“Hey!” “Hey!” “Hey!” He glares at the intruder of his room. “What do you want?” He snapped at him not minding hiding the anger in his tone. “I was just at the Upper Ground. Guess who I saw?” He was excited. His voice was laced with excitement and his eyes almost sparkled. “I saw that girl, Amilia, and a man talking. Oh boy! They look good together!” He almost squeals. Almost. Good thing he didn’t. “And?” He asked. By now his fully healed. Gone was the inked swirl on his body and he can already move around. “Just sharing my excitement with you. Aren’t you? They can live happily ever after. A scarred and a vessel. A good combination- hey! Where are you going? I’m still talking…” He heard him call to him one last time before his voice fade away. He didn’t think too much of what he said. He knows him more than anyone on the Underground. Not that the place had many occupants. Most of them are just Shades. He despised that place. It was just great that he has access to the Upper Gro
Amilia rode a bus to her destination. She had that determined look on her face and a bag full of clothing and another handbag that was filled with food. Lizzie was unstoppable. She had packed everything she bought, cooked some, and buy some more for Amilia’s vacation. She had bought at least a year’s worth of supplies. She also sends her some more clothes and unnecessary things. Most especially, the guy who was now sitting beside her. Amilia can’t understand him. She thought that there was no way that he will agree to Lizzie’s idea but he did. He was now sitting comfortably beside her, in the center aisle. His eyes closed and his arms crossed behind his head. She watched his even breath. He’s not seriously asleep right now, is he? Amilia thought. He shifted to the side and opened his eyes slightly, eyeing Amilia. “What? Mesmerized by my beauty?” Whatever curse those ink had he still got them. He got a little more talkative now than he used to. He smiles a lot and was very jolly. He
“Dan, you didn’t call- “Editha Geralds paused from what she was doing to look at the door when it opened. She was expecting her son to stand there. But no. Daniel didn’t come home. He also didn’t notify them about his arrival which he always does. Instead, a young woman was standing in there. A face she wished she had erased from her memory but couldn’t do so. With her dark unruly hair and her piercing eyes, she looked like her mother. “Grandma,” Amilia said in a low voice. “What are you doing here?” Editha’s face darkened. She stood up and face her granddaughter. “I have something to ask you.” Amilia firmly said. “No. We already broke ties with your mother. We have nothing to do with you anymore.” She turned around to pick up a broken vase on the floor. Amilia come to help her pick up the broken pieces and gathered them around on her palm. “I have nothing to talk to you about. You may leave.” Amilia takes it all in. The coldness in her voice. The way he shrugged her off. She ta
Amilia went up to take a shower after an hour of dusting and cleaning the room. The Fallen, however, during the battle with the clouds of dust, had escaped to who knows where. Amilia didn’t care. She’s filthy and tired so a long shower will help ease her sore muscles. The room fogged from the hot steam coming from the shower stall. Amilia engulfed herself and let her body relax. She sighed. She had contemplated the events that had led to this. She didn’t know that she will be back to her hometown where she had collected a good number of bad memories. She thought of how her grandparents used to fight all the time. How her father would shout at her mother for no reason or when he was drunk. How the children around her age used to bully and treat her like an outcast. She tried to remember some good days but nothing would surface. It’s either she had nothing or she had forgotten about it at all. She decided to finish her shower when her hands started to wrinkle. She looked at her reflect
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He shook Amilia’s shoulder as tears streamed down her face. She hiccups once before falling into a sobbing pit. Slowly, like a movie, images flashed before her eyes. She remembered the faces of her friends. Their smiles. Their tired eyes. And how scared they were before she did what she was asked. There’s no mistaking it. It was her fault. She did it to her friend. Just like what she said in the journal, she offered her to him. She remembered now. The voice. More clearly. More precise. The voice had tricked her. He said that he would do nothing to her friends. But they disappeared right before her eyes. Amilia cry. Sobbing, she tried to contain the pain. She tried to trample down the guilt she felt. Her chest tightened. Her knees buckled as she fought the memories back. She shouldn’t have looked for answers. She should not come back. She should bury those memories forever. Amilia was in pain. She didn’t know what to think anymore. She was just there, kneeling a
“Harold, no!” Editha rushed to where her granddaughter is. She tried to remove the grasp her husband had on Amilia. “No! No, please. She’s your granddaughter. No.” She pleaded. Harold swings his arms that were holding Amilia’s neck so both women get thrown to the side. Editha’s back bumped at the wall. She winced in pain and when she had recovered, she went to where Amilia was. She gathered the poor child in her arms and hugged her. “Amilia, wake up. Wake up, dear?” Harold grabbed a fistful of Editha’s hair forcefully and made her look at him. He was amused. It was the first time that he saw the woman with such hatred and, did he just see disgust? Harold smiled. But that didn’t affect Editha’s determination. This was making Harold thrilled so much that he wanted to laugh out loud. She released Editha and stood. Dusting his pants, he looks at the woman. “You are very lucky tonight. I’m amused, Editha. Why don’t you entertain me more?” With that, he left. Editha watched the man dis
“First we need to get back to your friends.” The Fallen said making Amilia furrow her eyebrows. “How is that going to help us?” She asked. “Because that guy had a book. It was a good book and most of the answers were written in there.” Amilia remembers the grimoire that Zephyr owned. Yeah! That book can help. “I’ll just gather my things and maybe talk to my grandmother.” Amilia then went to where she put her bag. Her stuff was placed on top of it and some of her dirty clothes are in there too. She had rummaged her bag earlier to look for something suitable to wear after the shower but she had a hard time picking what she wanted so her neat and dirty clothes ended up compiling on top of the bag, mixed. “What for?” Amilia didn’t look at the Fallen. She was busy trying to organize the clothes. But she did answer his question. “Because she’s coming with us. She’s not safe here. That Bellua thing might kill her if he learned that we run away or something.” “He wouldn’t do that.” He
“Amilia! Are you back? Are you there?” Amilia heard some hush whispers on her door followed by knocks. She yawned and stretch. She had slept on the sofa last night and let Editha sleep on her bed. Her body ached a little but it was not a worry at the moment. It was the man who was watching her at the side. The Fallen. Before Amilia could say a word, she heard the knocks again. She got up. Glancing at the bedroom door, she opened her front door. “Amilia!” Lizzie beamed that earned a shush from Zephyr. Lizzie ignored the man. She was busy hugging her friend, whom she had not seen for a while. Amilia slowly and carefully removed Lizzie’s vice grip on her body. She can now feel that she was sucking Lizzie’s energy. She can feel her body absorbing something from Lizzie. “I’m happy to see you too, Lizz. But maybe we can take this inside.” Amilia offered. The three of them went inside. Lizzie settled down on the couch while Zephyr was scanning the surrounding before carefully placing him