“Where is Gugu?” Amara asked out of the blue that caught me off guard. We are currently having a break here in the cafeteria with Mandy. Everyone’s glaring eyes in the cafeteria were directed to us. We just comfortably ate. After what Amanda did to the students in front of the dorm, they hated us more but couldn’t touch even a strand of our hair. The entire school has no match for the governor’s daughter. “Serra...” Amara reached for my hand that was on the table. “Did she cross over? Tell me.” Her eyes watered. I nodded as a response. “She was latching on you because she knew that the baby in your womb will be in danger. She didn’t want to happen the same thing to you that caused her death. She offered her soul to protect the life in your womb. The process weakened her vitality so she had to cross over,” I explained further. Her eyes teared up more. “I haven’t even get to say goodbye.” She placed her hand on her womb cherishing the fruit of her love and Bruce’s. “What happened to
“Lulu, where are you?” I asked over the phone. “Dorm and I’m with Kate. Don’t worry about me, Serra,” she answered from the other line. After being contented with her answer, I ended the call. Amara and Mandy looked at me waiting for an update. They are both as worried as me. “She’s in the dorm,” I told them and they both sighed in relief. The thirteenth day after Zack’s death is almost here and it’s driving me insane. I saw Dorothy and Lulu’s death. I felt like I have to choose again and up to now I haven’t saved Beatrice’s and Engr. Murray’s soul. They are nowhere to be found. The image of the six headed demon popped in my mind. It was three heads to that of a male and three to that of a female. They were Mark, Jann, Engr. Murray, Suzy, Victoria, and Beatrice’s heads. Its victims head. When it transformed into a serpent, I only heard two voices. Beatrice’s and Engr. Murray’s. It was possible that their souls were trapped inside the demon. Just like what it almost did to Zack’s s
“W-What?” I mumbled. I heard a creak from behind. I halted and turned my head. I swiftly turned around and ran in his direction. “Xyrus!” I yelled and pushed him hard. He stumbled and rolled on the grass grunting. The creaking continued and then I heard a snap. I looked up and saw a huge branch of the big tree hustling down at me. I raised my arm above my head and tilted my face to the side. I shut my eyes and waited for my demise. Everything went so fast. Someone bravely stood behind me and pushed me down on the ground. A pair of tough arms covered my head. Darkness towered over me as a toned body squeezed and sheilded me. I could feel his heart beating frantically against my back. Grip... A huge crash was followed by his grunt and screams from other students. “Serra!” Amara, Mandy, and Xyrus called altogether. “I-I’m fine–” My eyes widened when he coughed blood on the ground over my shoulder. His breath was heavy and fast. His sweet scent was mixed with metallic scent of blo
SERRA “Serra...” someone grabbed my hand. I stood frozen. The corners of my lips curled a smile. I excitedly turned my head and faced him. My lips contracted erasing my smile seeing Xyrus. I was expecting someone else, someone else I don’t even know. “I just want to say thank you for saving me the other day despite how bad I treated you.” He stared at my eyes with a smile curved on his lips. I gave him a sturdy look. “Worst.” I corrected him. He looked away and said he was sorry in a soft voice. “Go out with me, Serra.” That was an out of the blue remark that took me by surprise. He looked away again. Red crept his cheeks. He ran his fingers through his hair. That gesture of him replayed in my mind nonstop. The short strands of his hair covering his forehead ran smoothly upward up to the back of his head. His long brown mapple hair bounced above his shoulder. “Serra?” Xyrus called. His black hair leaned to his right. Sadness fell over me. I was seeing someone else. My heart sud
“Grey Preston...” I lifted my head to see who mumbled my lover’s name. It was Amara. I removed my piled books from the space beside me and placed them on the table. I tapped the bench motioning her to seat beside me. “That mysterious guy again?” She shook her head. “Is he even real?” She put her bag on the table and handed me a bag of snacks. “So, how’s the baby?” I ran my hand over her bulging tummy and talked to the life inside. “The baby’s fine and if you’d ask, I’m fine as well.” She rolled her eyes to the back of her head. “How about Lulu?” I grabbed a different colored pen and started scribbling random stuffs around Grip’s name that I doodled. “Can I see his face again?” Amara pointed at Grip’s name using her lips. I flipped my sketchpad and showed her my artworks. I drew his face in every scene I could remember. I first showed her my art work of Grip when we met each other for the first time, on the pathwalk, under the mapple tree. “Is he some kind of fictional character
“She’s not answering her phone!” Mandy complained the nth time raffling her hair in annoyance. “It’s because she’s dead,” Amanda said bluntly. “S-She can’t be dead.” Amara sobbed and buried her face on my shoulder. I felt terribly useless. I risked my life just to save others who doesn’t even treat me as human but I haven’t done anything to save a friend, to save Lulu. I clenched my fist. I’ve never thought I could be more useless than before. I was busy with my pain that I wasn’t able to eye her. I shouldn’t have acted careless. “If only I didn’t got carried away with my emotions, with my thoughts. This wouldn’t have happened. Lulu should have been still here with us, talking, laughing,” I angled my head downward. “This is all my fault...” I whispered. “Serra...” Amara gaped my chin and placed her hands against my cheeks. “This wasn’t your fault, none of these. Never be apologetic, Serra. You’ve done more than anyone could.” She wiped away my tears. “You could have your busy days
“K-Kate...” I said under my audible breath. She smelt awfully damp. Her sloughing skin wrinkled and was icy pale. Her lips were chapped and purpled. Her brow angled ferociously framing her glaring eyes. The corner of her lips elongated a smile up to her ears. The skin over her lips created visible cracks due to the movement when she grinned. Her body snappily turned to me and her hands pressed tightly against my throat. She was laughing in satisfaction with pursed smiling lips. “K-Kate...” I groaned and wrapped my hands around her wrist. I tried pulling it away but my hand kept on slipping off her slimmy rotten flesh. I held in her arms putting all my weight and kicked her chest as hard as I could. Her arm snapped off her body that floats on the surface meters away. Her body sinked but her hand kept intact on my neck. I grabbed her fingers twisting them off my throat and threw her pair of hands away. Both landed on the tiles out of the pool area. I turned around when I felt someone
“That’s absurd!” Mandy walked back and forth of their room. I was getting dizzy with what she was doing. Amara just sat beside Kate who is apparently Lulu at the moment. The latter kept quiet since we left the pool area. Amanda wanted to stay and make sure I was okay but she was called by Mr. Garzon and it seemed urgent. After a few minutes, dad came running to check on me. He even suspended the entire school activities to make sure I was okay and won’t worry skipping one. “Let’s calm her down first.” Amara suggested pulling Lulu closer and placed her head over her shoulder. “She needs that. She looked anxious,” Mandy agreed but still kept on walking in front of us. “We all are–” I pointed at Mandy “–and we can’t calm down with a sight of you striding back and forth.” I swiped my finger on the air pointing to the chair next to the bed. After a moment of silence, Lulu was the one who broke it with a sigh. She curled her knees and put her chin over it. She pushed her index finger up