XX Final Chapter (Part II)

"Harris!" I call out. I want to hug him. Who would have thought, right?

"It worked!" We are finally outside! I am laughing-crying as it seems like all the pain I feel in my body has evaporated. It is a miracle. We are alive! "Where are you?"

Struggle to stand up but I am eager to find Harris. I want to celebrate this day with the person who has done this with me. I keep calling out to him but I don't hear his voice. His silence slowly grows on me. I start to panic. I can hear the distant roar of the cars outside the gates but I can't hear anything from Harris. The moment that I can see properly I look around in desperation. No... No... I realize that I am alone.

"Harris! Where are you!" I shout. "This is not funny!" I walk around the area hoping to find a body lying on the ground. I am hoping that maybe, he is just thrown a bit farther than where I am... but there is none.

No... no... no... Harris...

I slowly look back at the hotel as Harris' voice ring in my head shouting Don't look back, Amy! Run! Run! Then I see the Passion House, huge, tall, and white in all its glory. Glowing like a kingdom under the sun. I fall back as I see a black smoke slowly from outside of it and gather at its top. Have we succeeded in burning it?

I am tempted to go back inside to find Harris but I know he wouldn't like that.

Run, Amy!

Go far away!

And don't ever come back!

A man's voice within my subconscious screams at me but I can't take my eyes off the black smoke at the top of the hotel. It seems like it has hypnotized me with its presence.

Amy, please, get out of here!

That voice, another voice, a woman, snaps me back to reality. Mom?

Take Andrew with you.

And with that, I gather my strength to stand up and run for my life. I stand up, with my legs shaking, and start to run. I did not bother to find our car when I don't even carry the keys anymore.

Oh right. I still have Andrew.

I no longer think about the state of what I look like or the pain I feel in my body. All I can think about is to leave this place. Crying, panting, I just run so fast to get out from there. I need to get home and protect my little brother. I. need. to. go.

I don't know how long it has taken me to run back to our house. One thing is for sure, it took me so much time. It is a bit far. Maybe around 15 kilometers from there. The moment I see our house, beaming to welcome me under the sunshine, I realize that I am still hoping to find my mom there, with her kind eyes, and happy smile, greeting me softly. I immediately open our door and look for her.

"Mom?"

"Mom! I'm home!"

Our house still looks so clean and tidy, just like how my mom and I left it last night when we decided to visit The Passion House. For a second there, I'd like to hope that it is indeed just a dream. And that she's here.

Truth be told, I feel like a fool for hoping to find her here. And she would greet me with freshly baked cookies and hot cocoa. And she'll ask me about the kind of state I am in. And she'll laugh at me for having such absurd dreams.

But after checking out her room and looking for her in the garden, she's also not in the kitchen nor watching her favorite dramas in the living room, the reality reminds me again that she's no longer here.

I go to my room to find my mirror and as I look, there is still no reflection of me here. I suddenly feel numb as I start walking aimlessly. Eventually, my legs give out and I end up crying in the center of our living room. I think I am losing my sanity. After everything.

Mom, you don't need to worry about it, Andrew. I can provide for him. I guess we will have to move back to San Lozano. Yep... yes... I will face them and their allegations. I hope that we can be safe there. Mom, I want to mourn you but I still cannot accept what has happened. It would have been easier if you died of sickness but this? I haven't even held a proper burial for you... I...I haven't even held your body for one last time... I... can't even call the police because... would they believe me if I say you died in my dreams?

And Harris...

Harris... we've been wrong. There's no life here. Where are you? Why did you not end up leaving that place with me? You promised me...

You promised.

"Amy!" I hear a voice again. I have not noticed that I have fallen asleep on the floor. I try so hard to open my eyes and I see a teenager kneeling in front of me. He's wearing a Black shirt with a gray sweater on top. He also has a black backpack on his back. With a worried face, he looks at me with that kind face that looks just like Mom. "Why are you on the floor? Where's mom? I'm hungry."

It is the only person who I can still protect.

"A-Andrew," I start crying. My poor brother. How can I tell him what happened? "We have to leave now. Take some of your clothes with you. We're going to San Lozano." I have to keep you safe.

I stand up immediately and go to my room to pack. He follows me. "What do you mean? Where's mom? What's going on? Why are you bleeding?"

"You know how to drive the motorcycle, right?" I throw him the keys to Mom's extra scooter.

"You know that I don't have a Driver's License, Amy! Where's the car?! Tell me what's going on?!"

"Please, pack your bags, Andrew. We need to leave. Take as much as you can."

"No!" says my 17-year-old younger brother. "I am not going to leave unless you tell me-'

"Mom's GONE!" I say. "Mom's gone, Andrew." I go find myself something for support. I never planned to discuss this madness with him like this.

Silence... Silence immediately fills our house as I try so hard to stop myself from wailing. I bite my arm so I can stop myself from shouting in despair.

"Impossible," he can only utter. "She called me yesterday that she's very excited to take you somewhere and you're telling me this today?"

