Moon of The Afterlife

Chapter 3: Vengeful Soul

SIDAPA stared at his palm as the name Justine Lopez appeared on it in the middle of the night. He was a 19-year-old college student bound to die within a few hours tonight. 

Though Sidapa was the one who set the date and time of the death of humans, he doesn't know how their lives would end, which is why he chose to watch humans as they expire because that is the only way he would know. 

"Industrial Valley Complex, Marikina City. 11:41 PM. Fire," he read. 

He doesn't necessarily watch humans expire, and tonight's death shouldn't be something grand or special. Now that he has found a clue about Libulan, Sidapa has to divert his mind from the habit he developed while waiting for the day he would find him. Hence, he's not coming to watch the death of Justin Lopez.

THE CLOCK strikes 11. Forty-one minutes before another death, a man lies on the cold floor of an abandoned house somewhere in Industrial Valley in Marikina. He has a lot of bruises, and his left eye is swelling. He's Justin Lopez. 

"Damn it! Until the very end, you're still a pain in the ass," a man in his 20s said as he splashed a gallon of gasoline to the unconscious man lying in front of him. Justin isn't dead yet. He fell unconscious after hitting his head while fighting with the man. 

After emptying the gallon of gasoline, the man took a stick of cigarette and his lighter while letting out a deep and long frustrated sigh.

"You should've just left when she told you. Then we won't have to reach this point."

The man lighted his cigarette and leaned against the wall. He sucked the filter and puffed the smoke in the air. He thinks disposing of the body would be tiring and hassle, and he might leave unnoticeable traces around this area. Burning the abandoned house is the easiest way to dispose both the body and the shreds of evidence. He stayed like that for a few moments. When his cigarette was only two inches long, he glanced at the unconscious Justin and sneered. 

"Oops," he said and smiled as he threw the lighted cigarette to the floor and pretended like he accidentally dropped it. 

The cigarette ignited the fire when it met with the gasoline-wet floor. And the man just stared at the fire that quickly spread all over the place, lighting everything touched by it. It's already 40 past 11. 

The man left the house before the fire started eating the last space inside the house, which was the spot where the man stood a few seconds ago. And in less than 20 seconds, the man vanished as Justin's body burned together with the house.

"So, it wasn't an accidental death," Sidapa hissed as he stared at the burning dead body while standing in the middle of the fire. "How cruel."

Old habits die hard. Sidapa came, and he witnessed another tragic end.

ILLNESS is a serious matter, but not for Louise, who keeps on insisting that she's perfectly healthy, and she doesn't need any medical attention. Today is her blood transfusion schedule, but she keeps on refusing to go, although her face barely has colors. 

"Stop being such a brat, Louise. You're already an adult, so stop acting like a kid!" Arche scolded over the phone as he walked out of his room. "Get your fuckin' ass out of your damn room, and go see Dr. Jimenez! If you still refuse to go with Mom today, I'll take the hospital to you."

Arche has always been a cheerful and loving brother, but he could be the scary and over-protective brother to Louise when it comes to her health. And that is what Louise hates the most— seeing that side of Arche, and thinking she won't be able to see him after a few years. 

It's not that Louise doesn't want to get treated— she feels bad for herself about being sick, that the idea of medication pains her as much as the idea of death. 

"Oh, yeah, fine! Whatever! You guys are so annoying!" she grunts and ends the call. 

Arche could only sigh as he bit his lower lip in frustration. Some useless— well, not really— thought flooded his mind again, and he shook them off of his head. He knew a way to save Louise, but he couldn't find the courage to do it. He's too afraid. 

There was an evident frustration displayed in Arche's face when he opened the door of his apartment when the smiling face of his neighbor and employee Dante greeted him. Arche's face straightened upon seeing him, and he felt weird about Dante's smile.

"Oh, hey," Arche awkwardly greeted as he stepped out and pulled the door close behind him. "What are you doing outside my apartment?" he asked. 

"I was waiting for you," Dante replied, which made Arche feel more awkward. 

"Why?"

"Uhm, because we're neighbors?" 

"He's not a typical weird person. He's an alien." Arche thought to himself as he laughed at Dante's answer. 

"How long have you been waiting?" Arche asked again, then started walking, so Dante took two wide steps to catch up and walk beside Arche. 

"Not that long. Maybe a few minutes?"

"You're one weird guy," Arche commented while laughing. "Anyways, I think I know why you waited for me."

Dante stopped walking and stared at Arche, so Arche stopped to look at him too. Dante felt his heart racing, especially when Arche gave him a meaningful smile before saying, 

"I know you want a free ride," then laughed and lightly hit Dante in the chest. "C'mon, man! I know you're just too shy to ask. Well, I don't mind, so you don't have to worry." then Arche winked at him.

