Forget Me Not

Chapter Five

GILBERT felt extremely fatigued when they returned from Nueva Ecija. Rico even invited him to drink, but his body couldn't handle it anymore. Aside from having school the next day, he also lacked sleep last night, so when he got home, he just took a shower and went to sleep. He didn't even manage to eat due to exhaustion.

When he woke up, it was already past three in the afternoon. The sun was still high outside, but the unusual cold in the room and Dugal's continuous barking outside woke him up. He yawned and stood up to lower the electric fan. However, he let out a loud curse when he felt something sharp pierce his foot as he stood up. He fell back and sat at the edge of the bed, immediately inspecting what had punctured his foot.

He winced in pain when he saw that almost half of a needle was buried in his ankle.

With his eyes closed, he pulled the needle out.

He stood up and went to the bathroom. He left traces of drops of blood on the floor. He threw the needle with bloodstains into the waste bin there. He didn't know how the needle ended up in his room. He also wondered how it could bury itself so deeply if it wasn't standing on the floor.

He went straight to the shower and let the water from the faucet make his wrist bleed. He was in that position when he felt a cold breeze brush against the back of his neck.

He got goosebumps.

He quickly glanced behind him. But what else could he expect since he was alone in the bathroom?

When he thought that the bleeding from the sole of his foot had stopped, he left the bathroom and turned off the electric fan. However, the strange coldness was still remaining in his room. It was only then that he felt the room had become so cold as if there was an air conditioner in it.

He thought that perhaps the coldness he was feeling was coming from the outside breeze, so he decided to close the windows of his room. However, he was startled when he saw something outside.

There was a black hearse right in front of their gate.

He furrowed his brow while wondering why there was a hearse there. He thought that might be the reason for Dugal's earlier barking.

He put on slippers and left the room. He couldn't walk fast because the pain in his foot was still there.

"Mommy? Why is there a hearse parked in front of our house? It's weird. Our neighbors might think something strange," he immediately greeted his mother, who was busy in the living room watching the TV shopping network.

"What?" His mother briefly glanced at him. It was evident that she didn't want to divert her attention from what she was watching, and she probably didn't hear what he said either. The TV volume was loud, competing with the noise of Dugal's howling outside.

He just shrugged and continued to walk outside. He found the black Great Dane in front of the gate, still barking at something outside. The barking only stopped when he approached and opened the gate.

But the hearse is no longer in front of them. He went out to check both ends of their street. He thought that perhaps the hearse just passed by. But even from a distance and along the length of the street, he couldn't see any trace or sign that it had passed by there.

Dugal resumed howling once more. The gate was open, but he didn't even leave his previous spot. It's puzzling since the dog always looks forward to getting out of the yard.

He approached Dugal and caressed its head. For a moment, the dog stopped howling and showed affection. However, when he closed the gate again, it started making noise once more.

He decided to just ignore it and went back to his room to take a shower. When he returned to his room, he was filled with overwhelming bewilderment. A bewilderment tinged with... fear.

The entire room was cold. A peculiar kind of coldness.

The air felt heavy. Breathing was difficult.

He felt a shiver crawl up his spine, as though invisible fingers had pressed against his skin. The room felt different—almost as if it didn’t belong to him anymore, but rather to something unseen that was now claiming it. He scanned the corners of the room, every shadow suddenly feeling darker and more threatening. The mirror beside his bed reflected the low light with an unsettling glow, warping his reflection into something unfamiliar.

Perhaps it was that, even though it was hot outside, the chill he felt didn't come from there. Instead, he noticed something outside the window that caused concern or curiosity.

In intense fear, his chest almost tightened as he saw once again the black hearse of the dead in front of their gate. It was like it still hadn't moved since he first saw it. Dugal continued to be drawn to it.

He gulped hard as he heard the rapid beating of his heart.

An inexplicable sense of dread washed over him. He reached for his cell phone on the bedside table, thinking of calling Rico or anyone—anyone who could assure him he wasn’t losing his mind. But when he unlocked it, the screen was filled with a single notification: "We’re waiting." His breath caught. He hadn’t installed any app that could send such a message. The words were stark, white against a black background, and before he could process them, the screen flickered and went dark.