Archanghel: Tale of the Universe

Chapter 4

“Hey, you!” I almost turned deaf when Kate shouted at the girl who had been complaining earlier.

Every student turned their head towards us and Kate did not mind one of them. The girl turns around along with her other girlfriends. Her eyebrows were raised in a bratty way and her lips were in a pout too.

I noticed Jake cluck his tongue, but he didn’t move an inch from where he was standing. He was kind of smart because there was no stopping Kate now. The students also stopped in their tracks to watch the scene. They now circled us and Kate was in the middle of it.

What are they doing? They’re making this worse.

“Are you talking to me?” She said in a sassy way.

I inched closer to Kate to try to hold her shoulder to calm her or maybe stop her. I saw Jake look at me and shake his head. I motioned to him that I needed to stop Kate before this gets out of hand, but he continued to shake his head as an answer.

“Yes, you. I heard that you were spouting some nonsense earlier.” Kate answered her with a more sassy tone.

“Look who’s talking. Huh! Do you even know who you are talking to?” The girl smirked, but Kate did not answer her.

“If I were you, I would just shut my mouth. Besides, isn’t it true? Your toilets here are smelly and…” She eyed Kate up and down. “… dirty.”

My blood suddenly boiled from what she said. Is she belittling me? Yeah, she is. She’s too much! It was really a good decision to let Kate do what she wanted. If earlier, I would like to stop Kate. Now, all I wanted was to let her teach the girl some lesson.

“This girl is rude!” I heard Cale say. He was standing not far from the girl and his stance looked like he was ready to pounce on her.

“What did you say? Is this what the school teaches its students? Oh my! I think the principal should know this. I'm going to complain!” She was about to leave, but she stopped when the boys blocked her path.

I did not notice Kate was already there until Jake stood beside me. We watch as Kate circles the girl first before stopping a few inches in front of her.

“Did you know, what I hate the most in a person is those who snitch so much? I know you are not a student here and never will be.” The girl’s jaw dropped.

“Excuse me?”

“We do not tolerate bad attitudes in this school. If I were you, I'd just peacefully leave and don’t waste your time telling any of this to the principal. He knows how I, the president of the student council, run this school. You'll just lose face.” Kate said. Stressing the words president and student council. Every student smirks.

“All right, everyone! Get back to your tasks and continue with your enrollment process, the line starts there.” Kate points her finger to the students as she instructs them. Everyone scatters again to mind their own business.

“You do your enrollment process right. Or the gate was wide open, you are very welcome to leave.” Kate waved at the girl and left them standing in the middle of the lobby. I, too, was left standing there. Still processing what I have just witnessed.

You have been a student here for a long time, Xandriel. Still don't get used to this? To answer that, maybe I won't. Not in the long run

+++

“Bye, Xandy! Be careful!” The other officers waved their goodbyes at me, to which I returned with a save and smile too.

“We’ll be going first since your way is out of ours. Where was that man when you needed him?” I turned around to face Kate and sighed.

For a whole day, I had not seen Janus. He didn’t go to school to process his enrollment. Just where is he? I know Kate was in a really bad mood because of Janus’ disappearance, but she was just so busy that she didn’t have time for it.

“I don’t know. I went to his house earlier, but he was not there. His landlady said he didn’t come home. Let him be, he’ll reveal himself, soon. I’ll be going now too.” I bid goodbye to Kate and Jake, who were, all this time, standing beside her.

“Are you sure you can manage?” Jake asks in worry.

“I’m fine. You just take care of our beloved president here.” I knowingly eyed both of them. At the same time, they both turn their heads to the opposite side.

I laugh at their reaction. Cute! Seriously, why don’t they just date each other? They will be the perfect match. And then, I and Janus would – no, no, no, Xandy. No. You’re not thinking about it.

I waved my hand as a final goodbye before taking the direction that I needed. After a few meters, I waved my hand again without looking back. I know them, they will be watching me walking away until they can see me no more. It warms me inside.

I was already at the corner near the house when a lady suddenly appeared in front of me. She holds me in the shoulder so tightly, it hurts. Why am I having a weird day today? I've been bumping into weird people.

“It’s you. You are the girl that I saw!” I was staring at the lady, wide-eyed and in fear. She had her fingers pointed at me as they shook.

“Me? Are you sure it’s me? I don’t know you. I didn’t do anything.” is all I had managed to say in a panic.

“You must’ve mistaken me for someone else. I'm sorry, but I don’t know you.” The lady continued to stare at me and that’s when I noticed that she was a little bit older than Mamang.

She was wearing a skirt that stopped at her ankle, a thin jacket, and underneath that was a white shirt. She also had a bag on her shoulder that looked like it contained a lot of stuff. She opened her mouth to say something, but I did not pay attention to her.

My feet moved on their own, I found myself walking fast on the highway where a kid was standing stiffly still. He was just looking at the car that was approaching him as if he was seeing a ghost.

I jumped the remaining distance I had from the kid and pushed him out of the way of the car. I did not have enough time to react. All I know is that my world was spinning. There was no pain or sound, I couldn’t hear a thing, as if I had become deaf. I felt the fall, my body collided with the ground and that is when the pain hit me from my waist. I was staring at the sky. My body limps on the ground.

What happened? What did I do? Why...

I did not get to finish my question when a familiar face appeared in my sight. We don’t really know each other and are basically a stranger, but I think that didn’t stop the worry to appear on her face.

“*Hija, God may bless you. You have a good heart.” She closed her eyes and began uttering a prayer.

I slowly feel drowsy. Sleep was creeping into my mind. It pulled me in until there was only darkness. Or so I thought.

+++

Rabiya Escobal was busy preparing dinner while she waited for her daughter, Xandriel, to get home. She accidentally bumps her elbow on the pan where their side dish was placed and the bowl slipped on her hand, making its contents fall down on the floor with some broken glass. She crouched down and was about to pick up the pieces when her phone rang. She quickly grabs it from her pocket and looks at the caller ID. It was Xandriel.

“Hello, Xandriel?” She was confused. Xandriel doesn’t just call her out of the blue, except if it is important. And Rabia thought that her daughter was on her way home.

“Hello, are you the guardian of the owner of this phone?” Rabia felt her stomach drop when she heard a stranger's voice on her daughter’s phone.

“Yes, I am. Why? Where is my daughter?” Rabia asks in a quivering voice.

Rabia already had a hunch, but she didn’t want to accept it and wanted to hear the confirmation from the caller.

“She’s in the emergency room right now. She was in an accident.” The phone almost fell from Rabia’s grasp. She felt her whole body go numb.

“In what hospital?”

“It’s St. Matthews.” As if on cue, tears streamed down Rabia’s face. She couldn’t accept the fact that the daughter she had raised for sixteen years would be involved in an accident.

She forcefully wipes the tears on her face. She was quick on her feet to leave the house to where her daughter was along with the phone and a purse.

“She is not dead, Rabia. Not yet. Believe in God and she will be saved.” She whispers, convinced, herself.

She started to utter a prayer. The only prayer she had uttered when her daughter was still in her womb.

“... O blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for Us, I trust in You...”