He continued walking and left Dante standing there in disappointment. Dante thought Arche knew who he was, and he thoughtlessly jumped to the conclusion that Arche knew something.

ASIDE from the frustration because of the heavy traffic, Dante and Arche felt awkward sitting silently inside Arche's car. Both of them wanted to ask questions about each other, but no one had enough courage to break the silence. It's only when the traffic moved Dante broke the silence. 

"Is your sister sick?" he asked. 

Arche looked at him because of his chosen question. Arche doesn't like talking about Louise's sickness, but he knew it was something unavoidable. Arche nodded as he looked back in front. 

"Yeah," he replied, seemingly upset. "Aplastic anemia," he added. 

Dante stared at Arche, observing his every movement. He already knew Louise's condition, and he also knew when exactly she would die. But Dante needs a topic to start a conversation with Arche, so he asked despite knowing the answer. 

The traffic moved, and Arche could drive freely now, so he didn't waste time and maneuvered the car to leave the spot they were left stuck for a couple of minutes. 

"How about you?" Dante asked again. "Are you sick?"

Arche shook his head and smiled bitterly. 

"No," he said. "Sadly, I'm healthy."

Dante's eyebrows furrowed at Arche's reply. Usually, humans want to be healthy to live a long life. Why would he be sad that he's not ill?

"Sadly?"

Arche laughed to see Dante's confused face. It was the first time someone asked about his health, and he, as well, did not expect he would answer like that. Arche fears death, that's why he left to escape the Bakunawa. But living as a human made Arche tired of living. The only fear left in his heart is the possibility that he'll lose another family. Two thousand years, he lived happily in the comfort of his fake families' homes and love, and he realized that losing them one by one is something more painful than death itself.

"Well, I have lived a very long life. My sister only lived for over two decades. Don't you think it's a bit unfair?" Arche chuckled with sarcasm. "I wish I could save her, like, gave her a hundred more years to live happily, so she could have a boyfriend, marry, have children, and then die happy."

"How long have you lived exactly?" Dante asked— again.

"Over three decades, but it felt like thousands of years. Or perhaps, it's longer than a person could ever imagine."

The sadness in Arche's voice is evident as his eyes stay fixed on the road while driving. 

"Long, indeed," Dante murmured and looked away. He stared outside the window and smiled bitterly. "Three decades already felt thousands of years to you, but to someone, thousands of years felt like only three decades."

Dante is trying to be careful around Arche, so he won't expose himself to him until he finds the answer he's been seeking. He kept asking himself how Arche could lead him to Bulan, but he couldn't figure out even one possible answer. He almost thought Arche was Libulan if he didn't see Arche's death coming the first time they met. Libulan is a Deity, and that makes him immortal. And also, Sidapa couldn't set any of the Gods and deities' time of death. Deities die when punished and killed by another Deity. 

Arche doesn't have a long life to live, unlike what he said. Even if he has the powers to give Louise a hundred more years, he couldn't because Dante saw Arche's end that night. Though the cause of his death wasn't indicated, one thing is for sure— Just like his sister, Louise, Arche is dying. 

THERE weren't many customers as yesterday, but Light Cafe's been busy since the opening hour. Arche stays at the counter, preparing every order as he instructs Dante on how to assist and handle customers, and so far, Dante's doing good. 

"One latte for table four," Dante said as he placed an empty tray on the countertop then prepared a plate for a slice of chocolate mousse cake. "It's already eight past twelve won't you take a quick break?" he asked as he carefully placed the piece of cake neatly on the plate. 

"No, I'm good. After serving this order, go for a ten-minute break. Sorry for not giving you much time to eat lunch. I'm sure you're starving. I'm already looking for two more staff to hire, don't worry. I'll make sure you won't have to put up on this every time."

"Well, I'm not hungry," Dante replied and looked at Arche. "But I'll take a two-minute break instead." he smiled. 

Arche finished preparing the latte, so Dante took it and placed it on the tray to serve it with the cake he had prepared, and then he went back to Arche to bring the empty tray back to the counter. 

"Two minutes," Dante said as he took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. 

"Sure," Arche nodded and watched Dante as he walked out of the cafe to go to the side door that leads to the smoking zone outside. "So, he smokes," he hissed, talking to himself. "I'm so stupid. He looks too familiar that I almost thought he's not human."

Arche shook his head and switched back to what he was doing. It wasn't the first time that Arche thought a person was a Diety disguising as a human. He mistook several people as Deities, and he turned out to be wrong every time. He could be wrong again this time, and he's aware of the possibility. 

