JINX

EPISODE 14

|Sunday, 10th of February

Morning is supposed to be the sign of new beginnings because we tend to restart our drained energy for yesterday and when morning comes, a person must have this sense of positivity, embodying the life of a fresh start for the upcoming struggles. That feeling, that soul should be in me, right? It should be present because I am experiencing this cycle of life where I wake up, I stretched out, and be inspired, right?

But now, I am more terrified than excited. It is as if in a single day it has 24 hours but every hour felt like a day already and it is torturing me mentally. These gore thoughts are starting to get inside my head making me not have a proper sleep when night falls. All I want is peace but time doesn't seem to want to agree with me.

And today is the start of the REAL GAME. And if what I've seen yesterday is bad and tragic and traumatizing, what game today has to offer now that I am the one who is playing it? And that my own life is on the line?

Or am I playing the game the moment I step on this trap?

I am not certain in all stuff but this I tell you... If you want to live, then you might as well want to fight rather than just wanting to survive without even pushing a bit of effort for yourself... And this is what I am doing today because... Because I just want to go home... And being with my mom is the best inspiration I could think of now...

So mom, please wait for me.

I will be home soon.

I promise you.

Just wait for me.

Sincerely,

Miguel

•

•

Carlo wakes up from the good aroma. Yawning and stretching, he realizes that his fiancee is not already in bed, making him realize where the good smell is coming from. But instead of smiling big and rushing down to greet his fiancee a good morning, his mind rather decided to run through what happened yesterday.

'the computer!' He quickly gets up from bed, rushing through his computer sneakingly typing something.

'I am so sorry, sweetheart but I can't just pretend that nothing is happening here.' he talks to himself, rapidly searching for a place that could be talking British. But not only one good result decided to pop up.

"f**k!".

"Babe?" HE quickly turns his laptop off, standing from his swivel chair and running downstairs to meet Lerissa from the kitchen.

"Good morning baby!" He greeted back.

"You sounded like you're in a good mood."

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be in a good mood?" She asks as she places the food in two places, pushing the other plate in his direction. When she's done emptying the frying pan, she joyfully turns her back on him, placing the pot in the sink. She then grabs a mug but stops halfway. She looks at her shoulders. "Coffee?"

"That would be great." He answers back as the woman in front of her brews a coffee from the coffee machine. He then starts to scan Lerissa suspiciously, trying to see any hint of pain. But when she turns to give her the coffee, their gaze met, he already had the answer to his question.

And that bothers him so much.

"So, how did you sleep last night, babe? Good?"

And he knows that he had to play along.

"Y-yeah... I mean, yes, I did have a good sleep last night. You?"

The same smile plastered on her lips didn't seem to change, and it unnerves him.

"Oh, I slept like a baby. Because of you giving me something last night, I can say that I got really, really tired." She flirtatiously sips onto her coffee, showing signals of wanting for more pleasure.

But deep I did he, he knew that is not what he wanted right now... Not that someone is missing in the house.

He managed to clear his throat as he breaks off the intense eye contact, deciding to just look into his plate as he savors every flavor of it, pretending that what happened just now didn't occur at all.

Deafening silence then came after that. Not that both of them don't want to talk to each other, they just don't know how to give an approach to a conversation that won't lead to an awkward situation and worse, argument.

For that moment, Lerissa is the one who breaks it, after clearing her throat. That made him look up to meet her gaze.

"Carlo is there something you're hiding from me?" She directly asks him. He was taken aback by the thought that maybe she had known the moment she sees him busy with his laptop before them having s*x.

"What are you even talking about, Lerissa?"

"Are you seeing someone else now?"

"W-what!?" His eyes were wide open after hearing what she has in mind. It even irritates him that he has to chew his food quickly and galloping it before responding.

"Where did that even come from, Lerissa!?"

"Well, I don't know... You tell me, Carlo!"

"You're being so unbelievable right now, Lerissa." Irritation is getting into his nerves as he takes a sip into his hot but has the desired hotness of the coffee. Placing his cup down to face Lerissa again. "Why do you think that I am seeing someone else?"

"Because you're so insensitive!"

"Don't tell me that I am insensitive—"

"Then why can't you read what I am trying to tell you between my signs!?"

"It's because this is not the time for us to do it!"

"Why not?" Carlo didn't immediately answer, trying to find the exact words to not cause a bigger problem. Instead of bursting, he decided to breathe all the frustration before talking.

"Lerissa, I am not seeing anyone, okay?" He tries to calm her down. "Why would I even cheat when I just proposed to you? That would be absurd, Issa." Having no appetite, he then decided to stand up from sitting comfortably, deciding to escape the argument. Not because he doesn't want to fix it, he just want to give her time to think everything thoroughly.

"We'll talk when you're not at this state anymore." He says and about to turn his back completely and walk when she shouted at him.

"We will talk right now, Carlo!"

"You want to talk? Fine, we'll talk right here, right now." He says as he pulls the chair back, about to take a seat when Lerissa starts talking again.

"Why are you giving me cold shoulder after we just had s*x last night, Carlo?"

"Cold should— what!?"

