~Ruin Of Ken Chronicles~ 

v#1.2  "Passengers of Bus #214"

Several Days Prior to "The wild hunt....".

PoV: ?

All path leads to one’s ruin, It doesn’t matter which one you choose. Victory or defeat. The path that separates them will always converge and lead to ruin in due time. What has been born, built or set will surely be undone or meets it's end.

Nothing last forever.

This shall be mine as I look directly at the distant horizon.

Though hope still remained I can only describe it as a troublesome thing. I can only hear silence on the other side of the line, as I observed my surroundings.

As I’m currently on a crisis.

As my big brother always says that "Girls would be the death of me"

"Haha" i chuckled on that thought.

It’s almost half past seven and the sun had already set and darkness slowly began its reign. Tonight the stars should be nowhere in sight, as the eerie dark clouds steadily creep forward and engulfed the skies above, It’s about to rain and I guess it shall rain all night.

I know it will be a cold and damped night and felt a slight pain in my chest, for it reminded me of her when she cried and made that promise to me that night.

My heart saddens and aches every time I see the night rain.

After that "night" we were never the same.

As I currently am sitting at the back-end right side seat watching the view out outside and also observe the other passengers who comes and go within this metallic cage that transports  us from place to another. A type of land transport everyone calls the “bus” and it is delivering us to our “destiny”.

Friday night under the dark cloudy skies, inside a stop and go ride. There are 10 different figures who came from different aspects of life, who are heading towards the same direction and I too am a part of it.

Less than 10 minutes till we arrive at Del Amo Boulevard and Pioneer for which is my destination. I can’t wait to get home tonight.

After class ended at 2:45 pm I instantly departed my school and headed towards the second nearest City Mall to purchase a gift for my youngest sister's upcoming birthday soon. I should’ve gone to the nearest one but I didn’t. Do you wanna know why? Too many acquaintances that works there. It kills the surprise when they already know what they’re getting and it happened to me last year when I secretly bought a gift.

I could’ve bought it online with a wider selection but I rarely get to go elsewhere when I’m always so busy dealing with stuff.

I hope she will love this ‘gift’. I really want to see her smile again. Recently she's been working very hard and like everyone else in the family these days she too rarely smiled. After all who wouldn't  fall into depression after hearing what we heard happened that day.

It is both a consolation and a reward for her when all is said and done. Everyone has different ways to cope with reality.

I know this all too well.

Even my smiles, eccentricities, theatrics, happy go lucky attitude, hardworking and reliable persona are nothing more than a facade. A great big LIE and a damn good one at that. I’m an actor by definition and I act on a ‘show’  in order to hide my true self behind a terrible mask in order to cope with  reality.

I must act like this to show those who I really cared about that everything will be alright. So I got something uniquely suitable for her.

So that I could at least see her smile one more. Well at least the upcoming party would relieve some stress and gain a little bit of joy and progress to us all.

I know it's sad but it's the truth.

The dark cold night had just begun and I shuddered against the lingering chill within the air as I awaited inside this metallic cage that would bring me to destiny. But still before destiny arrives I must first settle an extremely hard predicament I'm currently facing against with.

And that my friend is "The silent treatment" and the awkward moments that comes along with it.

Geez....

In and out of home I always deal with this kind of situation but I won’t tell you for now how I got into this predicament for now.

One must tread carefully in situations like these.

Even when I’m surrounded by a crowd I’m not one bit embarrassed talking on the phone within this bus. A lot of people does it why can’t I?

Well it’s my fault after all.

And so I resumed the conversation that’s been going on for the past four minutes. Well I would like to call it a conversation but in truth it’s not a conversation, rather It feels like I’m talking to myself or I’m talking no one at all if you looked at it at a different perspective.

It’s one-sided.

I then held my phone tightly on the right ear, as I wondered if I had been talking to myself since she answered my call, yet she did not say anything so I said at the beginning “I'll speak but please do listen for what I'm about to sincerely say.”.

