4 - Calculus
I take it back. I don't like this game.
I've been crying for I don't know how long now. I just woke up, still in my pink pajamas and Kuya's big hoodie jacket, and remembered what happened last night. From the news up to his body...half of his body. My poor Kuya Lio.
I can also recall my brother growling like a wolf, telling whoever's listening that he would kill him if anything happens to me. He's such an idiot. He just lost a friend and he's still thinking about me. An extremely caring idiot.
About where I am right now, I don't know. I'm quite sure I'm on the cold hard floor but I don't know if I'm still in the same room. There are no lights and I can't see anything. Just black.
As if my thoughts were heard, the lights suddenly went on. I found myself sitting on the floor at the end of a hallway, with only a wall behind me.
The lights didn't lit up the whole hallway, the other end remained dark. But the lights were enough for me to see four doors, two on the left and two on the right, about ten meters away from where I am.
I stood up and forced myself to stop crying. I walked towards the doors and noticed that each of them had a rectangular hole just enough for a person to look inside. But I didn't dare to get any closer.
Why am I still alone? Where are they?
"Kuya?" I tried to call for him again and I almost jumped when something hit the first door on my left.
"Chase? Chase is that you?"
I rushed to that door and there, in the hole, I saw the most familiar pair of eyes. He must be squatting down so his eyes and this hole would be leveled.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay," I said but my eyes betrayed me. I cried like a kid while looking into my brother's eyes. "Kuya..."
"It's okay. It's okay."
"Is that Chase?" I heard Kuya Blade's voice from inside the same room.
Kuya seemed to step back and then I saw Kuya Blade's eyes.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, just as worried as my brother.
I nodded while trying to control my sobs. "How about you?"
"We're alright. Are you hurt?"
I shook my head and that's when we heard noises from the other side of the other three doors.
I didn't know what to feel when I figured out that they are all behind those doors. Kung sino ang magkakasama kahapon, iyon din ang magkakasama ngayon.
I looked at the knob only to see a tablet and a stylus attached to it. Damn it!
"There's a tablet and a stylus here," I said as I looked closer to the knob. "Do you think the door would open if I write something here?"
"Are there any questions in your rooms?" Kuya Dean asked. They are all standing behind these doors, trying to communicate through the holes.
That damn siren from yesterday filled the hallway. Damn. It really hurts my ears.
"Did someone say questions?" As we heard that voice again, the lights above where I stood went on.
That's when I noticed that the doors are all painted red while the walls are as white as snow. But that's not what made me froze.
Written in every door, using black paint, are math equations. Calculus problems to be exact.
"You're an engineering student, right, Chase?
I didn't answer. How did he know that? Out of all of us here, Kuya Charles, Kuya Blade, Kuya Dean, and I are Civil Engineering students. But it's not like they need to know that before letting us play, right?
Oh, I almost forgot. This is not just a game. But why does it have to be us? Why us?
"You only have twenty minutes to answer each question."
"W-What?" I couldn't say any other thing. Oo, nag-aaral ako but I'm not that confident that I can solve calculus within twenty minutes. Plus, looking at these equation, I know that's not possible.
"Don't worry, Lio will help you."
I didn't have the chance to ask what he meant. The light at the end of the hallway went on. It made me see the speakers attached on the wall, and not just that. That light was like a spotlight for a quill and a jar which were placed on top of a table.
Every step I took to go near that table felt so heavy. My hands were shaking as I lifted the quill. Then the jar... I almost dropped it.
"I-Is this..." I couldn't finish my question as I sobbed while looking at the red liquid inside the jar.
"I told you, Lio will help you," the voice said in a casual tone. "Everywhere is your scratch, Chase. Start whenever you want to. Scarper House says good luck."
I cried. How cruel can he be? Does he really think I'm going to write solutions using Kuya Lio's blood as an ink?
"Chase..." Kuya Sullivan called me. They must be hearing my loud sobs. "Chase, you have to do it."
"I know." I took a deep breath and biting my lower lip, I opened the jar. "I'm sorry."
I brought the opened jar and the quill with me as I went back to Kuya Charles and Kuya Blade's door. I sat on the floor and read the equation.
I need to integrate secx multiplied by the square root of secx + tanx dx. "How the fuck do I do this?"
"Chase, calm down," kuya said.
"It's Integral Calculus, kuya!"
"You did well in your In-Cal subject. Just calm down."
Easier said than done, kuya. Doesn't he remember how happy I was when I survived second year college because it means I won't have any Calculus subjects anymore?
"I already forgot about this!"
"You were just a second year last month, Chase!"
Well, yeah. Just a month into summer vacation and I already forgot about all the lessons. Who would want to remember this brutal shit?
"Tell me the problem, Chase."
I turned to look at the door behind me when I heard Kuya Dean's voice. I didn't think twice of dictating the problem to him.
"Use u-substitution," he said. "Let u be equal to the square root of secx + tanx."
