Moon of The Afterlife

Chapter 8: Message

Arche spends the night in his parents' house to avoid the thought of being near Dante. All of the memories he once tried so hard to forget come back, like adrenaline, that he couldn't fall asleep. He kept rolling all over his bed until he sat up. He glanced outside his open window and saw his lightless shell in the gloomy night sky.

When Arche heard the familiar melodies and the familiar voices, he laid back on top of his bed. It's been a while since the mermaids last lulled him to sleep by the God of death's command.

SIDAPA weakly smiled as he listened to the song he ordered the mermaids to sing. It's been two thousand years, yet he still hadn't found Libulan. It hurts him— thinking about the possibility that Libulan has already forgotten him and is already living his life happily with someone else. It sure is better than the idea that Libulan's dead, but he doesn't know how he would handle the pain if ever Libulan already fell for someone other than him.

He reached for the bottle of alcohol beside him and drank it all at once. He couldn't sleep because of what Arche told him, so he needed assistance from a human's best friend— liquor— to fall asleep.

"I do hope you're alive and married," he whispered. "I do hope you're happy. Losing you to someone else is better than losing you completely."

"How foolish," the Bakunawa commented as she watched Sidapa's down moment. "Seeing only one person when you're being loved deeply by someone else. You're so stupid."

ARCHE NOTICED Dante's uneasiness when he kept touching his head while working. He looks sick, which is why he couldn't work that well. 

"You, okay?" Arche asked when Dante went back to the counter to put the empty tray back in its place.

Dante nodded. "Just a hangover,"

"Hangover? Did you go clubbing last night?"

"Nah. I couldn't sleep, so I grabbed a bottle or two, but somehow I ended up drinking everything in my fridge." Dante answered, then started preparing an order.

Arche realized why he ended up drinking so much, and that's because of what he said last night. His conscience is poking his heart, so he turns his back to Dante.

"You shouldn't have come for work if you feel dizzy," he said while preparing a glass of orange juice.

"I wish I have the luxury to be lazy. I still got bills to pay; I need to work,"

Arche stopped for a moment. Another realization slapped him. Dante's living a life like a human, not just pretending to be a human. Does that mean he's been working like everyone else? He's suffering from poverty and experiencing scarcity like most people?

"You're so stupid," Arche said when he turned back to Dante. He placed the glass of orange juice in front of him and added, "Drink this and go back to your real life. What you're doing is no longer love but stupidity."

Dante looked at Arche. It wasn't his harsh words that made him stare at him, but his evident annoyance. Though his overall behavior offended him, his thoughtfulness made Dante chuckle.

"He's acting like a woman on her period," he commented before drinking the juice Arche had prepared for his hangover.

IT WAS a peaceful night when Sidapa found himself dreaming. He's stuck in the middle of a road intersection where he could see all the busy people. It seemed like an ordinary day, but he wondered why he ended up there, where everything seemed to be great.

Sidapa looked around and saw an entertainment building on the east side labeled ZHC, which he recognized as the leading entertainment company in the country for the past four years. On the west side was a chain of famous Korean and Japanese restaurants, along with other cafes. There's a shopping mall a few tens of blocks north, and then he turned to look at the opposite side to check if there was a state university. He confirmed he's still in the central business district of Makati, which was a few hundred blocks away from his apartment complex.

"Why am I here?" Sidapa asked himself as he tried to think of any possible answer, but he couldn't figure out why.

The crosswalk signal turned red. It was too late when Sidapa realized where he stood. He couldn't move when vehicles crashed against posts, buildings, other cars, and people when drivers attempted to avoid him, who was standing there like a lost kid. For eight seconds, the whole district got filled with loud screamings, high-pitched sounds of screechings of tires, and automobile horns. He had caused a mess that killed about a few tens of people.

Sidapa froze at the sight of the deaths he had caused with fear and confusion. He tried to assess the situation, but all he could see was people rushing to help every victim and ambulances arriving one by one. No one seems to care about him, not anyone even looks at him. It's like he was just there to cause the mess and witness it.

"What is happening?" he hissed as he tried to look in different directions like he was looking for something. Sidapa's eyes landed on a person standing beside a ruined car where a victim got recovered. It was the victim's soul, watching his corpse gets recovered.

Sidapa looked around when he finally got the first piece of the puzzle-like message. He saw the souls of everyone who had died on the scene, and they all have one thing in common— their dark shadows.

"Vengeful souls..." Sidapa mouthed before opening his eyes.

His white ceiling greeted him upon waking up from his not-so-peaceful slumber. He turned his head to the left and saw that dawn had already broken, and it was about time for him to get up. Dante sat up and brushed his hair backward as he moved to the side of his bed to get up.

The dream was a message from Almighty, which he couldn't seem to understand. He walked straight into the bathroom and pulled a towel hanging on the folding drying rack on the way. It's been so long since Almighty had sent him a message. The last that he remembers was when He gave him a sign to help him find Libulan, sixteen hundred years ago.