A second later after without hearing anything from the other side I took it as a sign of 'OK' then proceeded with an expression of gratitude and apology that could be noticed in the usage of the tone of voice that I’m currently using.

I know she's listening on the other side for I know her too well.

Then proceeded.

"I know things aren't that great lately and you have been hurt for that I'm truly sorry. I know you've been hurt tremendously, but that's how you learn. The strongest people out there are the ones who could laugh the hardest with the genuine smile, those are the ones who have fought the hardest battles.

Because the have decided that they're not going to let anyone hold them down, they're showing the world who's the boss.

So come on beautiful, pick yourself up and show the world what you've got.

Everything will be okay, I promise." I said it clearly though not enough for the other passengers to hear.

After saying those words I thought to myself “Hmm… Nice advice I might be able re-use it later again.”

I grinned devilishly. Hoping she takes the bait.

If I am not me.

Then even I who just spoke those kinds of words would definitely think that there's no reason to doubt that kind of  sincerity if I heard it from someone else other than me.

I know too well what kind of person I am.

I happily smiled at the given chance to express what I really wanted to say, oh! luck is on my side tonight. So the “conversation” went on for sometime with me making some sort persuasive reasoning, all the while appealing to her sympathy, and yet on the other side of the line I heard nothing but silence.

I find the silence extremely discomforting and hard to deal with, as my chest tightened and it’s getting harder to breathe. In other words it's getting more ‘awkward’ as every second pass. Though I cared little about it, what's important now is that I can persuade her to see me later and express my ‘solemn’ thoughts.

A minutes passed as I sat here contemplating on what’s my next move.

"T-minus 7 minutes till I get off this bus and I hope arrive before it rains.” I said it in a clear gentle tone, after all I’m talking to someone I cared about on the phone.  “No matter what I’ll see you soon I promise.” as I awaited any sort of response on her side of the line, yet the silence continued.

I know I shouldn’t give away promises so casually and it's already too late.

Well there’s nothing I can do about it but move on. I am guy who respects everyone’s personal distance and freedom. So I think I shall wait and give her a much needed space.

Geez I reminded of myself that you can find great bargains if you have the patience to sift through the dross

But I think my patience is reaching a certain breaking point because of this unsettling silence.

Then I said something I shouldn’t have unintentionally.

“The very least I can do for you is give you time and I am the one to blame. Oh coward! When will you learn how to fight and not run away. I just wanna see you be brave.” I was startled and began to panic when I realized I unintentionally blurted out and said those words. I know there are things in life that must not be said and I know for a fact that she lacked self-confidence to confront things for her own sake. I knew too well that this came out probably due to my pent-up frustration because she had a way of running away from her problems in order to cope, rather than facing it. Come on I’m human too and we each have our own level of limit and this had happened so many times since I meet her and I ‘care’ a lot.

I see myself as one with a lot of restrained and everyone’s got their own fortitude to boast about.

And now I’m ruined.

Damn….Well the game is over and she will never talk to me again. My hope of reconciliation was all but shattered, what an idiot so I thought.

Then the long awaited voice finally spoke, a gentle angelic voice i heard saying this words "Come tonight! I have something I’d like to discuss with you" then she dropped the call.

A sudden burst of emotion sprang forth and engulfed me, filled with delight and joy. Oh this will be a lucky, luck night indeed. Those words gave me great joy especially the part were she said “discuss with you” gave me thrill and for some reason that also gave me a sense of foreboding’. I wonder why?

Oh! well whatever it is I’ll deal with it when the time comes. But for now “Victory!!!”

Then I clenched my fist and held it high as I could while silently laughing victoriously. Woohoo! A successful unintentional victory as I held my fist upwards soaking myself in glory.

Someone is getting lucky tonight.

AGAIN.

Ah damn it did something embarrassing again. I realized I did something one shouldn’t do in front of other people. Then I began looking around and hoped nobody had taken notice.

A moment later and it seemed no one paid me any attention. I sighed with relief, I felt like a crisis had been averted.

No one gives a damn I guess.

Woohoo!

Suddenly an unnatural chill went and pass by me.Though only for a moment.

