221 - A ASUNCION STREET

The navy sky revealed to me my passion, told me where I am at peace. At any point, I'm better off here. It's peaceful.

With only the motor of the car humming and the midnight crickets proving my consciousness, I was at the center of my life, in control. You might be guessing what I am doing traveling at night it is simple, really. The solitary peace is a luxury. From where I'm from, only chaos seems to exist.

With my sweater almost covering my palm, I leaned on the cold window frame of a new white sedan. The twinkling stars, the calm glimpse of the moon, the cold wind blowing against my face, are things I rarely gave attention;

As we crossed the bridge that connected San Nicolas and Laoag City, I could see the large ad screen that displayed its wonders. Things like "Visit the Aurora Park and Fall in Love!"

We passed by a bookstore designed with modernized past Spanish structure. The Laoag Capitol displayed its name on shiny metal letters attached atop its peak. But the City we are referring to felt like a rural area compared to Manila. There are fewer establishments open, only convenience stores and burger stands seem to stay overnight. The street lights lit the streets but it still felt more pastoral rather than city-like, and I mean that in the best way possible.

I raised the window and looked at my reflection. "How things have changed," I mouthed. I see myself in a brownish-khaki sweater with a pink beanie was of course. The light passing through the semi-tinted window painted my arms with light bluish shades. I could see no distortions through the lenses of my glasses from the reflection. My short hair with almond colored streaks, I felt so free. It was bliss, that was never amiss.

The car took a right turn to an alley after an establishment called Mehikano. Near the end of the alley is the sign Holstein Apartments. It is an apartment owned by my aunt June. Compared to the bright city-lights earlier, the lights here are dimmer. We stopped in front of the apartment gate.

My driver offered to open the door for me, but it was something I could manage myself so I just let him get my things from the truck.

There are four apartments in the main building. Two on the ground floor and the other pair on the next level. I could see one of the two apartments on the upper-level lit, though the other one covered its windows with a curtain. I could only see through the slits.

I popped my phone into my hands and gave my aunt June a ring. "Aunt June, I'm right in front of Holstein. Can you open the gate?"

My driver by this time had already put down all of my luggage by my side. "You could just leave it right here. I can take care of this."

He smiled and nodded. The sound of the motor of a car running at night makes me feel ecstatic.

"Why did you always have to travel at night?" Aunt June said irritably through the phone, the kind where you wake someone in the middle of the night for something nonsensical. Truly that's what it... anyway,

Just a few moments later, the door on the left apartment from the second level opened. I saw an old woman in her sixties dressed in silk pajamas holding a smartphone whose flashlight's lit. As she got closer, I was amazed as she had a look completely younger than her age.

The call from my phone ended and, I fixed myself and started gripping the handles of my bags.

"Ayna Elaine! Nagladaw kan. I thought you'd postponed moving in here already," she grabbed one of my trollies and started pulling. "It has been very busy lately. New tenants are surging and I need to keep up, but with my old age, how can I?"

I swear, the more I hear Ilocano, the more it sounds Spanish. Uno, Dos, Tres. If you didn't know, I was just counting in Spanish.

I only listened to her go about her need for an assistant, but since this is a family business, I see why she wouldn't do that. This rental home has been running for decades and it has always been all about family. A rental home with this scale would be a great way to feel the illusion of time going faster. In her old age, she'd prefer doing this than being stuck in her seat watching television.

"By the way, I love the new look. The short hair is nice, trends these days, I can't understand but they are lovely." We reached the front of the room I'm supposed to live in for the next few years of my life here in Ilocos.

The nameplate 221 A greeted me. My eyes narrowed into slits when I fit the puzzle together. The lights from the slits of the curtain, the story about the surge of new tenants, her thought of me canceling my plans to move in, and the fact that it is July. I'm not alone. Looks like I'll be having a roommate.

"Why is the light turned on?" I asked aunt June who seems to be more awake than ever.

"That would be Kaley. Uhm. Kaley Browns," she said. "Your request was so out of the blue, and you know that this time of the year is very busy. So, I gave the other single-room apartment to another tenant, me."

