Perfect Lies.

Chapter-17 "Unexpected"

(TW: mention of death)

A eerie silence fell among us as he stared at us wordlessly.

"Sh--shay?" He squeaked, a confused expression forming on his face.

"Good morning sir" Alex greeted but, he got ignored.

"Greeting sir, can I talk?" I asked.

"S--sure, come in" he stuttered as he got aside and offered us to come in. Hesitantly, I went inside and Alex followed me.

"How did you know that I am here?" Mr. Phil asked as we went inside. after we sat on the couch.

"A lady gave us your visiting card," Alex said.

"Ooh, that shopkeeper?"

"Yeah"

"Ah....her name is Betty Carol, she is like my mom, she helped me when I was broke." He sighed at the memory.

We all sat there, an awkward silence, filled the space. I looked at the hall and noticed that it was rather dull from inside. There were many photographs hung on the wall and there were 3 couches in the center with a wooden table in the middle surrounded by the couches. But, then my eyes caught a photograph of Mr. Phil and a man which was, which I assume was Robbin kept on the top of a drawer in the corner. Hesitantly, I walked across the hall and picked it up. The drawer was dusty and so was the photograph. I traced the edges of the frame as I observed Robbin and Mr. Phil, but then I realized that there were more than 2 people, there were 2 more girls which looked like, as I assumed were Christy and Meldy.

But if Christy is Meldy then how there are 2 of them?. maybe it could be my mom. I reasoned myself as I kept the photograph in its place and went back to where Alex was sitting.

"So, what do you want to ask?" He spoke, breaking the awkward silence.

"Sir, I wanted to ask some questions related to Robbin."

"Go ahead" he spoke sternly though, I saw a hint of panic on his face.

"Who is Robbin? To you?"

"A friend"

"But then what happened between you two?" Alex spoke out-of-the-blue, catching us off guard.

"W--well we got is a fight?"

"May I ask what kind of fight?" I asked.

"Look, not all secrets are meant to be disclosed--" but he was cut off.

"If they are related to my life then yes, they are meant to be" I almost yelled. Alex kept a hand on my shoulder and nodded, telling me to calm down.

Mr. Phil sighed and spoke again. "Boy, I know how it feels but, please" he started "I can't tell you all this verbally."

I and Alex exchanged some confused glances as he approached the drawer and took out a diary from it.

"This will clear all your doubts" he spoke as he handed me the old looking diary.

I glared at it wordlessly. The diary was dusty and was brown with a touch of black at the edges, there was a photograph of a young lady in the middle, and just below, 'Meldy Crew' was written in cursive writing. The borders were of golden color and the diary was thin. I realized that Alex was peeking from behind me so, I turned a gave him the diary so that he can have a look at it.

While Alex looked at it, I turned again to face Mr. Phil.

"Who's diary is this?" I asked.

"It's Meldy's diary, she was my friend" he sighed.

"So, you know about Christy also?" I asked.

"Of course I do! she is Meldy's sister"

"And about my mom?"

"Mrs. Collins?"

"Yes sir"

"I know but, what about that?"

"Do you know who my father is?" I asked and I saw the color drained from his face. Because I knew that Robbin can't be my father, he was probably using me for his benefit.

"Well? Do you?" I asked again.

"N--no I don't" he finally replied, "but this diary does" he spoke again as he pointed at the diary.

"R--really?" I asked as I almost jumped from excitement but, I was interrupted when Alex spoke.

"And how come this diary landed in your hands?" He asked.

"Meldy gave it to me."

"And how do you know her?"

"Because of Robbin" Alex raised a brow so he continued. "Look, all those answers you are searching for are in this diary and so, It's very precious."

"But how can we trust you? I mean, everybody is having their own story like Christy is saying otherwise and then there is you and his mom is--" Alex questioned as he was half cut off by Mr.Phil.

"I knew both of you would be doubting me so just open the first page of the diary and you will see a sign" Mr.Phil explained. I recognized it, it was the same sign I saw in that letter which I found from mom's room which Meldy gave to her.

"Yes sir but what does it mean," I asked curiously.

"Boy, are you that stupid this sign would be some kind of seal that is used in Collins manor for important things right Mr.Phil?" Alex said smirking towards me.

"Yes you're right Shay your grandparents"

"But, what about them?" I asked and as usual, he pointed towards the diary. That was enough to tell us that if we lost this diary, we will lose all hope. So, I took the diary from Alex's hand and kept it inside my school bag which I was carrying from school.

"Sir, can you help us with some other things?" Alex asked

"Go ahead"

"Can you help us with maths? Our exams are approaching so?"

He didn't speak anything instead he got up and went into his room.

"Did I do something wrong?" Alex whispered.

"I don't think so, this man is so mysterious" I mused.

"But yet he has all the answers to our mysteries"

"True" but, our conversation was interrupted when he appeared from his room with a bunch of books in his hand.

"These can help you," he started as he kept the large pile of books on the table."These are the reference books which explains every method easily"

"Thank you so much, sir," Alex said as he took a book from the
pile and flipped it curiously in his hands. But he caught both of us off guard when he took out a book and a pen from his school bag and started scribbling something.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Phil chuckled.

"Just curious" he replied, his eyes, fixed on the notebook.

After shoving all the books inside my school bag which was now heavy as heck, and helping Alex with some sums, we all laughed and joked about our new maths teacher Justin Williamson who, apparently taught the top class of the school.

A few minutes passed by as we talked about other things in general, but our conversation was interrupted when we heard a loud bang, just like a gun, and the very next moment, it all happened so fast that before we could do anything, we both gasped as we found Mr. Phil on the ground with blood all over his face.