"Did you just suddenly lost the spark for me that you decide to just pretend that what happened last night didn't even occur!?" His eyes widen, not expecting what he has just heard from her. But instead of chuckling his frustration out, an angry pair of eyes and frown is completely plastered on his face.

"Is that what you're concern about, Lerissa?"

"Yes! And it annoys me thinking that you're not even giving me an explanation right now—"

"Did you just heard what I said earlier? I said this is not the time! And f**k this but, how can you be more bothered with this accusation you giving me having an affair rather than thinking about your son!"

This time, Lerissa was the one who is awe. At that time, she could feel like a bucket of cold water was splashed right into her face. Instead of answering back, he waited for him to continue.

Carlo brushes his hands into his hair, releasing a long sigh. "Miguel is still out there and we have no f*****g clue to where his abductors put him! Since the moment they got into our place, waking up the next morning to see him gone missing, I can't seem to be calm in any sort of way and here you are talking to me about how insensitive I am because you're showing me signs of your love!? This is not a good time for this bullshitting right now because I can never be at ease as you can! And I can't even seem to bear seeing you so calm when your own son is missing! So tell me, Lerissa. How can you be so unsympathetic at this moment!?"

"Carlo, I—"

"Just don't... Can we not talk about our feelings at the moment because there are some things that are most important to talk about? And if you're ready to talk about it, I'll be just by my office."

Leaving him there completely silenced, Lerissa decided to contain her emotions first before making another move.

She starts looking for her phone for a couple of seconds, realizing it was just placed in the living room. After unlocking it, she scans through her contacts before dialing a specific yet unregistered number. A couple of rings later, the person on the other line answers.

[Hello?] Deep yet a creepy voice answers the phone. She gulps as she felt a bit tense from it before responding.

"We need to talk."

•••

=back to Miguel=

"I guess you have something I wanted?" The man in a half-mask asked him. Even if he doesn't want to give him his notebook, he had no other option. The greater possibility of dying without even playing the game is what scares him, in fact, everything that is happening to him is scaring him.

But when it comes to dying, he would always say this to himself: "Not today".

"Mister Miguel?... Perhaps you don't want me asking the same question twice. I don't have too much patience." He states calmly, but enough deep to still sound authoritative. With that, he moves closer to his table, loosening his hold on his notebook. When he's just a step away from it, he gently places the notebook in front of him.

"Very good! If you keep this up, we might be good friends." His tone suddenly switched to a very happy one, probably because of the attitude Miguel showed towards him. But Miguel's thoughts suddenly run through the statement he has heard from him. That made his blood even boil.

"If I could have friends with anyone else in this stinky place, you'd be the last person on my list. Or maybe, your name won't even make it to my list."

After Miguel made clear of his intentions of not being too friendly, Mister Clock uses his right hand to support his drama of getting pained by his words. And judging from his look, he took it as a joke when Miguel knew that he means those words for real.

"Oh, Mister Miguel. You don't seem on failing to surprise me. I know I can always trigger that demon side of you—"

"Well, that's a shame because even I don't do any effort, I can already see your demon side... Or wait, did I say it right? Perhaps I want to rephrase it: You're already a demon because you don't even have an angelic side." Miguel felt his heart racing every but of second that he talks in front of him. And this is, in fact, what Mister clock wanted to see in him— burst his feelings out without anyone stopping him.

"Why don't you calm down, hmm? I'm sure you're parents are looking for you now. And this..." He pauses as he grabs the notebook in front of him, lifting it beside his face.

"This will send a message." His eyes turn to the notebook and back to his horrendous mask.

"What are you going to do with it." Instead of an answer, Mister Clock just place the notebook down, opening the notebook. Stopping at the last page, Mister Clock inspects the letter a bit before looking back at Miguel. "Simple. I'll just have to send this one letter."

"N-no!"

"Why not? Don't you want them to know that you're okay?"

He didn't respond. Not that he doesn't want them to know he's still alive, but he had this feeling of embarrassment. He looks down into his shoes as he stares at it, switching his gaze into his trembling hands.

The thought of seeing the one and only man who his mother loved after his father will help him there.

'Maybe I don't even deserve any help at all. Maybe Carlo is having a celebration right now because I'm gone... Maybe they even forgot I am missing.' He thought to himself.

"I—"

"I know why... But don't worry, this is just to tease them. Because who knows? They might even find your corpse lying somewhere in the wasteland. Hahhahahaa!"

And that is a fact. Who knows how long he'll ever endure this torturous situation? Who knows if he'll ever live before help gets to save him? Who knows if he'll be tough to endure until the end?

"But you know, Mister Miguel, I just found out something so interesting tonight." His thoughts were interrupted the moment he speaks.

"And you know what? I have something going on with my mind..." He turns his attention into his high-tech built-in keyboard, trying something and a couple of seconds later, a big screen starts to open at the wall from the left. It was also built-in, making him amazed at that moment. But his astonishment quickly turned into a stare of fright when he realized what was happening. His eyes widen as it was glued on the screen. That made Mister Clock's grin grew bigger. Intertwining his fingers, he enjoys the sight of a fearful Miguel in front of him.

"So Mister Miguel, how about we play a game tonight, hmm?"