Chapter 22. Journal

Chapter 22. Journal

Aeon's POV

"So any news about the tracking of the whereabouts of the video sender?" rinig kong tanong bigla ni Dark sa likuran ko. Hindi ako nag abalang gumalaw sa pagkakadukdok sa mesa ko.

"Wala pa" sagot ko nalang sakanya.

"Are you sure that we can trust that someone you're talking about?" tanong pa niya. In a world where trust can't be given easily, there are few people whom I consider trustworthy and T is no exemption for that.

"Baka naman trinaydor ka na ng kung sinong yan or worst he fooled you" I didn't waver by her words. T already proves to me that he is worthy of my trust and it's not certainly like him to be like this. He told me that he will send the information to me last night but he didn't.

"Something is definitely not right" I murmur.

"What's not right?" rinig kong tanong ni Dark. Mukhang narinig niya ako.

"Nothing" sagot ko sakanya saka inayos ang pagkakadukdok ko sa mesa. Iidlip nalang muna ako tutal vacant naman namin. Maybe T is caught up with something kaya siya natagalan sa pagsesend ng impormasyon sa akin. Siguro naman pagkagising ko ay naipadala na niya ang mga impormasyong kailangan ko.

*

"Aeon. Aeon, wake up" rinig kong tawag sa pangalan ko. "Aeon" ulit ng kung sino man. Inangat ko ang aking ulo sa pagkakadukdok sa mesa ko saka pilit na binuksan ang naka sara kong mata. Kinusot ko muna aang aking mata saka ito binuksan.

"You slept while studying again" tinig ng isang babae sa harap ko. Nang nag angap ako ng tingin ay nakita ko si mama.

"Aeon, wake up. The teacher is here" rinig kong sabi ng isang tinig na nanggagaling sa buong paligid. Teacher? What teacher? What's happening in here? Where am I? The last time I check I was talking to Dark and then I decided to take a nap then-

"Aeon?" sabi ng babaeng nasa harapan ko na kamukha ng aking ina.

"Aeon, wake up. Our professor is here" rinig kong sabi ni Dark. Ang tinig niya ay nagmumula sa buong paligid ng kwarto.

"Aeo-"

"Mom!" sigaw ko ng biglang nagising ako sa panaginip na iyon.

"Aeon, are you okay?" tanong ni Dark sa akin. Ngayon ko lang napansin na nasa akin pala ang tingin ng buong klase.

"I'm fine" sagot ko nalang sakanya saka tumungo at nakinig ng magsimula na ang klase.

*

The day went by normally. Wala namang nangyari na hindi maganda o kahinahinala. Tapos na ang klase at papunta na ako ngayon ng library. Hindi sumasa si Dark sa akin. She said that she can't study in the library 'cause she'll be distracted by the books, not by the people. Why the hell would she be distracted by a book?

"Kasi kung doon ako sa library hindi ko alam kung anong pupulutin kong libro, baka hindi ko pa matapos ang mga homeworks natin. Whenever I am in the library the books are screaming at me" yan lang naman ang sagot niya kanina sa akin.

Naglakad ako sa papunta sa usual spot ko. Papalapit pa lang ako roon ay may naka kuha na ng atensyon ko. A book was left on the table.

"May nagpunta kaya rito?" tanong ko sa sarili ko. Tago ang parteng ito ng library at hinding hindi ito mapapansin ng kung sino mang estudyante pero dahil ako ang tipo ng tao na gustong mapag isa ay nahanap ko ang parteng ito ng library.

Ipininagsawalang bahala ko nalang ang mga iniisip ko. Nang makalapit ako ay pinulot ko ang libro at ng tingnan ko ito ay walang nakasulat sa cover page nito at ngayon ko lang din napansin na gawa sa leather ang cover page nito and it has some kind of a button.

Tinanggal ko ito sa pagkakabutones and flip it open and my guess was right. It's not a book, it's a journal. Who would leave an important thing in here? O baka naman nakalimutan. I am not the kind of person who invades someone's privacy but there's something in this diary that caught my attention. May kalumaan na ito. Brown na ang kulay nito at lukot na rin ang ibang pahina. Maybe this journal is one of this library's collection.

I flip through the first page and there are words written in it but it's written in another language. I know how to speak and read several languages but this is beyond my knowledge. I don't know what language it is and beside that written words are I think the name of the owner of this journal. Hisoki Kaser Trancy. Trancy? I think I heard that surname before.

I flip the page to the second one and there the first journey of this journal. Naupo ko sa upuan at sinimulang basahin ang unang pahina.

"December 16, 2055" panimulang basa ko.

"Life is tough for those people who don't stand a chance with evil. Life is cruel for those who don't have the strength and will to fight. That's what I believed in without thinking about what awaits me in this school. A mysterious man approaches me in this cafe called "Paradito". I was busy studying there because I can't come to the library or even study at our house. That house is hell for me. Ever since I laid my eyes on this world I've been struggling all my life. Struggling to live. I don't have a family who protects me, what I have instead are monsters who want to drag me into the depths of hell but the will to leave this place is stronger than any evil that I've encountered in this hell my entire life. I was surprised when he stood there, beside me, and offers the very one thing that I've always wanted. The chance to leave this place but of course there's a condition. Everything in this world isn't free even our own lives but for me, it doesn't matter anymore. What's important for me is leaving this place.