It felt something was odd, yet I didn’t noticed anything unusual and so I brushed it off as cold wind from the Ac. I then looked directly at my watch and it showed 7:35 pm local time, 5 minutes till destiny. I don’t know I kept referring to it as destiny instead for destination. It doesn’t matter i guess.

Oh well nothing to do but wait and so I'll just observe my surroundings again.

Watching people and places pass us by for no reason other than sheer boredom wasn’t creepy at all. Right? I hope no misunderstood, though I would care little about it if they made fun of me.

Watching the several street lights we pass by interchanged alternative as it signaled Green ‘Go’, Yellow ‘Slow Down’, and Red ‘stop’.

It reminds me of a game where Green meant ‘Fine’, Yellow ‘Caution’ and Red ‘Danger’.

During my time playing that game I would constantly rummage and search for different types of herbs and compound them to become a healing aid for my dreary adventures. Then proceed to ‘lock and load and blow their head’s up. It’s either do or die baby.’ kinda thing. Games where one must survive against insurmountable odds are my favorite. One against many.

Those were the days where I would just play around. Well I was a kid back then and a major fan of survival horror games.

Damn… My thoughts are wandering off again so needed to resume back to actuality.

I’ve been called useless and incompetent a lot of times before because of spending too much time playing with my so called ‘games’.

Now I have taken over a responsibility and it’s a very big one at that. I’m not complaining or anything of that sort. We all have our own different sets of responsibilities and mine is now taking care and filling in.

People are walking in and out of stores. Pedestrian all going their own way. Many are filled with mix expressions as they each passed each other by. What a colorful night indeed as many mixed emotions could be seen.  Some are happy, others are sad, few I can't read. As life is a journey full of struggle and hardships. I may be young, but I understood that much. It’s a struggle between the concept of ‘light’ and ‘darkness,’ though some can freely choose a neutral stance and it would take a push with enough force to tip the scale. Not a highly religious though but I’m tethered to a religious background that comes along with my family background.

“Life is full of hidden mysteries and we just needed to know where we could look.” As I mused myself.

The mundane lifestyle the majority of  this world’s populace currently enjoys are  bathe and blessed with subtleties, and the minorities who are currently seeking a way out of his mundane, humdrum existence and those who are in between are an unspecified numbers. They are ones who seeks thrill, purpose, person gain, disparity, answers or a higher meaning of life or in life.

I am one of the content as I consider the pace of my life as greatly ‘boring’.

Well I can’t tell anything about to future my future anyway.

As long as I lived that’s all I need…

That’s all I need...

Oh well! People are always busy.

I looked at the crowd closes to me. A group of 3 young teens 2 female and 1 male that seemed like they are bests of friends dressed like they are ready to party while they all held several glittering posters of their favorite teen stars. They are currently wearing a matching sets of colors.

Well by the looks of it I can give a pretty good guess where they’ve been. Probably on the largest nearby library where my sister told me there was a horror flick recently being filmed.

What was it called again? I remember ‘The Demon’s Labyrinth”.

Ah! Now that i think about my sister also told me once that the main star was someone I use to know. She never told me who it was though, but rather It would become a surprise for me she said.

As a matter of fact I could easily research who it is, but I rather not and I’m currently dealing with something else. Don’t want to do bothersome and plus I think it’s rude to ruin a kid’s surprise.

Other than the driver there are 6 more passengers other than me.

As I mused over my thoughts and observations the bus came to a sudden halt. It appears we have arrived on the last passenger stop before mine.

hmm.. 3 came in

A priest, a teen, and an elderly.

Now we’re 13 hmm? Friday and the 13 a bad sign?

The priest carried a troubled look and the teen who just entered wore a baseball cap dressed like a boy, who just had assisted an elderly to enter. People seemed to ignore her. Why are in disguise boy or should I say girl? quite around 16-19 years old.  Though I might be mistaken because I once dated a chick who I thought was 18, but she ended up being 28.

Haha! Talk about a very large age gap and while I dated her she too thought that I was 18.