I stared at the problem written on the door. "So du will be equal to one-half times quantity secx + tanx raised to negative one half multiplied by secxtanx plus sec squared x dx?"
I was serious but Kuya Dean chuckled. "See? You can do it."
"O-Okay...thanks."
With my eyes closed, I dipped the tip of the quill in the red liquid inside the jar. I kneeled on the floor and wrote the equation there. Just a few seconds after starting, I heard Kuya Blade's voice.
"A timer just appeared in our mirror." He sounded nervous and that made me nervous too!
"D-Dean..." I also heard Kuya Chem's voice from behind me. I didn't plan to give him attention but what he said next made me stop from writing. "Our timer started too."
"What?!" I immediately stood up and looked at the hole on their door, trying to see the said timer.
"Shit," Kuya Dean cursed. "Sol, nag-start din ba ang timer niyo?"
"There's no timer here." Kuya Seth was the one who answered.
"Sa inyo, Xion?"
"Wala din."
Kuya Chem and Kuya Dean's door is facing Kuya Charles and Kuya Blade's. Maybe the timers in the other two rooms will start on the same time later. But that's not the problem right now. Am I supposed to choose? What would happen if I didn't answer the problems before the time runs out?
"Chase," Kuya Dean called my name and I looked at the hole again. I met his serious dark orbs. "Continue what you were doing."
"What?!" My forehead creased. "Paano kayo? I'm not even sure if I can open kuya's door in twenty minutes."
"Just do it, Chase."
I couldn't say anything. I just looked at him in disbelief. If something happens to them, I would really blame myself.
"Chase."
"Kuya Dean," I called his name in gritted teeth.
He sighed. "Okay. Tell me our equation."
"What? Do you have a pen there? A scratch?"
"Just dictate it."
I looked at him again in disbelief. I know how great his mind works. He's always the representative for inter-university quiz bees. But heck? Who can do integrals mentally?
I gulped and looked down on the written equation on their door. "Integrate thirty e..."
"What the hell is an e?!" Kuya Chem asked in panic.
"That's Euler's number, you shithead," kuya answered with the same tone, peeking through the hole on their door.
I continued reading the equation for Kuya Dean. "Integrate thirty e raised to negative three x multiplied to quantity one plus three e raised to negative x raised to five dx. Did you get it?"
"Continue solving their equation." That was the only answer he gave me. Is he serious? Did he even understand the problem?
Biting my lower lip, again, I went back to solving the problem written in Kuya Charles and Kuya Blade's door. Maybe, because I know that their lives are at risk, I surprisingly solved it with six minutes remaining.
I was shaking as I held the stylus and wrote two multiplied to the square root of sec x plus tanx on the tablet.
And plus C!
Of course, I should never forget plus C.
The tablet beeped and I heard the door knob clicking. I turned it and the door opened.
Kuya Charles immediately pulled me in a tight hug, asking the same questions he asked me earlier. Kuya Blade was also hugging me when we heard Kuya Seth's voice.
"Our timer just started!"
What? But we still have remaining time.
"Ours too." Kuya Kyle sounded terrified. Fuck.
Good thing, though, the first guys I freed are also engineering students. We were all walking towards the other doors when Kuya Dean called my name.
"Chase. Write the answer for me."
What? He really did integrate just in his mind?
"Are you sure about your answer?" I asked as I reached for the stylus pen on their door.
He didn't pay attention to my question. He just started reciting the answer to the equation. "Negative five over thirty six multiplied by the quantity one plus three e raised to negative x raised to eight, plus twenty over sixty three multiplied by the quantity one plus three e raised to negative x raised to seven, plus negative five over twenty seven multiplied by the quantity one plus three e raised to negative x raised to six, plus C."
My lips parted when the tablet beeped and their door opened. The answer was too long, I won't even be able to memorize it. And he just came up with that using only his head. That brain!
"Dean, help Blade!" kuya suddenly shouted.
We all rushed towards them and my head hurt upon seeing the equation written on Kuya Xion and Kuya Kyle's door. No wonder Kuya Blade can't solve it. I think I've seen that equation before, when I searched for the Top 5 hardest calculus problems.
When I turned to look on the other door, Kuya's using his finger dipped in blood to do integration by parts. As Kuya Dean and Kuya Chem helped Kuya Blade, I sat beside my brother. Tulad ng nakagawian, hating kapatid.
Kuya and I solved the problem with less than two minutes remaining. We didn't even have time to wait for Kuya Sullivan and Kuya Seth to come out. Afte hearing the beep, we immediately rushed to help solving the sick equation written in Kuya Xion and Kuya Kyle's door.
We were crowding outside their door, squeezing our brains and doing everything we could to help Kuya Dean who is now holding the quill and writing on the floor. Our solution seemed endless. We even reached the wall to continue.
But it was one of the hardest problems in Calculus. I'm not even sure if we made it near the answer. We just heard an explosion and smoke came from the hole in Kuya Xion and Kuya Kyle's door.
We were not able to move. We couldn't even speak.
;