To The Morgue

The sterile lobby of the hospital with its lights that always send a cold shiver down her spines whenever she walks through it—like tonight, were suffocating her like a hand covering her mouth and her nose as soon as she stepped out of the elevator.

She spent longer than the visiting hours allowed but the hospital staff must have been informed of her father's health condition, they left her alone and didn't mind her stay.

She stood in the empty lobby and heaved a shaky breath. Her vision is blurry and her knees shake.

She had no idea how to deal with what her father's doctors said.

How is she going to tell Jake and Ma?

With her feet moving on their own, she found herself leaning against the cold wall of an empty corridor of doors with a sign on the door as radioactive. Tears were swelling in the corner of her eyes and her fingers were gripping the side of her thighs, stopping herself from screaming the pain and the frustration that were currently keeping her heart hostage in her chest, drowning.

When her emotions slipped away, her knees gave in and she dropped to the cold hospital floor, hugging her knees and crying like a child.

The same way she cried when she found herself alone in the forest in the middle of a thunderstorm. Back then, despite her confusion, she had the feeling she had to keep moving and she did.

At the back of her mind, even at such a young age, she knew that she was in danger and to save herself, she had to get away. She must be away from them.

She had no idea who they were, all she knew was the kittens were dead. And if she didn't move, she would end up like them.

That's why she moved. She ran without looking back. And when her feet could no longer run, she walked. As far as she could. Until Ma and Pa found her near a gasoline station.

She had no idea how far she was or how she got there. All she knew was that, the strangers were not one of them and she was safe.

"Hey. Hey!"

Era jumped on her feet when something cold hit her and staggered to keep her balance because her legs were cramping from being on the floor for too long.

"You can't sleep here!"

Disoriented from sleep, she narrowed her eyes to look at the owner of the angry voice and her gaze landed at the old man who was holding a mop.

"I have to clean here. Go sleep somewhere else."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled as she forced her legs to move.

"Not there. Go back. That way will take you to the morgue. And I don't think that's where you want to be."

Era felt like a bucket of frozen water was poured all over her body.

She straightened her back and the remnants of her sleepiness were gone in an instant the moment the word morgue registered in her sleepy brain.

The rest of the old man's statement gripped her heart in terror.

"No. I don't want to be in the morgue," she said to herself, thinking of her father and doctor's prognosis.

"No, I don't want to. Please, God if you really exist, don't make it happen. I don't want to step into the morgue."

"If you're praying to your God, why are you doubting the man?"

The familiar voice startled Era to turn around and slip into the arms of a familiar man. The man that she wished to never see again.

"Y-you…" she stammered and scrambled to stand up but her legs were not cooperating.

The man pushed her up and remained standing next to her, making the air surrounding them hard to breathe.

"And who's going to the morgue? You haven't paid all your dues and you lied to me but I'm not that cruel to send you to the morgue."

"Wh-what are you doing here?" She asked in bafflement.

Instead of answering her, the man she and her brother called Baby Shark raised his thick brow at her as if silently telling her she had no business to ask him such a question.

"Are you Death?"

The laughter tickled her anxious heart which furrowed her brows for she had no clue on why his laugh had that effect on her.

"Death? Hell, no! I'm just a man doing business and in my business there are a lot of people like you. Lying."

"It's not like I want to lie," she hissed at him.

"You still have the guts to talk to me like that after lying to me?"

The cold question made her shiver. She caught herself, thinking why in the world she was using an annoyed tone at him when she knew that he's the boss of the loan company that was harassing them to pay.

"I'm sorry Baby…" she bit her lower lip and lowered her head in shame.

She felt so tiny when the man took a step closer to her.

"Baby? Me?"

"I-I…" she was speechless. She could not explain why she called him baby.

"S–shark," she mumbled with her voice cracking in fear.

She had her eyes on the tip of his pointed leather boots, praying that he wouldn't slap her senseless because of her disrespect when she heard a giggle.

Her eyes flew up to check if her ears weren't playing her and her breath was caught at the back of her throat, her heartbeat went still in disbelief.

The Baby Shark is laughing!

She blinked her eyes and tilted her head to the side, wondering if he's really dangerous or not.

"Baby Shark," he said, nodding. Laughter was still ringing in his voice but his eyes were cold.

"I see that you have heard something about me. Believe them for your safety. If not, one of your family members might end up in the morgue and it's not going to be your father."

Era gulped down her fear. The corner of her eyes watered because she recognized the truth in his words.

They were not an empty threat.

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