ERIS (Virago Series #1)

"Leigh,  Leigh wake up." Nagising ako dala ng malakas pagkakatapik sa aking likod. Dahan-dahan kong iminulat ang aking mga mata at napagtantong nakatulog ako habang nakaupo. Maingat kong isinandal ang aking likod sa upuan at tiningnan ang taong gumising sa akin. It was my roommate Claire Hernaiz. "Nakatulog ka na naman sa harap ng laptop mo. Ilang gabi ka ng ganiyan,  ah? Ano ba iyang pinagkakaabalahan mo? Sa pagkakaalam ko'y wala naman tayong project, " anas niya habang pilit sinisilip ang mga nagkalat na papel sa aking lamesa. I immediately closed my laptop and gathered all the papers. "This is nothing. " Nakangiti kong tugon sa kaniya,  palihim na hinihiling na sana'y maniwala siya. Nagkibit balikat na lamang siya at ngumiti sa akin. Naglakad siya papunta sa pintuan ng aking kwarto. Akmang lalabas na siya nang bigla akong nagsalita. "Salamat nga pala sa paggising sa akin." Lumingon siya pabalik at binigyan ako ng isang malaking ngiti. "No worries,  I owe you my first day here in Davao. " Nginitian ko na lamang siya at saka siya nagtuloy-tuloy sa paglabas. Pareho kaming hindi taga-Davao ni Claire. Pero kumpara sa kaniya ay mas bihasa ako sa Davao sapagkat bata pa lamang ako ay pumapasyal na kami rito. Napatingin ako sa pintuang nilabasan niya. Hanggang ngayon ay may napapansin pa rin akong kakaiba sa kaniyang mga kinikilos. I don't know if I have trust issues o sadyang paranoid lang ako. But I was raised to be vigilant at all times at kahit kailan ay hindi ako binigo ng sapantaha ko. Actually,  what bothers me the most is how perfectly we met. Na para bang planado ito. I still remembered how she bumped at me,  said sorry and told me she was lost. At sa mga panahon ring iyon ay naghahanap siya ng matutuluyan. Sakto namang bakante ang isang kwarto sa apartment na nirerentahan ko,  kaya't dito ko siya pinatuloy. Walang pag-aalinlangang tinaggap niya ito na para bang inaasahan niya na gagawin ko iyon. Call me overthinking pero iyan ang naiisip ko. She even offered to pay the whole rent!  Hindi ako pumayag sa gusto niya pero talagang nakakapagtaka lang. She has the money to buy a whole condominium unit,  at hindi iyon mahirap hanapin dito sa Davao. We actually met in front of Avida Towers. Tinanong ko siya kung nais niya bang magpatulong sa pagbili ng unit,  but she insisted to stay in my apartment. And another thing,  she is enrolled in the same school as I am,  in the middle of the school year. Which seems to be impossible,  dahil sa pagkakaalala ko'y ubos na ang slot noong enrollment pa lamang. I shook my head and drove all those thoughts out in my mind. Kahit maraming bagay pa ang bumabagabag sa akin ay kailangan ko muna iyong ipagsawalang bahala. I have other important things running in my mind and I have to focus. Also,  I have to move now or else I'll be late for my first subject. THE MOMENT we arrived at school,  napansin ko ang dalawang itim na van na nakapark sa harap ng simbahang katabi ng Caduceus Hall. I decided to ignore it at tuloy-tuloy na pumasok sa naturang gusali. I looked at my watched and realized it was already quarter to 8! Agad kong pinacheck ang bag ko sa guard at sinenyasan si Claire na magmadali. Tinakbo namin gamit ang hagdanan mula first hanggang fourth floor. The moment we arrived at our classroom, our Information Technology Era instructor came in. He placed his things on the table which includes his book,  laptop,  and projector. I don't know why he is still bringing the latter when we already have a built-in projector in our classroom. "Okay class,  I forgot to discuss to you the levels of web. Now,  sino ang may knowledge about dito? " Seryoso niyang tanong. I looked around and no one dared to raise their hand. Dalawa lang iyan,  walang masagot o natatakot sumagot. I looked at my instructor at nagulat na lamang ako nang na sa akin na ang paningin niya. "Valdez,  I'm sure you know this. " Agaran akong tumayo at humarap sa aking mga kaklase. "The nine levels of web are: Common Web,  Surface Web, Bergie Web, Deep Web,  Charter Web, Marianas Web, Intermediary line, The Fog or Virus Soup, and The Primarch System." Tinanguan ako ng aking guro hudyat na maaari na akong umupo. "Okay, so those nine are the levels of Web. But we are only going to tackle about Common Web, Surface Web,  and Deep Web. Since I'm not familiar with other levels. Let's go first with the Common Web. Your Common Web is the basic level. Kung ano iyong makikita mo,  iyon na iyon. Like for example,  your Google,  f*******:,  Youtube and etc, " aniya sabay sulat sa whiteboard ng mga detalyeng sinasabi niya. "Next is your Surface Web. This is just like your Common Web,  however mas maraming