Chapter 17
1589 Words
17
(page 10 of 126)
My mother convinced me that I should go back to Los Baños early in the morning. By early, it means 5:30 in the morning. So when I had taken the bus, I just fell asleep throughout the trip and successfully have woken up before my stop. That is kind of awesome of my body.
I arrived at our campus at 7:32 A.M. I got less than an hour for my first class and that’s just enough time for me to get to We Deliver.
“Good morning, what’s your order?” Eureka asked without looking at me. She was wearing a white polo shirt and dark blue skinny jeans. Her hair was tousled up in a bun and covered securely with a hair net.
“Don’t you know that it’s a We Deliver policy that you should look at your customers when taking their order?” I caught her attention and looked up at me. Her face was full of gladness that it made me forget what I have learned about her- that she was dictated by the book somehow.
“I’m sorry sir, but I’m just a newbie here.” She said playfully.
“Forgivable. I suppose you know my order.”
“Do I look like I’m Professor X to you? Of course not, sir” I looked at her, hurt. But she just smirked at me. “I’m just kidding. Bacon and egg, sir?”
“That would be awesome.”
I searched for a seat after I paid my order. I was reminded that I went here to tell everything to her now- that she was a book character and all of this “moments” of her life was still a part of the book surfacing for her, the truth. But after I saw her beam with happiness, how could I?
“Here you go, sir. Bacon and egg made special.” Eureka placed my order on my table.
I tilted my head and pressed my thumb on my chin. “Wait, you’re the cashier and the waitress?”
“Yeah, pretty much. We Deliver doesn’t have plenty of people that’s why I was hired right away.”
I saw her probable-boss looked at us almost scowling. “Right. Maybe if you want to keep that job, you should head to the kitchen now.” I beamed at her tensely.
“Yes, I probably should.”
She turned around and walked away from me, her hips swinging elegantly as she passed through a number of tables. I turned my attention to my plate of bacon and noticed that there was a note underneath it.
It’s Monday. I don’t like you in your Monday-state. Just be in your other day state, okay? Just ignore her.
-Eureka
***
I minded the note. The words that she wrote repeatedly swirled in my mind. How could I not mind it? My class was over and I wasn’t very much aware of it until I reached my apartment and Matt greeted me.
“Luke, you’re back! Have you seen Eureka work?” He was reading a bunch of papers. Must be hand-outs.
“Yes. I have seen her.” I figured that now was the right time to discuss Eureka’s mystery. “Do you remember what I told about Eureka when you met her?”
“Hmm,” he threw what he was reading on the table “about her being a book or something?”
“Yes, that’s it! So?”
“I think you still sound crazy.”
“Haven’t you noticed something off with her? Anything at all?”
“She doesn’t know what f*******: is? Or Twitter?”
“Right! That’s because she wasn’t written to know about it. Even the whole internet! She was not aware of that.”
He curled his hair even more with his fingers. He still doesn’t see it.
“Maybe she doesn’t know. I, myself doesn’t know what Tumblr does, does that make me a book character?”
“That’s not my point!” I slightly raised my voice.
“Then, what’s your point Luke?”
For the love of everything that is sane, I sighed. Because I couldn’t say anything anymore. It is like my brain sighs as well.
“Here, just read.” I gave Matt my USB containing the e-book of A Starless Night. He then prompted to open it.
“Luke, look. I’ve known you for a long time now. But why are you acting like this right now?”
“Just read Matt” I repeated. “Gather the facts that you’ve known about Eureka and then just read. I’ll show you.” And I did. I already bookmarked and highlighted the facts and quotes she had expressed on the past weeks. Iris, her camcorder, her running away because of the same reason, her ideals, her words, her name, all of it was highlighted in bright yellow on Matt’s computer. It took a while but Matt hasn’t failed to pay attention, trying to decipher what I want to tell him.
“God, this is messed up!” Matt declared before I was even finished.
“I know.”
“Maybe...maybe it was just a coincidence.”
“No,” I shook my head “no it is too exact to be a coincidence. It was not by chance that Eureka, our Eureka, had a very same life with a book character written 3 or even more years ago.”
“But, it is not possible. How could that happen? These things only happen to the things I watch. How could...”
“I wish I could answer your question but I am no more knowledgeable in these. That’s not all.”
“That’s not?” he asked with his voice a little bit shaky.
“It seems the story of the book, the highlights of it more particularly, is becoming true.”
“What do you mean?”
“Here,” I showed the part where she found a job.“She was hired at Darwin’s favourite restaurant.”
“Who’s Darwin?”
“Her love interest.” I pushed back my eyeglasses to my nose with my finger.
“Right, and now she’s working at We Deliver. Is that your favourite restaurant?” he asked slowly as if he was talking to an alien. I know what’s he pointing at yet I couldn’t answer his question. “Luke, tell me, please!”
“Yes it is! It is my favourite restaurant.” I admitted.
“Oh, Luke. This is now twice as mess up now. It’s insane!”
“Matt, that’s not my freaking point! This is not about me.”
“Are you really sure about that?”
“No,” I whined.
“Luke, when would you tell her about this?”
“What if we don’t?”
“Oh my God, Luke, are you hearing yourself right now?”
“Maybe it would be better if she wouldn’t know.”
“No, Luke. There are times that we make a stupid teenager mistake but times like this, where the absolutely obvious thing to do right now is waving right in front of you and you choose to ignore it?”
“Matt, please just trust me on this one. Please.”
Matt grabbed his hair and dishevelled it so much it made him look like a maniac. “You know,” he inhaled deeply “you’re an idiot.”
***
The night was chilly and it was quiet on our apartment. Matt and I, after our discussion, did not talk afterwards. He acquiesced that we’ll not tell Eureka about the truth of her identity. Well not until something wrong happened.
Matt said that he would read the book even further. He’s worried about the probable consequence(s) if something went off in the story, even a slight shift on the plot. Though the fact that Eureka is living with us, it is already an anomaly to the plot.
A light knock breaks the deafening silence in our house. I prompted to open the door and it was Eureka. She looks tired but still smiling.
“Why did you still knock? This is your house as well, you know.”
“Well, what if you were doing something...private?” She entered the house and went straight to my bed so I followed her.
“Don’t worry. I don’t think I’ll be doing something ‘private’ here with Matt.” I eyed Matt suspiciously. He went back from reading his hand-outs.
“It’s better to make sure than to be sorry later.”
“Are you tired?’
“Just a little. My feet hurts.”
“Then just rest, okay? Have you eaten dinner?”
“Yup, I’ve eaten breakfast for dinner.”
And we were quiet once again. The three of us was.
- Writer
