Remember That Day

Chapter 24

Serial killers often employ a “mask of sanity” to hide their true psychopathic tendencies and appear normal, even charming.

“Serial killer or a mass murderer, he still killed someone,” she uttered, nodding to the thoughts flowing inside her head. “Alright. Now I wonder how people couldn’t recognize him as a person doing such a heinous activity. He could probably have that mask of sanity to conceal his hidden agenda. He could be charming...”

That’s true. I remember that. He could be also hiding his real identity by his looks and profession, Jayda thought to herself.

But Jayda didn’t expect that the odd feeling inside the room would turn into some carnival full of laughters.

“How dare you make fun of me?” Gon stormed off as he pointed Damek on floor, laughing hard.

“Let me tell you something, Jayda,” Damek uttered in between his laughs. “He have been wearing that shoes even before a crime happened in your unit. I’m just kidding!”

Gon shook his head. “You’re insane!” When he was about to give him a beat, Jayda yelled that surprised them both.

“How dare both of you to make fun of what I’ve been going through?”

“Jayda—”

White knuckles from clenching her fist too hard, and gritted teeth after she shouted, Jayda was really mad and upset. Her face was red out of rage, and even before the guys could utter words, Jayda quickly left the room once and for all.

Without minding everything, she went straight to her room, slammed the door shut, and buried the whole her on her bed, sobbing until she got tired and went to sleep.

Meanwhile at the 8th unit, Damek couldn’t think of anything when he saw how Jayda reacted to what he did. He was to prank Gon, but instead of Gon, Jayda took it seriously. He couldn’t blame her anyway.

“Should I follow her?” he asked Gon. He was scratching the back of his head, upset to what might happen to her.

Gon, on the other side, was taking off his lab coat and loosening his tie. He looked at Damek, straight-faced.

“You worry about her more than me? You almost pinpointed me as the culprit that Jayda have been looking for,” Gon said. Just as he sat back on the couch, he started to take his shoes off, leaving only his white socks.

“As if you’re really the killer she’s been looking for? It was just a prank. I didn’t know that she would react that way,” Damek replied, pouting. He threw himself back to bed and sighed.

Gon clicked his tongue. He said, “She’s tired. It’s almost 1 in the morning. Let her rest. Talk to her some other time and at least say thank you. You’ve inconvenienced her so much. She’s just too kind to help you.”

“Yeah right? She broke my heart yet she still helped me.”

Gon lied on bed beside him before he spoke. Grinning, he uttered, “You know what? You guys can be a good couple. You draw and she writes. If ever you work together, it could be a nice collaboration.”

His eyes widened. “What? Jayda? She writes? You mean, she is a writer?” Damek queried as he turned to his side to face Gon. His voice was too loud that Gon needed to cover his ears.

“Why so loud?” Gon snorted. “Yes. She write novels. Well, she confirmed it when I asked her earlier. Ah, wait. She haven’t confirmed it, but I think she really do write stories.”

“I heard you,” said Gon.

“Um?” Jayda brows knitted.

“You should’ve been writing your novel until now, right? I heard it. If it was not because of him, you should’ve been facing a laptop and not him. You were saying...”

“I couldn’t believe myself that I dozed off just right beside you. I should’ve been sitting in front of my laptop right now and writing my novel if I haven’t saw you outside your unit asking for help to pee,” she complained without pause.

“If I couldn’t make it until fifty-thousand because I helped you, you’re dead meat,” she further threatened although Damek was still on a deep sleep.

“Oh, that...” Jayda couldn’t collect the right words to say.

“Ah. It would be really my fault if she couldn’t make it to her deadline,” he whispered.

“Certainly.”

However, Damek eventually smiled not just with his lips, but with eyes. He obviously liked the thought of not just working with Jayda, but to be her boyfriend as well. He said, “I can do that both anyway. But if I will have a collab partner like Jayda, it will be easier. I’ll do the illustrations, she’s on the story.”

“But he got a boyfriend, so it doesn’t make any sense.”

It felt like his world crushed under his feet even more because of the reality that he was already dumped without even telling her what he felt, and the fact that collaborating with her would only be a dream.

“Thanks for reminding me, Gon,” he said and let out a sigh. And he heard him chuckled after.

Silence followed, but it seemed like it was not yet the time for the both of them to fall asleep.

“It’s really impossible. I only read that in novels,” Gon said, breaking the silence between them.

“Um?”

“It’s like, ‘One evening, when Jayda returned to the hotel room after going to a friend’s party, she found a woman’s dead body on the floor. Jayda flew from the room and ran down the lobby, where the hotel receptionist called the police. But when the policemen arrived and went up to Jayda’s room, the body was gone and no sign that a crime was committed. Since surveillance cameras were under maintenance on the floor where Jayda’s room belongs, no one believed her,’ of some kind.”

“You made a great abstract of a novel already,” Damek smiled. “Why don’t you try writing too?”

“No.” It was a quick answer from Gon. “Doing a heart surgery is way more easier than writing thousand of words. I can finish an operation for about four hours, but one novel would surely take me years.”

He definitely had a point. But Damek just made a face.

“Do you really believe in her?” Gon asked after a while.

It was not like he didn’t want to believe Jayda, but he was afraid Damek would be involve and would harm himself in the end.

“What do you mean?” asked Damek.

“I mean, the crime, the guy...”

Damek nodded without hesitation. He said, “Yes. I could feel she’s really telling the truth. And I want to help her in anyway I can, at least.”

Gon shook his head. “I guess that’s not a good idea. You’ll never know what danger will come if you insist to help her. You know nothing.”

“I know, but it’s not a good idea as well to just let her all by herself,” he opposed. “She told me everything already, and I couldn’t just sit and watch her struggle alone.”

“Why you if she have his boyfriend?”

That made Damek wonder. Days had passed when he met Jayda, but he never had the chance to see his boyfriend yet.

“Jayda? Can you hear me?” Damek whispered, caressing her cheek as he looked to her intently.

But all Jayda did was to moan out of distress that lasted for a few seconds. She was still hot, but it was a little bit better than earlier. Her body already stopped from shaking as well.

“Jayda? Jayda?”

When Jayda finally opened her eyes, it took her a few seconds to recognize the person beside her. Her visions were blurred and the things she saw was moving.

“Are you okay? Do you feel anything? Pain? Tell me...”

But instead of seeing Damek, Jayda’s eyes saw her boyfriend, Faris. To her excitement, she abruptly bolted from bed and hugged the guy tightly.

Damek froze, eyes widened. But before he could be able to utter words again, the woman whispered another guy’s name.

“Faris? Babe...” Jayda’s voice broke. As Damek heard it, his head load for a moment.

“Yes. I could remember his name,” he said. “It’s Faris.”

“You saw him already?”

“Not yet. I haven’t seen him.”

“I think Faris don’t know anything yet. If he do, he should be with Jayda, right? Or maybe he was away because of work? Ah, I don’t care. I should sleep. Goodnight.”

Damek looked at Gon whom already trying to fall asleep.

“But he’s not here,” he whispered and stared at the ceiling. “Should I replace him and be with Jayda... for the meantime?”