"Ay, Ninong!" He exclaims with his arms outstretched. He walks towards Leonardo and embraces him gingerly.
"Watch the arm," the older man says.
"It's been so long!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm tired as Hell."
Goldie watches them interact as he steps closer to them. He looks around and sees people walking together in groups or pairs. Some were walking alone but disappeared into an array of vehicles. He watches these people kiss each other's cheeks, shake hands, carry each other's bags, wrapping their arms around one another. He looks down at his hands and looks around him again. He looks out for anyone who seems to be approaching him, but as of this moment, there is no one. All the voices are mingling with each other, none of them seemed to make any sense. None of them seemed to
Leonardo freezes as he stares at the female who meets his eyes. Confusion is etched upon the soft features of her brown face. He couldn’t let this expression change into something else, so he walks over in quick strides and grabs her by her curly hair. She shrieks, making Darryl move swiftly towards the door to close it shut. “Great,” He mutters under his breath as he locks the door, “Which one of you left thisopen?!” “Darryl?!” The young woman exclaims as she’s forced to sit down on the floor by Leonardo. She claws on his wrists in an attempt to get him to let go of her, but it only makes him hold on tighter. On the other hand, Goldie takes a couple of steps back and gets closer to a wall. His eyes darting back and forth on everyone’s faces. “Why are you here, Katcha?” Darryl asks as he looks down at her, “And how long have you’ve been listening in?” “Huh?! I just got here!” She replies loudly, “ I just want to get the flash driv
“Why did you let her leave?!” Leonardo began his angry spiels as soon as he stood up. He firmly places both of his hands on both sides of Goldie’s shoulders. The young man looks back at him in slight fear with his arms close to his chest and his eyes wide. “You were… you were going to…” He meekly says, trying to scramble together words that he knew so far. “She’s going to call the cops! You wanna go back to Bilibid? Do you miss being a dog so bad?!” Leonardo interrupts him. He then looks at the other boy who was sitting close by to the door, “You go after her! She can’t have gone too far!” Darryl looks at the two as if he were a deer in the headlights. As he glances at Goldie, the image of that harrowing room appears in his mind for a split second. He takes in a quick sharp breath and exhales shakily. Was it real? It didn’t feel tangible enough for it to be real. There were no drugs or hallucinogens before the interaction, but the whole
After nearly getting smothered to death, Katcha returns to her bleak dorm room. Each of the four walls has a single piece of furniture that is no more than three steps apart from each other. Some parts of the walls had a variety of notes and pictures of some sort of biological matter plastered upon them. Not very spacious, but the size of the room brings her a sense of familiarity that grounds her.Katcha heavily exhales as she slumps down in front of her study table. Not knowing what to do at this given moment, She stares down at the papers and pens cluttered all over the surface. As she sits in silence, she remembers the blow that was landed on her from earlier, making her wonder if she should get herself checked out by a doctor. The sound of the pan hitting her face came back to mind. Something had to be broken in her head. Darryl did not seem to hold back when he slammed her face. It could have been from the adrenaline, but she didn’t feel any pa
Goldie eyes Katcha up and down, taking note of her hesitancy. He pats on the empty seat beside him, inviting her to sit. The young woman stands straight up and faces Darryl. Looking at him with caution, she slowly takes one step backwards. “You said I wouldn’t…” She trails off, dread lacing her voice. “I lied,” Darryl promptly says. Noticing the position of her feet, he quickly grabs her arm and shoves her into the car, snatching her bag in the process. She yelps, and trips onto the floor of the car. Goldie lifts his legs and settles his feet on his seat to give Katcha a bit more room. Before she could try and leave, the door is slammed and is locked in front of her face immediately. “Darryl!” She exclaims angrily as she reaches over to the door handle in an attempt to unlock it. “Lay a finger on that thing and I’m starting the car to run you over.” With her hand suspended in the air, Katcha flinches at the gruff voice that she
“You three be nice alright? Don’t kill each other!” Darryl bids goodbye in a cheerful tone as he exits his condo unit. The three remaining people in the living room are all sitting on seats parallel to each other. Leonardo manspreading on the couch, Goldie relaxed on a cushioned chair with his legs crossed, and Katcha stiffly sitting with her arms crossed on yet another cushioned chair. Leonardo takes a good look at the female in front of him. She, in return, glares back at him. Everything about her is very noticeable. From her skin that is darker than average, her curly hair that just bounces as she moves, her short and stout physique; If she were to disappear, it'll be questionable. Making her an ally would be a double-edged sword as well. Certainly, people would begin to question their relationship. What business does she have with a student who is not even her classmate, nor even in the same department as her? “I understand that you immensely mistr
From the kitchen, a sandwich hangs from Goldie's mouth as he hears the sound of things breaking. He slowly chews, trying to determine if what he had just heard is something to be worried about or not. “Fuck!” Hearing Leonardo's distant cursing, he drops the sandwich on one of the kitchen counters, not even bothering to put it on a plate. Scurrying over to the living room, Goldie finally gets a good look at the scene before him. One person is on the floor, in a pool of blood, while the other is taking a pillow out of its clothed casing. Katcha’s head is directly facing Goldie, looking at him as if she were freshly caught tilapia on a hook. “The phone!” Leonardo shouts to Goldie. Unfortunately, it does not register in his mind yet. He watches Leonardo tower over the young woman and wraps the pillowcase around her neck, putting just enough pressure to lessen the flow of the blood. Katcha groans, her hands reaching out t
“There was no sugma in the hair sectio—” Darryl opens his door to the sight of his Godfather slumped down on the floor, unmoving. Katcha is leaning on a wall with a wet towel draped over her - uniform all ruined by a shade of red splashed unto her in irregular spaces. Goldie stood above them all, picking up the pieces of broken wood that were once a coffee table. The living room furniture is toppled except for the couch. A piece of cloth drenched in red liquid is discarded in one corner. The smell of iron fills the air, making the young man feel nostalgic despite knowing that this is always a bad sign unless the smell came from an enemy. In a haste, He drops his plastic bags and kneels beside Leonardo, turning him over so he could check his pulse. He lets out a sigh of relief as he feels a delicate throbbing under the skin of his neck. "What happened?” He shakily asks as he looks at Katcha. She blinks back at him a few times, a distant look glazin
Leonardo awakens to the feeling of a soft mattress under his back. From the sight of the ceiling alone, he knew that he wasn’t in the living room anymore. He can hear the humming of the room’s air conditioner, along with a few muffled shuffling from beyond this room’s doors. Knowing that he’s currently in the bedroom, he deduces that everything has calmed down. Even though he had awoken from a vicious fight, not a single part of his body is hurting or out of place. Raising the arm Katcha had stabbed, he took a closer look and could not find a single hint of scarring. It was clean and free from blood. The last thing he remembered was Goldie dragging him away. ‘Is it all because of him?’ The sound of something slowly creaking fills the room. Leonardo turns his attention to the door being opened by Darryl. “Hey, you’re awake,” The young man chimes in. Leonardo sits up from his bed and looks at Darryl, eye to eye. “What’s happening?”