ALTERSEVEN

Chapter 42: His Side Story

"You are... S-Sean?"

"Yeah I'm Sean, one of his alters," kaswal lang na sagot nito at saka tumalikod papunta sa bookshelf na nasa right side ng room.

Parang biglang bumalik sa alaala ko ang tagpong tumambad sa'min nang buksan namin ang pinto sa basement ng bahay nila Josh kamakailan lang. He was standing there, looking down at us with his dark, expressionless and cold eyes. His hand was holding a rope tied in the room's ceiling and was about to hang himself. Napapikit ako nang mariin at saka huminga ng malalim. I opened my eyes and worriedly looked at him. May kinuha itong isang libro mula sa bookshelf, binuklat-buklat niya ito at pagkatapos ay humarap ito sa'kin.

"'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.' You're quite a reader, aren't you?"

Saglit pa akong tila nahipnotismo ng mga mata nitong bahagyang natatakpan ng buhok nitong nakabagsak sa harap. I know, those were also Josh's and AJ's eyes but the way they look at me now feels very different. Very different. It is as if I'm not a mortal, human being on his eyes. Napalunok pa ako ng ilang beses at saka pilit pinakalma ang sarili.

"A-Ahh oo, nagbabasa ako kapag wala akong magawa," tumayo ako at saka siya sinundan. Hawak nito ngayon ang isang librong isinulat ni Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—ang 'Hound of the Baskervilles'. It is a novel about how Holmes deduced by his superb deductive skills that there were neither paranormal nor supernatural phenomena that haunts the Baskervilles family. It was only a scheme made by a local naturalist Mr. Stapleton, who used a giant dog to frighten to death his dear victims by the use of some application of phosphorus.

"This is one of my favorite novels," napataas ang kilay ko sa komento nito. Why, it's also one of my favorite mystery novels of all time! Sobrang natuwa pa nga ako noon nang may ipalabas ding episode sa Detective Conan na kapareho ng trick na ginamit sa novel na iyon.

"T-Talaga?" amused kong tanong sa kanya.

"Yeah. This is one of the four novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle along with 'Study in Scarlet', Sign of the Four' and 'Valley of Fear', right?"

Ibinalik naman nito sa lalagyan ang libro at saka ako tiningnan pabalik. "There are only few people who like this kind of stuff so I'm surprised to know that you're one of them. It's a great honor to meet you Miss...?"

"Ericka. I'm Ericka Basilonia," sagot ko at saka tinanggap ang pakikipagkamay niya. Hindi araw-araw ay makakakilala ka ng taong may kaparehong taste mo kaya naman kahit paano ay natuwa ako. I gave him a friendly smile which eventually fades because of his next remarks. "Heh... you're that girl, from the House with no windows."

"Ha?"

The House with no windows—the one also written on the message left by Black Sheep, why did he know such thing?

"Don't you remember me from back then?"

Hindi ako nakasagot agad sa sinabi niya. Kung ganun, si Sean na nasa memory ko ang nirerepresent ng alter na 'to ni Josh? I always thought it was just a coincidence.

"I was the one... you stabbed but managed to survive."

"I-I... stabbed you?"

"Yes."

And as if a switch has been pressed, memories from the past started to flow through my mind again.

"Ericka? What happened here?"

I barely looked at the guy who entered the room. Shock and horror flooded his face as he looked at me and on the floor where I was standing. One. Two. Two times, I closed and opened my eyes before my vision finally lightened up.