Before the Eclipse 5
1842 Words
It's already in the middle of the night. Seline went to the kitchen to get some water. She approached the water dispenser to fill in her glass. She is humming a song while waiting for it to fill up.
She suddenly heard a noise coming from the living room. Someone might have accidentally made a ceramic figure fall down the floor. She raised one of her eyebrows while wondering who might have caused the sound.
The glass was already filled up. Yet, she has no intention of drinking it anymore. She was distracted by the noise she had just heard. And so, she left the glass of water and walked to the living room. She was slowly walking then to avoid the necessary noise.
When she got there, the lights were off. There was no sign of any human activity. She walked further into the room. Then, she suddenly stepped on something which poked her foot.
"Ouch!" she tried her best to turn down her yell.
Based on the texture of the object that she stepped on. It felt like a fragment of a ceramic figure. She might be right. The only ceramic figurine placed on that table near her was an elephant. The fragments might belong to it.
And so, she immediately approached the switch to turn on the lights. When the lights went on, she was surprised to see that everything placed on the table was tossed on the floor. She got more surprised when she saw a guy lying on the sofa next to it.
The guy is wearing a gray hoodie jacket. He is wearing a hood on so Seline can barely recognize her face. He is wearing a pair of jeans. His arm is covering his face.
Alarmed, Seline immediately raised her hand forward toward him. She slowly moves closer to the guy. She made sure not to make a sound as she took a step so that she wouldn't alarm the guy.
"Mmmm... What the hell!" the guy suddenly moaned.
Seline then recognized him through his voice.
"Seyhan?" Seline was shocked. "Sir, why are you here?" she asked.
But then, she smells something awful.
"Are you drunk?"
"Hmm...the light...." he complains while he is trying to open his eyes."Hey. There..." Seyhan said to her.
"Okay, Sir. You shouldn't be here. Your dad is gonna kill you if he sees---"
"Shh," he shushed her. He is slowly raising his upper body so he can sit down.
Shh...Shh... What are you talking about?"
"You're drunk, Seyhan," Seline told him. "Come on. I'll assist you to your room."
"No. I am not drunk. I am not," he insisted.
"Yes, you are. Look at you right now. You look like a drug syndicate," she protested. "Your so dead if your dad finds out about this."
"My dad is in Manila, you know that?" he chuckled.
"What if I tell him?" she asked.
"Then you're dead to me," Seyhan warned.
"No, you're more dead, sir," she insisted.
"I am not drunk, okay?" Seyhan protested. Then, he stands up. He steps close to Seline and only an inch of space is in between them.
He looks at Seline, eye to eye. "I am fine," he said. "I just drank a couple of shots, that's all."
Seline grimaced when she inhaled his breath. It smelled so sour.
"Oh my God...I'm gonna puke," she complained.
"Don't follow me," Seyhan told her before he turned away and headed toward the stairs. While walking, his body is swaying from side to side.
Seline is quite concerned while watching him walk while bumping himself against the furnitures. It seemed like he is about to fall down at any second.
"Are you sure you're fine because I think you need help?" Seline then asked.
"I am fine. I don't need you," he remains to insist.
"Just let me help you," she insisted.
"No. Go away. You p*****t," he insists. He stepped on the first staircase but he suddenly outbalanced himself and was about to fall back down. Luckily, he immediately grabbed the handrail.
"AH!" Seline screamed. She covered her mouth with her hands.
"Bullshit..." Seyhan exclaimed.
"Shhh..." Seline reminded him.
"I guess...I need... some...assistance," he said. Then, due to over-intoxication, he dropped to the floor and closed his eyes as his consciousness faded.
"Oh. What am I into?" she told herself. She sighed while staring at Seyhan lying on the floor.
::::::::::::::::::::
Back at the auto shop...
The enemies are taken down. All ten of them are defeated by Japeth and Cielo. Some of them are thrown into the cars. Even the Ferrari of Japeth is where the enemy landed. One of them is lying on the ruined deck. The shelves are down, lying on top of the rest of the enemies lying on the floor. One of them is stabbed in the chest by a sharp glass.
Japeth is tying the hands of each enemy together with nylon cable ties. His right arm is injured, stabbed by a sharp glass fragment. His face has wounds due to the shrapnel of glass getting through his skin during the struggle. His thin blue shirt is shredded, becoming a rug. The knee part of his jeans already has a hole in it.
Cielo is holding Raymond's collar while he punches him in the face. Mr. Raymond is afraid of him. He looks at the foreigner's wounded face due to the shrapnel.
"Okay, punk! Tell me everything you know about the mayor. Or else I'll beat you up again..!" he angrily threatened. He raised his fist again to threaten him that he'd punch the defenseless guy.
