

[VO: RICHARD]
We knew that he was shy.
Mars and Larri had once invited him
To play basketball with them,
But he politely refused.
When it was lunchtime, he would eat alone.
On Mondays, when the office had lunch together at Joven’s Grill,
He would decline, politely.
I mean, for the first month,
He would join his team.
But if Bal wasn’t calling for a lunch meeting,
He would decline and eat alone.

Bernadette, Oona, and the rest of the girls
Would try to be friendly with him.
He was polite, but he would not join them.
Even when they invite him for a break.
Sometimes, when one of the group editors
Would celebrate a birthday and would have food prepared
He would say a word in greeting, take some food
And go back to his cubicle.

To the most of the staff, he just... Berto;
The older ones, they couldn’t remember when he joined the staff;
They kept thinking he was a new guy.
The younger ones,
they kept thinking that he was one of the older ones;
On of those who survived the one-year period of “madness.”

[CHITO LAUGHS SOFTLY. RICHARD CONTINUES.]
It’s running joke around the office that,
When you reach your first year,
You’ll find yourself facing a crossroad, asking yourself:
do you stay on and try for a higher position,
Or
Leave, when the stress and strain on the job has worn you.

[VO: CHITO INTERRUPTS]
Pero, Berto’s has been with us for more than a year.

[VO: RICHARD]
Around... 1 year and 6 months, no?

[VO: CHITO]
Yes... Around that time.
Murag mas dugay pa gani...

[SLIGHT PAUSE. CHITO]
Although, there was this one time...
I went out, just outside the door,
Right by the driveway,
To have a smoke.
I saw Berto, standing there, smoking.
I didn’t even know he smoked ---
I didn’t even see him leave to have a smoke!!

Anyway, I said something in acknowledgement
And he smiled. He took a drag of his cigarette
And he walked over.
He stood beside me, although not that near,
And continued smoking.

I asked him how his job was
And that I don’t see him taking a cigarette break that often.
He smiled and said nothing.

So, we just stood there and smoked.

When I threw my cigarette away,
I turned to him to say that I’ll go ahead.
I saw him light another cigarette ---
I think it was his third.

He took a long drag and said to me,
“Wa ka kapuyi sa imung trabaho?”

I told him, no. That I enjoyed it.
He asked me if I had a family.
I said no,
that I shared my house with my younger brother
And his family.

He asked me if I was happy.

[PAUSE. THEN, TO THE CAMERA]
Kasuway na ka anang mukalit lang ug panim-bawot
Ang imung buhok?
Kanang mamugnaw imung kamot ug imung singot?

That’s what I felt when he asked me that question:
“Chito, malipayon ba ka sa imung kinabuhi?”

Up until that time, we never talked,
Except to say ‘good morning,’
or ‘goodbye,’ when work is over.
That was the longest conversation I had with him.

I told him that I was happy.
I was happy seeing my nieces and nephews grow up.
I was happy to see my cousins
To see my brothers and sisters, everyday.
I was happy at home
Because I had my family to come home to.

I told him that I was happy at work as well.
Sure, I was the security guard, but I have been here
Since the very beginning.
I told him how I had formed lasting friendships
With the office staff, with the older editors,
And with the owners of the company,
And how, through our conversations,
I had learned a lot from them.

[PAUSE]
Through it all, he just stood there,
Looking intently at me, behind the cigarette smoke,
And those eyes.
Those eyes gave me the chills.
I never thought they could turn so cold, so distant,
So... angry.

Then, he said, “Always be happy, Chito.
Because you don’t want to see the far side of loneliness.”

Later on, when I thought more about it,
It was like he was angry.
He was angry that I was talking about my happiness.
I think he was angry that I was happy...
And that he was not.

[SUDDENLY]
Oh, shit... On that day, around 10 AM,
He was standing outside again.
He asked me the exact same question.
He was... just standing there.
He wasn’t nervous, he was shaking or anything.
He just stood there, smoking his cigarette,
And asking me the same things that he asked me before.


# # #


ACT TWO


“Murder Scene Walk-through”



[Scene 4: VOICE OF LEAD POLICE OFFICER, ACTION: A “WALK-THROUGH” OF THE CRIME SCENE / OFFICE COMFORT ROOM. THE CRIME SCENE IS CLEAN AND THE BODIES HAVE BEEN REMOVED. CAMERA: TRACKING SHOTS.]

[VO POLICE]
This is office comfort room,
And the crime scene.
Approximately 9 office employees were lead here,
And murdered one after another,
And their bodies stacked in the last cubicle
At the end of the comfort room.
The last victim had apparently survived.

Berto strangled all of them to death,
Using a No. 6 guitar string.

We found about 10 unused guitar strings
Of the same type at his desk,
Apparently, in case the one he was currently using snapped.
By the last victim, Berto had used three guitar strings.

