CHAPTER 7: JACKIE

My head is spinning and I feel like I want to vomit but I am stopping myself from vomiting because I don’t want Tania to get embarrassed. I looked at her and she was busy talking to Sheila. That is fine. I know they miss each other. That is why they need to catch up. I didn’t bother her. I stood up and walked near the window to get fresh air because I don’t know what is happening to me. I know I am not drunk because I only had three bottles of beer. I looked outside the window when I saw Jackie standing outside while looking at me. She is crying and she is covered with blood. I shook my head and cleared my eyes. Maybe what I saw is not real but she is still standing outside while looking at me and my black smoke brings her to me. Means she is already dead. Means something bad happened to her. Someone killed her. That makes my heart beat fast and I am worried about her.

“Are you okay?” Tania answered when she noticed me standing beside the window. She looked out to check who I was looking at but she saw nothing.

“I think… I have to go now” I answered while still looking at Jackie. My heart was still beating fast in an instant when I saw flashes of scenes in my head about what happened to her.

“What happened?” She asked while looking at me. She knows that I am not okay. I don’t want to ruin her night with her friend but I need to go now.

“Are you okay?” She asked again and she made me look at her because I am looking outside to Jackie.

“Do you want water?” She asked when she saw me that I was pale and looked like I would faint. I know she is just thinking that I am already drunk but I am not. I feel that there’s energy pulling me and I cannot find the current that makes me dizzy.

I saw her talking to me but I don’t hear her anymore. I know I need to go now and check what happened to Jackie but I can’t leave her alone. Jopher is just around. I don’t want him to hurt Tania. I held her hand and without a word, I kissed her. I know she was surprised by my kiss but I know she liked it because she kissed me back instead of pushing me away. She silently looked at me after the kiss because she was wondering why I kissed her. I don’t know either. Maybe her lips hypnotized me to kiss her and without a word, I dragged her because we need to go now. I need to check what happened to Jackie.

“See you tomorrow and thank you,” She said to Sheila in a hurry. I know she wants to stay but I can’t let her stay. I don’t want her to go home without me.

The visions are still flashing in my head like a movie that I need to watch. That makes me dizzy and swayed while walking, but I need to show her that I am fine and I can still protect her no matter what. The visions give me a headache like my head will explode anytime but I need to fight it. I am with Tania and I want to protect her from the threat that Jopher can do. We are both walking home. Hand in hand.When I heard a whistle from the dark and I knew it scared her that is why she held my hand tight and looked at me, but I remained silent because I know I can handle the situation. It is just Jopher and his friends. I can sense it and they are no threat to me. I feel an energy flowing in me and I know it is the same energy that makes me dizzy. I need to release it to ease the dizziness that I feel.

The man wearing a mask suddenly appeared in front of me and the other two beside me and Tania. I pulled Tania closer to me and I told her that everything will be alright for her not to be scared. She holds me tight because she is scared even she tried not to. Maybe she was thinking that they are three and I am only one. One of the guys tried to pull Tania away from me but he failed. Of course, I will never let my queen be dragged by someone away from me. I know Jopher is waiting until midnight for this because he wants Tania, but I will not allow him to hurt her. I will not allow him to get Tania or even touch her. The man who was wearing a face mask and standing in front of me tried to punch me, but he missed so he tried again, but he missed again. That is why it was my turn to punch him and I punched him in the nose. I saw his nose bleed in one punch that made me smile. My punch can knock a man down now in just a snap. I heard Tania scream and she is no longer standing beside me. The two idiots already grabbed her. With my adrenaline, I snapped, and then from nowhere my volumina Fumi suddenly appeared and grabbed Tania from them. The two froze because they were surprised about what they saw. They can’t believe it. My black smoke covered Tania to keep her safe while I am dealing with their queen bee. Jopher.

“What’s up, queen bee?” I asked him with a smile to insult him and punched him right to his face again.

I feel my energy flowing in me like I am unstoppable. I saw black smoke coming to my hands. I didn’t know what was happening to me but I like it because it’s cool. I feel like I am a superhero. Just one punch made them fly one meter away from me.

“Haha” I laughed when I saw them not moving anymore. They are not dead but they’re just not moving. They are knocked out.

When I tried to cool down. My smoke suddenly went away and I saw Tania wondering. That is why I went to her and asked her if she was okay. She looked at me and I could see the worries in her eyes. She is worried about me if I am okay. She didn’t see what happened. She hugged me and looked around. Jopher and his friends are gone and she is safe now.

