*RATATATATATATATATATA!!!*
Bullets were sprayed all over the ceiling as the civilians stuck inside couldn't help but scream and shudder at these terrorists. Falling dust and rubble followed as the bullets hit the surface.
It was the tallest guy, he was wearing what seemed to be a pink leather vest, adorned with heavy fur on the collars, along with a pair of skin tight pink leather pants with some white high-cut chucks on his feet. And finally sporting a fade with the crispiest lineup you've ever seen. All of this topped off with grill glasses.
"I ain't leaving here until I find that Boom Radio Killah!"
Nothing but the sound of people in distress
"Aight boys! Put some lead at the back of they heads"
The two other armed men approached behind the tables as the people were crouching while shivering. As soon as one of the barrels touched one of the civilians' heads, they got startled, some of them even yelled "please please please nooooo! You don't have to do this pleeeeeeaaase!"
The tallest man kicked over the table from where the civilians are hiding, one by one. The dining room was filled with nothing but the sounds of tables tumbling as they were kicked around from cover.
"Boom Radio Killer! On the count of 3, if you don't show yourself Imma turn these brodies into swiss cheese!"
The civilians clamored in panic as they shook uncontrollably
One!..."
A few of the hostages started praying, some are even asking for forgiveness
"Two!..."
One of the terrorists started sweating while their trigger fingers were trembling.
"THREE!"
*BANG*
The staff door slams open from the side - from which Kremidal emerged.
"WAIT!"
Everyone in the vicinity darted their view towards him. He yelled while his arms were spreading a stop gesture
"Can't we be more reasonable and not hurt civilians?"
The tallest gunman took off his glasses after lowering his weapon as he exclaimed "Oh my goodness! Is that who I think it is?"
Kremidal's face lit up as he shouted "Dee?!"
Dee tackles him, hugging him by the waist while lifting him up as he asks "Oh my goodness, I didn't mean to disturb your lunch… potiff~"
As soon as Dee drops Kremidal down he dusts himself off; he asks Dee "The hell of an entrance you got there, whatchu doing here anyway?"
"It's always a race with you huh Kremmy? Didn't you hear? There's a back-breaking bounty on the 'Boom Radio Killer'!"
Zephyr's eyes widened, jaw dropped as he's dumbfounded from Dee's words
Kremidal crosses his arms while leaning to the side "Why are you armed to the teeth? How much is the guy's bounty anyway?"
"Hold up g, lemme see" Dee pulls out his phone, then he fiddles inside "Aha! Here you go"
It's a social media post from the Cydonia Police Department, with only showing footage of the aftermath of the massacre
[The mysterious Boom Radio Massacre Killer is reported to have a total of 134 confirmed kills and counting
Whoever finds the suspect Dead or alivewill be rewarded a total of
10,000,000,000 Chips.
Investigations claim that the killer was last seen west from the Boom Radio building]
Kremidal whistled the moment he saw the bounty, he shouts "What a bounty! I am the boom radio killer! You can slap my wrists now" He says as he raises his hands towards Dee
Zephyr gasps
Dee just wraps his arms around Kremidal's shoulders cackling "Goddamit Kremmy, this ripper just never takes anything seriously!"
The both of them just kept laughing, then Misty pops up from the kitchen door. She tiptoes right in front of the two boys, then Dee notices "Ope! Sorry ma'am but have you seen the boom radio killer?"
Misty straightened her posture to say "Heh, what are the odds! I'm looking for him too-"
Dee cackled "then we better turn this man in and split the money!"
Then the three of them burst out laughing.
The other two gunmen also began to lower their guard, while the civilians slowly crawl away
Dee notices this "Ope! Ya'll can go now - as for the restaurant, I'll be payin' up pronto!"
Kremidal nudges him saying "Ooooh! Is your new job paying you that good?"
Dee pulls out a vape pen then he takes a little puff "Yep, the G.O.A.T.'s been paying good, I mean look at the truck he gave me-"
Poppy's eyes widened while her earlobes rose, she began to peek her head out of the kitchen door.
Dee continues "Well I'll be leaving, tell the owner o' this place that I'll be paying for repairs, c'mon peeps - let's bounce" Dee and the other two gunmen went on their way back to the vehicle.
