JINX

EPISODE 20 (pt.3)

KYLE

They both look at me after Blake tells his story. I am not yet ready to tell them anything.

Especially to Miguel.

I don't know why. I thought I wouldn't feel this concern for anyone else anymore. I thought I wouldn't fall again. I thought loving someone isn't for me the moment someone broke my heart so badly?

Why now, Miguel?

"Hey Kyle, we are not here to play a staredown contest, okay?" Blake sounds a bit irritated right now. "Are we going to glare at each other for the next thirty seconds now? Cause we're dying to find out your story too!" He continues.

"He's right, we're practically silenced here for the last minute, and we don't have enough time since they might come barging in again, and God knows what they'll do to us." Miguel has the determination to convince me already to speak, and I smile at that gesture.

How can he make me feel this way? It almost feels like I'm betraying him already!

'Betraying.'

I took a deep breath as I try to recall a specific time before how I get here. When I had one, I start talking.

"This may not be new to Miguel but, I knew Mister Valentine longer than expected." I opened.

"Mister Valentine? Who is—" Blake pauses as he familiarizes the name. "Wait, I heard Mister Clock calls that name before... Wait! Oh, now, I remember! Isn't that the guy that always wears the expressionless face whenever he comes and watches as we play that motherf*cking game?" He asks with noticeable amazement painted on his face. I nodded.

"Should you not be angry?" Miguel asks, more surprised to see how my revelation affects him. Blake turns to Miguel with a broad smile on his face and a glitter in his eyes.

"Mad? How can I be mad about that, Migs?" Instead of erasing that smile, Miguel seems to be irritated by it.

"How... Urgh! How can you not be mad!? When I first found out about it, I was ready to throw a fit at him—"

"Yeah, like I would imagine smoke coming out of your nose and ear—"

"Oh shut up, Kyle." He turns his gaze on me, showing me a straight face, making me just shut up. But a part of me is enjoying it also. I don't know why, but why do I want to keep this connection between us?

He turns his gaze in a split second back to Blake, giving him a fake smile even a third-grader could identify it's unnatural. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but I felt so betrayed when I found out."

"Wait... Why would you feel betrayed? Unless you knew the man before?" He asks that makes him look at me as I return the stare. We both look back at him and answer.

"Of course not—"

"Yeah, he knew him—"

Our eyes met once again, surprised that we don't share the same opinion. Wait, is Miguel trying to cover something up? Because I knew he saw him there.

"I mean..." I break the stare and look at Blake, who is glancing at us egregiously. A smirk form on his lips. But before he could talk, I decided to continue between the stillness. "He didn't know him as they became close, something like that. Miguel knew him because he saw him once, talking to me."

"That's interesting... Go on cause I'm listening." He says as he sits comfortably like they're we are hanging out and not locked up in a cell.

"Okay, so what I mean is, Miguel here saw Mister Valentine, and I are talking the first time I get to meet him in person. But before that even happens, there are a lot of things that occurred first." I pause as I find the exact words to describe what happened before.

"I came approaching Miguel that day because I knew it was him from the group. I had to warn him that is why I decided to befriend him. But we end up enjoying ourselves, and I was too scared for him not to trust me anymore when I tell him about everything in one go. I saw the innocence in you, Miguel, that I thought, if I tell you things too quickly, you might end up thinking I have a terrible intention towards you or that the reason I approach you is to mess with you and not to be friends with you... Honestly, all I want is to avoid any unnecessary connections, but... Then I ended up wanting to know you more.

You may think that I'm weird and sh*t, but trust me, all I want is to protect you—"

"Yet you think getting involve with me by just being friends is an unnecessary connection?"

"Miguel—"

"Just f*cking skip this part and move on to where the story should be leading? How you even got here?" He sounded so irritated and annoyed, and I know for the fact the reason is.

'He's still mad at me.'

"Y-yeah! Just skip it, bro." Blake decides to break the tension, and I am happy for his rescue. He nodded as he eyes on me, telling me that he understands what is happening. That is why I decided to continue.

"Valentine came to me at that cafeteria telling me to be careful. I don't know why that is why I asked him, but he told me he could not say anything. Mister Valentine only advised me to stay at home at night if someone would ask me to go out if classes end, I will go straight home. And also, he told me not to trust anyone. If only I don't know him long enough, I might have thought that he's just trying to mess with me. Fortunately, I knew him long enough.

When Miguel came back to our table, he saw Mister Valentine and I talking. I knew from that moment that he's suspicious, that is why I don't want to talk about him any further when Mister Valentine decided to go out. But then, just as I predicted, Miguel would like to dig for answers, and I refused."

"Why? Why didn't you tell him something? It could have been a great help, bro." Blake asks me with doubt.

'I mean, who wouldn't, right?'

"I should have, you know? I should have told you something. But after what Mister Valentine said? I know freaking Miguel out could lead to a more chaotic situation—"

"So you decided to dodge my questions and piss me off so that I could get home quickly? Because of what Mister Valentine said about getting home after class?" Miguel asks me. I nodded, not wanting to explain further.