“What happened? Why did all the lights turn off?” She asked and I am not wrong. She thought all the lights turned off but it was just my black smoke covering her, keeping her safe from Jopher and his friends.

“Where did the bad guys go? I thought they grabbed me?” She asked again, still wondering what had happened. I smiled at her and told her not to worry because she is safe now and I don’t see Jopher and his friends around.

“Thank you so much,” She said with a smile and her dimple flashing again, melting my heart.

I dropped Tania at their house and once I saw her get inside. I immediately went inside my apartment to see Simon but I was surprised to see Jackie too and she was covered with blood and crying. She looked at me and partly blamed me for what happened to her because I told her that I was going to protect her but I didn’t. I became busy with Tania and I forgot about her because I didn’t expect that things would happen so fast. I just visited her a while ago with Simon and now, she is here, dead and crying.

“Help!” She cried. I looked at her and I felt pity for her.

I heard people outside talking about the woman who got murdered from the next barangay. They said that the woman was stabbed sixteen times and she is pregnant. I know because she is here with me now covered with blood. Crying and asking for help.

“Help” She begged and she touched me.

I feel a force pull me when she touches me, and I suddenly teleport to the crime scene. I saw blood all over the small house. I saw police investigating the crime scene. I saw people outside too looking and nosing around. I looked around and tried to find evidence that could lead me to the suspect. I saw a footprint from the suspect mark on the floor when he stepped on Jackie’s blood. I kneel and look at the footprint because I am sure that it wasn’t Jackie’s. I tried to touch it but when I touched it. I suddenly saw a vision of what happened. The men in a motorcycle stopped at the front of Jackie’s house. They are wearing bonnets enough to cover their whole face. At first, they were knocking but when Jackie didn’t want to open the door they started to break the lock and get inside without permission.

“What do you want?” Jackie asked and she was scared. The man grabbed her by her hair while the other one was standing at the door. Guarding the door so no one can get inside while they are doing the crime.

“You think you can tell the police the truth about your husband’s death?” The man said and was still holding her hair tight. He makes Jackie look at him while the other one is still standing at the door, watching him.

“Stop, please” Jackie begged but the man didn’t want to stop. She is scared and worried about her baby but the man is heartless. He punched Jackie in the face that made her nose bleed.

“Let me go,” She cried but instead of letting her go the man punched her again and stabbed her in her stomach. Jackie bleeds in an instant. She didn’t know if her baby got stabbed too.

“My baby, my baby,” She said while looking at her blood. Her blood starts to drip and her hands are full of blood too. She hysterically watches her blood drip. She looked at the man while she kept on crying.

I heard her crying in pain and my heart hurt when I heard her begging to let her go and have mercy on her, but the man didn’t listen. They just laughed and continued their evil act and threw Jackie on the table. Her womb bumped into the table that caused her so much pain while the two were laughing still, watching her. The man stood up and kicked her as she crawled to the floor, She wants to go out to escape from the monsters but the two will not allow her to go out. They looked at each other and they seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. While the poor Jackie is begging for her life.

“Simon” She called for her husband. As if her husband could save her from them.

“Help” She tried to call for help even though she can’t talk anymore because of the pain that the man-caused her, but instead of getting pity on her the man pulled her foot and punched her mouth and her mouth bled too. She vomited blood on the floor and she coughed hard.

“Help” She tried to ask for help again but I guess nobody could hear her.

“Please” She begged again to spare her life and the baby inside her womb.

The man stood up, grabbed her hair mercilessly and made her look at his eyes and stabbed her many times. When she was no longer moving he dropped her on the floor and kicked her for the last time while she was lying hopelessly on the floor. She tried to stop the man from stabbing him, but the man was too strong for her and mercilessly stabbed her again. I saw her blood all over and she is no longer moving or crying. I closed my eyes because of the pity for Jackie and at the same time anger towards those who killed her. I closed my fist in what I saw. The men removed their black, knitted bonnet and wiped their sweat on their faces. The one who stabbed Jackie cleaned all the blood from his hands and arms and they left the house like nothing’s happened. Leaving Jackie dead on the floor. Their evil acts succeed, now there’s no Jackie who will put them in prison because of what they did to Simon, but it is not over yet. I assure them that. The energy pulled me back and when I opened my eyes I was inside my apartment again. Those cold-blooded murderers. Now I know who they are because I saw their faces.