However, right before one of them could hop onto the truck, Dee suddenly gets a knife lodged in the back of his shoulder!
"Yeaaaaooowch!" He knelt down as the blood began to stain his clothes, with a few of the drops plopping onto the floor. "What the fuck Kremidal!"
Kremidal kicked him while he was on his knees, dropping him on the ground. The other two gunmen quickly shot one bullet
He side-stepped
Another
He caught with his finger
And another to the head
He caught it with his teeth
The gunmens' faces stretched open with shock, as they immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands.
"Hmph! Seems like you taught these idiots well Dee! Who do you work for? Repeat that again for me please?" He scoffed while he presses his foot against Dee's head
"No please Krem! Don't do this I- I know what you do, I'll be snitching please, whatever questions you have - I'm ready to answer!"
"Answer the question Dee" Kremidal shifts his weight on the leg, while Dee audibly groans in pain
"I'm working for the G.O.A.T.!"
Kremidal giggled "Good boy, now Poppy~" He looks towards the kitchen door; he saw Poppy peeking on the looking hole "- get in here love"
She walks toward Kremidal while his getas were still pressed against Dee's head. "Now Poppy, tell Dee what his boss did to you"
Poppy squatted down and poked his head with a finger while Kremidal's foot was smushing his face "*poke* *poke* Yo darky! -You listening?"
"*groan* I- I'm listening!" he whispered "racist bitch"
"What's that? Kremidal could you press harder?"
Kremidal wasn't putting his weight on one of his legs at this point "Sorry Pops, that was pretty racist, I'm not gonna hold you down this time"
She clicked her tongue right before saying "Your boss violently assaulted me when I was 8, you're lucky I'm in a good mood - so would you kindly tell me where he's staying?"
Dee just kept panting while sweating profusely "Ha! He's right before the entrance to the nose of Cydonia - He's got a hideout there!"
"Krem, push a little deeper"
Kremidal clenches his fists while he digs his wooden getas on the side of Dee's face
"RRAAAAAGGHHHHHH! I swear that's all I know!"
Poppy looks up to Kremidal, he only shrugged whilst raising his eyebrows - then his face lit up followed by him whispering "Oh! Ask him about one of the relics!"
Poppy nodded "Dee right? You know anything about relics?"
He answered with heavy breaths "*gasp* ah shit! We er… We've actually got em' *pant* on auction at the *pant*City Hall Auction house"
Kremidal takes his foot off of Dee's face. Dee slowly sat up while groaning then he exclaimed "Man why do you gotta do that?! You know I have my other nostril broken already!"
Kremidal with a deadpan face asked "You got your wallet?"
Dee looks at him with his face visibly pissed off while it's covered in sweat and dirt "What, you've beaten me already - so now you wanna rob me too?!"
Kremidal aggressively points his finger towards Dee as he shouts "I was gonna ask you to bite it down because I'm gonna pull the knife out from your arm - dumbass!"
Kremidal gets behind him while Poppy was holding his right arm.
"Ah shit it's serrated" said Kremidal
Dee still bites down his wallet while audibly crying, the moment Poppy gets a hold of his wrist he immediately starts sweating
"Alright big guy I'm gonna pull your arm okay, on the count of three!-
One!-
Two!-
Three!"
Even when biting through the wallet, what followed was a blood-curdling, muffled, guttural scream.
Back in the kitchen. The rest of the staff have already left as it was Zephyr was the only one left.
"Boy, you look like you've seen a ghost" said Misty while she's patting his shoulder.
His body jumped lightly as he gasped "ah! Don't sneak up on me like that! It's just- everything's fine, sorry if we're dragging you into this mess"
She waves her hands sporadically "No no! It's fine - this is "a usual" for this city, no?"
Zephyr peeks through the door window "I mean, when you put it like that -" He sees the armed gunmen are already boarding the pickup truck. "Let's go- coast is clear!"
Kremidal and Poppy noticed the other two exit the kitchen, then Kremidal said "That was easier than expected" He looks at Misty "Luv, looks like we're not gonna have a normal day - I think it's best for us to just talk through the line."
Misty replied "That's not a problem, I was thinking the same too. But the man mentioned an auction-"
Kremidal interrupts her with "I said we should speak about that through the line- since the city's piping hot, right now we need to lay low and cool down"
Fast forward to all of them boarding their respective vehicles. Zephyr waddled towards Kremidal's car, once he arrived he knocked on the window.
