Chapter 4: Sisterly Love

Vhynz’s POV 

I was about to finish typing my essay on the computer when my phone suddenly rang. Mom was calling. 

I didn’t usually get phone calls from her, because whenever she had something to say, she often talked to my twin sister, Samantha. Receiving one from her unexpectedly and in a very untimely case like this, seemed either important or urgent—or both—to me. 

I swiftly stood off of my seat and excused my self from the rest of the students inside. I went out of the Research Lab and answered the phone call right after I closed the French doors behind me. 

“What’s with the sudden call, Mom?” I said, no hi’s, and no hello’s. Just straight to the point. 

“We are going to the island,” she answered. There are airy breaths inserted between her words. She was always like this whenever she felt nervous. Or even worse. 

I ran a hand over my side-brushed hair. I bit my lip; my way of stopping myself from saying anything irrelevant and unimportant. I went back to what she said. We are going to the island. Right. They were going to the island. 

After a handful of thoughts, I finally let out my one-word response. “When?” I said it with a blank face. 

“Now.” 

“Wait. Are you sure? Why didn’t you tell us earlier? Don’t you think we should come with you?” I walked back and forth, as if I was a guard guarding in front of the doors of the laboratory. 

“We want to bring you with us. But—” She heaved a heavy sigh. “We don’t think now is the best time. The monitoring team haven’t updated us for two days already, and we find it oddly suspicious. Something must have happened there. Your Dad and I have to check it out,” Mom explained. After that, I heard an engine starting. She must be inside a car. 

“Samantha doesn’t know anything yet, does she?” I lowered my voice after I noticed a couple of guys walking past me. 

“No. She doesn’t know a thing. She’s out of reach, that’s why I leave the rest to you. To tell her or not, it’s up to you, darling. You decide what’s best for her.”

I didn’t like the tone of her voice. Why did she had to feel so nervous? Why did she had to act as if they’re beyond of time? They were in a hurry, yes. But why?

 

I punched out some air. “Last question, Mom.” I wet down the surface of my lips using my tongue. 

“Go ahead, darling.”

“When are you coming back?” I shoot back, fast enough to not let a millisecond pass by. 

“That’s something only fate could answer.” There’s no way I could have done this, but I knew it well that she smiled when she said that. Later on, it was proven by her following lines. “Dad and I love you both, darling.” Again, the cracks in her voice were audible. “There are money in the safe. It should be enough to suffice your needs for at least six months. If you fall short financially, use our credit cards. It’s all in the strongbox beneath the kitchen sink.” 

Our house was two-storey tall, and had seven rooms at most, yet they still chose to hide their cards beneath the kitchen sink? What made them think of that stupid idea? 

I stiffened my fingers. “Uhm, okay,” I said. I knew where this was going. 

“Good bye, son.” The crying began. I saw this coming. I was prepared for this. 

“Good bye, Mom.”

 

“Take good care of your sister for me.” 

“I will.” 

 The call ended.

 

If there’s one thing I hated about myself, it should be the fact that I always did everything only to hold my tears. I hated crying in front of other people. I hated hearing cries from other people. Maybe that’s what made me different to others. Maybe that’s what made me different among us siblings. 

I turned my phone off, held it on my chest for a while, and took an all out blow. I fanned my face with my left hand, and tried my best to alter my sadness with bliss. With my lips enduring the spasm brought by faking a smile, I cracked the door wide open. I walked in as if I was a different person with different personality. I sat back to my seat, and continued working on with my essay. Maybe keeping myself busy would get me rid of thinking about Mom and Dad. This should do it. 

• • •

The tolling of the bell made us save our computer works—finished or unfinished. It’s four o’clock. If there was no PTA Assembly today, we should have been hitting the roads and driving ourselves home by now. Unluckily, we couldn’t get our asses out of the gate unless the meeting was over. Thanks to our bald and fiercer than ever new school guard, we had to wait for an extra hour before we could finally leave the University. 

Following our departure from the Research Laboratory, we had to walk through the busy hallway of the Juniors’ building to arrive at the covered gym in less than no time. I was with my classmates. As usual, we created a massive noise that was loud enough to be heard by anyone from across the neighbouring buildings. 

