Inside the house, Triggs’ sister could be heard mumbling as she lined up paper bills on the dining table.
“38… 39… 50K!” she uttered, then a deep sigh.
BLAAAM!!!
The front door slammed open. Then arrived Triggs who was excited to tell his story to his sister.
“ATE! It happened again!”
With a palm on her chest, the sister replied with a deep breath, “Jusko*, Triggs! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Ate! I saw them again! And this time, I helped them defeat the creepy man!”
“What!?” the sister confusedly uttered. “Can you please calm down a bit? And look at you! You’re soaking wet!”
“Uhm… It’s raining heavily outside. I just rushed back.”
“OH MY GOSH, Triggs! You’re bleeding!”
Triggs looked at the side of his chest; he was indeed bleeding. At first, he didn’t understand how he got the wound. But then, he remembered the time the creepy man tried to stab him with the broken pipe.
“Shit. It did really hit me,” Triggs muttered.
“What happened to you!?” his sister asked as she examined the wound.
“I - It’s just a shallow wound!”
The sister tapped Triggs’ head with her knuckle. “Shallow wound - my ass! Look at that! That wound looks serious!”
“No! I can bear…”
“Tsk! I’ll get some Betadine to clean that up!” The sister left just before Triggs could finish his words.
“Seriously, you don’t have to,” Triggs whispered as he watched his sister leave the living room.
A while later,
“So tell me, Triggs. What really happened? Where did you get this?” the sister asked as she helped Triggs clean up the wound.
“Would you believe me?”
“Well… If you, at least, tell me the truth…”
Triggs sighed. “Ok……”
He started narrating every detail of the event: starting from the moment he encountered the creepy man again, up to the time the robed men disappeared.
“So… It was the same ‘Robed People’ you encountered earlier?” his sister asked.
“Yep,” Triggs replied. He then started mumbling to himself. “But come to think of it… The Old Lady was not around that time.”
“And you’re telling me that the ‘Creepy Man’ gave you this wound?”
“Yes-yes.”
“Hmm… A skinny man with dark sunken eyes… erratic behavior… and he even tried to stab you!?... The way you described it - are you sure it’s not just another drug addict?”
“What!?” Triggs’ disappointed reaction.
“I - I mean…. We’re in Cavite, anyway…. And vigilante killings are running rampant these days. I’m just trying to make sense of what you told me.”
Triggs was getting irritated. “No! It’s not like that! Can you please take me seriously this time?”
“I - I’m sorry, Triggs. I tried my best,” the sister replied. She continued,
“But it’s just hard for me to believe that a group of magical people fought to slay a monster. And it happened here? In an urbanized area? Why didn’t anyone witness it except you?”
Triggs was severely disappointed.
A short uncomfortable silence loomed in the air.
The sister wiped off the tear that was starting to form in her eye. Then she said, “It’s all cleaned up now.”
Suddenly, the sister’s phone started to ring.
“Oh, it’s James,” she mumbled as she picked up the phone from the table.
“Hello, Babe. What’s up?......... Yes, we enjoyed it. Hehe...”
While his sister was talking on the phone, Triggs walked out and went straight to his room.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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Inside the room,
Triggs was lying on his bed with his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. He still couldn’t move on from what happened earlier.
KNOCK-KNOCK! KNOCK-KNOCK!
Triggs heard some knocking on his bedroom door.
“Triggs!? Can you hear me?”
It was his sister yelling from the other side of the door.
“What!?” Triggs replied.
“Uhm… Your wound could still get infected if it’s not treated properly. I left some money in the ‘emergency jar’ inside my drawer. Please use it to get to the clinic tomorrow, okay?”
“Tch!”
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’!”
Footsteps could be heard fading outside the room, signifying that the sister was walking away from the bedroom door.
Triggs let out a deep sigh. Although he was disgruntled by the conversation a while ago, he still couldn’t help but get touched by his sister’s care and concern.
Just minutes after he heard his sister’s leaving footsteps, he heard knocks again.
KNOCK-KNOCK! KNOCK-KNOCK!
“What is it this time!?” Triggs yelled.
“Oh, sorry! Did we disturb you?”
