The Abyss in Between

Alt 22: How Real Are You?

“Kovie?!” His voice howled over me. I’m still in shock with what I’m witnessing.

“What…” Was all I could say. He looked at me in the eyes and brought down his gun.

“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” The robotic voice from the system took over my entire hearing. Is Aiden the intruder they’re calling out?

“Goddamn!” he shouted. Wala pa akong sinasabi nang hinila niya kaming pareho ni Covet sa mga kamay namin at tutungo sana sa direksyon ng pinasukan namin kanina ngunit nakita niyang nagsasara na iyon kaya’t agad kaming pumunta sa likod.

“What’s happening?!” I urgently asked. I can’t comprehend what’s with our situation so I can’t think of anything to help. The only obvious thing is that we’re trying to escape the humanoids chasing us.

Why are they chasing us in the first place?

Covet’s been silent since we’re dragged into this. He’s not being dragged anymore but he is running as fast as Aiden is running, and as fast as I am getting dragged.

Yes, I still can’t move on from that. Kanina pa ako nadadapa sa malakas na paghila niya sa akin. I almost fell flat to my face, kung hindi lang ako nakakapit ng maayos kay Covet sa tabi ko ay nagdudugo na naman siguro ang ilong ko.

We’re going to the back exit, I thought.

But the problem is, there’s no back exit. The exit that we’re trying to go to is actually leading us up with a staircase leading us to nowhere.

We’ve been running towards the upper floor, except there’s no upper floor.

Lahat ay puro hagdan lang. Wala man lang indikasyon na nakarating na kami sa sunod na palapag. Kanina pa kami takbo ng takbo at hindi ko malaman kung bakit pakiramdam ko ay nakasampung palapag na kami pero ni isang pinto ay wala pa rin talaga?

All my questions are answered when we finally saw the only door we’ve ever encountered in this mini adventure of us. A door that led us to the rooftop. Yes, the rooftop.

The strong wind occupied every small space it could in between us three and gave us enough breeze to cool us down from all the running we’ve done. I can’t even imagine what has happened earlier.

“Ilang beses akong nadapa!” sigaw ko at sinapak si kuya. Siya kasi ang humihila sa akin at kahit pa gusto kong umalis sa pagkakahila niya, hindi naman kami nagkaroon ng oras para tumigil sa pagmamadali niya. “Sorry,” he said. Inirapan ko siya ngunit naramdaman ko ang pamamasa ng mga mata ko.

Agad ko siyang niyakap at tinago ang mukha ko sa leeg niya. I did my very best to hide my sobs but my tears fell naturally, as if they’re waiting for this familiar warmth of hug… from my brother.

There’s no better place than your loved ones’ arms, really.

Hindi ko naman gustong kunin ang oras namin para magdrama kaya’t agad akong bumitaw sa pagkakayakap. Pinahid niya ang mga luha ko at natawa. “Ang pangit mo umiyak,” he teased. Tinampal ko ang kamay niyang nagpupunas sa luha ko.

Ako na mismo ang nagpunas noon habang tumango naman siya kay Covet at niyakap ito sa panlalaki at maarteng paraan. Ang arte ng pagkakayakap nila, akala mo marurumi ang isa’t isa kaya’t hindi nila gustong magdikit kahit konti. Boys, really.

“Akalain mong nagbalik ka pa?” I heard Covet teased. Natawa si kuya roon. “I didn’t expect to see you with my sister,” he said. Inirapan ko siya nang nilingon niya ako nang may mapang-asar na mga tingin.

“Wala akong choice. I needed their power to find your stupid ass,” I said. He laughed and did a peace sign. Nakakapagtaka lang na gumagamit siya ng ganoong gawain ngayon. He hated the idea of it before that’s why I used it to tease him.

Naglibot kaming tatlo sa rooftop. Normal lang iyon tignan kumpara sa mga nasa baba. Sa lahat ng nakita ko sa lugar na ito, ito ang lugar na masasabi kong kamukha ng lugar namin. This serene, small, plain, compact place is so much like our place that I’m not even excited about it.

Puro building ang nakikita ko kanina pa. Wala akong ibang napapansin bukod sa mga technology at gadget sa paligid. It was like a never ending land of monitors and robots and humanoids and just… technology.

All the colors were plain gray or blue, some displayed red and green but that’s all there is in terms of color. The humanoids are all gray, some are lucky to be shaped as human and have a diverse skin tone but there’s no other choices for them.

They’re all robots. I still can’t process that in my mind.

“Ano ba ang nangyayari? Bakit may baril ka? At bakit mo tinututok ‘yon sa elevator? What if it’s not me?” I threw all these questions to him. His face hardened and his jaw clenched, a sign that he’s not liking what he’s thinking of.

“A b***h named Elana is trying to pull tricks to me,” he said. Kumunot ang noo ko roon. Elana?

“You mean, the Elana that we’ve met?” I asked. Agad akong natauhan sa tanong ko. Of course he doesn’t know if it’s that Elana. “Sorry, that was a stupid question,” I said.

“Yes, that’s Elana. Don’t you remember what he did? He lynched off mom and dad,” he said. My brows furrowed with the news that he just broke down. I don’t remember.

“I don’t…” I trailed. Covet’s hand went to my arms, as if trying to stop me from something. I didn’t understand but he just nodded.

“Pagod kami sa byahe. Maybe we can go to your place and settle down first? That way, we’ll be more comfortable talking with each other,” he explained. Tumango ako roon. I think that’s a good idea.

It’s not a bad thing but it’s definitely not that good to think that it’s okay to talk in this random place out of nowhere. Hindi ko pa nga alam kung paano kami makakababa rito.

“Paano pala tayo aalis? Dapat umalis na tayo. Baka abutan tayo ng mga robots,” sabi ko. Tumawa si kuya na ipinagtaka ko. May nakakatawa ba sa sinabi ko?

“They can’t go up the stairs, you know. That’s why they have these elevators all over,” he said. Nagulat ako roon. Then what’s the stairs for?

Hindi na kami nagtagal at bumaba na kami. Hindi ito ang dinaanan namin kanina. Apparently, there’s another stairs. Just on the side of the building, not in it.

“This is their fire exit,” he explained. Tumango na lang kami at sinundan siya sa pagbaba. Nang sa wakas ay nasa baba na kami, dumiretso kami sa kanan.

Aalis pa lang kami sa maliit na eskinitang dinaanan ay sumalubong na sa amin sina Adi, Krys, Accel, at Ayla.

“How real are you?” Was the first thing Adi asked us.