Phynoisse

Chapter 6- Phynoisse

“It’s him.” Aeshua said as she slammed the door open. She threw her satchel and goggles on the couch beside the door showing her emerald worried eyes. The three other younger kids who were out with Aeshua followed after her, still happy and merry that they have found Toro.

“That was definitely him.” She walked around the room, biting her fingernails while her hands were fidgeting and cold.

“Calm down, Aeshua. Why not sit for a while and take a sip of this nice cup of tea?”

TEA?!?  

Aeshua rushed to her grandmother’s side to see what she brewed this time. “Nana! No! That’s not tea. That’s boiled metal sheets.” She took the cups from the table and her Nana’s hand and threw them on the sink. She also took the kettle and threw its contents away.

“Oh. Antonio said it was tea.” Nana said with shaking fingers pointing at Antonio who was busy tinkering a small clock.

He stopped. “What? I...I swear I did not, Aeshua. Before you--”

Bam!

“Ouch! You should stop knocking my head that way, you know. I could get can..can..” Antonio stuttered.

“What?” Aeshua laughed out loud knowing that Antonio always stuttered at the word cancer.

“You know. Get horribly sick!” Antonio continued feeling humiliated.

The three other kids snickered and giggled. Frustrated, Antonio pursed his lips,  with a slight furrow between his brows as he stared sharply at Aeshua.

“What are you gonna do, An-twan-yaah” She tauntingly said as she danced while preparing the tea leaves she had stored in one of the shelves.

Blag!

Antonio clenched his fist and slammed his work bench, gritted his teeth, and breathed through his teeth. “I’m DONE!” He stood up, raised his hands on his head, and went straight to the door, slamming it on his way out. They could hear his heavy footsteps descending the stairs while mumbling on his way.

“My, my. Why did Jerry leave immediately? He hasn’t even eaten dinner.” Nana said.

“Nana, that’s not Jerry.” Aeshua replied as she placed the kettle on the stove top.

“That was Antonio. He’ll be back soon. The tea will be ready soon too.” She smiled and came near her, gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Lucas, Aehji, and Jim! Come down here for a while.” Rushing down from the second floor, the three brothers raced towards Aeshua.

“Yeah yeah! I’m frist! I’m frist!” Lucas screamed and danced with enthusiasm while taunting Jim and Aehji.

“Frist! Frist! He said frist!” Jim laughed, holding his stomach and stomping his feet. “It’s pronounced as first, not frist. Idiot!” He laughed some more. 

Instead of getting annoyed, Lucas joined his brother laughing maniacally until they were teary eyed and their stomachs crammed from laughing too much.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

“Excuse me.”

“Boys, I need your full attention” Aeshua clapped to get the kid’s attention. “First, yes Lucas, It’s first. F-I-R-S-T..First. Second, Jim, don’t call your brother, idiot. And third, can you little balls of happiness look after Nana for a while?” She looked at them with puppy eyes and lips pouting.

“What’s in it for us, yeah?” Jim butted and crossed his arms like a grown up man.

“Yeah whash insits for us?” The younger two repeated, copying their elder brother’s actions. 

“Hmm. Let me see.” Aeshua thought. “Well, I could feed you to a *Bouda!” 

The three kids ran beside Nana, hid their faces as Aeshua made scary noises and faces.

“He’ll grab you on your feet, and drag you far far away!” Aeshua added

“Or  I’ll bring you iced cream when I come back, if you keep her company and make sure I still have a home to retreat to.” Aeshua raised her right hand and crossed her heart .

The three kids slowly raised their heads, eyes gleamed the moment they heard iced cream.

“Okay. Iced cream will do.” Jim answered

“But not Gouda!” Lucas said.

“Bouda, Lucas. Bouda.” Aehji corrected.

The kettle screamed as the water boiled. Aeshua turned off the stove top and poured some tea on Nana’s cup and placed some stale biscuits on the table. “I got these from Mrs. Lumbert.” She whispered to Nana.

