Remember That Day

Chapter 10

The hotel building was not as loud as it was for the past hours. Probably because people were tired and already sleeping. There were few people in the lobby and securities on night duty, doing their rounds and jobs to keep the place safe. They were the only ones that were still awake.

It was past 12 and there was someone knocking on Jayda’s door. Not on a deep sleep, she slowly moved from her bed as the noise continued.

Rubbing her eyes, she whispered, “Who could it be?”

The room was dark, and only the light coming from a dim lamp beside her bed was her guide towards the door. The knocking run on not until Jayda drew near.

As she tardily twisted the door knob, she asked, “Who’s there?” But no one respond.

Opening the door only to find who was bothering her in the middle of the night, her eyes widened as she saw a figure of a guy in hood she couldn’t recognize due to darkness.

“Who are you? Please, don’t hurt me,” she said, stuttering.

“Aren’t you looking for this?”

The guy raised his hand, holding a rectangular in shape thing in which Jayda recognized as her notes she possibly dropped in front of the 8th unit.

She staggered backwards, palms on her mouth as she realized that the figure of the man in front of her resembled the guy she was suspecting to be the murderer.

“I’m begging you. Don’t kill me, please!” she pleaded once more, but the guy inched towards her which made her tremble and jumped on her feet.

“Do you think I will spare you?”

It was a scary voice that terribly gave chills to Jayda. She shouted for help, the reason she came back to consciousness and bolted upright from bed.

Sweat ran down from her temples. As she clutched her chest and gasped for air, she said in relief, “Just a bad dream.”

Inhale-exhale had helped her calm herself before she went to the kitchen to get some water.

Holding a glass of water she got from her fridge, Jayda suddenly stared at nothing, thinking about the dream she had earlier.

“Why the hell it is seemed like a real thing?” she cussed and let out a long deep breath.

The next morning was another tough day for Jayda to deal with. Watching on her 32-inch television was the first thing she did.

The six o’clock news began with a weather forecast. Heavy rain was expected to hit by early afternoon, but Jayda wouldn’t mind as she wasn’t planning to go outside.

A murder case was next. An 8-year-old child was found dead in own home and none could tell how and why it happened. The police captured the culprit a week after the crime and found out that it was his cousin behind the heinous activity.

It was so much for Jayda to hear another incident about murder early in the morning, so she decided to turn it off. Waffles and bacon for breakfast, and she was good until four in the afternoon.

She had a lot of things to think of that was making her hard to go through each day for the past week. Firstly, the murder incident that she, herself only witnessed. By the fact that she lost her credibility to the hotel securites just because of smelling like alcohol, they might really think that Jayda was only seeking for attention.

“I’m not crazy!” she yelled, hitting her table with both of her hands. “Not because I drink a little and smelled like alcohol doesn’t mean I’m less credible! I know what I saw!”

Until a distant memory popped inside her head about how she criticized the guy in the hood who passed by in front of her who smelled like cigarettes and alcohol one night in the hotel’s pool area.

“But I’m different! That guy... although I’m still not sure if he’s the same with guy in the 8th unit, he’s still suspicious. When I heard his conversations through call and how he threatened someone... he’s planning to kill a person! How could I not think that he’s not the murderer?”

Spinning her index to her temple, she shut her eyes and rested her head on her swivel chair.

Jayda had nothing to do, but to think all day sitting on her chair in front of her unfinished novel she couldn’t continue. She even forgot the importance of eating. What she had been experiencing was making her ill.

Not anxious enough, Jayda pulled a book from one of the stacks on her table, and then she remembered that it was the comic book she bought at the book store yesterday.

“D’Ivanov,” she read, the author of the comic book. “I wonder how the author gave justice for the victim.”

A little browsing of the pages without actually minding the illustrations and words, and she stopped. The book doesn’t hook her anymore. Perhaps because of the heavy feeling she was feeling right now.

Putting the book back to her table, she stood up and whispered, “Maybe I could read you some other time.” And she headed to the floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel, moved the curtains, making her witnessed the soaked city outside due to heavy rainfall which last for over four hours.

The sky was still a little dark and wind was blowing outside. It looked like rain would fall again in the next few minutes.

“It’s the best time to eat spicy hot noodles,” she said when she touched the glass window and felt cold.

The next minute was a certain memory playing inside her mind one night in a convenient store.

“I want something that can burn my tongue. Um...” she mumbled under her breath as she chose among the hot and spicy cup noodles in the shelves. “What should I pick?”

It was not long before she heard a voice behind her.

“Why don’t you eat fire instead?”

That, automatically made Jayda glanced behind her. She even roamed her eyes around checking if she was the one that the guy who had just spoken was talking to. But it was just her, the lady crew, and the guy inside. Her brows knitted.

