~•⚜⚜⚜•~
The Villa awaits, The Serpent craves, The Serdents prepare;
The Oblates hot on the trail.~•⚜⚜⚜•~
I hopped onto the second car and secured the back seat, pulled out my earphone, and took off my not so high heels.
"Alissa, faster we'll be late!" my Aunt called her daughter.
"Coming!" Alissa shouted.
"It's good that you know your place." Just when I was about to put the earphones on my ears, the bitch entered and dared to mess with me.
I showed off a sharp glare followed by a rough smile, "Unlike you, trying hard to secure what's not hers." I didn't have any grudges against this bitch, she was just so irritating.
"Here come the two beautiful ladies. Oh! I'm a proud mom." My Aunt butt in right in time before Alissa and I broke into a fight. I flashed a lame smile, put the earphone on my ear, and positioned my body to sleep. I would rather take a nap than to deal with them.
The driver started the engine as the car in front of us started to move. Technically, the trip will last for two hours, and that would be enough time for me to take a sweet nap.
~~~~
"No. No!" I mumbled with my eyes closed. Somebody's hand was shaking me badly, trying to bring me back to my senses.
"Wake up, Max, you're having a dream!"
I gasped and instantly looked for the car where Baba was. I saw them In my dream, no, from my nightmare. They were gobbled by darkness. I heard voices- laughing voices, and chanting words which I did not understand. I didn't know but the it seemed to be familiar and real.
I sighed as I glanced at a distance, their car was safe. What's with that dream? I just took a short nap!
Disregarding the uneasiness it had caused me, I placed the earphone back on my ear, but Alissa tapped my hand hard which caused it to fall on the surface of the car.
"What? Off to sleep again? I won't bother to wake you up if your nightmare visits you once more," Alissa mockingly declared.
"Max, stay awake a few minutes more and we'll arrive at our destination."
"I won't, Aunt. I'll just listen to music while waiting." After that dream, I wouldn't dare to sleep again. I searched for the earphone with my hands. Unable to find it, I sat on my knee so I could bend my body downward.
There I found it near Alissa's heels, she was actually stepping on it. I pulled it but my eyes got stuck on the reddish thing quietly ticking under her seat. I opened my mouth in shock and got my hand fixed on my chest.
Is it real or am I dreaming again?
I immediately went back to my seat and tapped my Aunt's shoulder with my shaky hands. She shifted her head and got worried after seeing the look on my face.
"What happened to you?"
"What? Have you seen a ghost?" Alissa asked. Annoyance was evident on her face.
"Ther-th-there's a bomb!" I stuttered as my heart jumped out in fear.
"What? A bomb?" she asked, doubting the validity of my words.
I nodded.
"Are you kidding? Where?" Aunt's voice was full of disbelief yet the horrified tone was overpowering.
"Under Alissa's seat," I pointed. She nervously sat on her knee and checked it with her own eyes.
"Bomb!" she shouted. "Stop the car!"
"Wait! Isn't the bomb connected to the brake?" I asked. The situation was worse but my delusional state was a lot worst at times like this.
They hushed for a second and thought.
"No, it isn't."
"Are you really sure?"
"Yes. I used the break earlier and it didn't explode. I will stop the car now. " The driver used the brake and we were all shouting with our hands on our ears.
As soon as the car grinded to a halt, we ran fast out of it. We were too busy making ourselves safe that we scattered on different sides as we ran. The last convoy from behind us drove fast towards Aunt's direction, completely unaware of what was going on.
"What is happening?" The driver opened the car's window and inquired.
"There's a bomb in our car and it's about to explode," Aunt said with heavy breath.
"What? Get in so we can get away here. "
"Alissa, Max, come here. Faster!" Aunt shouted at us. I was about to approach, but my eyes caught Alissa sitting in the middle of the road, fidgeting her hands; fear made her body tremble. Before I even realized it, my legs had moved towards her. I held her arm tightly and pushed myself up with her. She was heavy as it wasn't in her will to stand nor move. She was still in a state of shock.
My eyes shifted as Aunt got in the other car, the driver ready to maneuver. But an eardrum-breaking boom stopped us on our position. I instantly moved my head in our car's direction, but it wasn't from there.
On the far side of the road, I noticed that the car my parents were in had caught fire. Thick swirls of smoke danced with flames as they devour what was left of the wrecked car.
"Baba, Mom, " I uttered. Time seemed to freeze as I process the dreadful scene in front of me.
"Baba, Baba! Mom!" I screamed, my voice whimpering. I ran to their car when another blast came in harmony with my scream. A strong force pushed me; I tripped off and rolled over on the road. Even with a heavy head and a sticky liquid sliding from it down to my neck, my eyes still caught the scarred face of a woman and men in black running fast, trying to escape from something. But they were too late. An even louder blast blew up their car and it reached them. It then caused me to hear a very disturbing high pitch sound in my ear. The world around me started to turn as pieces of black living molecules strewn in my eyes.