She faced the three kids, grabbing their own biscuits “Antonio will be back in a while for sure. Take care of everything while I’m gone, balls of happiness. Ta ta!” She waved her hands, and picked up his goggles and satchel before she closed the door. Their house was rickety and old. It swayed slightly as the strong winds blew in their direction. Boards creaking, pieces of  scrap from here and there, a patchwork of anything they could find in order to add stability in their house. 

Aeshua scanned the area, trying to find a clue where Antonio could have gone. They lived in a small neighborhood but the houses were not any different with the metallic trash around them. From afar, she caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

“Gotcha.”

Aeshua jumped over the railings and landed on a muddy surface, splashing some mud on her black boots. She hummed a familiar tune  as she walked towards a group of teenagers, smoking and talking.

She hopped in between them and rested her arms on their shoulders. The moment the four boys realized it was Aeshua, they threw away their cigarettes and stepped on them to put out the heat. 

‘Aeshua, back already from patrol. How was---” Ramsky said.

“Save it, Ramsky. I saw the four of you already. Now, do you know where Antonio went?” Aeshua butted in.

“Yeah. I saw him earlier, gritting. He went to Victoria’s house” Chuck replied.

“Thank you for that, Chuck. Also, you guys should stop smoking. Ta ta!” She then left. What am I doing? Of course! He always goes to Victoria when he’s mad. She thought. Victoria’s house was just two houses to their left so she had to turn around.

“Ey, Aeshua. You got any there?” 

“Oh Mr. Polsky, I’m sorry. I haven’t visited the city but I do have some stale bread here.” She reached from her satchel and brought out a paper bag with two or three breads in it. “It’s not much Mr. Polsky but you can have it.” She handed it to Mr. Polsky before she waved goodbye to him.

“God bless you child.” Mr. Polsky shouted, waving goodbye as Aeshua ran away.

Aeshua jumped and turned around, “We live in a shithole, Mr. Polsky. There is no God, only the Monarch” she laughed as she bolted away.

Nearing the house, she could already hear Antonio’s voice but he wasn’t alone. He also did not sound angry but worried. Gradually, the voices faded. She halted for a while. At that time, she already knew that it was a serious conversation and the front door is not the right way to go. Aeshua looked side to side, making sure no one was looking her way or following her. She creeped behind the house and flipped a big stone beside an old refrigerator. Underneath the stone was a silver key. She grabbed the key and slipped it on the keyhole under the handle of the old fridge. The fridge was just enough for Aeshua to crawl in. Once in, she pulled the string attached on the fridge’s door and the door automatically shut itself. From her satchel, she pulled out a small flashlight, turned it on, and bit it down with her lip as she crawled her way in until she reached another metal door. She knocked on it three times. A small opening slid open on top of the door.

“Who are you?” a croaky voice asked behind the metal door.

“Who cares? I’m long forgotten.” Aeshua replied.

The metal clicked and clanged. She could hear the rusty hinges of the door rubbing on each other as Rico swung the metal door open. 

“Come in, Fast.” Rico closed the door as Aeshua entered the room. There were four people gathered around a rounded table. This was the bunker beneath Victoria’s house.  

“When are they planning on creating the arena?” Antonio asked.

“What happened?” Aeshua butted in as soon as she reached the table. 

“The good for nothing Monarch thought of creating an arena here to punish the criminals..”

“I see. So it’s getting out of hand---”

“Aeshua, out of hand? Have you seen the amount of brothels popping out everywhere? And now an arena for execution? It’s absurd!” Antonio replied angrily.