The sign was the moon crest, which Sidapa had only seen in that dream. It was a bright white crescent shape with three stars on its right side, and the only person who has that crest is Libulan. However, he still hadn't found it.

Dante exhaled a loud sigh and stopped halfway, brushing his teeth. He stared at his reflection in the mirror and tried thinking about his dream. The only thing that is clear for him about the message is that it was about the deads.

"GOOD DAY! Welcome to Light Cafe!" Dante greeted a woman upon entering with a smile on his face as he gestured the customer towards a seat not too far from the door.

"Is there anything you would like to order, ma'am?" Dante asked and pulled out a notepad. But the woman smiled awkwardly before looking around the cafe.

"Uhm, sorry. But I would Arche to take my order. Is he here?" the woman asked. "I came here to see him."

Dante looked at the woman's face before slowly looking in Arche's direction. He's on his usual spot— the counter, preparing orders. He slowly nodded as he turned back at her and dragged both sides of his lips for a smile, and said,

"Sure, ma'am. No problem," Dante smiled before walking away.

"What's her order?" Arche asked as soon as Dante arrived at the counter.

"You," Dante replied, which made Arche raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not one of the menus," Then Arche looked at Dante with his cold stare.

Dante shrugged and pointed out the woman sitting near the door on the left side of the place. "She told me she wants you to take her order," he said before taking the tray of muffins.

Arche looked at the woman and realized he didn't know her, but the woman waved at her when their eyes met. Despite being clueless, Arche walked out of the counter to take the woman's order, and after a few minutes, he came back with a frustrated face.

"What's her order?"

"Nothing special. Just an iced americano,"

Dante watched Arche as he prepared the woman's order. He leaned his waist against the counter and crossed arms while glancing back and forth to them.

"Who is she?" Dante asked, adding up with Arche's annoyance.

"I don't know," Arche yet responded calmly.

"But she seems like she knows you,"

"She knows me because she knows my sister. I don't know her. Today is my first time seeing her,"

Dante shrugged and stood straight to clean up while there's still weren't many customers. He can sense that Arche was only trying to act cool but is actually not in favor of his sudden blind date. Arche went to the woman with the drink Arche had prepared himself with a warm smile as he sat across her to entertain her. Hence, Dante was left assigned to the counter for a while as he watched Arche and the woman talk, which lasted for more than half an hour. And as soon as the woman left, Arche pulled out his phone to call someone who needed another scolding. 

"Set me up one more time without my knowledge, I swear! I'll give you what you're looking for!" Arche blurted out with evident anger, but instead of getting scared, Louise just laughed at her angered brother.

Louise ended the call while giggling. She doesn't want to piss her brother more by laughing at him as he nags, so she decided that it's better to end the call that instant.

"You messed up with your brother again," Cathy commented with narrowed eyes as she placed a cup of tea in front of Louise. "Stop forcing your brother to date. Let him find the right person for himself."

Louise looked at her mother and shook his head in disagreement before fixing her eyes on the screen of her laptop and saying, " I wasn't forcing him. I'm saving him..." then took a glance at her mother to smile.

Cathy just chuckled while shaking her head. "Whatever. Call me if you need anything. I'll be right upstairs, honey," 

"Sure, mom. Thank you!" Louise shouted without looking at her mother as Cathy left to go upstairs. 

Louise was left there, sitting on the couch, facing her laptop while doing her school works. She looked in the direction of the stairs, where her mother went, before glancing at the massive family picture hanging on the wall of their living room where she's staying at the moment. 

"He has to get married soon..." she hissed and sighed before putting all of her attention on what she was doing. 

CATHY knocked on the door of her husband's office with a big smile plastered on her face. Her husband is currently checking his students' test papers, and she came to deliver a cup of his favorite black coffee made with pure love.

"Thank you, honey," Arnold smiled at his wife and gave her a peck on her lips when she bent forward after setting aside all the test papers he's checking. "I was about to ask you to make a cup for me, but you brought it here. You know me too much," then they laughed. 

Cathy wrapped her arms around her husband's neck from behind and leaned her head against the side of her husband's. They've been married for thirty-four years. 

"I received a message from Thalia this morning. She's getting married," Cathy said. 

"Thalia? She's getting married again?" Arnold twisted his neck slightly to look at his wife, who's behind him, so Cathy loosened her arms around her husband's neck and walked to his front. 

"Yeah. The wedding will be in Coron, Palawan." 

"That's nice. When will that be?" 

"In two weeks,"

Arnold stared at his wife with a naughty smile on his face as he held her hand and pulled her closer to sit on his lap. 

"That would be nice. Don't you think, honey?" Arnold whispered as he tucked some strands of his wife's hair behind her ears. "We've been working too hard looking after our grown kids. When was the last time we got to spend some time alone?" 

Cathy laughed and pinched her husband's nose, cringing at everything he said. "You're aging in number, but your naughtiness never faded." And then they both laughed. 

"Your parents are so in love," 

"Yeah. I guess they are," Louise replied as she kept her eyes fixed on her laptop. 

