Silhouette
I rolled my eyes wryly. I got up from lying on the sofa when I felt thirsty.
I moved slowly because it was already night and Athelia, who was next to me, was asleep.
The men, on the other hand, were just sitting next to each other and still wide awake.
"Hey, vampires, go to sleep," I promised them.
Alpha and Thunder just laughed at me. "Besides, we're just watching you, maybe there are ninjas here."
"Where are you going?" Third asked me.
"I'm thirsty, I'm just going to drink," I replied before going to the small kitchen of Pow Pow's bedroom.
I closed the door and went straight to the small refrigerator, I took a bottle of water there and swallowed it straight away.
I was about to go out but something hit my eyes so I stopped. I immediately reached for that little thing.
I laughed bitterly as I firmly held the small ball in my hand.
"Carlos," I whispered tearfully.
I just leaned against the wall when everything came back to my memory. Why I became like this, why I chose to stay away from people.
I felt like a withered vegetable walking while remembering what Desa had told me.
I'm weak, I'm just a greedy person in the agency. I can't blame him because I'm not as good as him.
All I could do was get information from their clients illegally, that's all I could do. I will never be like them all.
"Why is our beautiful girl frowning?"
I looked up when manong Nestor immediately appeared in front of me.
In one line he said, our neighbors immediately rushed around. They approached me with concern on their faces.
"Why, Acid is sad, which fairy oppressed you ?!" Aling Inday's steady cry while still sober.
I smiled bitterly. "W-No--"
"Hep! Our girl is crying, comparators, beat up the one who cried here!" mang Jepoy shouted angrily next to him while still holding a bottle of wine.
"Acid is sad, comparators, kumares, let's make a small part!" Manang Ising shouted, still violently fanning herself.
"What part?" Joy asked.
"Yung tugs tugs baga," answered manang Ising and smiled.
"Were you asleep when the letters 't' and 'y' were pointed out, Ising? Party party, not parte parte," older brother Leonardo replied harshly.
Laughing I wiped away the tears as they fought.
"You really are, I'm fine, I've seen you, eh," I said smiling.
"Oh gosh!" older brother Bryan squealed. "You can just see our showbiz-like faces, you'll really smile!"
"The thickness of my wife's face really, it looks like she's very good at being guava. Make me so full of it!" My older brother's wife, Ate Demi, was upset.
"He's the one, stop answering. Didn't we agree earlier to have a boodle fight? Where is the food we prepared?" Grandma Mereng asked them all.
I smiled as they all entered the adjoining house, they all came out carrying trays of food.
"Come on, Acid! Eat here, forget what's weighing you down, we'll take care of that," sister Demi told me with a smile.
I gave a real smile as they led me closer to them. Though sad, I couldn't help but laugh as they all argued.
"Ate Acid! Let's go!" I turned downstairs when someone took my hand.
"Carlos, come on!" I'm glad I promised before he turned to me.
He steps to the small chair to reach the table.
"Let's eat, sister. We've been waiting for you for a while, mom and dad," he said with a smile before kissing my cheek.
I smiled sweetly before squeezing her little nose. "I'm sorry, I'm here again, eh."
I happily joined them all in the boodle fight they had prepared. Loud shouting and laughter can be heard on this street.
And this is why I am happy.
I sobbed as I wiped the tears from my cheeks as I remembered that happy event.
I bit my lower lip to stop myself from sobbing. I remembered how happy and messed up that street was.
Almost everyone on the street I used to live on was terrified.
Whenever I come home every night from work, I catch men drinking next door.
Chismosa women who have nothing to worry about if not to gossip side by side.
Dirty kids playing betting. Couples always quarrel.
But I didn't consider them different, even though many people didn't like them, they didn't consider me different either.
I grew up being the information officer in our agency back then. There is no point in combat, fool. My only job then was to gather information on the clients of our agents.
That's what I grew up with. I've been working since my own father, who is now a big business man, rejected me, but I don't know him anymore.
I grew up on that street full of fear, because the people around me were always drinking, if they shouted it was as if no one could hear.
The people there are always in the village. But little by little I learned to love them, because they were my parents when I had no one to hold on to.
Every day, you hear from other people's mouths how they insult that street. They have made up different stories.
Because everyone there took a bath, others were taking drugs, syndicates, which we just laughed at because there was no truth to them.
I wiped my tears when I realized how lucky I was to have them in my life.
But it's so impossible to see them again. So impossible.