8 CHAPTER 8: The Puzzlement

[Dominic Williams]

Clerence was strange lately. He seemed quiet and his face held only stoic and cold expressions. I wondered what had happened to him as he never told me what's going on recently.

"Doc!" My shoulders jumped a little as I snapped out of my thoughts. It was Greg who called me almost with a loud bark. "What's gotten into you? I've been calling you for a thousand and one times," he complained in similitude. His African American accent made me snicker. Don't get me wrong, I really like the accent. It's just the way he spoke was funny to me. "And you've been staring at your food for goddamn 5 minutes. Is it because of Clerence?"

Bingo! But-

"No," was my answer mustered with my calmest voice.

"Obviously, yes." Another busybody freak - Hansel interfered as I tutted with an eye-rolling in annoyance. If I had to admit, he was a fucking good observer. In my opinion, his instincts were sharper than Clerence's. Albeit I didn't reveal too much of myself towards them, except my roommate, this guy could still guess almost 98% of my inner thoughts correctly.

I heaved out a sigh partly in defeat, still wondering about Clerence. I couldn't deny ever since I lost Suzy, I became kinda weird in terms of the way I treated the guys. Maybe it was because of the heartbreaking loneliness, I would visit Clerence's room when I had bad dreams about my past relationship.

He was good at banishing those bad dreams away as I was no longer bothered by the nightmares after I managed to secure him in my lap (he locked his room door sometimes). The effects were addictive until the day he ignored my message before we could even end the conversation. To be honest, that was the first time for me to see- no, at least, feel his coldness bursting through the mobile screen.

I was sad about his behaviour and had stopped sending him messages from then on. Also, I ceased entering his room as well, giving him more space and time for him to calm down.

He was, obviously, upset and the least I could do was to observe his mood swings and predict the next episode. It was surprising that he skipped the whole-day class without any clues. "Maybe he broke up with his girlfriend?" Greg guessed when taking another sip of the sizzling Sprite.

"He doesn't even have a girlfriend," I argued while loudering the word 'even' to emphasize the fact.

"Maybe we should follow him," Hansel suggested while I grimaced at the unhelpful notion. His jellyfish blue eyes narrowed at the sight of my reaction.

"Jeez, I'm not a stalker," Greg disagreed when I shook my head in the meantime. "If you wanna follow him, you're gonna do it yourself, man."

"Maybe we can ask him," I suggested this time. "Although I can't guarantee him answering us, he still deserves our concern and attention."

The other boys eyed me with their stern faces, their ears were almost lengthened like a fairy's in order to distinguish my voice buried by the noises. "Doc is right," said Hansel after clearing his throat. "We've been brothers since freshmen, and this is the very first time for us to see the unusual Clerence."

"Yeah, he is the cause of our euphoria every time. And now, it's our turn to return the favour," added Greg ambitiously when I tried my best to suppress my laughter. His expression looked somehow funny and this blew away the rain cloud hovering over my head unexpectedly.

***

[Clerence Cartwright]

The vehicle came to a halt when the destination was reached. Throughout the car ride, the driver had been telling me stories about a teenage girl which appeared to become his favourite passenger of all times. I couldn't stop wondering who the girl was, so curiosity brought up my courage to ask him the very question, "Do you mind telling me who is the girl you're talking about, sir?"

The driver sighed with a pitiful smile. "Her name is beautiful - Sasha she is." My eyeballs almost jumped out of my eye socket at the answer spoken by the taxi driver.

Seriously, why was everything connected with Sasha?

I regretted asking this question as multiple thoughts began to run through my head. I was clueless about my next step, whether I should tell him the person I was crying about, the person whom I was going to visit later in the general hospital was indeed the girl he'd talked about. "Speaking of Sasha, it's been days since she called me to send her off by the way," the driver added when tears began brimming on my cheeks. "You are not okay, kid." The driver furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of me sobbing. "Do you mind telling me who is the person you're going to visit soon?"

Sharp pain continued to sting my watery green eyes when I sobbed even louder. The driver was still waiting for my answer when his eyes were turning bloodshot as well. "S-Sasha sh-she is..."

Silence was all I could hear then. The driver said nothing after hearing my answer, but he proceeded on adjusting the gears of the taxi and parked the vehicle at the roadside. The engine died when he pulled out the car key. "We're going to see her together," he uttered with his hoarse, nasal voice.

_____

Following my pace, the old driver walked rather unsteadily with his face full of worry and concern until we were inside the quiet hospital room. Sasha was still lying silently on the bed, her once healthy skin had turned a little dry.

"God is cruel," the driver muttered, taking his cap off his head in remorse. "She's a good girl, but God would never understand."

I listened without answering anything. My brain had been running out of words and there's too much for me to say. Too much until nothing was uttered from my mouth, but everything stuck in beneath my throat.

I couldn't stop the fear that was slowly engulfing my sanity. "You can say that." My voice held a lot of regret. I didn't even understand why I was feeling so sad upon Sasha's condition.

To think this in a logical way, I didn't even know her until the day we met in the bookstore. A few hours of chat was just done out of boredom and… curiosity.

No, don't you ever say that I was in love with her. I could never be in love with her. It's because I would bring disaster to people around me if I approached them.

First, Hansel sprained his leg during the basketball practice weeks ago because my leg accidentally hooked around his. Second, Greg lost his wallet after he treated us with ice-cream at Baskin Robbins. Third, Dominic broke up with his girlfriend and lived a sorrowful life afterwards. Fourth, Sasha fell from the ladder and remained unconscious till then.

