Lima Belas

 Carla is stirring a warm drink for their new member. Yusuf and Adipati are sitting together in front of Chutimon. Each of them has several questions for their new member. The warm drink arrived, and then Carla sat beside Adipati.

 "Now, we want you to tell us what happened at the abandoned mall," said Adipati. She rubs the mug with her thumb, "I… heard a noise. So, I want to know," she said. "So, you heard a noise, followed it, and you saw it dug a hole?" asked Adipati again. "Yes. I thought…, what kind of animal could that big?" she suddenly stopped talking.

 She holds tightly to the warm mug, hoping it can calm her down. The silence in the room indicates the uneasiness.

 Adipati tries to loosen the tension, "Do you have any relatives living in this city?" "Well…, yes, I have," she replied to him with a sigh of relief, "It's my grandparents."

 The trio is a bit surprised because of her reply. If that's her answer, it might be something sad. "Wait…, does that mean… your parents are…," Carla couldn't finish her question. Chutimon slowly says, "Yes… Both of them… are gone…"

 "We are… so sorry for your loss," Adipati representing them, offered his condolences. "It's okay," she said, "It happened a few years ago… Now, I'm slowly recovering."

 She takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. Then, she sips a bit of the drink from the mug. Even though she relaxes a bit, she still holds back her tears. After that, she begins to talk a bit about her background.

 "My parents at that time were on their vacation. They had planned it a few days before. They always wanted to go to the beach. On that day, they decided to go there by car."

 "Before they go, they left me at my grandparent's house. They told me to be a good girl and always behave. At first, they planned to leave me for three days. I never thought they would leave me forever the next day."

 None of them could give any word on that time. Only the sound of a heavy sigh of pity came out of them. Losing one lovely parent is so hard to bear. Losing both of them on the same day is heartbreaking.

 "So…, did you know you are a hybrid?" asked Adipati to change the atmosphere. "No, what's a hybrid anyway?" she's confused by the term, never heard of it before.

 Yusuf explains, "A hybrid is a thing that has two elements in them, like us." "So…, in other words…, half other thing and half another thing?" Chutimon asked.

 All of them nodded, agreeing to her statement. She now understands the definition, but she is in disbelief.

 "H-How…?! W-When…?!" she is so confused that it only leads to another question. "Let's just calm down first," Adipati calms her, "Now, try to remember slowly." She is recalling her past, "Since I… fell…? And then I… bleed with purple blood…?" Yusuf helps her remember, "Maybe something happened to you before it."

 Out of the blue, something just clicked in her brain, "Yes…" "Now I remember…," she said, "I had a party before…"

 "A party?" Carla asked, and what kind of party changed her, she thought. "Yes! It's true! I am sure of it!" Chutimon convinces her. "What kind of party?" asked Adipati, wanting to know more. "Oh," she exclaims, "How do I explain this…," she said.

 "So, one day, my friends invited me to a party. It was held for one night at my friend's house. She said it was just for fun. There were five of us; two guys and two gals. Then, there was me. At first, we had fun – playing games, drinking, dancing, and stuff like that. Suddenly, one of the boys pulled out something from his keep."

 "It is a bunch of blue pills in a plastic. He said that they are called 'The Beast's Tear'. He also said that there were the yellow ones. I remember the red pill joke the other boy made. He said, if there's a red pill then we could wake up from the simulation just like in the movie. Then, he replied, if you take it then we couldn't have a party you idiot!" giggled Chutimon.

 "He asked us who wanted to take it first. Then, they all pointed at me… I was confused. I refused to take it, but they all forced me…"

 "So…, then…, you took it?" asked Carla to Chutimon, curiously.

 She nodded slowly and the gang lost their words.

 She continues, "I took the pill and I swallowed it. Not long after that, I started to feel dizzy. I feel weak and my senses are decreased. My head feels cloudy…"

 "Suddenly, I could feel a… belt? Strapping around my neck! Someone tightened it! It is so tight that I couldn't breathe… I could hear them laughing… I could hear them say something but it is not clear… My visions are blurry but I could see them doing some gestures…? I don't know… I don't even know how long that last…" she sobbed.

