Author's Note: Remember the tags? School Life, Slice of Life... hehe.

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It was lunch time, and Za invited me to eat with her again, but I declined her offer. I told her that I had to go to the faculty room. She offered to accompany me, but I told her to just eat ahead because I might take a while. In the end, she finally gave in and went ahead.

“Is there something wrong?” Ms. Sanchez asked with a worried voice. She was easily able to tell that I was brooding over something. With the expression I was making, I think anyone could.

After a long time of indecision, I finally asked, “Do you know what’s the relationship between Leon and Zari?”

The question surprised her a bit, but she quickly regained her composure. She then entered into a deep thought for a while, then asked, “Is there a reason why you’re asking this?”

“It’s just I was hanging out with Zari last Saturday, then we met up with Leon. He then… hit her. You saw the patch on her face, right?”

“Are you concerned about her?”

“Yes. I’m her friend. She had helped me a lot in such a short time. I want to know if she’s having problems and I want to help her, too.”

“Have you asked her herself?”

I fell quiet. I couldn’t muster the courage to ask her. She didn’t open up the topic herself.

Seeing my sudden silence, Ms. Sanchez let out a sigh.

“If you’re worried that she’s being bullied by Leon, well, she’s not. Have she told you that she was once sickly and weak?” I nodded. “Well, she was when she entered high school. But then she met Leon, and after that her health started to improve. She used to be a gloomy girl, but now she’s so energetic and cheerful. All traces of her past self were gone. And I believe that she owes that to Leon. I don’t know what he did exactly, but the reason why she’s putting up with his actions is because she believes she owes her current self to him.”

“But it doesn’t mean it’s fine for him to just hurt her like that…”

“If the person herself isn’t complaining, I think you don’t have to concern yourself much over it.”

“But…” Ms. Sanchez put a finger on my lips.

“How about this? Tell her what you feel as her friend. Let her know that you’ll be there to help her in case she’s in trouble. I’m sure that when she needs help, you’ll be the first person she’ll call.”

I could only nod and listen to her advice.

Za still had a club meeting to attend to, so I went home ahead. As I waited for the bus, a person I did not want to see stood beside me. It was Leon.

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What was he doing here? As I started to panic I remember seeing him at the convenience store near my home. Does he live near me?

With my back full of cold sweat, the bus finally arrived. I hopped in and Leon was right behind me. My head was full of thoughts of being stabbed in the back, or being thrown out the bus window and hit by a rushing car. Fortunately, my wild delusions stayed as delusions.

As I got off at my stop, there was a tall woman wearing a baseball cap and chewing a gum standing there. Her ears were plugged with earphones, and she fiddled with her phone. As I turned to walk away, a cold voice that filled me with dread came from behind me.

“Did you wait long?”

“Not really.”

“Let’s go then.”

I turned to look and found the woman walking away with Leon while grabbing his arm.

That night I emailed Za and told her about what I saw. She called me back.

“I think you’re talking about Angela Bermosa. She’s a university student and a model.”

“You know her?”

“Well, yeah. We’re friends. We hang out every now and then when she’s not busy and our schedules don’t conflict.”

“Oh, I see…”

“Why did you ask? Hmm…” After a short silence, “You like her?”

“Huh? No!” I immediately denied. When I saw her, I didn’t even get a good look on her face.

“Hehe, you don’t need to be shy. I could give you her number and email if you want…”

“I said, no!”

After that we had a long conversation over the phone. I managed to forget about all the things that troubled me. I guess, things are fine the way it is now.

“Za,” I said, “if you have any trouble, just tell me okay? I’ll help whenever I can.”

“What brought this on?”

“Nothing, really.”

“Was it because of what happened on Saturday?” I kept quiet. “I told you, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m fine, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Then, see you tomorrow. Good night.”

“Yeah, good night.” She hung up.

I couldn’t sleep, so I picked up the console and played a game until I was feeling sleepy. It was a little bit past midnight when my phone rang. Did she forget to say something?

As I lied down on the bed, I answered my phone.

“Did you miss me?” I asked jokingly. There was no answer except for a continuous static sound. “Hello?” Nothing.

When I was about to take the phone away from my ear, an oddly strange voice emerged from all the static.

Then, my body burst into flames.