Sasha's encounter had undoubtedly strengthened my belief about how a hoodoo I was as it included the live-or-die situation. That explained why I began to avoid the three idiots, who spammed the group chat continuously to lure me out. I bet they were too bored and just wanted to meddle in my affairs

If I had to say about my feelings upon Sasha, confusion was the only suitable word. I assumed maybe it was because of my failure in saving the poor girl when she fell.

Yes, that's it.

That's why I was upset, right?

***

[Sasha Shadows]

Since morning, I encountered the same experience as the moment my soul moved away from the hospital. I'd once thought my heart wouldn't beat when I'd become a lost soul. Yet, my heart was beating so rapidly as the second wish appeared in my head - to be able to stalk Clerence without being noticed.

That was creepy, but I swore I would never harm him even a single bit.

Just as I thought, my 'body' stopped in front of a house. Someone opened the door by the time I was about to take my first normal step. "Oh my freaking God, it's Dominic Williams!!!" I exclaimed at the chance of seeing this boy up close. Being fueled with excitement, I took a deep breath before skipping in front of Dominic, hoping to gain his attention but in a way which he wouldn't know it was me.

The whole morning was filled with so much fun when I played around Dominic by letting out extremely cool air all over him. To be honest, I was satisfied by his reaction upon the sudden cold as the way he shivered was so cute.

Soon, I managed to enter the house to see the sleeping Clerence, who had yet to prepare for his morning class. But as soon as Dominic's footstep distanced, the boy sprung out of his blanket immediately and raced towards the laptop.

Out of curiosity, I followed him and looked at the laptop screen. Much to my surprise, he appeared to be one of faithful readers. And yes, it was Update Day, but I was unable to do so. Poor me, my account would be flooded with messages urging me for an update.

Soon, he had enough of waiting for any of my responses as he stood up after sleeping the device. I watched as he walked towards the cupboard in his room and suddenly, he pulled off his shirt which thereby let out my gasp in surprise. I turned towards the opposite direction when resting my palms on my cheeks, embarrassed.

Luckily, he could not see or hear me, or I would be haunted for an explanation. Before he shook his sweatpants off, I managed to glance past the toned muscles of his upper body. "His body shape is intriguing..." I couldn't stop myself from giving praise.

Then, I followed him to the bookstore, met with Jesslyn and surprisingly, got into Uncle Daniel's taxi. The fact that he called the same driver as mine sent butterflies flying in my empty stomach.

Not long after, I was standing beside my sleeping human body while watching the expression of the two gentlemen. They were depressed because of me, because of my carelessness and recklessness. But deep down in Clerence's heart, I somehow knew he would blame himself so much for not able to save me at the situation.

Clerence, don't cry…

My breath turned unsteady as I could feel my tears running down from my eyes. "You're not supposed to be crying now..." I began to sob as well with my words coming out in a whimper until he paused his action of hunching beside my body. His eyes fixed on my unconscious being and this caused me to think that he'd heard me.

"Oh gosh…!" His dry voice was partially heard as it was more like a whisper. "She can hear us. Look!" He then pointed at my face with his thumb, his eyes holding Uncle Daniel's. Following his pointing finger, I eventually clamped my mouth with my hands at the sight of the tears flowing down from my shut eyes.

_____

Once again, I followed the boy back to his rented house and sat with him on the single bed. He was replying to his friends', a.k.a the other hot boys' messages with his expression unchanging. I knew curiosity kills the cat, but I still tilted my head to lean onto his shoulder while peeping at the contents they were texting about.

GAYBOY: you finally appear dear Clery!! Where have you been?

STAYSINGLE (ME): Of course at my house for now. I can't sleep everywhere like you, Doc.

GRETELHUS8AND: Tell us now, or we're gonna kidnap you and extort a confession from you.

GR8G: That's a fucking good idea, Hans.

GRETELHUS8AND: @GR8G you're welcome ^^

STAYSINGLE (ME): you sick ass bastards. I'd been this nice to you since freshmen and this is WOT y'all repay me?!

There were so many emotions presented through Clerence's message. Yet, his face never changed. "Are they really, really concerned about my situation or they just wanna know about my juicy secret with Sasha?" I froze with a startle gasp as he uttered my name. "Wait, they don't even know about Sasha yet." He was talking to the ceiling although he knew no one would respond.

Looking back at the screen, a few more messages had popped out.

GAYBOY: Answer please, bud. Do you wanna get fucked up by the three of us or just tell us in a nice way? [smiling face with horns]

STAYSINGLE (ME): Fuck off, Williams ==

GRETELHUS8AND: Let's count down then. 3

GR8G: 2

GAYBOY is typing…

STAYSINGLE (ME): FINE! I'll tell you tmr TT

GAYBOY is typing….

GRETELHUS8AND is typing…

GR8G is typing…

GAYBOY: Good boy, Cartwright!!!

GRETELHUS8AND: Good boy Cartwright ^^

GR8G: Good boy, Cartwright XD

STAYSINGLE (ME): ==+

One word could describe their attached relationship – adorable. Although I knew that 'eavesdropping' was not a good example, I admitted that I couldn't help stopping myself. Subconsciously, though in my spiritual state, I glanced at the clock placed on the wall which its ticking second clock hand (as in hour, minute and second) was telling me how fast the time flew.

The duration of my second wish was almost over. And that was when I turned around, everything related to Clerence's room was gone.

No more him, no more text messages, no more smiles.

Just me standing in my own house, in the living room with streak of tears still brimming on my cheeks.