I don't know anything about this man. Not his name, age, or where he is from. I don't know if he knows me or what is his intentions but even so, I still accepted his offer and here I am sitting inside a pad and writing this journal. It's been a week since I entered this school but I just decided to write a journal about my journey here. I don't know what I am doing here yet. That man said I am about to find out soon.

For the past few days, everything in here is normal. Nothing seems to be odd or weird. I just hope that I can start a new life here without grasping the air of life" basa ko sa laman ng unang pahina. It appears to me that it's just a normal journal but what makes me curious is the man who brought him here and that cafe called "Paradito". I've been to many cafe's when I am still outside the school but I never heard about a cafe named Paradito.

"How many times did I warn you to stop sneaking into this part of the library?" nagulat nalang ako ng may biglang nagsalita. It's the librarian. I am too focused on this journal that I didn't even hear him coming. Hindi ko siya sinagot, bagkus ay nilagay ko sa loob ng bag ang journal na binabasa ko. Napansin kong nakatingin siya journal na nilagay ko sa loob ng bag ko saka siya tumingin sakin. I raised an eyebrow at him saka ako tumayo at nagsimula ng maglakad.

"Don't play with the fire of secrets, you'll get burned" aniya. Nahinto ako sandali sa paglalakad ngunit hindi ako lumingon sakanya. Play with the fire of secrets? Napakunot noo ako sa sinabi niya. What does she means by that? Lumingon ako sakanya ngunit pagkalingon ko ay wala na siya sa kinatatayuan niya.

Ipinagsawalang bahala ko nalang ang sinabi niya at pinagpatuloy ang paglalakad hanggang sa makalabas ako ng library. Pagkalabas ko ay biglang nagvibrate ang cellphone ko. Someone is calling. Maybe it's T. Hinugot ko ang cellphone ko sa aking bulsa. Nang tignan ko ang sceen ay unregistered number ang tumatawag. My mind battles between answering the phone or not but in the end I did. Baka si T ito at gumamit lang ng ibang number, but it's not like him to do that.

"Hello?" bati ko sa kabilang linya.

"If you want to see him alive, you should stop what you're doing right now. I am watching you right now. One wrong move and he's dead" pananakot ng nasa kabilang linya. I can't identify the person's gender because he or she's using a voice changing.

"What the hell are you talking about?" tanong ko. Someone is playing a prank on me.

"Go on. Speak. She doesn't want to believe me" the voice urges. He didn't receive an answer. Ilang sandali pa ay nakarinig nalang ako ng kalabog sa kabilang linya. Napakunot noo ako. What the hell is wrong with this people?

"A-Alex" nahihirapang sagot ng nasa kabilang linya. Alex? Shit, it's T.

"Percy! Where the hell are you?" Alex and Percy are our codenames whenever we are in trouble and T is definitely in trouble right now.

"D-don't listen to them" T is having a hard time speaking.

"I swear to god if you ever lay a hand on him. I will hunt you down and kill you" nanggagalaiti kong sabi sa kausap ko.

"If you want him alive then stop investigating and get out of that school or else-"

"Or else what?" I cut him off. "You'll kill him?" pagpapatuloy ko. "Go on. Kill him and I'll send you myself in the pits of hell" banta ko rin sakanya saka pinatay ang tawag. I glance around me to make sure if someone is really watching me. Oh well, as if I care.

Nagsimula akong maglakad pabalik sa pad. Padilim na rin kasi at kailangan kong makausap si Dark. Maybe she can help me find T. T is a very strong man but unleashing what's inside of him will only make it worse once he's out of control.

"Dark"tawag ko sa pangalan niya pagkapasok ko ng pad namin.

"Saan ka nanggaling? May problema ba?" tanong niya sa akin pagkapasok ko ng kwarto namin. I look at her intently. Rationalizing every odds if I should ask for her help or not. She can help me if I tell her what happens to T but at the same time, I want to keep it a secret dahil baka sa huli ay magtatanong lang siya ng kung ano ano. I can't risk it, but I can't also risk his life.

"I need your help" and in the end, I still asked for her help.

"Why what happened?" tanong niya sa akin saka binaba ang librong mukhang binabasa niya bago ako pumasok.

"Remember what I told you earlier? That something is wrong with the one who's helping me track the video sender?" tanong ko sakanya. Tumango lang siya bilang sagot.

"He's held hostage" dagdag ko pa.

"What?" napakunot noo siya.

"Someone called me on my way here earlier. He said that they have him" sagot ko sakanya.

"What do they want?" tanong niya sa akin. I need to play safe. I can't tell him what they want.

"They want me to stop investigating the video sender" lies.

"That only means one thing. Someone knows what you are doing" aniya. She's right at naalala ko rin ang sinabi ng taong yun kanina.

"The person said that he's watching me. This is harder than we thought. T is not the kind of person who will be kidnapped by someone" napaisip ako sa sitwasyon.

"But there are only three of us who know about the investigation. We need to consider that this is a trap" ani Dark. If the investigation about the video sender is what this is then it's definitely a trap but only I know what the real deal.

"No, it's not. I know him better than anyone else so I have to find him, with or without your help"