Chapter 14: Take Over

Swear to God when I heard the siren of a police car wailing outside, the first things I thought of were being a prisoner, facing a sentence of twenty years, and everything in between. Like a cell. And bars made of steel. And an orange shirt with a giant ‘P’ in it. A whole new different world within a world less terrible than what I would live in. 

In three seconds, I froze. My feet were glued to the floor like everyone else’s. It was the moment I came to realize that I was too focused on thinking of possible solutions, without knowing I’m losing track of what’s more important. The problem. 

Few minutes ago, the question was supposedly just, ‘How do we  get away with murder?’ But now, it turned out to be more difficult. ‘How do we get away with murder, if there’s a police waiting for us outside?’ 

The vehement feelings that I had made me dash towards the window and open it in the slightest way possible. I took a peak outside, and a police car was still parked—though none of the officers were outside. 

Later on, a phone call rang. For the last three minutes of freezing in fear and imagining of ourselves squeezing inside a shared prison, it was the first noise that had happened.  Knowing it came from the dumbest person I had ever known, the gritting of my teeth only got stronger. 

Philip looked me in the eyes, sweating, trying to ask permission of whether should he answer the call or not. I seized my shirt, my pants, and my shoes from the floor, and walked towards him with a threatening look. I moved my face closer to his right ear, and made sure he could hear everything I would say. Meanwhile, Rabiya stepped away from us. Away from the leaking blood and vomit on the floor. Away from others who halted themselves from doing all the noises out of nervousness. She found herself a good space. Somewhere she could run in circles to think. Perhaps to calm herself. Or to panic. Or whatever it was that she felt like doing. 

On the fifth ring of the phone, I whispered something to his ears that surely made him worry about dying too soon. “I need you to answer the call, put it in loud speaker, and repeat after me. Every excess word you say will cost you one day of your life,” I said. I moved to his back, and wrapped my hands around his neck. I pressed my fingers on his Adam’s apple, and I felt it’s shifting in every swallow he made.

“I am Travis Exposito. You should know that I am not fooling around.”

He nodded his head, trembling. “O–Okay.” 

“Now, do it!” I commanded. 

In just his one tap on the phone, a deep voice started speaking. 

“Hello, son? What’s wrong? Are you up there? Did anything happen? Tell me!” 

Holy crap! Philip’s father is a cop? I thought to myself. Surprised, I tightened my grip on his neck and whispered some words into his ears. “Do not say anything stupid, do you understand me? Pull yourself together. Take a deep breath.” When he was done and when he was finally less tensed and nervous, I continued. “Now, repeat what I say; No, Dad! Everything’s fine! It’s just—can you buy us something to eat? Me and my classmates are here in the music room, practicing our song for tomorrow’s funeral service. We haven’t eaten dinner yet.” 

“Hey, son! Are you still there?”

Philip flinched. “Yes, Dad! Still here.”

“What’s the matter? Do you want me to get up there?” The police officer said, which made everyone’s eyes grew big. Our hearts pounded on the same beat. I could hear it. 

“Say it now!” I exclaimed, voiceless, into Philip’s ear. 

“Umm, no, Dad! You don’t have to! Everything’s fine up here. It’s just—umm—can you buy us something to eat?” He paused to swallow. “Me and my classmates are here in the music room, practicing our song for tomorrow’s funeral service, and we haven’t  eaten dinner yet,” he continued. He then moved his head to the left, to see our classmates’ trying their best not to make any noise. 

“You texted me in the middle of my duty and told me to come here only to ask me to buy you and your classmates dinner?! I thought you said it was an emergency?”

Fuck. I closed my eyes, feeling the steam oozing out of my ears. I wanted to choke him to death. He was so dumb. So moron. He was like not thinking things over at all. As I convinced my self that it was not the best time to murder Philip for the stupid thing he had done, I remained a professional and stuck to the plan. “Say; Well, I’m sorry but this is the emergency I’m talking about, Dad! I didn’t know you’re on duty. My bad! Do you have colleagues with you?” 

While Philip was telling his Dad what I said to him, I called for Rabiya and told her to come to me. She moved right away, and when she’s within my reach, I whispered, “Tell everyone to be ready. Search the entire building, look for the murder weapon or any clues! There has to be something somewhere.”

“Copy,” she replied. 

“And also, switch on the lights of every room you pass by. Do it before the police suspects anything,” I finished. Rabiya then carefully walked towards the music room, and made everyone follow her one at a time. When they’re  back there, inside the room where they were now allowed to breath as much as they can and speak as much as they want, I went back to taking over Philip. 

“Okay, okay. Lucky you I didn’t bother any of my colleagues to come with me. Now, what dinner should I get for you? And good for how many exactly?”

I dictated him what to say again. I pushed him to the direction of the window, and we both looked outside. We saw his Dad, out of the car, staring up above the third floor without noticing us. “We’re  twenty, Dad! You should go now! I’m going back to practice. You should hurry! Everyone’s hungry already!”