"Er… Krem, you got a minute?"
Kremidal answered "If this is something important- get in the car"
Zephyr opened the door to the back, but he only sees Poppy sitting on his side
"Uh… Could you scooch over?"
She was looking in front, but once she heard that she looked away and didn't even move an inch. So Kremidal said
"Just sit right here next to me"
Zephyr places his crutches on the side of the seat, then he finally sits down followed by a sighed, he says
" I know, that you know, that you know, that I know"
Kremidal and Poppy look at him, Kremidal raises one eyebrow while his jaw is dropped. Poppy on the other hand had both of her eyebrows down and her lips pursed, then both of them said
"What?"
Zephyr sighed "You know what I'm talking about, is it okay for Poppy to hear it?"
Poppy said from the backseat "I don't give a shit about anything you say"
Zephyr shrugged then looked back at Kremidal "Look, Krem I know you're the Boom Radio Killer-"
Kremidal suddenly exclaimed "Finally someone that's not stupid"
Then Zephyr interrupted "Yeah because me and Poppy are the only ones that are aware you're able to do such a massacre, but on this scale? This is your first!
Aren't you worried one of us may turn you in?"
Kremidal scoffs "Puh-lease, if there's anyone that can actually put me down, it would be my greatest student, so trust me: none of you still are, or anyone from this city.
Plus the government doesn't actually give out bounties that big willy nilly"
Zephyr scratches his head while saying "My point is everybody after our asses now, because we're your affiliates!"
"Then leave" Kremidal shugged
Zephyr's face stretched open as he was flabbergasted from what he's heard
Kremidal scoffs again "You can go back to your family, that you always said you hated so much, so please- nobody is stopping you"
Zephyr looks away, he grips his crutches tighter… it loosens.
With a click he has opened the car door, he pulls his crutches right beside the seat, he mounts them under his armpits as he looks back to Kremidal one more time.
Kremidal's lips pursed while he looks away. Zephyr walked away while the car door slowly closed automatically as he left.
While driving away; inside the car Kremidal spots poppy from the rear mirror. Her lips were pouted, her eyebrows slanted down, her looking down while it was half-open.
Kremidal couldn't do anything but sigh and look back at the road.
The night arrives after dropping Poppy off back to the clinic, Kremidal drops back to the motel he's staying at, the place was outside Cydonia. The parking lot was dusty, barely any concrete on the floor. As soon as he parked his car, dust followed behind the wheels.
Finally arriving at his room, he opens the door with a keycard. After swiping the door beeped then it opened itself.
It was dark, yet inside the room he noticed a beeping blue light- so he opened the lights.
It's gone
He closed it again
It's back again, but this time he closes the door; leaving the room pitch black. This time he clicks on his phone twice activating its flashlight. It brightly shone; he quickly pointed it in the direction it's blinking.
It's a jacket - the same jacket that was looted from the Dame: boss of boom radio - it was in a breast pocket lighting a red light every second, he quickly scuffled it around as he finally touched it with his fingertips.
He pulled out what seemed to be a disc, with a velcro pad right behind it, he noticed it had a lens; an actual camera lens - the red light was emitting from it this whole time. He quickly slams it on the ground then stomps it with all his eight onto his heel.
Shards of plastic, glass and fiberglass scattered onto the carpet, as the small light on the camera slowly faded to black. He checked the pieces with his foot, looking if there's still components that were intact.
Suddenly he heard a car drive by from the outside, he heard its tires screeching through the dusty road outside, as he took a peek from the blinders, it was a black muscle car - half of it was enveloped in a dust cloud caused by the tires.
One man wearing a cowboy outfit stepped up from the car, then a woman who's also wearing a cowgirl attire stepped down from the car.
The guy asked "'Yer sure this's the place pumpkin?"
"Beats me, cuz I ain't J.Z. (Johnny Zambubu) with that bullshit info - ain't now way that boom radio killer is staying at a run-down motel"
The guy leaned in her direction "But yer here aren't cha?"
As Kremidal sees them look over the motel, he immediately looks away from the blinders. While his back was against the window, he breathed in deeply, then out.
