First : On Earth

Absent-mindedly, Eurie sat at her seat – second from the last row – listening idly and obviously not comprehending the things their adviser was telling them. At least, it was not only Eurie but the whole class.

The bald adviser was an old, gay English teacher. He looked clumsy and fragile but actually a tennis monster inside the court. The kind of teacher who brought frilled fans even though the classroom was air-conditioned; just to complete the outfit of the day. His slow and regal way of talking made his class boring – to the point that some got into sleep while in his class.

Just like Eurie.

"Ms. Sanchez!" Eurie almost fell when she heard her name called. She jolted from her seat and faced the adviser that was eyeing her that moment. His fan was on her chest. He was gawking to Eurie behind his red thick eyeglasses.

"Yes Sir! I-I mean Mr. Mantala," Eurie stuttered realizing how epic it was to shout 'Yes Sir!' in disciplined military tone. Laughter rolled in the classroom like waves of the ocean. The class seemed like awake now because of the scene.

"Are you sleeping? Still here on Earth?" asked Mr. Mantala. His position was almost unmoved except that his right hand was raised in the air, closed fist – signaling the class to keep quiet.

"No...no Sir." Eurie lowered her face while telling that.

Howbeit a fighter, she was still a bit timid. As much as possible she didn't want to be approached in class or anywhere with a crowd, especially with this kind of approach – ignominy. ‘Never wanted to be an entertainer’, she once said. Panic conquered her mind and the crave to not be scolded pushed her to tell a lie with an obvious fact. Her adviser caught her on the actual crime scene. Sleeping on his class. But she denied it although she never intended to do it. Besides, it was too unfavorable to admit like: 'Yes Sir, I'm sleeping. Got a problem 'bout that? You're actually disturbing me Sir.'

"Huh. You're awake then! So care to tell me what was I saying the moment ago?" The adviser replied sarcastically.

Eurie couldn't look at her teacher straight. She lowered her face many times, thinking of what were the things she heard before she took a nap. Her nap was not actually that long to miss many topics. And with his slow speech and indirect details, he might not get too far away with one topic, she thought.

"You're talking about...Snow White a while ago. I mean, the small play to be conducted by our class on the celebration of the school's foundation day. And you said, the play will be a twisted Snow White-story." Eurie explained, leaning on her armchair and holding her pen like it was some kind of power source.

Power source to speak and stand up over the humiliation happening to her. It might sound overreacting but it was really the thing that was going on Eurie's mind. She was being embarrassed. And, it was never good, because in this kind of situation that thing might happen. And, that thing she was imagining was the last thing she wanted to happen. She would trade for death just to avoid the possibility of that thing happening.

But it started.

A swift flow from nowhere through her hands started. It made her feel a tingling feeling that shook her hands.

‘Relax Eurie, relax.’

Laughter rumbled again in the class. It was like thunder to Eurie. It made her stomach flipped and her knees weaker. She couldn't look at her classmate. Even before, her classmates, some were since first year, never liked her. Eurie never knew why? But she theorized that it was because of her self-isolation. It was not that she hated to be with other people but she chose to have it that way. She had reasons.

Also, she considered the fact that Jimmy was her father. She was known on the school as the orphan of the late town's greatest fraudster, Jimmy the magician. It was not like, Jimmy her kind father, was an enemy of the society because of doing magic and the likes, but Jimmy before he died had been in the court for some filed theft and fraudulence cases. 

"Hah! So you're not sleeping. Maybe you just got deaf for a moment that was why you didn't hear what came next after that Snow White story."

"No Sir...it was just...I-I was---"

"No more fancy lies Ms. Sanchez! It's not like you can hypnotize me and make me believe at your weak excuses...just like what you learned at home." The adviser sharp words hit Eurie like blades.

This teacher had some personal grudge to her father. She didn't know exactly why but nevertheless Eurie believed that her father never did things like theft and fraudulence. He did magic, yes! For entertainment. That was what the people like in him though. But it didn't mean that her father was a total liar. A bad trickster like they knew him. Furthermore, her father was dead almost a year ago so why digging his grave just to humiliate her in class. ‘This old gay was stepping on the line.’

Eurie just held herself admitting that she had the fault on the first place. Without her sleeping in this class, no angry old gay would waste his time just to put her into shame. The adviser started to ramp like a model in front of the class. He motioned Eurie to sit down. Eurie could sense all eyes on her. She just looked straight to the white board and fought the flipping-stomach-feeling she incredibly was feeling until that moment.

The adviser told Eurie that it was not the topic he was discussing when she was sleeping. They were done about that topic and had been discussing their lesson for that day which was not concerning Snow White anymore but some other literary piece. The adviser even asked Eurie to share something about the piece. Luckily, Eurie being a bookworm had read the story already and she shared the class what she knew. She almost narrated the story and it made the class fell onto silence.

‘Payback time.’

