Chapter 3: The Night Before

CHAPTER 3:

 

“Hey, Cyreen!” Skye called as I dragged him through the now heavy downpour of rain. Ignoring his call, I continued jogging through the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding other people as we half-ran towards home.

As we did, people gave us strange looks, wondering why we were walking at such a pace in this normal day.

Apparently, this day isn’t so normal. Today, I might just find out I have some kind of mental illness.

Until now, I can still feel that someone’s right behind us, catching up and getting ready to pounce. Or that, every dog that passes by will turn into that black dog and bite my and Skye’s heads off. So every now and then I would look around, feeling utterly stupid when nothing came out.

I don’t believe in ghosts. Even though our maids would say stories about how they saw a white lady in the middle of the road towards home, or a giant man smoking in the trees, or even the flying monster called “Mananaggal”.

 I like hearing about them, but they’re impossible to exist! Neither can monsters and all that craziness!

I must be psychotic.

“CYREEN!” Skye shouted, making me freeze up in my tracks, panting both from the exhaustion of my thoughts and the running.

I turned back to him. He stared at me with knit brows and big eyes, a look of annoyance and worry on his face. “What is going on with you?!” he yelled, coming closer to me.

I blinked, now feeling the aftermath of us jogging halfway home.

“It’s…um…” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain today. Skye stared at me, waiting for my response.

“If something happened, tell me.” he said, making me look up at him.

He had his arms crossed in front of him again as he held the umbrella up, a slight blush on his face as he pouted.

“I mean….I told you some of my problems before didn’t I?” he asked with a low voice. I blinked and smiled half-heartedly.

“Yeah, the time with your first girl?” I asked innocently. Skye glared at me, blushing even more now. I snickered at him and sighed.

“Alright then.” I said, deciding to tell him while we continue walking home. After telling him about what I saw, his face went pale. Though under this weather, I wondered if he was losing his color because of the rain or because he thinks his sister’s gone mad.

I raised my brow at him. “Please say something.” I begged as we turned a corner.

My little brother blinked many times and opened his mouth then closed it again, looking as if he wanted to say something but just can’t.

“It might just be your imagination.” He said, looking up at me with troubled eyes. I blinked at him and felt the weight on my shoulders get heavier.

“You did say that the dog was like a mirage….It’s-it’s probably your head messing with you. Ate Maria was telling us stories about shapeshifters last night. Remember?” Skye laughed half-heartedly.

I knit my brows and sighed, remembering one of our maids trying to scare Skye with a story about giant pigs or dogs eating kids in the dead of night. “Yeah, you’re….you’re right.” I muttered, my voice shaking.

“But, let’s walk faster huh?” I asked and Skye obliged, running right next to me. Well, I never said me and my brother were brave warriors.

 

After a few more minutes, we turned a corner and entered our subdivision; Sunset Hills, far from the innermost city and into the more refined and quiet part of Makati. We then entered 1^st street to the left and found our home.

Behind tall, modern steel, double gates stood a white, two storey bungalow. I’ll make this a little easier, our house was pretty state of the art since dad had a thing for architecture.

At the front, your attention would surely be taken by the wide, glass windows that could show half the inside of the house only when the curtains were open. There were many more windows and at one side, there was a long balcony which overlooked the other street.

I pulled out my own keys and opened the gates, pushing only one of them open as we slid in.

Once we got in, my eyes fell upon the mini fountain at the front of the house, water sprouting out from the top of a rectangle which had other smaller cubes around it.

Since the rain was getting heavier, we then ran towards the front porch which had long, wide stairs that seemed to be floating next to the metal railings on our right and Skye went ahead of me, running towards the large front doors.

He then stopped in front of the doorknob and I realized dad had put in a new lock. An electronic one at that.

At the top of the long, horizontal door handle was a slab of metal which I imagined to either have invisible touch pad or it was just a slab of metal dad wanted to put for design.

Skye then pushed up the meal slab, revealing the flat touch lock that bore small, white numbers ranging from 0 to 9. Skye quickly punched a four number pass code and the door clicked open. I raised my brow a bit.

“He’s gotta let me do that next.”

Once we got inside, the cool air conditioning greeted us, making me sigh with relief as I looked around. The inside of our house was as modern as the exterior. Marble floors partly covered by fluffy carpets, glass railings and nice lights.

I collapsed on the soft, white sofa, sighing and still feeling weird but the feeling was lighter now. It was probably thanks to the bright lights on the ceiling.

“Where’re the others?” I asked, talking about our helpers.

“It’s their day off today. Even Tita Nora’s gone home.” Skye explained, gently putting his bag on the sofa next to me. I sighed, feeling utterly spent.

Even though I only ran once today, I’m so tired from my thoughts. Right now, I have no clue if I’m just actually schizophrenic or I’m just tired.

Skye was staring at me, looking troubled as he did.

“I’ll get some water for you.” he said and marched off into the kitchen. I blinked, smiling a bit.

Normally little brothers are a pain but my relationship with Skye is that of a best friend. There are times when we fight and times when we play around, bashing each other’s avatar on the PlayStation.

Having a brother like him was nice. Only he was still troublesome since he still had that inexperience with life and didn’t know how to get home on his own.

I then leaned my head on the sofa, urging myself to flush out the image of the dog in my brain.

Skye suddenly came back, a glass of water in his hand. He sat next to me, handing the glass over.

“When’s dad coming home?” he asked. I swallowed.

“He won’t make dinner.” I said. Which reminded me, I should give him a call now.

I took out my cell phone and gave him a call but got the machine instead. He must be in the meeting now. I then left him a message saying we’re home and turned off my cell.