information ang maaari mong makuha mula rito. It also darker than your Common Web as reddit is part of this level. " In short,  uncommon sites are part of this level. It could also be an educational site for a college or University. "Last is your Deep Web. You need to be VPN protected if you wanna dive on this level. In here,  you can see illegal transactions and such. It's best if you don't explore this part. Because there are hackers here that can access your computer. They can turn your camera on or control your accounts,  so be careful. " I've already encoutered different types of hacker while diving at the deep web. Some of them are just messing up,  at ang iba naman ay determinadong makakuha ng impormasyon mula sa iyo. Nagpatuloy pa ang talakayan namin hanggang sa magsimula nang magligpit ng gamit ang aming guro na siyang ipinagtaka ko. Two hours and 15 minutes ang klase namin sa bawat subject ngayong araw na ito. And we still got an hour to spare before this subject ends. "I will dismiss you early this day. We have a faculty meeting at 9 AM and it's already quarter. Study our past lectures including the one we've tackled today. We will have a summative test in our next meeting." As soon as he said that,  he stormed out of the room. Great!  Another summative test for this week.College life is indeed exhausting. IT'S ALREADY quarter to one,  but I'm still here at the library reading some algorithm books. My next class should start at 1:15 PM,  however nagpatawag ng emergency meeting ang Dean ng General Education Department sa lahat ng GenEd Instructors. Sumakto pa na minor ang susunod kong subject.  I'm still stuck on a certain code sa isang proyektong ginagawa ko. And I'm running out of time. Hindi ito proyekto na ibinigay ng eskwelahan. This project is my own project. I've tried to encode a multi-layered code and series of binary codes to tighten the security of this project. If only I could find or develop a quantum computer then It would be easier for me to perform the algorithm of quantum computing. But of course that's impossible. I can't just find a 15 million dollar worth computer on the street. I opened my laptop and ran the third party software that I am using. I checked the project, habang pinapaniwala ko ang sarili ko na sapat na ang mga code na ginawa ko para sa seguridad nito. My encoded codes may not be as hard as quantum computing,  but I am certain that no one can pass through this. Even the kill code is impossible to guess. Mataman kong tiningnan ang aking gawa,  silently praying it was really enough. Yes,  I am confident pero hindi dapat ako pakampante. After some time of typing sorts of things in my laptop,  I decided to shut it down. Naglakad ako papunta sa kabilang silid where the book shelves are. I went to the Circulatory Section-Nursing books to look for the book that I am interested in. Medical and Programming stuffs thrilled me much. Though mas lamang nga lang ang sa Medical. I am more on a Science person than a Math person. May mga parte pa rin sa Matemetika na sadyang nahihirapan ako. I traced the edge of the shelves with my index finger while searching through the books. Dinala ko ang aking hintuturo sa bawat librong aking nakikita habang patagilid ang ulong binabasa ang bawat pamagat nito. My mind rejoiced when I found the book I was looking for. It was a book about Neurologic Diseases,  how to identify it and how to deal with it. I also found a book about first-aiding which I believe can help me if ever I want to join the Red Cross. Great! Two in a row. Napatingin ako sa relo ko only to find out that it's only 15 minutes away from 3 PM. My plan to read these two books shattered in a minute. If I have to borrow a book,  I can only borrow one. And I am currently having a dilemma on deciding which book to borrow. My face brightened when an idea popped in my mind. Nakitang kong pumasok sa kabilang bahagi ng library si Claire. I immediately walked towards her to tell her about my request. "Claire! " Pabulong kong sigaw. She faced me and smiled. I walked towards her and she met me halfway. "Leigh,  you're here. Tara upo tayo, " aniya sabay turo sa lamesang kinasasadlakan ng gamit niya. I ignored her offer and wore my pleading eyes. "Claire,  I need your help please. I want to borrow these two books,  but the rules said we can only borrow one. Can you log the other book for me? Please, please, " I said as I was rubbing my palms with each other. She laughed at me and got the other book from my grip. She then went to the librarian to log the book. Yes! My mind silently cheered. Sinundan ko siya at pina-log na rin ang librong hawak ko. Nang matapos ay humarap siya sa akin at binigay ang