I looked at Jackie and asked her for their names and she gave it to me. Ricardo Reyes, the one son of the owner who framed up Simon and the cause why Simon died, and his best friend/partners in crime. Lester Domingo. I looked at Jackie but I didn’t say anything. My black wings, bigger than me, just suddenly spread in an instant and I was so surprised I didn’t know that I had wings and it showed up in the time of need. I saw dad look at me and he was smiling at me. I didn’t know if he could see my wings but I knew he could see my wings. I glanced at myself in the mirror and I saw my eyes all black like I am not Isaac anymore. I jumped and my wings flew me high. I am so high that I can almost reach the sky. I can feel the cold wind blowing in my face and I can see the world from above. I can hear the noises too. The horns from different vehicles, the voices from different people, and I feel like I am high because of the energy that is flowing in me. I tried to look down and found the two criminals. My eyes are like a telescope now. I can see even from afar. They are packing their things and ready to leave to run away from the crime that they committed before they get caught, but I will not let them get away with it. Like a falling star, I am blazing falling to where they are. I landed in front of them with my one knee on the ground and I saw them surprised to see me in front of them. I feel fear inside of them even though they tried to fight it. I know nobody can see me but for them. I stood up and looked at them. My stare gives them fear that makes them shake and worst peed on their pants.

“Who… who are you?” Ricardo asked with fear in his eyes and terror in his voice. I folded my wings and looked at them.

“Don’t come near us or else I will shoot you” He warned me as if I was scared. He pointed the gun at me while his hand was shaking and tried to shoot me but the bullet just passed on me. He tried to shoot me again but it is still the same. The bullet just passed on me. It didn’t give me single damage. I smile while watching them scared of me even though I know it wasn’t enough in what they did to Jackie.

He looked at his gun as if it was useless and threw it away. They dropped their bags too and they ran away. My adrenaline immediately worked and followed them. I ran faster than the blink of an eye and I surprised them when they saw me standing in front of them already. They froze and I touched them on their forehead as my instincts told me. Their eyes suddenly turned black. I saw my black smoke suddenly appear from me. Now I know where my black smoke came from. I am the one who is producing it. After my black smoke grabbed their souls they immediately turned into ash. The white smoke suddenly appeared from Ric and Les but it suddenly disappeared. A piece of paper slowly dropped on my hand and I read what was written there. “Greed” has written greed on the paper that makes me smile because this is the start of my task. The paper got burned in my hand but I don’t feel anything. As if nothing’s happened. I looked around in the busy streets of Manila and nobody saw what happened. The people are just passing on me. I spread my wings and fly again. 

I went home and I feel so drained. That was my first time and I didn’t expect that it would happen. I didn’t expect that I would do those either. I took a deep breath and sat on the chair that Michael left the last time that she was here. She left a table and chairs with water, not wine. That is why I am thinking of getting one because I am so tired and I want to relax. I tried to snap my finger, maybe I will have a bottle of wine as Michael did, but I failed. The wine didn’t appear in front of me. I had water instead because I am so thirsty. What a long night for me? and I feel so tired. I took a deep breath and stretched my arms and legs. I looked at dad because he was looking at me with a smile while having his coffee in his favorite mug.

“One down, and six to go and we can go,” He said and took a sip of his coffee.

“You are just waiting for me, aren’t you?” I asked him and he nodded.

I already accepted that my dad is already dead when I noticed his actions are more limited than before. I remember everything that happened too, and until now it hurts me because Maria, my dad, died but I can’t turn back the time. Everything happens for a reason and maybe it needed to happen for me to see my purpose. Even at first, it was hard for me but little by little. I am starting to accept who the real me is.

My dad keeps on looking at me as if he was telling me that he is so proud of me. He is not talking but his eyes do and the way he looked at me as if he can see already that I will succeed in this test. Makes me proud of myself as his son. He looked at me as if he knew what happened. I looked at myself in the mirror and I saw my eyes were back to normal. My eyeballs are back and my wings are gone. I looked around and noticed that Simon and Jackie were gone. I don’t know where they went but they are gone. Where did they go? I asked myself and now I am all alone again with my father. I closed my eyes because I wanted to rest for a moment. This is a long night for me and I am so tired. I want to close my eyes for a moment before I go out to buy something to eat but I fall asleep unintentionally.