"I need to get everyone out of here"
He suddenly sees the back of the room where the small window resides
"Maybe I'm the one that should"
While he quickly opens his luggage, he picks out clothes then stripping the ones he's wearing.
While that's happening, the two bounty hunters kept knocking at the doors of guest rooms loudly
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
Doors creak as a guest appeared, the man had lipstick smeared on his lips, he's got nothing on him except a chastity belt
"Mmmmmcan I help you fine couple?"
The male bounty hunter leans onto the door while it's still chained.
"Good evening sir! Me and my partner here are federal agents, we're looking for somebody sporting a brown leather jacket and-"
The naked man shushes him by putting his finger into the bounty hunter's mouth, then he says while his speech is slurred "Look baby, me and my mistress are having a session, why don't you ask the other guests - ay buddy? Didn't you see the do not disturb? Do you read English? Thanks! Goodnight!"
Then the door got shut right onto his face, he slowly reaches for the gun on his hip, but his partner stopped him
"Hey hey hey! We're not here for them, we're here for the bounty remember? Let's just ask the others, okay?"
Kremidal was already dressed with a different outfit, albeit a more rugged outfit compared to his usual pontiff uniform, but his hair was still tied to a bun.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*
They knock on the next door, as the cowgirl sticks her ear to the door
"Good evening federal agent, we need to inspect the rooms please"
No answer, girl stepped back while the guy said "Ah well looks like it's in the other-"
She kicks down the door through the inside
"What the-!"
She points inside the room, no one is there, but the jacket is still hanging inside the room, they see the tracker scattered on the beige carpet.
He notices that wind from the window is making the curtains move, they quickly bolted towards it, as they look over the window they see Kremidal calmly walking away.
They jumped out from the window, both of them squatted as they dropped down, dust gusted away from them.
"Hey mister! Federal Agents! Stop and put your hands up or we'll be forced to use force!"
He stops on his tracks and slowly raises his hands. The cold wind in the night seemingly starts to blow a little harder.
"Hopefully that's him, go! Go! Go!"
They sprinted towards him, but the strong wind pushed them aside just a little bit with every step. They slowed down as soon as they got near him, they pulled their guns right from their holsters, cocks the hammers and they point them directly at him.
The cowgirl shouted with the wind repeatedly muffling her voice "Sir any resistance will be used against you, you have the right to submit and remain silent"
Kremidal yells "Can't we do this farther from the hotel?"
He was suddenly kicked from behind.
The cowgirl presses her knees against his back while saying "This is the farthest we can allow sir!"
"Pumpkin you sure this is our guy?" said the cowboy while he's helping her tie Kremidal up
"Of course he is, what makes you think he escaped?"
They proceeded to pull him by the legs and drag his body through the sand, after that they shove him inside their car, the cowboy giggled "Goddayum! Easiest 10 Billion chips of my life!"
Kremidal laid flat on the backseat, while the two hopped on the front seats, they began to drive to the road back to Cydonia.
From the backseat, they low raspy chuckle. The wind outside howled along with the screams and gunshots slowly fading away as the car went off course from the far distance, one can faintly see the clear windows of the car turn opaque red and the noise of the screeching tires fading in the distance.
At the same time transitioning to the clinic, a tennis ball comes flying across the court
*SMASH*
The tennis ball comes flying back towards Poppy, she steps to the left, she dropped so low that her legs split
"RAAHH"
She swings her racket as the ball hits it, her sweat disperses around her, the ball blitzes towards her opponent.
Her opponent swings from the hip, propelling the ball in breakneck speed
As it goes over Poppy's head, she swings downward but she misses, she turns her back lunging down, she feels her thigh muscles stretch, one can even see the individual tissues contort and stretch. Then she swung her racket "FUCK" - successfully hitting it while her back is turned
Quickly turning back; her opponent prepares an overhead smash while saying "That was nuts!" *thwack* the ball travels downward to the right.
Poppy tries to swing back, but she missed
She walked towards the ball, sighs while picking up, then she walks back to the center, she glares at her opponent while bouncing the ball then she jumps then serves, the ball travels to the far right.
Her opponent hits it with little force this time, making the ball bounce in such a low height, it barely grazes the net.
Poppy blitzed down near the edge of the court as she split her legs again.