 She wipes her tears using her hand, "Then…, I fell onto the floor… I think. I'm on all fours at that time. I'm sure of it. Out of the blue, something hard hit my head. And everything cuts to black. The next time I woke up, I was at the side of the bridge. I tried to walk, then I fell and injured my hand. At that moment, I'm no longer human…"

 Everything goes silent, no one dares to speak. Chutimon sits there, breathing and thinking at that moment. "Carla," said Adipati softly, "Bring her to your room, okay?" She nods and gently brings Chutimon to their room.

 Later, she went back to the boys' room. "She calmed down a little. So now what?" she asked Adipati. Now," he replied, "We continue our search while we wait for her to recover." "Okay," she said, sitting down and turning on her phone.

 "So…, uh, what is our next city?" she asked him, scrolling through the hashtag page. "I think we should go to… Hessonite. How about that?" suggested Adipati to Carla.

 Carla isn't happy with the reply and looks at him with disbelief. "Isn't Hessonite way too far from here?" she asked, feeling annoyed. "It's better if we go to Vivianite instead, it's much nearer to this city," she gave her suggestion. Adipati did not like the words that came out of her mouth.

 He says, "But we can go to Vivianite after we go to Hessonite. We need to cover up–" "Every city? Isn't it just the same thing if we go to Vivianite first?" she interrupted. "But we can visit every city in just one go," he said. "Is it that hard to make a U-turn? Or are you just lazy?" she countered back his opinion.

 "What makes you think of that?" he asked her. "Are you even listening to your own words?" she said.

 Silence is spreading all over the room for a moment.

 "I think you are a stubborn person, Adipati," she spoke. "What the heck Carla?! We are talking about our next city to visit!" angered Adipati.

 Yusuf gets up to stop the fight between those two. They are still in each other's throats with no sign of stopping. "You never listen to my opinion, Adipati!" she shrieked. Adipati shouts, "You are the one who never listens to me!"

 "That's enough, okay?!" Yusuf pushed Adipati away from Carla. "Carla, please…, go to your room now, okay?" Yusuf suggested.

 Carla slowly walks away from the room, frowning. Then, she slams the door shut with all of her anger. Yusuf looks at Adipati, "Please don't do that ever again." "Oh, now you're siding with her?! " Adipati raises his voice.

 "Forget it," Yusuf shook his head before sitting down to relax. From that point, both of them just do their own business.

***

 A young woman turns her key to open her front door. She enters the house and closes the door before locking it. The first sight she sees is a man on the couch, watching his favorite television show. The house is looking very untidy and disorderly to her eyes.

 "Dad, how many times do I have to tell you to clean up this house?" she sighed. "Come on Veronica, I'm tired. Let me rest for a bit," he continued to watch the show.

 Veronica only hoped that the house would be cleaned before she came home. Instead, her father either forgot or ignored his duty. She enters her room and puts her stuff down tiredly. Her father turns off the television and begins to stretch.

 "Veronica! I'm going to hang out with my friends!" he shouted to make her hear him. "Hey! You said that you will clean up the house! Where's your promise?!" she is mad. "I can do it later, don't you worry," he gave an excuse in a gentle tone to persuade her. "Fine! Just go! Don't come back! I'll do it by myself then! I don't need you anyway!"

SLAM!

She leans back on the door and slowly slides down. She is in the sitting position now, feeling tired.

Her chest moves up and down, slowly and heavily. Tears are flowing from her eyes and dripping onto her jeans.

There are so many questions burning in her head. She is questioning the terrible behavior of her father. Then, she begins to fuel her hatred towards her father. She blames her father for her mother's sudden abandonment.

With a little might, she enters her room and locks the door. Then she takes out a box from under her bed. She opens it and takes out a packet of yellow crystallized substance. She then prepares a candle, a spoon, and a syringe.

"Do you have the new stuff for me?" asked Veronica to a suspicious man. They are under a bridge that could conceal their illegal activity.

