PRELUDE

     It was a hazy day. The sky is blanketed with mist and there's a huge chance of rain. Catherine observed the surroundings from the window when she shifted her gaze at the front gate of her house, that her mother had already chimed in though she noticed that something that's particularly odd.

     Hugging her mother's hips was what looked like a child, his fringe to the center of his head, nearly blocking his eyes, but Catherine could notice how scared this boy must be. But who was this boy?

     Catherine ran downstairs to greet her mother. She made it a point to open the door before her mother.

     "Hi, love," her mother said, and she smiled in return.

     "What'd you got there?"

     "Oh, right," she took a step back and gently pushed the young boy towards her to introduce. "This is Felipe." She took a deep breath. "I figured it might be a perfect time to have another sibling again."

     Catherine welcomed Felipe with open arms, and pulled him into a tight embrace. This was pretty much unexpected, but she was more than enthusiastic. Out of nowhere, she just got a little brother, and she swore like an oath, in her head, to take care of what was in front of her, and guard him with all her life.

*

     It was summer when it happened. There were rollercoasters and other death-defying rides, and screams and laughter that encompassed them. Catherine had Felipe on her hand.

     Felipe pointed at a cotton candy machine with an earnest-looking old man trying to beckon at people to buy. Catherine nodded and took Felipe to the front of the stall.

     "Two fairy floss, please."

     Felipe laughed. "Fairy floss," he echoed. It was what he had been calling cotton candy, and Catherine just mimicked it to entertain him since they couldn't go over the rides that he's too young to go in. They had already tried the kiddie rides and Felipe got tired immediately. He wanted to go over, and try what Catherine called the "big boy rides", but she wouldn't let him.

     Catherine reached for her wallet and pulled out two twenty peso bills to hand it to the man, who already had finished spinning the cotton candies. She grabbed both the paper cones and turned to Felipe.

     But Felipe wasn't there.

     She looked around her, but there were no traces of her little brother, or where he might have gone. She quickly ran around and asked everyone she bumped into if they've found a little boy, describing every detail of him.

     "My mother is going to murder me," she whispered to herself, but she didn't give up looking until the sky turned orange.