It may sound like a lie but I’ll leave  it to anyone who would like to judge.

Her face seemed quite attractive carefully and my kind of  type. I can't see her face completely I think she had dressed herself to hide in anonymity, though for some reason she reminded me of a friend of mine when I was just a little kid, but my friend who she reminded me off is a boy.

She wore a blue vintage leather jacket though it’s men's size because anyone can see that it was way bigger for her size. How suspicious of you that you tried to hid yourself only to get busted. I wouldn’t be fooled even if you hid your face. The body was too effeminate to be that of a boy and I confirmed it we inadvertently gazed each others eyes. As we gazed into each others eyes time felt like came to a sudden halt and then she gracefully smiled as people passed us by.

Beautiful!.

That was the only word I could describe her. She might be famed artist, a daughter of a rich entrepreneur, or a politician. Not that I cared who she was, it’s none of my business and so I decided to stopped my pleasant gaze off the mysterious her and then she sat on the middle side with the elderly one.

Then out of nowhere I was struck with another eerie chill that crept down my spine once again.

I said to myself “Something isn’t right and I know I felt it.” This odd flow of event seemed forceful like that of the calm before the storm. Where is this sense of uneasiness coming from?

Then I felt something move on my left side and I was deeply startled.

………….

…….

….

Damn it’s just my phone. Upon taking it out of my pocket I frowned when I saw the name of the person who was calling me. I knew the reason for the call.

Someone’s worried.

I silently sighed as I picked up the call.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Hey Jessie, Wazzup!!!”

“Hey lovely! Where did you go and where are you now? We’re supposed to hangout with the others earlier today.”

“Sorry had to go somewhere alone. I’ll make it up to you guys later.”

“Really? You went somewhere by yourself? That’s great bro, Tell me more about it later. Oh, but first, let me tell you why I’m calling. It’s because earlier today some religious looking people had lingered around school asking around and a few minutes after they left the police came and was anxiously looking for them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah so take care man a lot of people had been disappearing lately and even you know that Maria’s cousin too vanished 2 weeks ago”

“Yeah thanks for reminding me “I’ll be home soon anyway.”

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot recently there’s a buzz about an elusive smartphone that includes a rare and exclusive game have you gotten one yet?”

“Ah! you mean the Astral phone? ya gotten one myself last week.”

“Really? that’s great lovely same here. How’d you got yours bro mine was given to me by my boyfriend.”

Nice.

Thought should I tell him that I received it as a birthday gift from Marie’s cousin before he went missing and inside had a vague letter stating "This gift will help you find what you had lost."

As I had read the words that was written It reminded of the darker days.

I felt again the pain of what we lost.

My chest grew tighter, as it was filled with both sadness, sorrow and grief.

It made me contemplated, reminisced those days and silently whispered. "Not loss, TAKEN." And then all those sad emotions was replaced by a hateful rage that burned inside me. One of the reasons that kept me continuing on and moving forward.

That reminds me I’m carrying it with me.

I made a slight move and confirmed its within my backpack.

“Ah before I forget I received a picture message from Marie I’ll forward it to you in a minute. Glad you’re ok I’m just worried and decided to check on everyone. Sorry, but I have to go contact the others right now so I’ll chat more with you later.”

“Bye my love!! mwahh!”

“Lol! your boy toys would rage at me again if they ever hear you say that to me. Haha! Remember not long ago that one of your ex’s came at me with his entire gang and I ended up in a situation of me vs many.”

“Hahah! well can’t help it if they fall very easily to my beautiful Asian charms hehe.”

“Yeah yeah! I know you’re such a troublesome friend and  I’ll see you later!”

“mwahh! Bye!”

I couldn’t help but feel slightly anxious when Jessie hang up. after all the feeling I felt before the call was still lingering within me but the brief conversation reminded me that I still got my friends I could count on. I know some people tried to listen and to make me talk about my current predicament. I never complained and I’m not a fool who would burden others. And If one tries to burden someone you’ll instantly know who’s genuine care and others would just give the kind caring words to simply give back a response for the sake of giving a response.

