"So, who is she?" Kate asked.
Kruel looked at her sharply with a raised brow.
"Is she from your school or...?"
"What are you talking about?" Kruel's voice was shaky.
He didn't remember anything that had happened between Friday noon and now. He didn't even know who she was talking about. In the few seconds before Kate replied, he prayed fervently that it was not what he was thinking.
"Well," Kate began, "Yesterday, after you left the house early in the morning… when Dad left for the airport. Mom, really angry, called you on your phone. Even Mike and Nora came to look for you. Both yesterday and the day before that."
"Yeah," Kruel thought quietly.
"Since no one knew where you went," Kate continued, "Mom reported it to the police. But they said, 'You can't declare a person missing if it hasn't been 24 hours,' or some shit like that."
"Okay," Kruel said impatiently. "But what does that have to do with the first question you asked?"
"We went to DPP for dinner," Kate said. "Devin asked why you weren't with us and, well… we didn't know where you were. He then said you were probably on another date."
Kate chuckled. Kruel didn't know what was amusing.
"Another date?" he asked, frowning even more.
"Yes. He said you were on a date on Friday at his shop," Kate pointed out. "That explained why you didn't get home on time that day. But I can't explain how shocked every one of us was."
Kate laughed. "You should've seen Mike's face. Even Nora had a look too but tried hard not to show it."
"Ugh," Kruel groaned. "Why did she have to be there?"
"It's nothing to be shy about," Kate smiled at him. "But it is shocking 'cause, well… you don't seem to get along with girls. And also, it was a relief to Mom because of that. It also made Mom scared because she thought you'd be hurt in the fight that was going on."
"What fight?"
"How don't you know this? You were out all through," Kate retorted.
She took out her phone from her jacket pocket, made a few taps, and handed the phone back to Kruel.
It was a news alert on the screen. It read:
POLICE catch a few members of a gang after scene in building.Police vs Gangs! The city to take a step against gangs.Three men supposed to be in a gang found dead in building.
The last one sent shivers down Kruel's spine.
Three men had wanted to hurt him in a building, but he didn't know how he escaped or what became of them. The news report enlightened him.
It couldn't be me who did that… could it? Kruel asked himself.Maybe someone came to help me. But why did the person kill the men?
"So..." Kate called Kruel's attention. "Who is she? Did you really go on a date?"
Kruel racked his brain for an answer. He didn't want to deny it because it might raise more suspicion from Kate and his mom. If he accepted, it would at least give them a little assurance that he was sane.
"Yeah," Kruel blurted out. "It was kinda a date."
"Oh, that's nice," Kate exclaimed, right before her alarm rang on her phone.
"It's time!"
"Time for what?"
"My fave show," she said as she got up from his study chair. "See you!"
"Wait a sec… if today really is Monday, then why aren't you in school?"
"Well," she said at the door, smiling, "apparently, I'm sick."
With that, she left.
The room grew quiet.
Kruel sat motionless, staring at nothing in particular. The words "three men found dead" echoed in his head like a haunting drum.
He squeezed his eyes shut. All he remembered after that was darkness and a faint whisper:"K is... K is for..."
He shuddered.
Standing, he walked to the mirror across his room. His reflection looked the same, yet something about it unsettled him. He stared into his own eyes, half-expecting to see something alien staring back.
There was nothing. Just him. He picked up his phone. No missed calls from Jessica. No texts.