libro. Walang pag-aalinlangan ko siyang niyakap para ipakita ang pasasalamat ko. Mas lalo siyang natawa sa akin. I gave her a half smile. "Tara,  Claire. Uwi na tayo, " anyaya ko sa kaniya nang pabalik siya sa kaniyang lamesa. Bahagya siyang natigilan at tila nag-iisip ng maaaring sabihin. Napakunot ang noo ko sa reaksyon niya. Humarap siya sa akin at binigyan ako ng isang nag-aalinlangang ngiti. Kumikibot ang labi niya. "Uhm,  Leigh. Hindi ako makakasabay sa'yo pag-uwi. May kailangan pa kasi akong tapusin kasama ang mga kagrupo ko. " I noticed how she stammered. Despite of how well she said it,  still di iyon nakaligtas sa pandinig ko. I smiled at her,  "I'll wait for you then. " Her eyes widened and she shook her head multiple times. As if telling me that my decision isn't in line with her. "No!  Baka matagalan kami. We have a test tomorrow,  right? You need to study. Excuse ka pa naman noong araw na tinackle namin iyon. I'm... I'm fine Leigh. You can go now. " Odd. Very odd. This is so unlike her. Noon,  kahit na may gagawin pa siya ay hahayaan niya akong maghintay o sasabay agad siya sa akin pauwi. But right now I feel like she's pushing me away. I let out a big sigh and smiled at her. Her face started to look calm and she smiled back at me. "Okay. I'll go home. Magluluto din pala ako,  kaya kailangan ko ng mauna. " I tapped her shoulder and waved goodbye. Agad akong umalis sa naturang silid-aklatan. The moment I stepped out of the campus,  ay napansin kong nakaparada pa rin sa harap ng simbahan ang dalawang itim na van. I eyed it intently and told myself that it was just someone's private vehicle. I walked away. I need to go home immediately. Andami ko pang aaralin! PASADO alas tres y media na nang makarating ako sa apartment. Agad kong isinalampak ang sarili ko sa sofa. Not minding if I'm still in my school uniform. I closed my eyes and calmed myself. My mind was at peace for a couple of minutes when I heard a creaking sound. I reckoned it was from the front door. Lumalangitngit lamang ang pintuan kapag maingat itong binubuksan. And Claire never open the door that way. Agad kong iminulat ang aking mga mata and grabbed the nunchucks hidden at the side of the sofa. I calmed myself and readied for the possible entrance of someone. Nang maramdaman ko ang tuluyang pagpasok niya agad akong tumayo at sinugod siya. Pinulupot ko sa kaniyang leeg ang kadena ng chakong hawak ko. Nagpumiglas siya kaya't nahirapan ako. Mas lalo akong nahirapan dahil sa mas matangkad at mas malakas siya sa akin. Normal na katangian ng isang lalaki. He managed to untangle the nunchucks in his neck. Pabato niya ako itinulak at hinabol ang hininga. I scanned him from head to toe. He was wearing an all black outfit. Tanging mata niya lamang ang nakikita ko sapagkat may suot siyang bonnet. I positioned my self in a fighting pose. With the nunchucks on my right and a fist on my left hand. Tumuwid siya sa pagkakatayo at pumalakpak. Nang gawin niya iyon ay isa-isang nagsilabasan ang mga kasama niya sa bawat sulok ng aking bahay. Pati na rin sa labas nito. "s**t! " Iyan ang tanging naibulalas ko nang isa-isa akong sugurin ng mga lalaking nakaitim. I'm sure that they are all men. Their body features says it all. Mas lalo akong nawalan ng pag-asa na mananalo ako laban sa kanila. Isang suntok sa aking tagiliran ang aking natanggap. Damn! I've never been punched that hard. Tinadyakan ko sa dibdib ang lalaking sumuntok sa akin. Tumilapon siya at hindi na nakatayo. Pinaikot-ikot ko ang chako sa aking dalawang kamay. At pinatama ang hawakan nito sa bawat lalaking nagbabadyang umatake. May humila sa buhok ko na siya namang nagpaiyak sa akin. I grabbed his head from behind at hinila siya para mapunta sa harapan ko. Ipinulupot ko sa kaniyang leeg ang kadena ng chako gaya ng ginawa ko sa unang lalaki. I was about to tighten it when a gunshot echoed the whole apartment. The apartment is a studio type at pinasadyang gawing soundproof. Kaya't hindi na ako magtataka kung walang sumaklolo sa akin kung sakaling patayin ako ng mga taong ito. I eyed the man who made the shot. Itinutok niya sa akin ang nguso ng baril niya bago itinagilid ang ulo upang makita ako nang ayos. Nabitawan ko ang lalaking hawak ko. He slowly walked towards me at nang tuluyan siyang makalapit ay idinikit niya ang nguso ng baril sa noo ko. "Wag ka ng manlaban kung gusto mo pang humaba ang buhay mo, " aniya sa isang malalim na boses. Nakipagtitigan ako sa kaniya bago ngumisi. His expressions told me that he was shocked on what I acted,  but he still maintained a calm and compose aura. "Is that a threat? Because if it is,  sorry to tell you,  but I'm not threatened. Not even a bit. " I smirked.