F.L.A.W Series Book 2: EMERALD

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Patuloy sa pagtakbo si Astrid, hindi alintana ang pagod mula sa ilang oras na niyang paglalakad o pagtakbo upang matakasan ang mga kasamahang maaaring humahabol sa kanya. Suspendido siya mula sa trabaho kung kaya't hindi siya nararapat na naroon sa lugar, at ang pinakamabigat niyang nagawa ay ang pagpatay.

"Astrid!" Tawag ni Sael sa dalaga habang hinahabol.

Hindi niya nagawang pigilan ang babae na tumakas nang dumating ang dalawa pa nilang kasamahan na si Solis at Velasquez. Wala namang balak si Valiente na hulihin si Del Fierro ngunit nababahala siya sa mga ikinikilos nito na maaaring ikapahamak nito mismo.

Emerald didn't look back and just continues to run deep into the woods. She couldn't believe that Misael is still after her. He's fast and he couldn't be fooled easily. She's getting far ahead of him, but when she made a wrong turn, she exited the forest and no tall trees surrounds her anymore. As she looked at the path leading to the bay area, she realized that there's nowhere to go, nowhere left to run.

She stood there, facing a terrible truth. She felt just how tired she is, tiredness that had nothing to do with the hours she spent on walking and running. She is tired of running away from everything, tired of escaping her dark past, tired of not telling people, tired of making stories, tired of not talking about it, tired of pretending things were okay when they had never been less than okay.

She is not okay and she's exhausted. And Em knew that she will never be okay as long as she keeps that burden inside her.

"Stop running away, will you?!" Sigaw ni Misael sa babaeng nakatalikod. "There's no where to go."

"You don't need to state the obvious." Sarkastikong balik ng dalaga bago humarap. "Are you going to arrest me, Cap?" Nakataas ang isang kilay. "Sorry, but I don't have a plan of surrendering now. Not until I finished what I've
started."

Napapailing ng dahan-dahan ang binata habang nakapamaywang at medyo hinahabol pa din ang paghinga. Mukhang napagod sa kakahabol at kakasunod sa kanya.

"Sino ba kasing may sabi na may balak akong hulihin ka?" Tanong nito. "No one wanted to arrest you, not even Velasquez and Solis. Kaya nga nagtataka sila bakit mo kailangang tumakas?"

"What do you mean? Hindi niyo ako huhulihin pagkatapos ng ginawa ko?" Ayaw paniwalaan ni Ash. "I violated the law. I am suspended until further notice and I'm not supposed to be meddling with your investigation and yet you're going to just let it slip?"

"Yeah." Kibit balikat nitong sagot. "They attacked us first. They tried to do something to you and you just defended yourself. You saved both of us." He sounded as if she didn't do anything wrong.

"We both knew that it wasn't like that. You tried to stop me but I didn't listen."

"That's what happened and that's what we reported to the office so stop running away. Jeez!" May bahid na ng inis ang tono nito na ibig sabihin ay nauubos ang pasenya.

Saglit pinakatitigan ni Astrid ang kapitan bago sumuko na sa pag-iisip na tumakas. Padarag na lang siyang umupo sa mismong kinatatayuan at humarap sa malawak na Laguna de Bay.

"I'm not supposed to be the one to run away from you, Cap. You're the one who should run away from me. I'm a monster. You'd probably get hurt or worse get killed like Gene. I'm a curse." Ani Ash habang malayo ang tingin.

Naramdaman na lang ng dalaga ang pag-upo sa tabi niya ng lalaki. Hindi man magkadikit na magkadikit sila ay ramdam niya ang init na nagmumula sa katawan nito. Kahit papaano ay guminhawa ang pakiramdam niya dahil malamig ang hampas ng hangin sa kanyang balat.

"What happened to Soriano wasn't your fault. He played with fire when he secretly worked with the enemy. He just got burned in the end." Pinapagaan lang ni Sael ang kalooban ng babae.