Triggs was shocked to hear the voice outside the room; it was not from his sister. However, the voice seemed familiar.
“Uhm… can we come in?” the voice politely asked.
Although Triggs was familiar with the voice, he wasn’t still sure what to reply. For him, the situation was too sudden and unexpected. Kernel-sized sweat started forming on his face.
Another mysterious voice uttered, "Let's just go in."
“No, Zaine! You can’t just barge in!”
“Wait! Don’t...”
“OPERBA!”
A portal opened in front of the bedroom’s door. Out came the robed young man from a while ago. Behind him were the two robed ladies; both of them were holding the young man’s arm as if they were trying to halt him.
“What the heck!?” Triggs uttered as he jumped out of bed, surprised.
“Zaine!? It’s not polite to enter someone’s room without permission!” the ponytail lady said to the robed young man.
The ponytail lady then turned her gaze to Triggs, who was still shocked.
Embarrassed, the ponytail lady apologized, “We - we’re sorry for that.”
“Wh - Why are you here? How did you find me?” Triggs asked with a shaky voice.
“Uhm… we placed a Talisman on your shoulder. We used it to locate you.”
Triggs slowly turned his head to look at his shoulder. To his surprise, there was indeed a rectangular paper with weird characters written on it.
“Don’t tell me…” Triggs remembered the time when he was patted on the shoulder a while ago. “That buffed man…”
“Yes,” the other young woman replied. “Kuya* Otto put that Talisman on your shoulder. Then, Zaine used an incantation so you will not notice it.”
Triggs’ nervousness was starting to turn into curiosity and excitement.
“Sorry if we invaded your privacy,” the ponytail lady followed.
“No. It’s okay!” Triggs responded.
A smile started forming on Triggs’ face as he came up with an idea.
“I knew it! I knew you guys were real people! Could you please just wait here? I’ll let my sister meet you so she will believe me now.”
Just before Triggs could step his foot, the robed young man halted him.
“No.”
“Huh!? Why!?”
“Sorry. But we were ordered to keep our identity discreet. Nobody should know about us, except you,” the ponytail lady explained.
“I don’t get it. Why? Ordered? By whom?”
The 3 robed people answered in sync,
“Lola* Vega.”
“Lola Vega? You mean the old woman disguised as a beggar? The one who threw the knife at the creepy man?”
“Yes,” the ponytail lady replied.
“Isn’t she cool?” the other woman said. “She is like the leader of our group.”
“Wait, what!? That old woman is your leader? Just when I thought things couldn’t get any crazier.
“Don’t disrespect her,” the robed young man reacted.
“Calm down, Zaine. He’s just confused,” the ponytail lady said.
“You’re right! I’m totally lost!” Triggs replied. “Why are you here in the first place? What do you want from me? Who are you people?”
“Ah… yeah, right. *cough*... We’re sorry,” the ponytail lady apologized. Then, she started introducing herself, “My name is Laelyn. But you can call me Lae.”
The other woman introduced herself with a big warm smile on her face.“You can call me Calla!”
“Uhm… regarding why we’re here… Lola Vega asked us to fetch you.”
“Fetch m - whaaat!?” Triggs’ surprised reaction. “But why?”
“It just means you’re important to us,” Calla answered. “Ooooh! Maybe you’re also one of us?” she said excitedly.
Triggs was still baffled. “One of you!? How? I don’t even know you people. Why would I go with you? You just beheaded a man a while ago. Why should I even trust you?”
“If we meant harm, I could’ve just killed you” the robed young man replied.
“Come on now. You don’t need to be so grumpy,” Calla said to her colleague. “By the way, his name is Zaine,” she said to Triggs.
“You’re still not answering my question. Why would I trust you? What will you do if I refuse to go with you?”
Noticeably, Zaine was becoming more and more impatient with the situation. He turned his back, preparing to leave.
“We’re wasting our time,” Zaine uttered.
“Wait a second!” Lae halted.
Lae thought of something that could gain Triggs’ trust. She walked closely to the leery man and asked him politely, “Can I see your wound?”
Still wary, Triggs asked, “Why?”
“Please trust me.”