Playmate (5)

"Nida!! Randell!" Little Toto shouted while he forced himself from the barricade that the authorities built to prevent them from entering.

"Toto?" his classmate called him as she recognized him from the crowd.

"Gina! Do you see Nida? Randell?" He shook her shoulder while asking her desperately.

Gina was an usherette at that time, but she didn't meet the wolf since her professor safely hid them in the backstage storage room.

She shook her head in response to his question.

"Then can you tell me where I can find them?"

"The victims that saw the wolf head on are all at the hospital now. We who managed to hide and didn't encounter the wolf were interviewed, but we can go home now. However, they're listing the names of the dead ones over there." She pointed at the huge board that the school staff were assembling. A long list of names was listed on the huge board.

Upon seeing this, the crowd rushed over the board and wished that their family's names weren't listed.

Toto froze for a moment, then joined the crowd to see.

"please not their name, please not their name."

he chanted while looking at the names one by one, but soon his jaw dropped.

His friend's name is written on the board.

"Jake Marcso"

/////

Ugh!

"Sir, are you fine?" his junior asked while they were getting into the car.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He starts the car while squinting his eyes.

His head hurts from remembering his twisted memory.

[Why am I remembering Ranz's name as Jake?] he wondered while his memories of ten years ago strangely flashed back into him.

He wanted to think more about his twisted memories, but the current situation is more important. He needed to rescue Nida.

However...

An hour...

It will take him an hour to reach where Nida is.

Though Toto needed to hurry and come to where Nida was, there was nothing he could do about the distance between the police station and the accident site.

He works hard to drive his car at a high speed.

The police officer he took to assist him is holding on the handle of the car because of how reckless Toto is driving.

"Is there anyone near at the site?" he asked his junior.

"I called station three, sir. They said they would send people soon."

Toto bit his lips, knowing that "soon" meant later to them.

EEEOOOOEEEEOOOOEEEEOOO

He could not hear the loud droning police siren since he could hear his heartbeat beat louder than anything else.

"I hope I won't be late!"

From an hour of normal travel, they managed to reach the site within twenty minutes.

"Sir, look!" his junior shouted, pointing at the upside-down company car of Nida.

The place was too dark to see, but the upside-down vehicle was the only thing they could tell and see.

He looked around and saw something lying on the dark road.

He narrowed his gaze toward the object, and he cautiously walked closer.

"Nida!" he shouted once he realized who it was.

He ran towards her and immediately turned her around because she was planking on the dirty road.

"Hey, Hey! What happened?" He lightly tapped her cheeks and shook her shoulder, but he didn't receive a response.

He pulsed her and gave her CPR, but it was useless.

"Sir, the station three are here." his junior said.

Still looking calm, he stood up and saluted the Station 3 police who came to assist.

"We just came here too. That trailer tractor was in a separate accident this morning, while that upside-down car." he pointed at the company car. "We still have no clue what happened or why the driver is here dead."

"Okay, we will send more people." The leader of the group salutes Toto and proceeds to order his people to investigate and search the area.

Toto was left staring at Nida. He could not move her to her position since he needed to wait for the SOCO (forensic team) to investigate.

As a senior police officer, he cannot brawl and cry in a situation like this, even if his face is twitching because of the emotion he is suppressing.

"Why is this thing happening again?"

He lit up the area with his flash light. He looked at the marks on the ground that seemed clawed by a large beast.

"Large beast?" He bit his lips while remembering the same incident ten years ago.

////

"I can now meet Nida?" Toto, a fifteen-year-old, inquired of the nun who was preparing their food with him.

"Yes, she was discharged, yesterday."

"Really?" He jumped up and down in front of the nun to express his excitement about seeing his friend again.

Since Nida was sent to the hospital after the wolf attack, no one has met here except for her family. "They said she is greatly traumatized by the accident."

He stopped celebrating

when he remembered that his friend might be really in pain now.

"That is why you have to meet her. Cheer him up Toto." The nun gave him a benign smile that brought his smile back at once.

"Okay! This afternoon I'll visit her!"

////

in the afternoon....

knock knock knock

He gently knocked on Nida's room.

Her parents let him go up and meet her.

"It's me, Toto"

Silence. No one seemed to be on the other side of the room due to the deafening silence.