"Okay! Okay! I will tell you everything you want to know about Jeff. Just please don't hurt me," Mr. Raymond begs.
"Oh yeah! Tell it to my fist," he was about to land his fist but Mr. Raymund flinched and begged.
"Please! Please! I... I will tell you everything I know!"
"Stop beating the guy and ask him about the mayor already. The police will be here in a minute," Japeth told Cielo.
Cielo pushed the guy as he released him from his grip. "Tell me, how does your boss, Jeff Marcelo, connect to a Mexican terrorist adviser whose name is Gabriel Sanchez, a.k.a. Gabriel Ramirez?"
"Gabriel Ramirez is working for Jeff Marcelo," Raymond answers. "He...he...he helped the mayor during his campaign. I...I...don't know more other than that. I am just the mayor's delivery guy. Please! Spare me. I have nothing to do with the killings. I...I don't do drugs. I was just ordered to hide them and...and deliver them to those who want to buy them."
"You deliver drugs?" Cielo wanted to clarify.
The businessman kneels down. He nodded with honesty in his eyes. Cielo could tell in his eyes that Raymond was sincerely begging for him to spare his life.
"It makes sense since I found some sachets of shabu in that cash register," Japeth comments. He is standing a few steps away from the counter desk.
"Can you tell me more about Jeff Marcelo?" Cielo asked. "Tell me more about his connection to the Latino freakshow."
"I don't know... but...but whatever puts the mayor in power, it has to be him. The mayor talks about the future of this country being ruled by us, the KHASIM."
"He is a drug dealer and a terrorist," Cielo concludes. He looks at Japeth to see his reaction.
"Anything else?" Japeth asked Raymond.
"I am sorry," the man said. That's all he knows.
Cielo sighed. "Come on. Let's go! Stand up," he commanded Mr. Ching. "Let's talk more somewhere away from here."
"Wait. How about these guys?" Japeth asked.
"We are running out of time. Let the cops handle them," Cielo said.
Then, Cielo's communicator turned on as it produced a screech. Gaston spoke. "Hello, guys. You need to get out of there, right now. I repeat get out of there now. Police cars are approaching about two miles away from where you stand. I repeat, get out of there." Then he cut off.
"Let's get out of here. They are already near. Let's go!" he informs Japeth.
::::::::::::::::::::::
In a room where it is purely white. The furniture like the couch, table, wooden chairs, and cabinets are painted white. The walls are white. The displays, like the vases are white porcelain. The bed is white except for its frame, which is painted black. The ceiling is painted white, fluorescent lamps are shining on it.
Kianu is in that room. He is sitting on a couch. He is closing his eyes. He is in pain since his memories are flashing like book pages scanning rapidly. There are images...new images that he didn't remember before.
Someone opens the door from the outside. Kianu opened his eyes when he heard the door screeching. He opened his eyes, turned his head to the door. However, the door was not open. No one entered the room as well. At first, he was confused, whether his ears were hearing sounds that was similar to a door screeching. Then, when he finally figured out what caused the sound he heard, he sighed and turned his head to face the ceiling.
"You're here," Kianu said.
The ephirmise sits down on the chair next to him. However, it was just a part of the spirit that was in there. It was his shado, a black entity that shaped like it has sat beside Kianu's bed.
"I dropped by to see how you are," the shadow told him. "But it seems you are getting your memories back."
"I am fine. Never been better, I think," Kianu replied. "You guys were trying to remove the tattoo from my arm."
"I think it was the best thing to do," the spirit told him. "The Santelmo also knew that."
"However...if you erase the tattoo from my wrist, then, everybody dies. It would be pointless" Kianu said.
The Ephirmise didn't reply. It was just sitting still while stariing at him. Kianu can't figure out whether the spirits were thinking through or they have a plan.
Kianu sighed with frustration. "The guardians almost did it," he said. He raised his right arm. He showed them that the tattoo was already one-third of its ink. The rest is a burnt mark outlining the erased ink that was originally drawn on his skin.
"It is almost erased," the Ephirmise said as it examined it.
"It's just the left arm area, the tip of the head, the left leg area, and the tip of the tail are left," Kianu described. "I wonder why they didn't fully erased it."
Then, the ephirmise gave one last remark. "The daughters of Lumawig before have managed to disconnect realities from each other. I believe those three can reconnect them from each other again without destroying the world".
"They don't know how," Kianu argued.
"Have faith in their abilities. They are chosen for this," he encouraged. "The moment they learn how to lift their hands up and try to hold the sky, then...they'll realize what they're capable of."
- Writer