"But then, just as the cab where Miguel drove off completely vanishes out into my vision, someone stood beside me..." I pause once again, remembering what happened at that time. I gulp, feeling like I am suffocating.

"What happened?" Blake asks patiently.

"A black bag covers my head, trying it into my neck, and dragging me away from the cafeteria. I thought... I thought someone would call for help, I thought someone would decide to step out for me, but no... No one cared about what is happening. No one cared about a stranger being abducted in the public area. Why? Because instead of the abductors being scared with a lot of witnesses, it is the opposite. And that is one thing that I have proved in my life.

No one would care unless they know you."

•••

Lerissa is on the phone for almost thirty minutes right now. And now, Carlo's suspicion is growing from time to time. He clenches his fist, remembering the last time he hears his woman calling someone about the matter she should be telling him.

Because he is already a part of it, he is already a part of the family; a fraction of his heart and soul now belongs to his concern for them, Lerissa and Miguel.

"This is what? But why!? How? When!?" Larissa's voice is shaking. Carlo could already imagine her clenching her hand, gritting her teeth as veins popped into her neck.

There's a muffled sound after that, and that Carlo is more desperate to eavesdrop.

"This is not what I signed for, Valentine!"

'Valentine?' Now, he is more confused than ever. 'How did she knew him? And signed up for? What is this, a contract?'

"No! This is..." Lerissa stops for a second as he hears her sighing before talking again. "What if Carlo finds out about this!? Of course, I'll get in trouble! This is not what I wanted to end!... No, listen to me, you scam! I want my son here, do you understand!? Sneak him out of there and bring him home to me!— No, I am not taking any excuses from you, just do you f*cking job— what!?— Yeah, you better bring him whole and alive in here, or I would kill you myself!"

There's a continuous beep after that, an indication that the call just ended. He hears her sigh again and silences after, which only lasted for five seconds before he could hear her sobbing.

"No, no, no! Oh, dear, God!" She cries out as Carlo clenches the letter in his hand. He then sighs, feeling how heavy his heart is already, to feel so much guilt for not protecting Lerissa's son, Miguel. Thinking about it makes his knees weaker, and recalling that incident in a nightmare makes his heart feel heavier. He took a deep breath before tucking the letter inside his pocket and twisting the doorknob, and switching his real mode button to acting mode. With another letter in his hand from an old friend and a smile on his face as he meets the front of Lerissa covered in tears. His heart drops instantly, taking his breath away as well. The pain of seeing the woman he dears so much is too hurtful, but ne needs to act no matter what, but not the feelings.

"Hey, babe—" he halts as his hand clenches the letter into his hand as if he imagines that he's already shocking Miguel's abductor. Even if he loves so much to let his frustration out and talk to her, he knew it is not yet the best time to tell her that he knew something.

"Baby! Are you okay? Wha— what happened?" He asked as he kneels in front of Lerissa. "Baby? Please talk to me."

"It's... It's Miguel!" She bursts out as she throws her hands around his neck as she presses her body against him, her head painfully rests into his left broad chest. Carlo wraps his hand around her as he caresses her back.

"You can tell me anything, honey." He soothes her, hoping he could convince her to tell her something. He could feel her muscle tensing up under his embrace, making him realize that something is going on.

"I miss him so, so much! I just want him to come home!" He is a bit disappointed that his woman would still do and say anything to cover up everything she knew. And he learns that something is unquestionably going on with her and that he doesn't know the reason yet. But no matter what the reason is, Carlo asks himself about a concern that is too soon to get an accurate answer: 'how long do Valentine and Lerissa know each other?'

"I understand. I feel you, baby. Just cry on me."

As he caresses her back, so are the memories from the letter he has just browse earlier.

|Monday, 11th of February

I never wanted this to happen... Any of this. But maybe because everything happens for a reason, right?

But I still don't get it... Why me? All of these sh*ts that are happening right now in society, this mess? I can even understand why do I have to get involved in such a thing that I thought won't even exist in the first place?

Oh, right, I almost forgot... The devil is always good at involving bad things that made this world a messy place... A messy place that I don't think I never belonged.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I am an alien. I am just... Just not that person like everyone else. I lack social skills, I wouldn't say I like school, and everyone in our neighborhood hates me. What more reason could I have to make me believe I actually exist here?

But you know what? I am just a human.

I am in deep pain right now,

My mother hates me because I hate his boyfriend, who is now her fiancee that made me hate him more,

Me being one of the abducted, not ready to play with fire

And yet, here I am... Trying to deal with the fire that has grown bigger, a couple of days ago. I don't even know how many days I've been here, but it already felt like an eternity.

I already feel like it has been so many years since they captured me, and I can't even seem to think from a distance if they're looking for me or are they even happier when I was commandeered.

But despite all that, I just want to say that the game had just begun, and there's still a lot more to come.

Cheers to the coming agonies and extra pain from other aspects!

And to you too, Mister Clock,

F*CK YOU! Got that?