I guess technically that one is my fault. Reservations can mean one thing from my reality, here it doesn't. It's a difference of view out there, from a Manilena and an Ilocana. Prudence is important, but sometimes, prudence is just, well, prudence.

The wind blew coldly at the hall as I was about to open the door. I feel something is going to turn up, I have a bad feeling about this. The wind howled as if it was silver.

I placed my hand on the handle and pushed the door lightly. The minimalistic design of the room greeted me. There are few pieces of furniture installed. By the kitchen is a table for four and in the living room was a sofa facing the television and two cushioned chairs on either side of it. It was normal. And here I thought I'd meet Mister Holmes for the first time with a banged-up wall and a blog about his cases flashing on the screen of his laptop. I saw no sign of this Kaley person.

The hall near the kitchen probably leads to the rooms and the door after the kitchen was probably the bathroom. I looked at the clock display of a digital watch installed slightly above the television. It was already 12:17 in the morning. Twilight.

Mrs. Holst placed my luggage beside the sofa and said, "Here is the key to the apartment, and here is the key to your room." He circled the keys from the chain to tell me which is which. "I'll be heading out now, I need to sleep, you should too. Your room is the one at the end of the hall." Aunt June smiled at me and proceeded out. She yawned as she closed the door.

With nothing else to do but unpack, I proceeded to the rooms. The two rooms are perpendicular to each other. It was an empty room that seems to have not been occupied for some time. I slid the window and stared at the sky for a while. Never have I ever been so struck with the beauty of solitude. With the howl of the wind to only accompany me, it was magical.

My phone rang in a tune I'm familiar with. It was a blog post. I immediately took my phone out and scrolled the notification panel. The title The Ramirez's popped up. This is another post about the scandal, huh?

"He- hee-" I heard a voice in the tune of distress.

"He-e-Help Me!" once more, the person cried.

The sound was so creepy. I immediately tracked where the sound was coming from. It was from the other room.

I walked out of the room in a panic. "He-e-elp M-me," the creepy voice continued.

I pushed the door open and saw a guy strangled by silk covers wrapped around his neck attached to a metal railing on the ceiling. What the Hell?

In a mere second, everything had come back to me. Oh please, I don't want a relapse.

I looked around the room for something to stand on. I only saw a thin shoe rack beside the wall. "I guess this will do." I moved it near the center of the room, and stood on it, and untied the silk. He fell to the ground with consecutive coughs and deep breaths.

Disaster averted. I stepped down and sat closer to him. "Are you okay? Are you-" he cut me.

He coughed. With a deranged look, he said, "I'm not suicidal."

"Then what the hell was with that?" I said as I let him rest his back on the legs of his bed. Do you actually expect me to believe that? Well, there is the possibility that when he was hanging, he realized the things he hadn't yet done. Sarcasm.

"You could've died!" I explained my concern.

"That's if you left me. But now you're guilt-free--" he stopped midway after looking at me. "Interesting!"

Wha--?!

"You psycho!" I walked out of the room and decided to head out. I know this is impractical to do but none of what he said was normal. I couldn't process anything that he had said.

I stepped out of the apartment for fresh air. From what happened, images from my past started flashing on my mind. Great! Back with those nightmares again. The thing is, I've seen worse but it still is tough to see. I walked outside the hall deciding whether to talk to Aunt June or not.

What's weird is that I got weak on my knees but I'm not afraid. Somehow not being scared terrifies me. Be rational, Elaine.

I figured it would be too much work if I had to move out again. He's probably harmless. Nope. Nope? Check the facts, he's basically one step away from being a madman. But I don't know that. What kind of person would still want to live with someone like that after the fact? What kind of horrible meeting is this? Nope, my knowledge of television series might've twisted my way of thinking. Am I overreacting? Questioning overreacting?

I returned to the apartment after pacing the halls of the level. I opened the door and- wait, is it all possible that he is Kaley? He? This is the night none had made total sense.