"Here it is," he says as he hands it to her, "A Monster Drool." She takes it and asks, "Why is it called like that?"

"Some say it was extracted from a monster." "You are joking right?" Veronica didn't give any reaction to his statement. He chuckled, "I don't know. New stuff, new rumors. So, where's the money?"

Veronica hands him the envelope filled with a thick stack of money. He takes it with a happy face, "It's a pleasure doing business with you."

"And now it is here," she said in her head. She boils the substance in the spoon over the candle flame. She pours it into the syringe, closes it, and flicks it. She steadily points it above her tied-up arm, aiming for the vein.

She slowly pushes the sharp needle into her flesh. The sharp but slow pain goes up to her shoulder. This isn't the first time she did this she thought. She thinks, just a little bit more, and it will go away…

She presses the plunger with her thumb slowly and carefully. She could feel the substance enter her bloodstream with each drop. She pulls out the needle right after the syringe is empty. Now, she is waiting for the effect to kick in.

Her pupils dilated, her heart pumping fast, her lungs expanding. Something is flowing through the bloodstream – she can feel it. Her head feels light, and her brain feels free as if being above cloud nine. Dreamland is one stone's throw away, that's for sure.

Suddenly, her phone rings.

"Hello?" she picks it up while her mind is on its way to the fantasy realm. "Yes? Am I speaking Veronica Tam right now?" "Yes, you are speaking to me right now. How can I help you?" "I am Officer Leon from the Hessonite Police Department. I want to inform you that your father, Quang, has been involved in an accident. He is now at the Hessonite General Hospital. I will contact you later to give you updates. You have my sympathies and I hope you have the strength to endure these hard times."

Veronica can't even utter a single word out of her mouth. She hangs it up immediately even though the officer hasn't finished his sentences yet.

She shrieks and screams violently, her cries echo to each corner of the room. Her legs kick and stomp everything in front of her. The equipment and items were thrown and flew across the floor. She aggressively slams her fist onto the floor multiple times.

She continues to scream and shriek like a mad woman and her tears and drool fly everywhere. She repeatedly slams the floor with her palm until it is bright red.

She gets up and throws everything that she can reach. Some of it either broke or bounced off the floor. All of her reasoning is lost and she just running feral. The house becomes even more messy thanks to her rage.

She is finally on the brink of rationality. She is looking around to get her misery gone – that includes her life too. She is searching each and every part of the house. She found what she was looking for, a belt.

She wraps it around her neck and pulls each end tight. The bloodstream is blocked and the airway is jammed.

Her vision becomes blurry and her consciousness slowly fades away. She accidentally hit a vase and it fell onto the floor.

CRASH!

The sharp pieces of the broken vase scattered all over the floor. Unbeknownst to her, she is walking like a drunkard towards the pieces.

AHHH!!!

She screamed because she stepped on the broken vase pieces. Without her realizing, she is released from the tightening belt. Her feet bleed with the color orange, staining the floor. She falls onto the floor but she hits her head at the wall.

Her body went limp and her vision went blurry. The pain from getting knocked on the head is more hurtful than stepping on a broken vase. As painful as her body might be, none could compare with her mental state. Even that could not compare with her feelings right now.

She finally closes her eyes and her body shuts down. Everything went silent, everything was stopped, everything felt peaceful.

***

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Yusuf immediately wakes up due to the aggressive knocking. He takes a look beside him – Adipati is gone! He jumps off the bed and quickly opens the door. Carla and Chutimon are standing in front of him with a worried face.

"He is gone, Yusuf!" Carla said in a panicked voice. "Calm down Carla. Did he leave a message or a note?" he tries to calm her down. She shows her phone to Yusuf, "He texted me with this! I tried to contact him back–"

Her voice stuck in her throat and she couldn't continue her sentence. Yusuf gently takes her phone and read the message:

'Carla, I am going to Hessonite' 'I go there by myself so you don't have to' 'Bye'

Yusuf's eyes became wide after he read those messages. Carla becoming more and more panicky, "What are we going to do now, Yusuf?"