Traces of Midnight Fallacies

CHAPTER SIX

"Mom, I'm begging you," I begged my mom while still kneeling on the floor. "I'm not taking anything from your room."

I could feel the tears falling on my cheeks, especially when I felt the pain in my waist when my mom kicked me in that part. I barely got on my knees because of the pain that had crept into my muscles. She quickly pulled my hair to put me back in my usual position. My stomach hit the edge of the table as she laid my half body there, including my hands.

I seem to know what will happen next.

"Ahh!" I screamed as she repeatedly hit my fingers with a stick. "M-Mom, that's enough…"

"How many times have I told you not to go to our room without my permission?" she yelled before hitting my fingers once again.

I explained to her several times that I never entered her room without her husband. I’m not stealing anything from them. No matter how many times I explain my side, she does nothing but ignores all my explanations.

I feel so upset for my mom. I want to be mad at her, but I don't have enough reason to just hate her. I know that I'm stupid because I've never complained to the authority about my parents' a***e. Will you blame me when I say that I can’t stand on my own two feet without their support? I also couldn't bear to see my mother in prison and begged me to get them out there and to drop the case I filed for them.

I don’t want to lose a parent by my side even though I never felt their presence whenever I had a problem. I want to see them have fun together even if I’m not part of the fun they both have.

I'm not a fan of deja vu. I have never believed in these kinds of scenarios in my life. Do you ever get the impression that everyone around you is a familiar face from your past? That’s how I feel right now.

I looked at my pale hands. I know that the memory of my mother's mistreatment of me didn't happen before, but why do I feel the pain in my fingers now? I felt my fingers lifeless as I watched their pallor. I didn't see any wounds or any traces of her mistreatment, but I could feel the pain.

A tear drew down my cheek before I decided to climb the parapet in front of me. It took me a while to step there until I successfully reached the top. I watched the students in the field. Some of them stop walking whenever they see me standing here at my location.

"There's a student on the rooftop!"

"She's taking her own life!"

"Help her!"

I watched them riot below while I remained silently watching them. They gradually multiplied and seemed to be waiting for me to jump.

Well, I will give you what you want and will make you happy.

I slowly hung my feet in the air before closing my eyes tightly, which made everyone shriek. I would have fallen to the bottom if I hadn’t just felt the harsh grab on my left arm, which startled me before I felt him pulling me away from the parapet.

Everything went fast. The next thing I felt was my fall on the chest of the man who pulled me away from that position at the top of the parapet. I felt my left cheek hit his chest, which made my eyes shut for a while. I could hear the intensity of the beat of his heart in my position as we fell to the floor.

"Committing suicide will never be the way to escape your problem, Ms. del Real," he said, causing me to quickly wake up and look up at him from where we were lying.

My eyes immediately widened when I found myself lying on top of Lawrence. He barely closed his eyes and I seem to know why the two of us are in this position now.

He saved me from taking my own life, which is what happened in my illusion before! Is it possible that everything I saw in the illusion before has something to do with what will happen in the future?

Do I see the future?

"Just… don't do it," he added. He opened his eyes and met mine.

I don't know why I even saw this kind of weird thing. For the second time, I saw once again the car I knew would hit Lawrence in the future. I can clearly and distinctly see what accidents will happen to him by staring into his eyes.

"Charmaine!" I heard someone.

The loud bang coming from the exit door at the end of the rooftop makes me shocked. I quickly stood up from my position because I seemed to know that Lawrence was going to push me away just like what happened in my illusion before. I was already standing while Lawrence was still lying down and straining to feel himself.

I held out my hand to him, which he examined first before accepting. He was the one who voluntarily removed his hand from my grip, which made me embarrassed. We both watched Kevin run towards me while seriously looking at me. I'm not surprised when he hugged me tightly without a blanket between us.

"What did you do? Did you know that I almost died worrying about you when I saw you standing at the top of the rooftop?" He asked one question after another while busy shaking my shoulder.

I was no longer able to answer him, especially when he once again buried my head in his chest for another hug that made me smile.

"Don't do that again, please. I'm going to die worrying about you!"

"You're over-reacting," I responded, which made him chuckle.

After confronting Kevin, we heard footsteps approaching us, and I was no longer surprised when I saw Celeste, who was now irritated while looking at me. I almost stepped back when she flipped her fingers into my forehead when she rushed to me.

"What went through your mind and why did you do that thing? Are you f*****g insane?" she yelled at me. "Thank goodness Lawrence was in a hurry to get upstairs, or else the students below you might be celebrating your broken skull scattered downstairs!"

I grimaced at what she said before I felt my eyes quickly search for Lawrence, whom I had never seen on the rooftop where the three of us were.