The adviser himself was shocked. He knew Eurie was bright and it made him insecure sometimes. Especially, when Eurie seemed like more knowledgeable than him when explaining things in recitation. This day was a lucky day for him because he got the chance to make Eurie dumb in the class, by embarrassing her for being asleep on his class. But he never expected that Eurie knew the story they were talking about. No teenager of these modern decades would waste time to read old classics like The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens except – now he knew, that he must always except Eurie.

Eurie got more alert and awake after that scene, and she didn't speak again in class for she knew that her teacher was watching her every move. The class, knowing Eurie as a geek one, moved on very easily on that confrontation. No one comforted Eurie nor complemented her for a nice requital. Before Mr. Mantala left he called Eurie again.

 "Eurie. Because you are so excited on our Snow White show, you may perform as Snow White on the story, that will suit you very well," with that the adviser exited with a grin.

The whole class laughed again. ‘Who would love to act at the play? As Snow White?’ Everyone was not really interested in that play. They were all silent when talking about that because no one wanted to volunteer or to be chosen as the actors and actresses. They found it so childish and out of trend to play a classic fairytale. Only the geeks and teacher's pet would sure participate on that. Eurie on the other hand wanted to complain but she never wanted any complication. It was dangerous to fight with a teacher. Eurie knew that, so better be Snow White for a night. She once dreamed it after all.

“Be a princess…yeah.”

---

"Snow White? Iww! Classic? I never appreciated that," her workmate Percy told her when she let out the tale.

Percy was a male nerd from college and Eurie's pal after school. Eurie was in a part-time job in an antique store/ coffee shop. After her classes, Eurie instead of going home would drop for a good three to five hours of working here, depended upon the season, and the mood of their boss. Odd boss – known by Eurie as her Uncle Sid – her father's closest friend.

"Better than no grade," Eurie just answered and served the two waiting customer on the near table.

Percy was mopping the floor in front of the counter where Eurie usually sat and waited for customers.

The coffee shop was actually an antique store. Their Boss just realized the tiny bitty income of his store and because of his enthusiasm in coffee; he diverted the shop into a coffee shop just two months ago. The gimmick looked effective because more people had gone to their humble shop and was amazed at the rare collection of antique there.

The antique store was a two-story traditional country home with incredibly spacious living room where the coffee shop was operated. The other parts of the house were intended for antique item storage. The upper part was the owner's zone. No one, including Eurie had been there before.

You would never know the theme of the interior design in the antique shop. It was like all old things under the sun were there. Uncle Sid, the owner was not so industrious to arrange his collection based on origin or something like that. You might found Christian crucifix beside an embellished freaky voodoo doll: a French tea set on top of a silverware arinola and so much more that were out of order.

Eurie couldn't fix it though because the collection was massive and Uncle Sid was really strict when it came to his collection. As a matter of fact, there was a time when they had a messy customer that wanted a Mexican tapestry. Uncle Sid asked her “Where will you need this lovely piece of art?”.

The woman answered “Oh, in the kitchen. The color suits my curtains well, so I’ll make a good tablecloth off it”.

Uncle Sid got seriously mad and he gave-back the money to the girl and shooed her away of their store. Eurie even remembered her Uncle Sid saying, “Fifty-year old tapestry as tablecloth? Are you kidding me?!”

"Just tell me when, I have Snow White costume in one of my closet." Uncle Sid popped out of nowhere. His silver white hair which puzzled Eurie and Percy a lot if dyed or wig, shined below the fluorescent lamp on their counter. There was no other word that could describe Uncle Sid but mysterious.

He looked like a foreigner from West on his thirties, young and surprisingly good looking. But Eurie doubted his age because he was almost a childhood friend of his could-have-been-fifty-seven-year-old father. She was really curious on this man's soap that maybe was the reason of his anti-aging looks. Aside from that, Uncle Sid was the weirdest man Eurie had ever met to the point that it sometimes gave Eurie the creeps. Like his father, Uncle Sid was an entertainer – a children's party clown.

 "You'll let me borrow it?" Eurie asked excitedly. ‘I could save money for renting costume. Yes!’ she thought.

"450 pesos for that one night," Uncle Sid replied then he stormed out of the counter after having checked the number of his customer that hour. Eurie almost banged her head on the countertop when he left. ‘Who on earth could possibly be free of charge for Uncle Sid's service? No one.’

Percy just laughed at her and Eurie rolled her eyes as her answer.

---

It was just an ordinary day for Eurie. She left the antique store at 7 pm. Her friend Percy drove her to her apartment after their duty. The apartment was good for a poor single person. It was on the third floor of a shabby building, blocks away from her school. It was surely small. A single room packed with a small square of comfort room, a piece of open-spaced kitchen, a narrow wooden bed, a dwarf cabinet and a set of study table and chair.

Eurie as her daily routine threw all her things from school and from work to her bed. She got a pair of pajamas when her phone vibrated. She jumped onto the bed, laid and answered the call without looking at its screen. She thought it was Percy for Percy was the only contact she got on her call logs.