“Calm down, Antonio. Hot-headed as ever. As if that hot-head of yours could lead us anywhere.” She scolded, flicked his forehead. “By the way, please go home and tend to Nana. I left the twins and Jim in charge for a while. And also” Aeshua reached for the inside of her satchel, looking for spare coins. “Here. Grab some iced cream for the kids. I promised them, I’ll bring them some. Come back when Nana’s asleep.” Antonio tried his best to catch the coins Aeshua threw but some coins fell and  scattered on the ground and he had to pick them up one by one.

Aeshua turned her attention back to the table and called on an older lady in the group “Roana, we saw them this noon while looking for Toro outside of frontal tunnels.”

Surprised, Roana asked. “Whom exactly did you see?”

“Melo Daetes.” Aeshua responded.

Everyone in the room gasped. They all could not believe what Aeshua said. Aeshua stomped her feet and crossed her arms “Do we really need him for this plan to work? We’ve been trying to get him to cooperate or even communicate with him but he shuts us out.”

“You do know that Melo is the only way out of this good for nothing place, Aeshua. I understand that you are getting tired of all this never ending job that we do but we need him to end all these.” Roana explained.

“Easy for you to say, Roana. You never grow old.” Aeshua pouted her lips.

“As if you also grow older than 18 yrs old, Aeshua.” Mathias laughed out loudly hearing Aeshua complain. “How else would Antonio feel!” He leaned backwards and laughed some more but the chair wasn’t sturdy enough to support his weight causing it to fall down. He hit his head on the ground, dirt sticking on his hair.

Amused with the easy return of karma, Aeshua squatted down and rested her chin on her palms. “Aw, karma sure does move faster than the speed of light.” she said.

Roana rolled her eyes and went to Mathias' side. Mathias, on the other hand, rolled sideways, supporting his weight by his elbow. He signaled Roana to stay put. “My only point is…wait one moment” It was all over Mathias’ face. He could not get up due to his heavy weight and short legs. He tried to lift himself up, one more time but he did not move even an inch. 

“I told you, Mathias. Those donuts won’t do you good. Just let me help you get up.” Roana crossed her arms and tapped her foot, getting annoyed with Mathias’ refusal for help.

Finally, Mathias’ gave up and spread his arms above him, “Okay. Okay . I give up. Please help me up, Roana.” Mathias said.

“Tsk.” Roana shook her head. With her other foot forward, she knelt with the other with her arms reaching for Mathias. She held Mathias on his armpits to which Mathias felt a little ticklish. Roana pulled her lip up, pulled her eyebrows down, and wrinkled her nose. She moved her face in the other direction out of disgust, being able to feel Mathias’ wet armpits on her fingers. She pulled him up from a lunging position and up. Mathias, on the other hand, posed as soon as Roana took her hands of him, stains of dirt still could be seen all over his face.

‘Where was I? Oh yes. My point is we all know and we are all affected so the least we could do is complain.” Mathias continued.

Aeshua sighed heavily. Feeling defeated that Mathias made a good point, Aeshua slumped his back on the wall, sliding slowly down till she was sitting on the ground. She buried her face under her arms. “This arena that you were saying. Where exactly are they planning to put it up and when is construction starting?”

Rico pulled out a long rolled up paper and laid it out on the table. He pinned the corners to make sure it would stay in place.

“The west wing aren’t sure yet where it will be placed but it seems that they are dumping their construction materials near the Burner.” Rico replied while encircling on his map the location of the burner. In the middle of their meeting, there came knocking frantically on the metallic door. Rico rush to the door and with his croaky voice he asked,

“Who is it?”

“Who cares? I’m long forgotten?” 

When Rico opened the door, Antonio bolted towards Aeshua, “Aeshua, come quick! It’s Nana.”

The four of them rushed to Aeshua’s house except Mathias who chose to stay in the bunker but as they were approaching the front of the house, they came across the Dr. Lumbert. He removed his fedora and shook his head. Aeshua paused and felt her knees weaken that she fell down on her knees and started crying.

“I’m sorry child.” It was all Dr. Lumbert could say and left.

Nana slipped away gently into the darkness of the night.

.