A minute passed. Dante is nearly done sucking smoke from the filter of his cigarette, and Arche finished cleaning up the powder and coffee spills on the counter. The customers are enjoying their food, and there are only a few more vacant tables. The sound of the chime caught Arche's attention, and he saw two more customers coming in. A girl wearing a pink tank top and ripped skinny jeans with earphones plugged on her ears looked for a seat while the man she was with, seems not to care. After spotting a vacant spot in the far right corner of the cafe, the girl walked straight to it without looking at the guy. Arche watched them as they sat across from each other without talking. 

"Excuse me?" the girl called as soon as she took her earphones off. 

Arche immediately went to her and asked nicely, "Yes, what's your order Ma'am?" and smiled as he glanced at the guy quietly looking at her with a bored expression. 

"Uh, I'll take two iced americanos and one medium-sized mushroom pizza," the girl sweetly replied. 

"I got your order. Please wait for a few minutes. I'll serve your order right away," Arche said before leaving to go back to the counter and prepare the order. 

As soon as Arche started preparing the customer's order, Dante came back and stood beside him. 

"I'll serve them. You have to take a break too," Dante said as he took the notepad where Arche wrote the order and read it. "I'll get the pizza." then he went straight to the kitchen to get it. Dante came out after less than a minute. 

"I would appreciate it if you'll volunteer to slice them too," Arche jokingly said, which Dante obeyed as he chuckles. 

"I'm getting paid, so this isn't voluntary," 

"Oh, right,"

They both laugh. 

After slicing the pizza, Dante asked Arche about the customer who ordered them, so Arche pointed to the table on the right corner. 

"Serve them to the couple sitting there," Arche said as Dante followed where his hand was pointing and saw only one person. "I'm starving, so I might take longer than five minutes."

Arche placed the iced americanos on the tray with the medium-sized pizza before looking at Dante, who is currently spacing out while staring at the table where the couple sits. 

"Hey man, you alright?" Arche taps Dante's shoulder lightly and follows his employee's gaze. "Do you know them?" 

But Dante doesn't seem to be listening. He kept staring at the table as the girl sitting there smiled while talking to someone over the phone. She's the only one sitting at the table, and she's clueless about the guy staring at her. 

"He's not supposed to be here," Dante murmured, which Arche happened to hear. 

"Huh?" 

Dante ignored Arche and went out of the counter to warn the girl about the possible danger, but he stopped when the girl looked out of the glass wall and waved her hand with a smile. He looked outside the cafe and saw a man across the road waving his hand too as he prepared to cross the street. Dante's eyes widened when he realized what was going on. 

The guy sitting across from the girl is Justin, and the man across the road is the man who killed him. Justin has turned into a vengeful soul, and it seems like he came back to the land of the living to harm the two. That moment, Dante felt his palm stinging, and the names of two people appeared on it. 

Cassie Vidal, 19, and Samuel Cuenco, 23. Light Cafe, 12: 17 PM. Both died in a car accident.

Dante's hands trembled as soon as he saw the names. He wasn't the one who set those deaths, and he cannot do anything to stop it using his powers. The girl— who's probably named Cassie— stood up to wait for the guy outside, and that's when Dante's eyes shifted back to Justin, who was looking at the girl as she walked across the cafe to the front door. 

Arche saw Dante's strange behavior, so he furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Dante's seemingly nervous face. 

"What's happening?" He asked. 

"No," was the only thing Dante could utter as he ran towards the front door when the girl customer made it outside. "Hey, stop!" Dante yelled, which caught everyone in the cafe's attention. 

Arche looked outside and saw the guy sitting in front of the girl customer a while ago outside the cafe with burnt facial skin and body. He was surprised to see that the guy he thought to be the girl's boyfriend wasn't a human— but a ghost. And he's staring at the man crossing the street with a smile on his face. Confusion is written all over Arche's face as fear crept all over him. For the first time in two thousand years, Arche saw a non-human again. 

Dante rushed to the door when he saw the sixteen-wheeler truck approaching the man. Everyone in the cafe witnessed how fast things happened. When the girl realized the danger, she ran to save the man. 

"Stop!" Dante shouted as he rushed towards the vengeful soul of Justin Lopez and grabbed it by the neck. 

Everyone in the cafe saw it— except the ghost of Justin— and everyone screamed when the sixteen-wheeler truck crashed against the body of the two people in the middle of the road before vanishing like a bag of dust blown by the wind. 

"I see that you can see me," Justin said with an evil smirk plastered on his face as he stared at Dante in the eyes. "You're Sidapa, aren't you?" 

Justin shifted his eyes to Cassie and Samuel in the middle of the road, who seemed to be as shocked and confused as everyone else with what happened. It turns out that the sixteen-wheeler truck doesn't exist and is only Justin's grudge, but it can still kill the two if Dante hadn't shown up to divert Justin's attention from killing the two. 

"You're not supposed to be here," Dante hissed with gritted teeth as he glared at Justin. But Justin smiled at him mockingly and said,

"So are you. You're not supposed to be here,"