Mirage (ON HOLD for revision)

Chapter 18: Asked and Unaswered

Meddlesome little rat.

The feeling of the hand covering his mouth, and the other dragging him brought a bitter taste in Matt's mouth. But before it could get any worse, to Matt's relief, It was only Cedric.

“What the heck—what are you doing here? What’s going on?” Matt asked without so much as taking a breath, helplessly looking around wildly as he did so.

There's nothing to worry about, Matt told himself, isn't he already dead?

Didn't you already kill him?

I did wish as much, Matt replied to the snide voice in his head.

“Hmm? Nothing, really,” Cedric replied, not even bothering to hide how he’s lying through his teeth.

“Then at least let me walk on my own!” Matt demanded tugging Cedric’s arm off his shoulders, which took Cedric by surprise. He was pissed, but he was regaining control of his head at least.

“Sorry, sorry. I thought you fell so madly in love with my mother that you were chasing after her panties,” Cedric replied as stupidly as ever.

It was a little off mark, Matt conceded, remembering the image of his own mother walking away from him. The thought brought a familiar, unwelcome pang in his chest, and he distracted himself by taking it out on Cedric.

“You’re so messed up,” Matt muttered in annoyance as he followed Cedric.

“Nope, not really,” Cedric replied, “I’m perfectly fine.”

It wasn’t something Matt would have easily believed except Cedric’s tone suggested it was not denial. He looked at Cedric’s back, straight and unrelenting.

“Good for you,” Matt replied, sounding like he means it more than he would have liked.

“That’s why you’re going to tell me what’s going in with you,” Cedric replied, grinning impossibly wider than ever. “And no, it’s not a request.”

Before Matt realized it, he was being shoved inside a car with none other than Julius behind the wheel.

“So you’re kidnapping people now?” Matt asked skeptically.

“Abduction, ok? Abduction. It’s not like you’re a kid, you know,” Cedric replied proudly as he sat up front.

“Gee, Cedric, I never knew you had such a wide vocabulary,” Matt replied sarcastically as he observed Julius’ silence. “Where are we going?”

“All in good time, Matt, Just sit back and relax,” Cedric replied, smiling at Matt through the rear view mirror.

"I'm not going to tell you anything," Matt replied simply.

"So you say," Cedric confidently replied with a smile.

"Seriously, if you want to dig around, go right ahead. But you'd have to kill me before  you get anything out of me."

The silence that followed told Matt that his message was delivered clearly. There was no way he was going to tell a bunch of strangers the only thing he has left of who he was.

"You don't have to tell me anything you are not comfortable saying," Cedric said after a considerable pause, "but I will get something out of you."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"I'm serious, Matt," Cedric added without looking at him, as if the admission was too much, but had to be said nevertheless, "I can't let you be alone anymore."

That is the only thing I can do for you, after all, Cedric amended to himself.

They wove through the backstreets, past cramped subdivisions, following the familiar route of jeepneys to the highway. Julius drove masterfully despite never having been to the area before. Once they were on the highway, rummaged through the glove compartment for entertainment. Julius took the hint and played an album from a band Matt has never heard of. It was a relief, filling the silence with something heavy enough to mask its existence.

Matt was growing increasingly aware of the gravity of the situation despite not knowing exactly what he was facing. It was unnatural for a mother to come to her son’s university and ask for him, even more so to seek out a classmate he doesn’t get along well enough with to know anything. Mrs. Padua was desperate, and Cedric’s behavior and Julius’ questionable involvement tells Matt that she does have a reason to be concerned.

They drove for another three hours, or more like crawled, with the rest of the late shifters on their way home. Because they always took the train to school, Matt didn’t realize that they were headed there until they were in the neighborhood.

“What are we doing at school this late?” Matt asked when Cedric turned the volume down.

Cedric laughed mirthlessly, “Knowing me, you should know school would never be my destination any time of day. Stop here, I’ll get us something to eat first.”

Julius pulled over and killed the engine without a word. Cedric got off the car and trotted out of sight. Matt eyed Julius curiously. They only ever spoke once, and they did not have a very good impression of each other.

"You shouldn't be so harsh when you speak to him,"Julius said as if he could hear Matt's questioning eyes.

"I'm not," Matt replied, and the innocence in his response only unnerved Julius.

"He's just worried about you," Julius said with a tinge of spite. "You can't still be pretending he just coincidentally happened to be in every single place you were for who knows how many years!"

Worried about me, Matt thought, tuning out of the rest of Julius' speech.

"Wat did he tell you?" Matt asked suspiciously, his wrists beginning to tingle again.

“I haven’t really heard anything yet. I guess Cedric thought it would save him some breath if he tells us at the same time,” Julius replied.

It was the truth, and it instantly made Matt feel better.

“What’s up with Cedric?” Matt decided to ask since Cedric was taking forever, but Julius only stared mutely ahead.

“Cedric has been skipping school. His mother even came to school to find out what’s going on. She dropped by my house like I would know. What’s really going on?” Matt pressed on.

“I didn’t know you cared about me that much, Matt, that’s so touching,” Cedric interrupted as he climbed back on. “You like meat, right? Let’s grill some later. Make a right turn at the end of the street, Julius. It’s the fifth on the left side.”

“If you’re so intent on rebelling, be my guest. But I don’t see why I have to be here for that,” Matt replied.

But the engine roared back to life and Julius started driving—the three of them somewhat knew what Matt just said was so far from the truth it wasn’t even worth responding to. Even Matt had this strange feeling that he and Cedric are forever tied to each other, perhaps because Cedric has been following him around since forever. Matt rejected the disconcerting idea and kept quiet until Julius stopped the car in front of a small apartment. Not a single light was on inside.

Cedric peeked childishly at Matt and smiled. “Let’s go?”

Julius followed Cedric into the house, talking so quietly that Matt couldn’t hear a word despite only being three steps behind. He closed the door behind him out of habit and a second later, the lights came on.

 “So, welcome to my house warming party!” Cedric announced as enthusiastically  as possible, but Matt and Julius weren't fooled.

There was just no way Cedric would be living by himself so far from home unless something big happened. And considering Cedric's past, Matt thought, it must have been pretty big to force him to move out after years of enduring his old man's wrath.