“What? Wait. Are you... are you talking to me?” Jayda finally spoken, pointing her index to herself.

Jayda didn’t know if it was just her, but the moment that the guy looked over his shoulder to see her, it was in a slow motion of some kind.

The guy was in his mid-twenties, had a towering height, and definitely had a sweet and beautiful smile that made Jayda snapped from reality.

“I guess?” the guy answered while smiling and continued to pick more chips in the shelves.

The next minute after Jayda peacefully finished her food, a presence beside her made her jump to her feet.

“Oh, my tongue! It’s killing me—”

“It’s better to drink this.”

Chocolate drink.

Jayda tilted her head to see who on Earth put a chocolate drink on her table and it was him again. Her eyes automatically squinted.

“You? Again? Ugh! Why are you bothering me?” Jayda snorted.

With his usual smile, the guy answered, “Just because.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Um. Let’s just say, I’m concern.”

A slight smile that Jayda wasn’t aware of flashed on her face. Rubbing her belly as it made a rumble sound, she abruptly left and went to her kitchen cabinet for a noodles.

For a late afternoon snack, she had a bowl of hot and spicy noodles and a chocolate drink which Damek gave her. Luckily, she didn’t throw it to garbage that night when he gave it to her.

The following hours made Jayda felt dizzy and sleepy. At exact 8 in the evening, she fell asleep as if she made a heavy work that drained her energy when all she did was to think over and over.

Past 10 and there was someone knocking on Jayda’s door. She started to become conscious and although she felt dizzy, she slowly moved from her bed as the noise continued.

She was frantic for a moment because of darkness. Rubbing her eyes and nose, she whispered, “Do I have a visitor?”

The room was dark, and only the light coming from a dim lamp beside her bed was her guide towards the door. The knocking run on not until Jayda drew near.

As she tardily twisted the door knob, she asked, “Who’s there?” But no one respond. Squinting her eyes over the thought flashed in her head, she added, “I think this already happened. Am I dreaming or not?”

Jayda pinched her cheek and she got hurt, now certain that she was awake and what was happening was real.

“Ugh! My head...” she mumbled. Her temples was pounding hard that it made her sway a little towards the door. She really felt dizzy and cold, but she didn’t mind at all.

Opening the door only to find who was bothering her at this hour, her eyes widened as she saw a figure of a guy in hood she couldn’t recognize due to darkness. It was a tall figure of a man.

“Who are you?” she asked, stuttering. When the guy didn’t give any word, she added, “Please, don’t hurt me.”

She staggered backwards, palms on her mouth as she realized that the figure of the man in front of her resembled the guy she was suspecting to be the murderer. It was always in a hood, certain that it could probably be him.

“You... I’m begging you. Don’t kill me, please!” she pleaded once more, but the guy inched towards her which made her tremble and jumped on her feet.

“Move any closer and I will shout!” she said, brave enough to threaten a possible killer.

It was like in the drama where the suspect would come and visit the victim at night. The killer would kill the target then would ran away as if nothing happened. But Jayda was desperately hoping that she wouldn’t end her life that way.

“I’m telling you. I am certain that you can’t escape from here if you try to kill me!” Jayda said once more.

The next thing happened was unexpected. Jayda just did what she said. She shouted from the top of her lungs when the guy did was to shut the door, opened the lights then ran to her to cover her mouth.

Jayda on bottom, the guy on the top. After the guy tried to stop her from shouting, they ended up like that on Jayda’s bed.

“What the hell! Why did you shout? I’m not a killer to kill you for anyone’s sake! I’m just here to clear things! I’m Damek... I’m Damek Ivanov from the 8th unit, your neighbor.... wait,” he suddenly halted, slowly removing his hand from her mouth. “You? Noodle girl? Jayda?”

His eyes widened after the realization, but Jayda haven’t respond and wasn’t aware that it was a guy she knew. She was sweating and was trembling in fear, eyes closed, sobbing.

To Damek’s surprise, he quickly pulled himself away from her then checked if she was okay, but she was just sobbing.

“I’m sorry! Did I scare you that much? I didn’t know... Jayda? Jayda!” Damek started to panic as Jayda continued to shiver in the same position without any word coming from her.

“Please don’t kill me...” Jayda said, almost a whisper.

“What? What are you talking about? Kill you? Who would try to kill you? Me?” As Damek tucked her hair behind her ears, he felt strange. “Jayda, talk to me. What’s happening to you?”

And when his hand landed on her forehead, his face scrunched up worried and said, “Oh god, Jayda you’re burning!”

He was shaking when he slid his hand to his pocket to get his phone. Quick enough, he called a doctor to ask for assistance who happened to be his long-time bestfriend, Gon.