He greeted me as he was coming out of the halls. "Yes, it is Kaley Browns. Welcome, roommate," in his hand was a smartphone whose screen was blue.

Did he just read my mind?

This is so weird. The fact that I'm both weirded out and mesmerized at the same time.

"Interesting!" the strangled man earlier said.

With my vision narrowed to him, I asked, "What?"

"I assume you've come to find solace here in Ilocos."

"What?"

"Sub-consciously you might be feeling the solace of your sweatshirt, as a hug maybe? sentimental?" he walked closer to me and grabbed the end of my sweater by the side. It was off, he was strange to have grabbed the end of my sweatshirt yet it was so natural that I couldn't back away.

"The sew on the inside is slightly torn, suggesting a possibility of stretching to your comfort as you wear it," he explained then tapping my shoulders. "You are reserved, your shoulder indicates it. It's forward, that's why you feel good stretching your arms," he explained walking away with his hand to his chin. "No jewelry, necklaces. You're here to look for peace of mind."

"Is that all?" I crossed my arms.

He seemed to be surprised by my unimpressed look. I was giving that to myself. "No, not at all. I looked you up. A Scandal of the Ramirez's huh? I assume you're the blonde-haired girl in this picture," he pointed a person at the side of the picture from his smartphone readily opened. "You cut your hair, and wear a beanie. You want to cover every last bit of your identity. The false glasses might've tipped you off."

I only gave him a fish-hook expression, I didn't know what he was getting at.

"Those are falsies. I could see no distortions through the lenses earlier. You carry no slings, nor purses," he walked around me. "Does the feeling of being bound, irritate you so much? Being restrained?

"No watches. Nothing to hold? You just don't want to worry about anything. Nothing to impede your freedom.

"Now, where was I?

"There are no bulks in any of your pockets. The only easy thing you carry around is that smart-phone. Easily sled from your back pocket. You're looking to be free from constraints. Ah, yes. Your phone. It is a sense of familiarity. Every sense, and sound. You want familiarity yet you ran away. Bored? Perhaps not. You've ran away so much, and now you can't find which way to go.

Every word that he said pinned my heart, it was like anticipating a heart attack.

"Guilt? People succumb to the promises of moral traditions and ideas. All the trouble causes you to follow it since remembering a certain memory is much more painful. And so, the decision to move out from your place."

"Don't talk like you--" I tried to talk him out to stop.

"Oh, but I do. You love traveling at night, just because it is different. Because it feels good. Convenient and easy. The cold wind upon your skin, the unstressed traffic, everything- on your way.

"What was more revealing was that pause when you saw me hanged, a breather, the step back had reminded you of something before, so you decided to help me? Is it guilt? Trauma? You're fearing but not scared. Maybe a moral dilemma had you stumped? What are you going to do?

He was bombarding me with questions.

"You're running away from your past. You're looking for solace in every direction, that's why you made up your mind to return here right? No, not solace. The feeling of excitement without any care at all. The feeling of freedom, that's what it is. You're looking for it, no. You are thirsty for it."

~EK~

After Kaley had unraveled my life right in front of me and explored my subconscious, I spent the whole night thinking how true that was, or is it even?

With all the realizations he'd given me I couldn't stop feeling uneasy, my conscience was knocking on my heart. This uneasiness drove me to pace the room, my room. I collected my thoughts and grabbed some money from my bag.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

Even that, was true. I never really carried money or spare changes in my pockets just because it was too tedious to keep on searching my jeans' pockets. Have I always been looking for easier things?

I walked out of the apartment and headed out to find a convenience store. As I walked through the street, I saw the sign of a restaurant called Italiano. I wonder what they'd have there, pasta, maybe?

How did he know my name? He could've needed some sort of keyword to figure out who I was, right? or Perhaps it was Mrs. Holst that is my hole.

I continued walking and by the end of our alley was a street sign bearing the name: Asuncion Street. So that makes my address, 221 A Asuncion Street, huh?

Everything is Weird at 221 A - Asuncion Street.

~Welcome to 221 A - Asuncion Street~