"Are you sleeping? Should I visit the other day?"

*creek*

The door slightly opened, and Nida peeked out at the slight opening.

"Can I tell you a secret, Toto?" she softly asked, while her eyes seemed out of focus.

He clenched his fist, thinking that Nida really needed someone to take care of her, especially since Randell was dead.

"Yes of course. Can I come in?" He smiled at her, then Nida let her in.

Her room is dark and messy. While Nida walked around with a blanket covering her whole body, that only kept her eyes uncovered.

"Do you know who Randell is?" she inquired as she sat in her bed, while Toto sat on the floor.

"Randell? Who is that?" He tilted his head at the unfamiliar name.

Nida bit her lips and looked the other way once Toto answered her that.

"What's wrong Nida? You can talk to me about anything." he tried to comfort her.

"Yes, I can talk to you, but does that mean you'll understand? All of you are the same." she looked into his eyes with a piercing gaze.

"No Nida, I will try my best to understand. How can I help you if you won't tell me." He stood up and sat beside her. "I am your friend. I will help."

Nida let go of her gaze and hesitated for a moment. "

Randell, can't you remember him?" she looks desperate that is why Toto calmly responded to her.

"No. Can you tell me why you are looking for this Randell?"

"Everyone's memory of him was soon altered after he massacred everyone!"

"Nida, the one who attacked you is a wolf."

Nida shook her head then started to cry.

"No! He is your friend, He is my boyfriend. Later, after you left us, at the rooftop he transformed into a beast! A werewolf! I am sure there's another wolf out there who altered everyone's memory. We need to catch them before they can kill more!" She shouted desperately, trying her best to let her words get into Toto's mind and wished to believe her.

Toto hugged her, but his words made her feel worse.

"I am sorry that I made the two of you stay on the roof, even though you were about to go home too. I am sorry. You will be fine now, Nida. The wolf won't ever show up and attack you again." He comforted her and stroked her back gently. Then he felt glad when he noticed that Nida had stopped crying.

He slowly pulled his hug from her, but when their eyes met, he shuddered at the fierce gaze in her eyes.

"You came here to comfort me, not to understand." she stated after pushing him away from here.

"No. Nida I—." "

Get out! Don't show up again! I don't have a friend! I don't have family! I have no one!" she furiously shouted as she threw random things at him.

"No. Nida! Listen! ack—." the room became silent again once the saw blood drips on his face.

She unintentionally threw a sharp object that made his left eyebrows bleed.

"Oh my goodness!" Her mother checked on her room because of the noise they heard. "I'm sorry Toto! Come here, I'll treat you!"

Nida's mother hurriedly escorted him out of the room.

Nida just covered her whole body with her blanket and let him leave without saying anything.

After that, they stopped talking.

Nida recovered years later, but she stopped making friends. That made Toto hard to approach her again.

Until he moved out of the orphanage and lived a new life as Lord.

"I thought we could restart our friendship again, I guess fate doesn't want that." he commented while Toto was reminiscing his memory.

Regret and sadness.

It's been a long time since he felt those emotions.

"But what is this?" He crouched down and held his head with both of his hands. "Ranz or Jake? Why do I have a different name for your boyfriend in my memory? "

"Woah! Your memory is back?" He flinched and looked around him since he heard Nida's voice in his ear.

"What is this? Why am I hearing your voice?" He stood up and looked at the lifeless body of Nida.

"Huh? Can you hear me? but I can't touch you?" "

Oh my! w-why I hear your voice? am I going insane?"

He stopped panicking and returned to his stoic expression once he saw the forensic team walking towards him, but his hands were so shaky that he hid in his pocket.

"We will now take care of this sir." the forensic team saluted before taking over.

He talked to them for a moment, then he went back to his car.

haaaaaa—

He exhaled heavily because he still felt the tension, knowing that the ghost of Nida was watching him.

"Nida?" he softly and cautiously called her name, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Are you fine talking to me now?" he nodded.

"Thank goodness you can hear me! I'll explain what happened while you are driving!"

"driving? to where?"

"There's a friend that can help me with my current situation. Let's go to his house."

Toto somewhat feels relieved that Nida has a friend to rely on.

"His name is Daniel Olitoquit."