"I will explain along the way, okay? For now, we have to leave. We need to get out there. I have to bring you somewhere safe-"

"No!" Andrew storms out of my room, calling out to our mom. "Mom?!"

"Mom where are you?!"

I can hear the loud smashing of doors as he tries to find our mother. I follow him outside, too.

"I'll tell you along the way. I promise but first, we have to get out of here." I go directly to our garage with a few bags on me. I check our gas and it is a miracle that it is full. I don't have any money on me because my important things are left inside The Passion House. Also, I figure that we only have one light blue helmet. Andrew follows me.

"You drive because, with my current state, I can't drive right now."

"You didn't kill Mom, right?"

"What?! I can't do that!"

"Okay," he hops on the motorcycle as I give him the helmet.

"You wear that. You're more in danger because you're the passenger," he tells me. I wear the helmet and hop on his back. "If I get asked about where my license is, you have to take the blame, okay?"

"Yes, I will," I tell him. He then starts the engine.

"So tell me what happened," he says as he starts to drive.

"I know that you wouldn't believe this but..." I start to narrate the story. I slowly tell him everything from start to finish, until the point where I have reached home. I can't really see his reaction though but I can feel the tension within him in the way he drives the scooter. We have already gone so far from the city center when I finish telling him the story.

I am waiting for his response when he suddenly takes a U-Turn.

"Why did you take a U-Turn?! Did you not understand-"

"Amy, You're nuts!" he says. "You deserve to be in a mental health institution! I am going to bring you there and look for Mom! Who knows where you've put her!"

"What?! Do you really think I can kill our Mother?!" I look straight ahead as I notice that we are running faster and faster. 90... 100... 110... We're going to trip over!

Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of black smoke in front of us. I look up and stare at it. It grows bigger and bigger as it approaches us until I can see two eyes and a grinning mouth form on it. No...

"Andrew! Can you see that?!" I point the smoke to him.

"It's just a smog, Amy." He says sarcastically.

"No! Look at it properly!"

After a few moments, our scooter tips over, throwing us out. Andrew and I flew away to the other side of the road, opposite where the motorcycle is now.

Good thing that I am wearing a helmet but "Andrew! Andrew!" I see him lying a few meters away from me. "What happened?!" I immediately run to him as I see him shaking.

"Amy! It has eyes! And it is smirking at us! What the hell is that?!"

"Can you see it, too? Do you believe me now?"

He nods with wide eyes.

"We have to get out of here, quick! Can you still drive? I can do it you know."

Andrew stands up and smiles at me even if I can see bruises on his body and his head starts to bleed. "Don't worry about me, Amy. I believe you, now."

He rushes to the motorcycle and does a U-turn towards me and picks me up. "Let's run." I hear him say. "Watch the smoke for me, okay? Make sure that we are a great distance away."

"Okay," Andrew tries his best to go faster but even if we are running 120 kilometers per hour, the smoke is still faster than us. I can hear my little brother cuss as we take the road we have taken before. Eventually, the houses disappeared and the mountains appear beside us. We are getting farther and farther from the city. I look back and still, the black smoke is getting nearer and nearer to us.

You can't get away from me, Amy. Just like your beloved Harris who failed to jump out of my paradise with you. I'll take you back and I will devour you, the last soul.

I hear him in my head, "No!"

And we get on to another crash again, this time, we are on a bridge. I have been flown away again for the second time and my younger brother is stuck under the motorcycle with his right foot on the engine. I immediately reach out to turn it off and with all my might, I try to pick up the motorcycle away from him to not cause more damage. Andrew is left lying on the ground.

"Amy! Amy! Where are you!" he shouts. I immediately run towards him and cry for help.

"HELP! HELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

"Amy! I can't see. It's dark! Amy! I can't see you?!" Andrew is now crying blood tears. Somebody... help us.

It's all my fault.

It's all my fault.

It's all my fault...

"WHAT CAME OVER YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR YOUNGER BROTHER DRIVE EVEN IF HE DOESN'T HAVE A DRIVER'S LICENSE?!" I look at the police officer in front of me, questioning me about the poor decisions I have made.

Oh right, eventually an ambulance arrived to take Andrew while I am brought to the police Viewmonte Police Station for questioning. I am inside the investigation room, where there is a table in front of me and a hovering yellow lamp. I don't know if this is a movie stereotype but it seems like it. There's also a one-way mirror on my left but I couldn't dare watch it. I know I won't see my reflection there anyway.

"Is he okay, Mr. Policeman?" I say while I start to cry. "Can you assure me that my brother lives?"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION FIRST YOUNG LADY!" For some Miracle, Erebus disappeared when we reached that bridge.

"Can you promise that you will believe me when I tell you the story?" The investigator then sits down in front of me more calmly.

"Okay, tell me what happened," I am about to tell him but as I raise my hand, I catch a glimpse of something moving in the one-way mirror, too. I immediately look at it and see that I can see myself on it, staring back at me, and I am alone. I look back at the police officer right in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Officer. But I have to do this," I immediately jump towards the mirror even if I still have the handcuffs on my hands.