DANTE pulled a cigarette out of its packet when he and Arche walked out of the cafe. It's already eight in the evening, and Arche's almost ready to go home. Dante placed the cigarette filter between his lips as he searched for his lighter. When Arche was about to open the door of his car, he looked at Dante who's still searching for his lighter with evident frustration. 

"Aren't you going home?" Arche asked. 

Dante looked at him and flashed a smile as he shook his head. "No, I have to go somewhere," he replied. 

Arche stared at him for a few seconds before nodding his head. "Okay," he said and then opened the door of his car. 

Dante watched Arche's car when its engine roared to life before leaving. And after that, Dante continued searching for his lighter. He stopped after a moment when he realized where he last kept it. Dante glanced inside the cafe and sighed after he realized his lighter was still inside the pocket of his apron. 

"Damn it," he hissed before leaving. 

ARCHE drove silently, trying not to think about Dante. But when his face kept lingering on his mind, Arche could only bite his lower lip to suppress the annoyance. 

His house was dark when he arrived, like usual. Arche took his shirt off and tossed it at the laundry basket sitting in the corner of his room. 

THERE were loud music and drunk people. The place is dark, and only the intoxicating disco lights and other laser-like lights are there to light the entire place. It was a nightclub, and the overcrowded dancefloor doesn't seem that entertaining to Dante.

"Your shift will start at nine P.M. sharp, until one A.M.," A man with a big build and a deep hoarse voice said as they stood at the entrance of the club. "Your job is to make sure no one will cause any trouble and to observe everyone in here. That's it."

Dante looked around before nodding. "Got it," he said, and then the man handed him a shirt and an earpiece. The shirt has the word 'STAFF' printed on it, and the earpiece, he assumes, is to help him communicate with the others. 

"Wear them before claiming your post at the side of the counter." the man instructed before leaving. 

IT’S BEEN a few hours since Dante's shift started, and the loud music is getting more and more unbearable for Dante. Of all things, loud noises are what he hates the most. It's almost one A.M., and his shift is almost over, so he thought he should bear with the noise a little longer. If it wasn't really for his bills, he wouldn't work this hard. He chose to live like an average man, so he needs to work to support himself.

"A bottle of champagne," 

 A woman sat in front of the counter while smiling widely at the barista. She's wearing a revealing black fitted top and sexy shorts. Her hair was styled up with large bitchy curls, and her makeup screams the baddy vibes. The barista smiled at her after placing the liquor in front of her, which she drank straight without hesitation.

"There you are," a man said as he approached the woman. He snaked his hand around her waist and sniffed her hair like a p*****t before saying, "I thought you already left to run away from me,"

The woman's expression changed upon seeing the man, so she shoves the man away from her with evident irritation. "Get away from me you creep!" she snapped and rolled her eyes before drinking the remaining champagne in the bottle she ordered.

The man didn't like the word she used, so he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him. The woman tried to pull her hand away from him, but the man tightened his grip and said, "You're coming with me," 

"No! let go of me!" she yelled and tried her best to free herself from the man but failed. And that moment, Dante noticed them. He walked in their direction to prevent anything unpleasant from happening. 

"Excuse me, sir," he called as he stepped between them. "May I know your relationship with her before I let you take her?"

The man stared at Dante and smirked. "She's my woman. Got a problem with that?" the man sneered. 

"I don't even know who you are, creep!" the woman snapped and pulled her hand away from the man's grip with all her strength and took a few steps backward.  

Dante stopped upon hearing the familiar voice, so he immediately looked at the woman behind him, and to his surprise, it was Louise. She seems drunk, but the moment when she saw the man in front of him, she covered her mouth in extreme surprise. 

"D-Dante?" she stammered.

Dante's eyebrows furrowed upon realizing it was, indeed, Louise. He looked at her in disbelief, and her appearance pissed him off on behalf of Louise's brother, Arche. He couldn't believe it's her because of what she's wearing.

"What are you doing here?" Dante asked sounding annoyed. "Does your brother know about this?" 

"Excuse me? I don't care about how you guys knew each other, but this girl has to go with me," the man interrupted before Louise could even say something. He tried to grab Louise's hand again, but she hid behind Dante. 

"I don't know you," she said. "This man is my brother's friend, and if you don't leave now, he'll kill you."

The man laughed at Louise's threat and looked at Dante from head to foot before saying, "Like he can get away if he did," then shook his head. He tried to grab her again, but Dante caught his hand and twisted it, making the man groan in pain.

"She told you I am her brother's friend, so basically, I'm also her brother."

"Let go of my hand! Ow!" the man complained and cried like an i***t while continuously tapping Dante's hand. "Let go of me! Fine! Take her!"

Dante released the man and sighed before grabbing Louise's arm to drag her out of the club. He checked the time— 12:59. His shift is almost over, so it won't be a big deal if he would leave at exactly one A.M.

"My shift is over. I'll take you home to your brother," Dante coldly said, which only made Louise smile in triumph.

"Okay," she cheerfully replied.