My head slowly drop on my shoulder. And there, just like what I had seen in most tragic movies, the fire slowly consumed and devoured the people around me. It was like a hungry Dragon Slayer, powered up, gained its full force as it ate its source.
Aunt, the woman who caused our family to almost break apart, was creeping and helplessly trying to survive as she reached her hand out to her daughter who was lying on the ground with no sign of life.
I weakly looked over the place, it was dark and creepy. The area was uninhabited and quite far from civilization. Shadows of tall and robust trees and the crackling sound of burning irons surrounded the night.
My heart was pounding hard, crying from within me. I don't like this nightmare! I need somebody to wake me up.
I felt tired, weary, and sick. My eyes were closing yet I tried hard to observe my surrounding. Then from a distance, I caught a glance of a shadow approaching towards my direction, a silhouette of a man. My eyes felt so heavy. I fought against the urge to close it but I got defeated.
My world turned black.

~•⚜⚜ Pain crashes the soul yet a burning fire fixes it. ~•⚜⚜⚜•~ A small chatty voice muffled into my ears, making me furrow my brows. Someone was too noisy. I tried to open my eyes to see who was disturbing my sleep. I blinked many times but the light was too bright; my eyes had a hard time adjusting. "Max, are you awake? Can you hear me?" I followed the source of the voice, though my head felt hefty. I squinted to see clearly. As the vision started to get clearer, a girl with long and slightly curled burgundy hair was plastering her bitter-sweet smile at me. Her caramel eyes glittered in happiness but ironically reflected some sadness. "Juliet?" I mumbled. My legs
I didn't know things would go this fast. If I had been at least informed that they will leave this world, I should have hugged mom longer, I should have at least took a good look at my father's face. I should have not been so rude to them. Why couldn't life or fate give us that privilege, that way, we wouldn't have many regrets in life? "Max, let's go! The weather looks bad, it will rain anytime soon. We'll go back here another day, okay?" Juliet tapped me on my shoulder. I placed my hand on her hand and looked her in the eyes. "No, you go. I'll stay here a little longer." I smiled, though it was a weary one, it was enough to let her feel that I would be fine. "Max, I understand your situation. I am also in agony about what happened, but it's painful seeing you like this. Your paren
"Are you sure you are going to apply to that company?" Lex asked while pointing at a convex 24-story high-rise building captivating his eyes from the window of his car. Its semi-baronial style and high-class structure were quite impressive that it kicked other buildings out from ones' sight. "Wouldn't it be hard for you to move on when you're there?" There was so much worry in his voice as he spoke, and I understood where it was coming from. But I couldn't think of him in that instance, there was something more important than what they feel, and that was my revenge. "I'll search patiently for pieces of shredded evidence they had left and work hard to form the picture-puzzle of the culprit. I will make them pay for what they've caused me. And this place shall witness my initial step." The seat belt was probably screaming as I tightened my grip on it and it wasn't far from the current state of my hea
After what felt like years of searching, I finally found an office named after Mr. Lleneda. I knocked, but no one answered. The papers felt so heavy on my arms and I got exhausted for searching his room, so I pushed open the steel door and decided to put the papers on the table. Facing it was a two rectangular-shaped sofa with a glass table in the middle. It felt so soft and tempting; right before I realized it, my body was already lying flat, lost on its cloudy like texture. A few minutes later, after I felt an increase in my energy level, I got up. No one is around yet, this is a good opportunity to start looking for information. My hand roamed around as it tried to feel the surfaces of each object, not really sure of what to look for. The office was clean yet covered with a thick cream-colored curtain which made his room look dim. There were more or less three portraits plastered on the
While waiting for our order to come to the table, Lexter started talking about his meeting with the private investigator. "Our investigator had been looking through various profiles your parents had a connection with. He couldn't find any suspicious individuals yet, but-," he cut his words short, hesitant if he should say it or not. "But?" I urged impatiently.
The dark and gloomy sky was bathed in magical silver light and I can't help but watch in awe from the comfort of the soft foamy front seat of Lexter's car. He decided to stop for a while on the near edge of the world so we could breathe from the stress and frustrations of life. "How's your back? Can you feel any crack on your spine?" he interrupted, worried about the condition of my back after I told him everything that happened in the room.
The vibrant hues of red blended with tangerines and purples painted the sky and sent a quite invigorating panorama that welcomed us as we landed in Narita International Airport. The rays touched down in the horizon behind the shadow of a mountain peak as the moon appeared on the other side to catch up with the escaping sun. No one but myself seemed to appreciate the nature-sent invitation as passengers moved swiftly out of the plane.
When the day bleedsinto nightfalland you're not hereto help me through it all,I let my guard down and let you pull the rugI was getting kinda used to being someone you love.