Chapter 11
1217 Words
"Why are you so quiet?" Mandy asked me while I’m putting bandage on her injured arm.
She got the injury from the chaos of that set up.
I answered her without looking up.
"There's nothing to talk about" I said to her.
"Are you scared of me?" she asked.
I looked at her.
"No. Why would I?"
"Because I'm the child of fire. Maybe I'm a monster, or a demon...I don't know"
I snorted at her.
"You? A demon? I'm pretty sure a demon doesn't look like that" I said.
"How are you sure?"
I looked her in the eyes.
"You are just cursed Mandy and we need to find a way to break that cursed" I said.
She didn’t answer until I’m done doing her bandage.
"All done" I said.
She leaned on the headboard of the bed.
"What are we going to do now?" she asked.
"We need to eat" I said to her.
I’m hungry and it’s almost time for lunch.
"Do you realize that by bringing me here means that you also need to be my maid?” she asked me.
A smirk is playing on her lips.
"Of course I do. I know how to cook, okay? But for the others, we have a washing machine plus we are not staying here for long. We have a mission, remember?" I reminded her.
"Okay!" a sarcastic smile was now on her lips.
I rolled my eyes at her.
9:00 PM
I noticed Mandy was watching a music video on Youtube. She kept staring at her cellphone and a small smile was playing on her lips. I cannot help but become nosy.
"Do you like that song?" I asked her before I can even stop myself.
"What? I can't hear you" she said.
Obviously, she’s wearing headphones right now.
I signaled her to take off the headphones and she did.
"I asked you if you like that song." I asked again.
She smiled.
"Yes, I do"
"Why? Because the artist looked good?” I snorted.
She glared at me.
"No! It's because this song was written for me" she said.
"What?" I asked, confused.
She turned to me and put her phone on the table.
"Okay, I'll tell you a secret" she said, smiling.
She crossed her arms on her chest.
"I'm all ears" I said.
"This guy was my first love. We were like a thing in high school. We know we had mutual feelings for each other but we never became official" she said.
I was dumbfounded.
The guy she was referring to is an international sensation and his songs were always in the top 10 of the billboard 100.
"You mean this guy? James Martin?" I asked, still can’t believed.
I also love this guy's songs.
She nodded.
"He really loves music. After our high school graduation, he signed up for a record label and got his talent manager. We never said goodbye to each other. He just left me like I don't even matter to him." she smiled bitterly.
A tinge of sadness touched my heart.
Bitter bile rises up from my gut.
I immediately regretted liking his songs.
"But now, I don't understand why he made this song official. This was the first song he wrote and he said that this was for me. The girl he kept on referring to this song, was me or...is still me" she said.
I looked at her. She has a hopeful expression on her face.
Alarm bells are ringing in my head.
"Is he like American? He really looked American to me" I said.
"He's not American. His father was Canadian and his mother was part Portuguese and Filipino. His parents broke up, so that's why his mother brought him here when he was 12 years old. That's why we met in high school"
I nodded.
"So, do you still like him?" I asked her.
"I never heard he had a girlfriend" she said instead.
"That's not an answer"
She looked at me, a small smile playing on her lips.
"If I said yes, will you get hurt?" she asked me.
Again, I was dumbfounded. I don’t know how to answer that question.
My brain freezes.
Will I get hurt?
I don’t know.
"W-what do you mean if I'll get hurt?" I asked her instead.
She smirked at me.
"Nothing. Never mind" she answered.
"You did not answer my question"
"It's in the past, never to discuss" she said and stood up.
I was left dumbfounded there, thinking about what she asked me.
Why would I be hurt?
Why am I entertaining these thoughts in the first place?
Because you have growing feelings for her. Other part of my brain said.
I shook my head.
I glanced at the wall clock.
10:30PM
It's time to go to sleep.
I decided to just stay on the couch. I don’t want to sleep in the room. I’m worried, something might come up and it will be hard for me to wake up.
We are in the safe house but it does not mean that we are entirely safe. I still need to be alert for Mandy's sake.
I grabbed a pillow and a blanket from the second room and arranged it on the couch. After making myself comfortable, I started to doze off.
3:25 AM
"Ryan!" Mandy shouted from her room.
I automatically got up from the couch. My head was still swimming from dreaming.
I am so disoriented.
"Ryan! Come inside! Now!" she shouted again.
"Coming!" I said in a hurry, practically running to her room.
"What is it?" I asked her sleepily when I opened her door.
"I read something useful in my mom's diary" she said.
She is still on her bed, leaning on the headboard and on her lap is her mom's diary.
"Did you have sleep?" I asked her.
She shook her head.
"Mandy! You need to sleep!" I said.
"Listen to me! Mom wrote something about the Red Fox" she said.
I immediately closed the door behind me and sat on the bed.
"What about Red Fox?" I asked.
"What is happening to me now, also happened to her" she whispered.
"What do you mean?"
"They were the ones who killed my mom. They were the ones who shot her in front of me when I was young. Mom wrote it in here that she started noticing someone was following her and they gave her a death threat. They would kill her if...if she will not surrender me to them" she said.
I can see horror in her eyes.
"Wait, what? This was before you had a tattoo, right? If they wanted the Ashitara treasure, why would they be coming for you even before the barcode tat? What do they want from you?" I asked her, confused.
"I don't know...maybe this" she said and opened her palm.
She summoned a small flame.
I stared at the flame dancing on her palm. It's beautiful and mesmerizing.
When she closed her palm, she stared back at me.
"They killed my mom. They want me. I'll come to them. I will kill them all" she said in gritted teeth.
- Writer