Life’s a journey and every has their own version of road trip and mine has just begun.

Still I resumed my observation for the remaining time in on board. I heard a whisper that sounded like a lyrics from a song, I do know know where it came from because it sounded very familiar.  I remained silent in order to hear and patiently waiting once more so that I could confirm.

~To those who can hear me~

~Go on a journey~

~Come to the promised land~

~A Paradise where glory and riches flow~

A low pitched distortion rang through my ear, the sound disappeared.

My anxiety began to worsened. I felt that some flags had been raised and I felt the need to do something about it. So I scavenge the local crowd in front of me searching from left to my right, front and near the end to where I’m currently at hoping I’m delirious wrong. I kept observing patiently and each and everyone one of them. Every nook and cranny gazing every finer detail.

Who? The Teens?, The Driver? He might crash the bus. Yeah right. The Elderly?, That Nurse?, The other passengers? What am I thinking? Paranoid?  Paranoia that’s what I’m currently experiencing. Stress built up from both school, family and social life.

No one is doing something….

I widened my gazed and as I was about to settle my conclusion I stumbled upon someone suddenly doing an act of the person I least expected it.

Who would guess that that the someone of his stature. An individual dressed in long blackened trench coat, suddenly kneeled in the middle of the bus and begun conspicuously praying and trembling. The priest moved very suspiciously and now everyone on the bus was looking directly at him.

Everyone seemed baffled by the sudden movement yet they knew it was a priest so they did not bother questing him why. The bus was move approximately about less than 30 mph that enabled him to kneel unhindered.

I don’t have a clue about its contents was, but I’d rather not assume anything before I confirmed my dreadful suspicions and blurt out unnecessary things that would cause panic and hysteria.

After all I dread that same ‘event’ would never come again.

I observed carefully, then a wanting came to me, for which gave me an internal struggle if I should take action. and wanting to move and close the gap between me and the one I internally accused.

As my time limit was getting closer than ever, before said departure. An ill feeling grew within me, It grew and worsened by each passing moment.

A loud roar that came from the clouds could be heard as it was the sound of thunder screaming in anger signaling the the coming of the rain.

As tiny droplets of water began pouring.

Oh what an ominous timing.

I looked at my watch and saw it less than two minutes till our destination.

As I dashed forward, my activities became less subtle and more noticeable, finally a few moments later the priest and the surrounding people took noticed.

Now I’m closer to the bag and it’s suspicion owner are hoping that I had been truly a mistaken.

And so I grabbed the collar of the priest and the action I made may seem peculiar to another, but I have my reasons.

I heard several people gasp and confusion could be seen within their faces, some even looked  dumbfounded. They saw me interrupt a priest. I know they are probably thinking why someone would rushed towards the nearby kneeling priest with a face full of anxiety.

It made me felt like I’m some mad fool who seeks self satisfaction by randomly hurting people. I’m not liked that and though I cared little of what other random people think of me. It doesn’t mean I’m without shame.

But right now I’m trying to be shameless to satisfy my curiosity. I heard someone even screamed to stop me, some panicked and while others seemed troubled, I understood then that they thought I was about to hit an innocent priest.

My breathe tightened and the lingering chill aggravated and turned into angst, after all my time was running out and only several feet remained before I could confront spine-chilling trepidation. Honestly I was filled with dread as I pondered on my thoughts on what I might possibly do.

Everyone could see that I’m giving off a cold piercing gaze directed towards the startled priest as his bodily movement was now filled with anxiety.

I felt a tingling sensation, A presence. I know someone had definitely approached behind me. I wasn’t threatened by it nor did it had any malicious intent, but rather something else entirely, so I brushed it off as something less noteworthy, because all of my attention and focused was needed in front of me.

My heart pounded when I tried confronting his eyes, but he had his gaze moved intentionally  away towards left side of his coat. This cause my suspicions to grew even further. He trembled, and began to be drenched in cold sweat. It did not matter to me even if I seemed too aggressive and too discourteous towards the priest.

