Prelude I

If there's a change in this uneventful school, ako ang unang magpapaputok ng party popper.

It was as usual, boring, nothing new. Minsan napapatanong nalang ako kung ano ano pa ba ang natitirang mga bagay na nakakapaglibang sa akin - well there's this computer - that 'till now, nafafascinate pa rin ako kung ano pang mga bagay ang kaya nitong gawin. I was in a verge of of finding it out, abangan niyo ako. And yeah, I enjoy mystery books, too. They are fascinating.

Normal day, normal class, normal mood.

Sa tingin ko nga, hindi na kailangan ng isang katulad ko - mahirap - mag-aral dahil napakawalang kuwenta naman ang tinuturo. And there's this sad fact, it is mandatory - you need to do as instructed. That just makes this government sucks. But this is no time to whine, even if this fucking coffee is fucking cold. You see, social status is quite a trend in this sort of system so for us in the lower class tend to experience this filthy treatment. I am used to this anyway. You cannot just make a fuss, o ikaw pa ang mabubulilyaso. Ano nga ba ang magagawa ng disesyete anyos na kagaya ko sa nangangamoy na pamamahala sa lugar na to?

Naglalakad na ako pabalik ng appartment ko. Apparently, I am living with my sister and I assume hindi nanaman siya uuwi dahil sa trabaho niya. She took the role of a bread winner for us two as our parents died. Sabi nila car crash daw: bullshit. Thinking that my parents are lawyers and an activist lending their voice for the likes of us, it is just hard to evoke na walang nangyaring foul play.

"Please sir, tama na. Hindi ko naman po sinasadya..." isang boses ng lalaki ang tila nanghihingi ng saklolo. It is coming from the alley.

"And you dare to talk back?" And then I heard a series of agonizing screams. The usual. "You just messed with my coat! I was about to attend a meeting and you just messed it up! Why won't you just fucking die, huh? Even if I kill you now, it won't clean my coat!"

Nobles and riches.

Discrimination is a thing in this fucking country. Kung mahirap ka, asahan mo na ang mga ganyan. At kung mahirap ka, hinding hindi mo gugustuhing tumulong kahit sobrang awa ka pa. The system is what's messed up, you fucking bastards!

Binilisan ko ang lakad ko hanggang sa makalayo layo ako at hindi ko na marinig ang nakakaawang paghiyaw ng lalaki. I'm just killing the temptation na tumulong dahil ones na tumulong ka, you are just making your own death schedule.

Nakarating na ako sa bahay. As usual, walang tao. I did not bother to open the lights, I just throwed my bag in the sofa and let my back taste a little comfort from my bed. I sighed, trying to eradicate the earlier scene.

I swear, If given a chance, I will pay them back. Just the sight of them makes me throw up. Someday, I won't let myself die without landing a punch in a noble's fucking face.

When my gradually getting relaxed for a sleep, I heard the ring of my computer. I groaned as relaxation is phasely stolen as I curled up to see what's in the pc.

It was an email from an unknown sender. My brows cocked involuntarily with the sight of it, mostly the content.

It says: Date with me.

What the hell? Who the heck will send me this. Una sa lahat, umupo muna ako sa maingay kong upuan at tinitigan ang email. I scanned the note with my cursor — the whole thing. The word with seems like a link. I carefully copied it. Kung napindot ko man iyon, ng hindi sinasadya, this may be the end of my privacy because as I pasted it on a tool and discover what it does, it is a virus. A malware that download your personal data and totally destroy your software. Not only the software, delekado rin ang hardware mo kaya napabuntong hininga nalang ako.

Again: who the hell will send me this? This gives me chills, yet somehow I feel a little excited in it that made me smile as I come up with a plan. I did the same thing to the sender, but this time, I mofied it myself. If he accidentally clicked the message itself I may have the access in his system. This may be the best virus I learned to create.

Limang minuto ang hinintay ko at ang akala ko ay nagtagumpay ako. I recieved a reply which I am expected not to if this person ever caught in my trap. He's quite good. The gender is not an assumption. He just tell-tale it upon sending me a photo of a woman wearing bikini. I laughed.

The woman is wearing a floral-designed bikini. She's a white girl with a tatoo on her right breast saying: see me. It also has a caption, "Nice try."

It excites me, not because of the picture, but for this some sort of challenge. Sa tingin ko wala ng malware na nakakabit sa picture na ito. Isa lang itong simpleng litrato ng isang babaeng pa-sexy and postura. Kulay pula ang kanyang mga kuko at nakalapat ang kanang kamay sa baba. Seductive. The picture just teased her face, cropped up to her lips only.

Alam kong may gustong ipahiwatig ang litratong 'to, pero hindi ko pa makita kung ano. I stare to the picture like a horny teen-ager looking at some porn picture just to figure out what he wanted to say. I anagrammed the words that is presented if that makes sense. It did not makes sense.

After spending an hour looking at it, I have this wild thought of measuring the picture itself with a ruler. I wrote its measurement both inches and centimeters in a scratch paper that I found in my computer desk. I tried different cyphers to it including hexadecimals and caesar but it did not do a thing. Both of it.

Nawawalan na ako ng gana ng maisip kong isolve ang surface area ng rectangle. Sobrang simple nito. Kinuha ko ang exact measurement, if it does a thing, kahit na may decimals. I got 52.981cm² and 8.212in². What now?

"52.981? 8.212? Ano meron dito?" I asked my self.

I based in my pure insticts of focusing in the inches. The woman is English anyway - what the heck am I thinking?

"8.212?"

"8.212..."

"8212?"

"8212..." as I slept pronouncing it eight-two-twelve, that lit a light bulb.

"What the fuck! It is a time! 8:00 to 12:00!" as I realized that it was a time. I take a glimpsed on the picture. "The fucking stipping club!"

The stripping club in zone 2. Their time schedule is 8 to 12 at night. The tatoo makes sense now. "See me." He wanted me to go there. "But when?" That's when I saw the girl's hands. Her finger. Her thumb is not visible. "4?"

4... "4:00?!" ngayon? Tumingin ako sa oras na meron sa pc ko. It's already 3:20. Ayos. May 40 minutes pa ako.

But a major thought halt my exhiliration. What if it's a trap? What if it's just a way to kidnap me?

I took my cap and my jacket and go to Daisy's, the stripping club. Well, my life is a bore anyway. I have nothing to lose. But I know one thing for sure: these guys (I suspect he does not work alone) are exciting.