“Well, how ‘bout we order McDonald’s?” I asked, getting up. At the thought of a good Big Mac, my mood lightened a bit. Skye blinked at me.

“Aren’t you gonna cook for us?” he asked, blinking his eyes like a little baby. Staring at him now, I suddenly found him adorable.

I then smiled a close-eyed smile. “You want me to cook?”

Skye blinked again then shuddered, laughing nervously and probably remembering the last time I tried to cook some pancakes. That night resulted with the kitchen turning black and my dad scolding and telling me to never cook again.

“N-never mind.” He laughed, scratching the back of his head. His eyes then brightened. And when he was about to say something, I cut him off.

“I’m not paying for your order.”

My brother groaned audibly, making me chuckle as I got up, walking up the stairs and heading to my room to fix my stuff and forget what happened today.

I then reached my place and opened the door to see my beloved private life.

Well, it wasn’t the usual. The floor was partly covered by a dark brown carpet and the black and white bed, a low, Japanese style is practically one that I need to just step forward to then whoo! I’m on my bed. Half of my room had the usual study table and also a small area that had a shelf full of books and small speakers to help me enjoy my music.

I sighed, pulling my backpack off and throwing it to the farthest corner of the room. Yeah, that means I could care less about my pack and its contents.

But then again….in the end I find myself apologizing to my favorite pack.

 

I then headed to my bathroom, changing into my usual home clothes: black sweat pants and any loose shirt I had.

Right when I was about to head out my room and touch the doorknob, I jumped when the sliding glass to my balcony banged as if a bird or something relatively big hit it.

I gasped, my back pressed against the door as my heart pumped, my eyes staring at the thankfully still closed balcony doors.

“Ha-ha. This…this is ridiculous.” I muttered. Right then, I felt heavy again, as if something was behind me and coming to pounce.

Quickly, I pulled the doorknob all the while screaming:

“WAHOOOOO!” down the stairs with my arms flailing around the air. Yes, this is the way I ward off evil.

Skye, who was now wearing his ridiculous blue bunny pajamas and playing with his 3ds looked up at me in absolute fright and paled when he saw me running down the stairs like an escaped mental patient.

Once I got to him, he stared at me, slowly inching away from me. I smiled at him, embarrassed.

This is one reason why no one should ever come with me at home.

“Haha, I got scared.” I smiled and walked towards the TV, switching on the DVD player and putting in Wreck it Ralph. I need something to lift my spirits.

Once that was done, I went back to the sofa, sitting next to Skye who was now staring at me like I was some freak.

“What?” I asked. “You’re a freak too.”

“How so?” Skye challenged.

“Bunny pajamas.” I replied, pointing at his clothes with a bored look.

My brother’s face went red and his cheeks puffed up. “M-mom gave me these!” he yelled, making me chuckle. Mom did like teasing us. But, 6 years ago, her business trip to Korea went bad and her plane crashed in the ocean. So, the teasing stopped when I was nine and Skye was only seven.

At the memory of mom, my eyes glanced to the table next to me.

There was a frame there with our family picture. It was taken 6 years ago, when we went to our ancestral home in Subic and played in the beach at our backyard.

(Seriously, we have that. It was purely thanks to my grandpa’s love for betting.)My dad and mom were smiling at the camera, looking oblivious to me and Skye who were partially at the back, pulling each other’s faces, our hair wet and covered in sand.

I stared at mom’s face, wondering if I’ll look like her when I grew older. If that were the case, then I’d become beautiful.

I sighed.

“She’s fine.” Skye suddenly said, making me turn to him with a confused look.

Skye pouted his lips then put down his DS. “Well, I just thought you might be wondering if mom’s okay…you know, up there.” He said, pointing upwards.

My little brother smiled sweetly. “She’s fine. I’m sure.”

I blinked at him, feeling the tears coming.

“…Skye…”

He looked up at me.

“You’re such a sensitive boy.” I smiled happily, feigning awe. Skye stared at me with annoyance and grabbed his DS, muttering under his breath.

After mumbling about how annoying I was, he nodded once as if remembering something.

“Ah, by the way, dad said we’ll be taking someone with us to Baguio for the whole summer.” Skye said as the movie started.

I blinked. “Really? Who?” I asked, thinking that it meant I won’t be able to crazily run around the place and show my weirdness.

Skye scratched his head, sighing. “Dunno. But dad said he’s taking a business friend with him and that business friend has a kid he’ll be bringing.”

I made a face. “That means I can’t run around happily.” I moped, making Skye scoff with a smile.

After that short discussion, the night passed with no events whatsoever. Except Skye getting high with his coffee float and slipping on the marble floor.

 

Once it was 12 midnight and our movie marathon was over, Skye was already sleeping on the sofa, totally spent from our laughter.

Carrying him to his room really wasn’t an option since the last time I tried that we ended up falling down the stairs together. I stared down at his sleeping face, giggling at how much of a baby he looked.

“What a cute, troublesome little brother.” I thought. Right then, an idea popped into my head.

Before leaving for my room, I took a calligraphy pen from my pencil case and expertly drew the classic mustache above his lips, round eyeglasses and ‘I’m a fluffy Bunny’ on his forehead.

As I quietly climbed up the stairs, I laughed like a maniac, absolutely proud of my master piece.

Sighing, I got into my room, brushed my teeth then jumped into bed, feeling much better thanks to this night with my little brother.

For some reason, he was closer to me today. As if he knew I was scared and needed someone to say I’m not alone. And assure me that I wasn’t going insane. Switching off the main lights and turning on my bedside lamp, I plugged my mp3 into the speakers, letting the sweet melody of music boxes softly fill my room, helping me drift to sleep.