Well in truth I would rather be wallowed in my impassiveness, relax and care for my siblings and play my ‘game’, but tonight was different and my life depended on me finding out what I had been curious about. I knew plan my sucked a lot and there was way too many possible scenarios. Like for instance I had terribly had mistaken by choosing this course of action, but I felt at the time something was right about my target.

And what could it be.

Less than sixty seconds left that’s more than enough I think.

Steadily I moved my hand to grab the suspicious bag and forcefully I opened it. It's heavy, colored in jet black and I opened it. What I saw could only be describe as a bag filled with junk. Literary the bag had been filled with nothing except junk and most of them are broken piece of something similar to an android phone. Wait more precisely all of them are the rare astral phones?

Aren’t they very limited? Why does he have so many of them?

“Damn now i’m the bad guy! Oh Great!” as I loudly said those words so the crowd could here which  them. Slowly closed and placed the bag carefully. Yet still my gut felt like I’m right on track and my instinct screamed something is definitely not right.

Then a second later something dawned on me as to why he had avoided my cold gaze.

It wasn’t because I was scary nor seemed mad but rather he changed his view towards something else. So I tried a different approach and so I kneeled and instead of the bag I grabbed the collar of his trench coat to reach his inside pocket.

A ding-a-ling sound from my phone announced the arrival of a new message.

I was interrupted by my own phone and it's mood of the crowd is rapidly devolving further.

So I let go of him and apologize publicly. I moved away and headed back at my seat while still feeling extremely uncomfortable. So I checked the time on my phone again.

Less than 30 seconds left eh.

The rain began to heavily pour more so than earlier. I look towards the front and saw on the distance a familiar place. Yes! I can’t wait to get out of this place and go home. I moved towards the front of the car near the driver and to wait. I saw the driver turned on the radio and  search a song within the local stations, I then unlocked my phone to see what’s Maria’s picture message but before I could do.

~Come to me~

“WHAT THE HELL!” I blurted out unintentionally and everyone even the driver looked at me.

~Lets go on journey~

~Into the darkness and unknown~

~Filled with undying fantasy~

A Familiar sound indeed. A sound I’ve deeply heard so many many times. A song that’s been feature on my favorite supernatural show compliments by a local band who I don’t really like.

14 seconds left.

It finally started getting hard, with my breath hardly getting back to my lung, I need to ease myself so I began  counting down from on what's left on my time.

13…

~A gateway to heaven~

I checked my found to see the message I missed.

12...

My phone fell for I had dropped it because my hand started shaking, my body stopped breathing, and my mind is panicking.

I am cursed.

11...

I turned around desperately to see the eyes of the one who brought this upon me.

10...

The eyes of the one who called this disaster forth contained the spark of madness, filled with malice, deviousness and I felt that this one was far more sinister than I thought. I've seen this eyes before. They are the type who would gladly watch the world burn.

~Or~

Damn song.

~Gateway to hell~

9…

~Now~

~Come and find me~

I tried to shout yet no words came out. I finally collapse on the floor and the others followed me. Each of them had started collapsing differently.

8…

How? I wondered as I lay on the floor helplessly, as fear and hopelessness had finally filled me.

I see darkness has began to enshrouding me.

Yet the one who who did all this walk close me.

5...

Picked up my phone and looked at my phone and then a ominously devilish smile not suitable for someone of his stature could be seen.

~Go on a journey~

7...

~To a path of certainty~

I wanted  to say "At least let me say good bye to my family!" but I knew It was futile.

6…

~Come to me~

With those words my vision faded away.

~To those who can hear me~

5…

~Go on a journey~

~to where all your deepest desire can be fullfiled~

4…

~Come to the Promised land~

3…

~For what awaits are certainly~

2…

~Not only riches and blessings beyond your comprehension~

Like what I saw the message contained I now know my fate is finally certain.

Definitely.

1...

~But Death And Ruin ~

With those final words from the song and message as both the bus and my consciousness finally came to a halt.

**************

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