"Hey! I'm home no--"

"I don't care if you are in that stinky rat's hole!" A thin voice registered, Eurie looked at her phone as the name of her cousin Genneth appeared in the screen.

"What do you want?" Eurie's voice as cold as dead meat.

"Iww, your voice is as freaky as your face," Eurie's lips curled and then she heard her Auntie Sylvia spoke, "Tell her about the bill and don't ever talk about non-sense".

"I'll do it Mom, just wait there, okay?...So Eurie! We've got a letter from St. Peter's Services and it's all about your debt from your father's funeral and…wait...ahm, yes the payment for the one-year lease contract of course."

"Debt? For funeral services? I’m already paid; I gave Aunt Sylvia the money for that so – ’’

"They gave you a week to pay that or they will dig your father's grave and put it on your backyard. Oh! Wait…hahaha…you don't have backyard or front yard or any yards so they may put your bony father at your bedroom instead. Hahaha... bye then!"

'Toot..tooot.tooot'

"Tsk. What the...arrghh!" Eurie threw her phone but it just bounced on her pillow. She held a deep breath and in frustration, she went straight to bath.

The cold soothing flow of water relaxed Eurie's mind and body for a little time. She looked at the mirror just to think of her problem. Her Snow White play-problem, the rent for this apartment, her tuition fee, that problem she just heard. Everything!

She faced the mirror and pulled her head back. Carefully, she removed the cheap contact lenses from her eyes. She put the black pair of lenses to a white container and shook it together with a solution. After that, she looked at her reflection again.

The pair of blue orbs looked majestic on her fair skin.

The mirror was a little clouded but Eurie couldn’t help to get drawn to her own eyes. She tucked thick strands of wet hair to her ear not cutting her eye contact to herself.

Then her eyes fell to the enchanted white birthmark embedded right exactly at the center of her chest, more than an inch above her cleavage. She touched it and it was as cold as ever. She watched it on the mirror. The clouded mirror distorted a part of her and so she tried to wipe the steam. But instead of being cleared, the mirror had been surfaced with a thin coat of ice. Eurie was shocked for she no longer saw her reflection. The mirror turned to an icy steaming plane of rectangular frame. She quickly drew her hand and coated herself with a towel. She dressed herself and went to her messy bed.

Eurie suddenly became so uneasy and nervous. She hugged her hands. She still felt the icy swift flow of something through her veins. The swift flow brought an uncomfortable tingling feeling to Eurie's hands. It gave her the urge to cut her hands off or buried it down to the ground. She felt it too when she was in her class this morning. When she was being embarrassed and now, it was coming back.

"Dad... help me please," Eurie whispered. This feeling was no new for Eurie even the part that she froze the mirror. Actually, she had frozen a whole room when she was younger, that was when her father locked her in a room because there were a group of police officers that visited their house to get him to jail. Her known father and Uncle Sid knew it and they had kept it as a secret. She once asked if it was a disease or something. If she was going to die because of it, but her father answered:

"No. You are not sick, Darling. Just always bear in mind that you are special. You are special, Eurie."

Little Eurie was convinced at first, but as time went by and as she grew old, she learned to ask, 'how did it become special?' How SHE became special? While almost all students at school hated her and avoided her for some not so essential reasons. While her known cousin and auntie from her known father-side had kicked her out of their own house.

How did she become special?

While her very own mysterious parents had abandoned her. Had left her in a stormy night at a stranger’s gate. How did she become special while she felt this strange feeling that made her distant and somewhat introvert because of the fear that if she gone out of control she might freeze a whole room again or worst... freeze a living thing? That would make her freakier on the eyes of everybody.

How did she become special? While all this time, she was left alone.

‘This tingling feeling.’

The strange creepy sensation, she had felt it before, a lot of times in the past. She had expecting this sensation to rise whenever she felt angry, sad, and happy or excited. But the last few days were different. The sensation came more often, too unexpected and much uncomfortable.

Eurie's mind was full of worries and problems – of  hows and whys with no answer. She was thinking of her Papa, if he was still alive, he would never allow these things to happen to her. Her, living in a rodent's hole? Jimmy would never allow that. 

She was disturbed by a sudden blackout. Her room became so dark that the moon light crawled into her room uninvited. She just understood things when she heard loud shouts from her neighboring rooms.

"Blackout? We paid our bill!"

"Where the hell is that fat money-faced landlady?!"

She looked at the photo of her father on the side table then moved her eyes to the buildings outside. The buildings were bright and tall. Just like giant trees on A****n, those were belted with electric wires that Tarzan would die to hang on. City harms. It never gave Eurie a feeling of security. Not since her father died, nine months ago.

Eurie tried to relax hoping that the tingling sensation would disappear. Minutes had passed but the sensation was still there. It was like it had frozen the time itself. Then – unforeseen – Eurie's eyes dropped deep to sleep.