As I expected, the students attacked me again with questions when we decided to get off the rooftop. They were just asking what my gimmick was while those on my side served as my spokesperson that day. Kevin and Celeste answered them whenever someone asked me a question, except for those lecturers that invited me to the dean's office to ask if I was okay.

The lecturers filled me with lots of notices and explanations that day, while I did nothing but deny their allegations that I was a suicidal person and needed to seek help from a psychiatrist. Some believed my explanation, while others were just disappointed with what I had thought before.

"Don't do that again, Charmaine! You're scaring us, "Kevin reminded us again after our last class.

Since Celeste hadn't finished her class yet, Kevin and I decided to go for a walk until we reached the locker room of our corregidor. I watched him approach his locker before I decided to sigh and went to my locker.

The key I found in my bag when I came into this unusual world is the one I used to open the locker I use today. Fortunately, it matched, so somehow I can use the locker used by the woman in my body right now.

As soon as I opened the locker, I almost fell back to my stance when the envelopes inside were thrown away. Because Kevin was still busy arranging his things, I didn't bother to ask him some questions about it.

I bowed slightly in my position before I decided to kneel in front of it and pick up the envelopes that were scattered on the floor. There was no letter contained in some, but the others I picked up had a single letter inside of them. My forehead immediately narrowed when I decided to open one of the letters I picked and read the letter contained in the envelope I had chosen.

"Day 262. October 29, 2018." My forehead immediately twitched, especially when I read the first line up until the third line of the letter. "Dear Lawrence… I'm still looking forward to you noticing me. I know that you're using a potion to make me fall in love with you. You know that I am currently in a relationship, but why did I fall for someone like you accidentally? "

My voice lowered when I felt someone walk beside me. From the soles of his shoes, I knew it was him.

"I'm not used to witchcraft, Charmaine," he said, which made my eyes widen as I looked at him.

I quickly picked up the envelopes scattered on the floor before I hurriedly closed my locker. I no longer waited for Kevin to finish what he was fixing, and instead of waiting for him, I decided to run away from that corregidor. I heard Kevin calling me from behind, but I just kept running away from there.

I could feel my heart beating faster when I decided to stop running, especially when I reached the end of the corregidor. I quickly felt my chest throb before taking another deep breath to calm myself.

I almost jumped in panic when a hand grabbed my shoulder. I looked at it with shock in my eyes and almost sighed heavily when I saw Celeste, who was holding my shoulder.

She smiled when she saw the shock and fear on my face when I saw her. "Shocked by my presence?" she said before she crossed her arms over her chest. "Am I so pretty to make you surprised like that, Charmaine? Relax. It's just me."

Before she could think to continue what she was saying, I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her away from that place. I know that she was surprised at what I did, but instead of asking, she just let me take her away from where we were.

"Just a moment!" she pleaded as soon as we descended the building.

I know that Kevin is looking for us now.

Celeste gasped as I faced her. As I expected, the irritation on her face was visible, so I knew that she would be angry at me again when I dragged her away from that place.

"What's wrong with you, Charmaine?" she asked before I could see her eyes drop from my face. "Do you have a problem? Did you see anything?" she asked.

I desperately sat on the stool of the corregidor opposite the library while Celeste just kept staring at me.

"Don't tell me you did something silly to Lawrence again?" she asked, accusingly that I just stared at. "Tell me. Did you do something wrong against him?"

"I did," I said as she nodded. "I did a lot."

She laughed at what I said before she decided to sit next to me and gently shook me on the shoulder as if she was still happy with my anxiety in front of her.

"Congrats then," she said, causing me to turn around in disbelief. "I know Lawrence misses you for being clingy to him. Just this morning, he cornered me in the locker room. He asked me if you were okay or something happened to you yesterday about the accident."

"He asked about me?" I asked as if I couldn't believe what she said.

She laughed and nodded at me. "He asked me if everything was out, I said no. Even I have no idea what is inside your head, "she said before turning to me and smiling. "But it seems like everything you're planning will help you. That's okay compared to what you thought last week."

I did nothing but sigh heavily because of what she said. Kevin repeatedly asked me why I ran away without asking him. I knew that he had seen Lawrence earlier in the locker room, so when I mentioned Lawrence's name, they didn't question me anymore.

It was late at night when I successfully returned home. As I expected, another maid greeted me outside the gate and repeatedly explained to me that my parents were already in the dining room.

I felt a strange feeling when I successfully landed my foot on the doormat. In front of me, the hall-door was closed. The maid was waiting on the side for me to open the door because she couldn’t face it with the number of books she was holding. I slowly reached for the doorknob to open and my eyes almost widened when I saw him.

"Uncle?" I subconsciously called the man behind the chair sitting in front of my mother.