Black Butterfly

Chapter 01 - Sawyer

I woke up with the sun's bright light made direct contact with my eyes. I let out a grunt and wiped my eyes with my left hand. I slowly got up from my bed and looked at my phone. As I try to get up, I felt there was something amiss with me, like I was forgetting something. I checked the time and date at my phone. The time was 9:12 in the morning and the date was September 17, Sunday.

"I guess, it's fine to wake up late once in a while," I said to myself as I let out a yawn.

I stood up from my bed and went to the bathroom. I washed my face and quickly dried up the water. I went to the living room and saw my younger brother, Albert, watching T.V. and my younger sister, Annie, doing her homework. My little sister noticed me and gave me a warm smile.

"Good morning!" she said in a cheerful tone.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" I went up to her and gave her a morning hug.

"Yep! And I had a nice dream," she gave me another warm smile.

"Yeah? What is it about?" I asked her.

"Well, I already forgot," she answered bashfully.

I just gave her a smile and kissed her forehead. "I'll just make some breakfast." I stood up and went to the kitchen. I just made our common breakfast: fried rice, hotdogs, and scrambled eggs. I called the two to the dining room. I heard the T.V. went off and Albert came in first then Annie. We sat down in front of the table, prayed for our food, and we ate.

This is just one of the typical days for us siblings. It's just the three of us since our parents died in a plane crash 5 years ago. Our aunts and uncles are all offering that we should stay with them, but I declined their requests. I know this is kind of selfish of me, but I wanted to start living on my own with my siblings. And I know that these two won't agree to be separated from me.

"So, Albert, how's school," I asked while I chew my hotdog.

"Fine," he answered in a low voice while eating lazily.

"You sure?" I asked and he answered with a lazy nod.

I swallowed the food in my mouth and looked him directly in the eyes. He noticed my gaze and he averted his eyes on me.

"You know, I saw something in your room that piqued my interest," I said.

"You went into my room!?" he yelled.

"Hep! No shouting in front of the table," I know I sound just like a mother but this is how I treat my siblings.

"Well, I get that puberty is making it's way on you, but please hide it somewhere that's not easy to find. Seriously, you're just hiding it under the bed? And you know that I'm the only one cleaning this house," I gave him a teasing smile.

I saw his face turned red. It was hilarious. He went back on eating his meal while being in the state of being ashamed. I also focused on my meal in front of me. I heard him took a deep breath, and I think he's back to normal now.

"By the way, big sis," I looked at my brother.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows.

"You look pale, almost white, same with your hands," he said.

"Really?" I looked at my hands and, indeed, I'm looking a bit pale.

"You sure you're not sleep deprived?" he asked.

"Well, I do go to bed at 11 pm after I do my homework but I don't know," I replied.

"Well, just rest for today, I'll try to help you here in the house," my brother took another serving of rice.

"I'll also help you big sis!" Annie stood up from her seat.

"Thank you, you two, then Albert you take care of the dished today, and Annie will help me wipe the furniture after we eat," I gave them a warm smile. Seeing them enthusiastically volunteer to help makes me really happy.

After we eat, Albert placed the plates on the sink all by himself and started to wash them. Me and Annie on the other hand went to the living room and started to clean our apartment. I handed Annie a damp towel and she wiped all the wooden furniture while I vacuumed. We spent the entire morning cleaning our apartment.

After we finished cleaning, I sat down at the sofa to catch my breath. Albert sat on my left while Annie sat on my right. Albert turned on the TV as we rest a bit. As we watched the cartoons that Annie liked, a flash report appeared.

"Just this morning, the police discovered the bodies of 5 female college students at the river bank of Marikina River. The authorities are now investigating the cause of this incident." the camera then pointed to the five body bags and I felt an unusual chill run down my spine. They also flashed the five girls' pictures and identities on the screen. My airways started to tighten and I could feel my heart beat faster than usual that I couldn't focus on the report anymore.

"You know, this type of news seems to be repeating," I heard Albert said.

I felt a hand touched my right cheek and I almost jumped. I looked at the hand and Annie was looking at me.

"Big sis, are you okay, you're sweating a lot," she's still holding my cheek.

"Also, you look paler than before, you sure you're okay?" Albert asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine I think," I answered and gave them a fake smile to reassure them.

"But big sis, you're really cold right now," Annie's now kneeling on the sofa.

Albert also reached his hand to my forehead.

"Wow, you're right, big sis is cold," Albert said.

"Well, I guess I am just tired," I stood up from the sofa. "I'll just rest in my room, okay? If you want to eat lunch just call me," I added.

I walked into my room and locked the door. I looked in the mirror and observed my face. I still have the black shoulder-length hair, dark brown eyes, bags under my eyes, the freckles on my cheeks. But to my surprise, I am really pale. I also looked at my hands and the color looks the same as my face. I pulled up the sleeves on my shirt and it's still pale. I don't know why I did it but I also took off my shirt and the color is also pale. I looked at myself at the mirror and it looked like as if I'm dead.

I let out a sigh, "There's no way I'm dead, right," and let out a nervous laugh.

"But seriously, why am I so pale today," I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, "I guess it's because of the news," I said to myself.

For me, the news doesn't really entice me that much to take my interest but when I saw the faces and the names of the victims, that's where I felt that there is a something. I don't know them personally since the report also mentioned the schools they attended but somehow I know them. Like there's some sort of connection, like they're really familiar. I suddenly felt drained from all the thinking that I'm doing.

"Well, I don't know them personally, so why am I being so worked up about them," I whispered to myself.

I could feel the restlessness crawling up my body so I decided to lay down on my bed and take a nap just to take off my mind from thinking and worrying, even though I just woke up a few hours ago.