BHO CAMP #1: The Playgirl's Karma

CHAPTER 1 ~ Stranger ~

CHAPTER 1

SKY'S POV

I had a boring night, well boring for my standards. Kahit na katatapos ko lang sa isang mission ganoon pa din ang nararamdaman ko. So I went to my favorite bar and tried to entertain myself by drinking and even playing some drinking game with the locals. Iyon nga lang halos manlabo na ang paningin ko sa kasalasingan hindi parin ako mapakali sa hindi ko malaman na kadahilanan. I'm always like this; bored with life. Well I am Skylee Reynolds afterall, the wayward child of Hurricane and Reese Reynolds, an elite agents of a secret agency. Sixteen pa lang ako nang magpasya ako na umalis sa Pilipinas. My mother, of course, was against it. Pero namana ko ata ang katigasan ng ulo ng grandmie Mishy ko. Kaya hindi din ako napigilan ni Mommy. Tumira ako sa bahay ng anak ng kapatid ni grandpie Dale. But when I graduated, I moved out.

It's been seven years. Pero syempre nagkikita parin kami ng mga magulang ko at ng mga kapatid ko. Noong nag-aaral pa ako tuwing Christmas ay dito sila sa America nagbabakasyon. When my siblings and I graduated, mas napadalang. Pare-pareho na kasi kaming nagtatrabaho. Kaya nga ang laki talaga ng pasasalamat ko na hindi kami nagkasabay ng graduation ng mga kapatid ko. But if a choice between me and them, I would surely tell my parents to stay in the Philippines and be with them. It's just an officiality. Alam ko namang proud sila para sa akin. I don't need to see them para lang patunayan iyon. Besides, iba naman na ang teknolohiya ngayon kaya nakakapag usap parin kami through videocall. Not on social media though, that's the death of communication where you will just depend on pictograph-like emojis, incline your self-esteem on how much likes you get, and tear people apart with one sided stories that in the first place is not your business to put your nose to.

Anyway, even though I missed them terribly bata pa lang ako alam ko ng gusto kong umalis sa BHO CAMP when the right time comes. It's not that I hate the place, I just want to find myself and that place just confuses me more. Lagi na lang kasing naipagkakamali kami ni Storm sa isa't-isa.

I love my sister but I hate it when it feels like I don't have my own identity whenever we're around each other. And I also hate wearing that stupid name tag all my childhood life and being called 'Storm' repeatedly. Kung sabagay hindi ko masisisi ang mga tao sa BHO CAMP. My siblings and I are quadruplets. Nagkataon na pareho kaming babae ni Storm kaya kami ang magkamukhang-magkamukha. Tanggap ko na, na mahirap kaming kilalanin but I thought he's different from everyone else. But I was wrong.

"Refill."

Agad namang tumalima ang bartender na nasa harapan ko. Kahit na maraming tao, basta tinawag ko ang atensyon niya kaagad siyang kumikilos. Every Wednesday kasi dito ako nagpapalipas ng oras kaya nakilala na niya ako. Every mission ends at wednesday. At katulad nang kauna-unahan akong tumanggap ng mission sa BHO CAMP noon, hindi parin ako makatulog pag natatapos ko ito. So instead of wasting my time watching nonsense shows or drowning myself with thoughts of how I almost got killed or how I killed or hurt another person in a mission, nagpupunta na lang ako dito sa 'Shot', a popular bar here in Seattle, Washington, and spend my time drowning myself on alcohol.

Yes. I work for BHO CAMP. Obviously, special mission ang kinukuha ko. Mga mission na sa labas ng Pilipinas ginagawa. I met few of the new special agents of BHO CAMP sa mga bansang pinupuntahan ko kapag may mission but I never stayed long enough for them to know me. They do know my name. BHO CAMP don't bother using code names now.

Bihira ang makapasa sa pagiging Elite Agents. Kailangan na ma-master mo ang both departments. Field and Experiment Department. Hindi na nakakagulat na kaming mga magkakababata ang nakapasa bilang Elite. It's our second nature. We were born from an agent family. Kaya hindi na rin naging mahirap sa akin ang training kahit pa nasa malayo ako.