Sixth

As I was coming down the flight of stairs, the silence came swiftly like a strong gust of wind. The sound of Archie's laughter was no longer audible. I started to doubt if I was still in the same house and was not transported somewhere remotely when I stepped out of my room. Apparently my assumptions could hardly be true; fairytales don't exist in reality.

Could it be possible that Sander had been coaxed by Archie into playing with him too? Were they playing catch outside with Sander's friends? The house looked haunted. Aside from the sound of the ticking clock, my footsteps as I descended the stairs, where the only sound could be heard. Even the sound of a running tap was nowhere to be heard.

Archie's toys were neatly packed at one corner of the room.

I was planning to visit the kitchen and check if Sander was there, preparing for something, or doing his own thing when I heard the door turning. Then I heard indistinct voices coming from the kitchen. Talking voices, presumably, and not ghost voices. I remained standing to my spot.

I waited for the door to reveal who was behind it. It could be Archie, I thought. But the person who showed up behind the door was not my son.

It was a girl wearing shorts and a t-shirt that said SHUT UP on its print. Her steps halted when her gaze fell on me. Astonishment was all over her face.

"Oh my g! Isabel?!" the person who just entered the house exclaimed. "It's really you! What are you doing here?" she then asked, walking towards me, astonished as I was.

The look on her eyes would clearly explain that she was in a state of surprise.

I was as perplexed as Ashley when I realized she was here before me. The person I was supposed to meet today was here at my brother's house. How could this happen? I thought. I was not transported into another place, right? My thought started to be a bit queer.

"I live here with Sander," I answered, matter of factly. As though I got up in bed this morning just to say those words.

But before Ashley could even react, I started to ask her questions. "Hold up. Wait a minute. How did you get here? You know where I live?"

"My brother's here to meet his friend. I guess we have the same thing running in mind?"

Baffled, I asked. "No way! You know Sander?"

She closed the space between us and excitedly gave me a warm hug. I hugged her back, wondering what a small world we lived in. Ashley knew my brother. Sander had already met Ashley before I got the chance to cross paths with her.

"Unfortunately, yes. I wish I didn't," she replied, almost rolling her eyes. "I don't treat him as my friend though," she said, "apologies for being blunt. I do hate Sander, a bit."

I was trying to suppress my laughter. "How did you two meet?"

Ashley was about to answer my question when Sander chimed in. "Hi, Isabel, good morning to you. Surprise, we got company," was his not too energetic preliminary.

I was sure it was him who just talked. I knew how his voice sounded when he was being irksome.

I didn't get the chance to look back to where he was because Ashley started to speak. I was watching her as she said, "Hey, there you are, Aspen! I'd like you to meet my friend," she added, a hand holding my arm. "Wait. When you said brother, you mean this guy?" Ashley looked at me and asked in confusion, as though she didn't realized before that we were actually talking about Sander.

She was looking at me and then at Sander. "This obnoxious guy is really your brother, Isabel? Tell me not, oh please."

I smiled slightly and nodded in agreement when my brother answered, "Yes, we're sibs."

Sander asked a question which I didn't quite understand if it was intended for me or for Ashley.

"Small world, huh? So, you're friends?" asked Sander.

I could see the strange look on Ashley's face. I think she was a bit horrified to learn this truth. I turned around to look at Sander's reaction because I knew he was enjoying this scenario. Surprisingly, the reaction I wanted to witness wasn't the first thing that I noticed.

Shit, I thought. I repeatedly said that word in my head a thousand times.

The ticking of the clock had stopped penetrating the walls of my ears. The earth seemed to ease rotating. Ashely and Sander's voice could not be heard even though they kept on exchanging banters. The relationship origin of the three persons standing with me under the same roof would be another story to learn.

Right now I should focus on one matter, another story is about to be told. I was surprised to see him here. We were indeed living in a small world. I could laugh at how time played his cards really well.

It felt like I had experienced how time could really stop for a moment.

How did things end up here? I once again asked myself.

Our paths didn't cross that day so we could find a way to find each other again. Astonishment was etched on his face. He could feign ignorance but I guess he had not a knack at it as I was.

I was just as surprised as him. So, his name was Aspen.

I unconsciously lifted my hands up to tie my hair in a bun; this was an act I do whenever I felt caught up. I slowly turned to look at Ashley and how she was reacting with the way this guy and I had reacted upon seeing each other's faces.

I sighed, looking anywhere but him.

"Hey," I heard the softness in Ashley's voice. "You all right?" she asked, concerned all over her face.

I nodded because I ran out of words to say.

Why did I feel surprised when I saw his face again? It was not as though we had a memorable past, but I just couldn't determine why I reacted this way.

We did talk for a while and that was it. Nothing so special about meeting a random stranger out the street. But what are the odds of meeting that random stranger again?

What is the probability of happenstance to occur?

No words would come out of my lips. He, too, was not saying anything to me.

I was sure he was the same guy who had spent a trifling moment with me in Baguio. I couldn't be mistaken about that.

"Hey, are we going to play tag or not?"

A question from Archie that snapped me out of my reverie. Archie's voice reminded me that I wasn't seeing things at all. Every second was spent in reality. He was standing behind the ajar door, patiently waiting for his playmates to respond to his query. Then his gaze landed on me, he asked the most embarrassing question he could ever ask that day.

"You still haven't taken a bath, mom?" Archie's nonsensical question.

I need not look at the clothes I had on. I looked away, already embarrassed of the situation I was in. I wish I was anywhere but here. That was when the room got filled with paroxysms of laughter.

And that was when he also started to say something to me, "You really are full of surprises."

x