 I looked behind me for a quick moment and none of them was Samantha. Also, I managed to give every single one of my classmates ahead of me an examining look, but none of them seemed like her, either. She really was different. Among all the girls in our class, or I must say in the University as a whole, she was the only one who was brave enough to break the dress code. She didn’t like to partner her uniform with school shoes, so she had always wore a pair of black stilettos instead. She even put on make-up all the time, even though it was strictly prohibited as stated in the Rules and Regulations of the University. She was just so bold and brave. We siblings had always been different compared to others, yet I wished that somehow I was more of like her. But she set her standards so high that I couldn’t reach it. Keeping up with her had always been impossible. 

I sped up my walk to reach the three girls in front of me; Yuri, Rabiya, and Geodie. Basically, they were the hottest girls in our class—next to my twin, of course. Their feet were synchronized, moving exactly the same at a time without them knowing it. I lift the corners of my lip as I called them from behind. 

“Excuse me.” I cleared my throat. “I know that the answer to my question is pretty obvious, but I’ll still ask anyway. Have you seen Samantha?”

 

“She called you earlier, didn’t she?” Rabiya asked back. Her eyebrows shot towards the ceiling, like what she always did unconsciously. She was beautiful, but she didn’t really care how she looked. She had a long, shiny, dyed in fading grey color hair that was extended down to her waist. It bounced smoothly every time she walked. She had no accessories. She never wore any of those. She was the simplest girl in our class, and that made her hotter even more. Her slender body, her long neck, and her fine and narrow fingers were something that would always attract the boys. We would often compare her to Anne Hathaway because she looked exactly like her. But minus the makeup. 

Geodie clicked her tongue. “She must be with Cylvia. I haven’t seen that girl around ever since we got seperated after lunch,” she chimed in, scooping both of her hands into the pocket of her white and seemingly fitted uniform. Geodie was the complete opposite of my sister. If Samantha loved wearing high-heeled stilettos, Geodie loved wearing flats. And when I said flats, I literally meant FLATS. No heels. Not even an inch. She was tall already, about five foot nine, so such elevators would only be useless to her. She was also an arnis player, that’s why men had never dared messing with her because they knew they would only end up puzzling back their broken bones. 

“Where could she be?” I sighed while creasing my forehead. 

Yuri dropped her right arm, the one holding a manga book. “We can try to find her, if you want.” She looked at me as she popped the bubble of her gum. The fragments of it scattered messily over her lips. “We can start from ringing her phone,” she added, gathering the pinkish gum scraps with her tongue to chew it again.

 

“Right.” I took out my phone and rang Samantha’s number. I got no response. I tried it again and again, over four times, but still no answer. 

Geodie and Rabiya shrugged. Yuri closed her book. 

“I guess I have no choice but to begin searching for her,” I uttered, walking past them three to take a turn on the right at the end of the hallway. 

“Wait for us!” they all shouted in unison.

 

When I found myself changing direction, I almost bump with a running Sophomore guy.

Fortunately, I was able to react quickly, and prevent the clash that might have supposedly caused a big impact. “There you are!” he shouted, almost in a surrendering tone. He bent his upper body down, locking his arms on his knees as he began chasing his breath. He was sweating intensely, like he had been running a mile already. 

“Hey! Are you okay?” I asked as I stepped forward and bent down to level my head to him. 

“Yes, yes, I’m okay, don’t mind me.” He continued panting heavily. He waved his left hand before my face to confirm he was really fine. 

A good while later, he stood straight and composed himself. He was as if a messenger sent to me to tell me something very important. And I guessed it right. 

He made a final swipe on his forehead. “Mr. Tan told me to find you,” he began speaking. But the way he started his line, it felt like he won’t be able to finish it. There was too much hesitation in every word, and the intensity of irresolution when he said them was strong. 

“And?” I rose and recovered my self. I looked him straight in the eyes, but he only kept on staring away. “You better say it. I don’t have enough time to talk with you. I have to look for my sister,” I explain. I may have sounded rude, but I didn’t mean it that way. 

He replied snappily. “She’s the reason why I’m here!” 

“What do you mean?”

“She’s in the infirmary. That’s all I know. That’s all what Mr. Tan told me.” For the first time in this elusive conversation, the Sophomore guy allowed his eyes to meet with mine. “You should check on her. Find out the reason why she’s there.” 

After he said that, chills crept like spiders on my back. I didn’t feel any emotion other than anger.

If something terrible happens to her, I wouldn’t mind killing anyone.