DERANGED

CHAPTER FIVE: The Shadow

     The sudden boomed of a voice at the back of his mind surprised him making him jerked one of his feet off in the air. Trails of sweat dripped on his forehead and his heart beats faster. He unconsciously had fallen sleep while watching the night sky in his window; unwittingly, he experienced lucid dreaming and had started imagining s****l fantasies based on what had transpired earlier that day.

     Darren twitched sideways, then adjusted his sleeping position, facing the gorgeous topless man beside him who was already snoring in a deep slumber. After throwing a few malicious glances of reverence to the half-naked body, he eventually closed his drowsy eyes and gently drifted back into an undisturbed sleep.

     Rinnggg . . . Riiinnnggg . . . .He woke up awfully; annoyed at the relentless blaring of his clock. Darren looked at with his still puffy eyes and his heart tightened in fright. It’s already past 8 in the morning, which means he’s late for the second day training. 

     “Gosh, why didn’t Mike wake me up. Wait. . . Where the hell is he?” he sprung out of his bed immediately and thoroughly checked the whole room. 

     “Hhhmm. He didn’t even care to leave a note that he’ll be leaving.” he said to himself grimly. 

     But an afterthought brought his feet downstairs; thinking that Mike had just bought something for himself and will be back in no time. Darren decided to wait at the entrance to the old apartment building. Looking up, he saw shafts of the morning light piercing through the shadow of the high-rise buildings that covered their secluded area. He stood there quiet and still; bathing the sunlight when a gentle tap behind his back aroused him. He stirred, then shifted his gaze to his back. A young boy, no more than eighteen years old, was standing behind Darren. 

     “Excuse me!” the boy said in a low voice. 

     “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t notice that I was blocking your way.” exclaimed Darren. “You look new here.” he added as he examined him more closely.

     “Yes. We’ve just moved here two days ago.” the boy politely responded. 

     “I’m Darren.” he said while extending his hand toward his new neighbor.

     “Well, I’m Denzel.” 

     “What a cute name and a cute face!"

     “I’m sorry?”

     “Huh? What did I say?” said the blushing Darren. 

     “I thought I’ve heard you called me . . . cute?” the boy courteously asked.

     “Uuuhhmmm. . . I think I said "youth". . . Well, anyway, I would like to ask if you have seen someone going out earlier?” he quickly retorted in a vain attempt to throw off his rather impulsive comment. 

     “Sorry, but I have been outside my room just now.” answered the boy. “Can I pass now?” 

     “Oh! Sure!” Darren quickly darted out of the way. The boy swiftly dashed outside, waving goodbye to him.  

     “See you later!” he yelled to the boy that had disappeared shortly out of his sight. 

     He ran upstairs, entered his room, and prepared himself for work in a nick of time. And having no time for breakfast, he immediately flew out from his apartment into the busy street outside of the alley. 

     “Hey!” a voice among the crowd called him. 

     He smiled back to the owner of the voice; it’s the young boy again, waving and smiling at him. Darren smiled back as he watched him drown out from the fast moving crowd. 

     At exactly nine in the morning he arrived at his destination. He hastily moved towards the entrance of the Durian building when a man abruptly cuts him off, blocking his way in. 

     “It’s you again! What’s your name, sir?” the man asked.

     “Darren De Santos!” he stressed. Darren confronted his look to the man obstructing his path. He noted that it’s the same man who flagged him down the other day: the roving guard. 

     “Sir, I’m late.” Darren begged.

     “Don’t worry buddy. I’ll let you in this time as long as you'll not be bringing anyone with you every time you come here.” the guard calmly replied. 

     “Thank you so much sir! Can I ask your name?” he asked with a tone of surprise. 

     “My full name is Benjamin A. Mendoza, but you can call me Ben or buddy.” the guarded said smilingly. 

     “I’ll call you Kuya Ben.” Darren suggested.

     “Oi! Turning thirty is not that old to be called a big brother but yeah . . . you can call me that as you wish.” declared Ben as he reached for Darren’s hand and grappled it firmly. 

     “Okay. You can go now.” 

     “Thank you so much!”

     Darren skidded across the large hall and towards the elevator. He instantly pressed the button repeatedly for the door to open but failed miserably. 

     “WTF, please cooperate!”he cried while furiously jabbing the button but to no avail. 

     He left the broken elevator and went for the stairs. Hopping and running up the stairs in distress. As he had reached the 6th floor of the building, he paused and sunk to his knees. Darren panted heavily as he tried to catch his breath. At that moment, he managed to examine the surroundings of the place. Doors swung loosely from their hinges in some other rooms, dusty bulbs on the ceiling were busted and other dangled in disrepair. The walls along that dark corridor had been scraped off and vandalized with faded graffiti. Shafts of sunshine penetrating through the broken glass window had produced a faint light barely enough to keep the creeping shadows at bay. Panning his gaze below the stairs as he leaned on the handrails, he saw no other living soul except for him and the guard at the entrance. 

     Darren felts his sweat on his back had turned cold at the sudden change of temperature. The atmosphere became heavy and moist as if a foreboding danger hovered in the air. And the once motionless shadows looming around the corners of the corridors had crept and grown completely, blotting out the any form of light from the outside making the entire place pitch-black. 

     Gripped with ultimate fright, Darren quickly scrambled his way upwards; clawing at the rails and dragging his leaden feet in every step. He can feel a knot in his stomach had tightened followed by the rapid throbbed of his heart as he toiled his way to make for the 8th floor where he was heading for. At last, he finally had reached the top of the stairs that had seemed an endless nightmare. When his wobbling feet had stepped on the next landing Darren sighed in relief.

     “What the hell happened down there?” he asked himself. “What the hell was that?” 

     With his whole body still shaken from the unknown terror that had chased him all the way up, he cautiously approached the rail and then hesitatingly glanced down to the spot where he had just stopped a while back. Much to his astonishment, the whole place had changed in a blink. Up from above where he was standing, he could see busy people scurrying their way up and down the stairs, moving in different directions, and entering their office rooms. In just a snap the atmosphere suddenly became lively and the dilapidated view was restored back to normal as if he had only been imagining things earlier. 

     Darren shook his head in huge disbelief and confusion; backing up from the stairs while gripping his hair on his head. He began to walk dazedly along the hall with his hands fumbling on the wall. He forcefully closed and opened his eyes in an effort to unsee the menacing shadows that had chased after him and had now subconsciously crawled into his mind. After a few more minutes he was able to put his hands on the handgrip of a door, swung it open, and entered the room. 

     Darren took a deep breath and noisily puffed it out. 

     “SSSSHHHHH!!!!” a sharp hush cut him off abruptly. 

     He looked around the room, blinking and squinting, hardly recognizing the faces of the people that had turned their gaze upon him. Darren focused his attention to the man standing in front of the room who was also looking back and waving at him. 

     “Sh*t!” he cringed after realizing he had mistakenly entered a room full of big clients and bosses of their company, disrupting them from their urgent meeting. 

     And at the corner of the large conference table, he caught Michael, staring back at him in: deeply shocked and embarrassed.