A few of his victims were found with bruises at their temples,
Some had bruising at different parts of their bodies.
Apparently, he had beaten a few of his victims
with a metal pipe ---
The ones he could not subdue or surprise with the wire ---
and stunning them,
or knocking them unconscious,
before he strangled them.
We also found a stun gun on his persons,
Several stun gun markings on the victims' bodies,
Indicating that he apparently immobilized them before killing them.

[VO POLICE REACTS IN DISBELIEF]
Amazing. Just amazing that he did it
Without alarming anybody to the crimes.
There aren’t even traces of blood from the victims!
Amazing!

[VO POLICE COMPOSES HIMSELF AND RETURNS TO NARRATING,
AND DOING THE WALK-THROUGH]
It has been estimated that the entire act
Lasted from 9:42 to 11:23 AM,
December 27, 2003, Saturday.
It was only a half-day for the office,
And some of the employees had taken advantage
Of their leaves.
It was approximated that, counting Berto,
There were only 20 people in the office.

The first victim was murdered
as soon as she entered the comfort room.
The first two murders were estimated
To have occurred almost simultaneously,
Approximately only minutes apart.
The first victim was a certain Ms. Fem 4,
The second was the helper, Manang Fem 5.
Manang came into the comfort room
after her morning cleaning routine.
Shortly after that, Berto took her keys,
And locked the last cubicle and placed a sign,
“Out of Order,” on the door.
The murderer then returned to his desk
and went back to work as if nothing happened.

The next three murders happened in succession:
From 10:03 to 10:46 AM, Ms. Fem 6,
Ms. Fem 7 and Ms. Fem 8, entered the comfort room
And consequently murdered.

The murderer followed the same routine
for his next three victims:
When he saw his victims enter singly, or
Alone, he would follow and stun them,
Or beat them, or both
and then strangled them.
His next three victims were Ms. Fem 9,
Ms. Fem 10 and a certain Mr. Male 1,
And the couple Mr. Male 2 and Ms. Fem 1.

Ms. Fem 1 survived Berto’s attack.
Apparently, he thought
that when he hit her with the metal pipe
he had killed her.
When we found her, her neck was broken
And she had become paralyzed from the waist down.

By 11:23 AM, the other people inside the office
Were preparing to leave for lunch
At a carinderia nearby.

At this juncture,
We deduce that the murderer,
Seeing no one left in the office,
Made a bold move --- one that deviated from his routine,
And attacked the security guard, Chito.

He first tried to disarm Chito, the security guard,
By using his stun gun.
Somehow, Chito managed to evade the first attack
And pushed Berto away, to create a distance,
And pulled out his gun.
Berto fell on the ground,
And according to Chito, was up again, lunging to attack him.
Berto had a metal pipe in his right hand,
While his left arm was extended forward,
As if to brace himself.

Chito stated that as Berto was rushing toward him
He walked backwards and shouted for Berto to stop.
When it as clear that Berto would not back down.
Chito fired twice.

Both bullets hit Berto on the chest.
The first bullet hit his right lung
And the second, his heart.
He died instantly.

When we came to the scene,
We came upon Berto’s body.
We saw that his eyes were still open
And that he had a smile on his face.
Weird no? And they said, he rarely smiled.


# # #


ACT THREE

“Denouement”


[Scene 5: OUTSIDE THE OFFICE, AT THE DRIVEWAY. BGN: STREET NOISE]

[VO FEMALE / REPORTER]
In a what appears to be a shocking display of murderous rage,
Roberto m. Casili, 24 years old, of Labangon, Cebu City,
Embarked on a cold and calculated massacre
that saw ten innocent office employees die
within the space of less than three hours,
this morning, December 27, 2003, Saturday.

Police reports state that Berto,
As he is called by his colleagues here at Cannon Creek Asia Inc., apparently just snapped and turned on his co-employees.

Witnesses and colleagues were shocked
And dismayed by the sudden outburst of rage
From someone who they thought was a shy and docile young man.

They say that Berto was, apparently, a nice young man,
Who never bothered anyone.
It is not known whether he has close friends
Among his colleagues here in Cannon Creek.

It was as if the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Has come alive here in A.S. Fortuna Street, Mandaue City.
What turned Berto into a dangerous psychopath,
we may never know.
As of the moment, Karen Toledo is trying to get hold of Berto’s family so that we may get a better picture,
And understand what could have made Berto do it.

In the meantime, we will try to keep you posted
On the latest regarding what the people around here
Are beginning to call, “The Cannon Creep Murders.”
I’m Christine Revallo, reporting for IBC-CDN News Network-Cebu,
Good afternoon.


[THIS DRAFT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGES FOR THE FINAL DRAFT. Thank you.]



[Fiction]


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