Last day before Christmas break...
There were no classes for the day and the school administration had an entire night of rocking out and partying planned out for the students before they went on their Christmas vacation. The whole school field was going to be rented out for the bands who will be playing on the Tanghalang Bayan.
Michael was pumped for the night. He usually wasn't in to these kinds of events especially since he still didn't know who Silent Sanctuary was. Michael would even scold himself for being a Filipino yet not knowing much about OPM.
Still, there was all the hype about that band and a couple of less known groups playing tonight but he wasn't going for the music. A last hangout with his friends before vacation was a reason enough for him to go.
"Mama, Papa, alis na ko ha," Michael said. He wore his college shirt with the big CHD letters printed in the front along with jeans.
"Oh sige, wag magpapagutom ha," his mother replied.
"Wag masyadong late din ha," said his father.
On the jeep ride to school, he couldn't shake his dream when he woke up this morning: The vision of the girl in the pale pink dress crying in front of him. Michael wished he could see the vision clearer, but it always showed the girl's face covered in shadows. If there was maybe a way he could stop that mess from ever happening, he would use whatever power he had.
The jeep dropped him off at the Round Table and he began walking to school. It was 4:00pm, the event starts at 6pm.
While walking, he remembered the Butterfly's deadline. The Voice had given him till around summer vacation to "use however you wish, in wisdom or in folly."
Michael wasn't sure, was he using the Butterfly correctly? Wisely even? So far he's demolished a building, smashed a couple of goons, made changes on homework, played some pranks, and sort of cheated on a PE test. Not to mention he hit a girl hard on her neck. He still feels guilty about the Tifanny incident.
"Misused my gift..." the Voice had told him in his past vision. Could he really keep the Butterfly? Was he worthy to hold time by its reins? Those questions circled around his head. It doesn't even seem like he's mastered the Butterfly yet. He still couldn't open time portals to the future. Sure there was freezing time, slowing time, rainbow blasts, rainbow tentacles, and summoning ancient weapons out of thin air. Speeding up time didn't seem to work and time travels to the past are restricted. One time, in his stubborness, he tried but it never really worked.
Then there's that "big consequence" he needed to face. That got Michael thinking: Would my friends be involved in this? Would my family get hurt from the Butterfly? Is the supervillain going to show up soon? What if... what if the girl in the pale pink dress, the girl whose life he ruined... what if that girl is...
"Hindi, hindi siya," he said out loud in front of the security guard at the entrance of PLM.
"Hindi sino? Ingat boy ha. Baka nahihilo ka na diyan, hindi pa nagsisimula yung banda," the guard said as he checked his bag.
Michael shook off the negative thoughts and continued on inside the school. He thought maybe he was just overthinking things. Visions could be figurative anyway. Maybe those dreams were symbollic. That thought calmed him.
His phone rang.
"Mike! Asan ka na? Dito ako sa GV naghihintay. Wala pa yung iba eh," Joy said over the phone.
"Kakarating ko lang, sige punta na ko diyan."
He put his phone back in his bag. He went through the hallway to get to Gusaling Villegas. On the way, Michael wasn't sure if he was just seeing things, but right in front of him, was a face he never expected to see again.
"Ikaw yung bodyguard diba?" said the tall gangster wearing an official PLM university shirt and denim jeans. It was the gunner from that night.