She, sprung up from the split, sidesteps to the ball's direction, then she hits the ball once; it vertically flies to the air.
Her opponent bolted in the same direction towards Poppy. But as the ball was within her reach, she smashes it in a completely different direction. Her opponent was completely out of reach from the ball, not even having a chance of a near miss swing.
"That's enough, Miss Puffins - we've gathered enough data for today" said the doctor from a secluded room.
Poppy was huffing heavily, you could see small breath clouds as she did, steam was coming out from her exposed skin, while her sweat was still soaking her tennis gear.
She approaches her opponent who was visibly more gassed out, then they said while still panting heavily
"Nice match ma'am, you should join us in the mini grand slam this week!"
"Nah, I'm good - I'm busy with errands this week, see you in the next session though!"
The both of them nodded their goodbyes. While her opponent left - she headed to the clinic laboratory.
She opens the facility's door as she meets the doctor inside.
"Ah Ms. Puffins, I have great news!
You've exceeded every performance exam we tested for your legs, including this side to side speed and stability test. Don't you feel any neurological discomfort while playing, do you?"
She shrugged "not really, it only stings in the back when I wake up from sleep, but do we have any more tests doc?"
The doctor shook his head "nope, I think that'll be all for today, we can't fatigue your legs, so right now: it best to get some rest." The doctor handed out a plastic pouch with a cap inside, she asked. While shaking the pouch
"What's this doc?"
"Oh that's just a recovery mix for post-workouts, it's got enough protein and vitamins to help you recover faster!"
She pulls her gym bag up while she's about to turn her back to the exit "Well alright thanks doc, can I… go home now?"
"Sure!"
But then she suddenly stopped on her tracks "Ah crap! I forgot Kremidal's not with me anymore-"
The doctor frisks his pockets then revealing his keys "I can take you a ride home, besides; it's almost the end of my shift"
She smiles.
Fast forward late at night, her doctor dropped her off at the apartment she's temporarily staying in. The night was windy and cold.
She headed to the elevator of the complex, luckily no one was there so she didn't have to wait.
*PEEN* *PON* The elevator jingled "[Please watch your step]"
As soon as she steps in, the doors slowly close as the hum of the ventilation fills the room, she looks around the chrome silver walls of the elevator, she turns around as she looks at the mirror. Since her hair was down, she caresses it, then she combs her fingers. She looks down and notices that her hair reaches down to her knees.
In glittering vibrant pink, she clutches one of her locks.
"[Please select floor]"
She lightly got startled as the button matrix kept blinking, she clicked the floor of her room. The moment she arrived on her floor, her room was the only one whose lights are not lit. As she tapped the keycard on her room the door opened on itself.
As soon as she entered her room, opening the lights revealed a bright yellow room, with a pink bed on the side. On the nightstand lies a ballerina shaped lamp, in which the skirt was the shade, on her bed were several stuffed animals.
She strips down to her undergarments, she noticed herself on her own full-body mirror.
Her body; skinny, stringy, bones and tendons poking inside her skin, she caresses her ribs on the side then down to the carbon fiber plating on her waist.
She took a deep breath and sighed.
Skipping farther the night, she's finally done bathing and she's now only wearing her blue pajamas, she flops onto the bed and the moment she lands, the stuffed animals fly up for a moment then drop down to her body.
She checks her phone one more time, setting an alarm to 7 am
The phone says "8 hours until alarm rings"
She sharply sighs and closes her eyes.
But then she remembered to take the post-workout slop her doctor gave her. She sucks it down from its cap while squeezing it, it tastes so bad that her spine tingled.
Then she slides it all down with a few gulps from her metal water bottle.
Now she finally sighs and sleeps for good.
She opens her eyes, and realizes she's in a hospital bed, for the surrounding lights are blue, she looks at the side of her bed only to find out Kremidal, albeit it's a younger version of him. No facial hair and very little wrinkles on his face.
She reaches her hand towards him but all he did was walk away, then her bed suddenly crumbles piece by piece, she finds herself falling in the void, suddenly chains catches her fall; it wraps round her ankles, wrists, and neck.
It cuts off her breathing, as she gags uncontrollably. Within the darkness, she saw an amalgamation of a goat human hybrid, whose limbs only flail as it walks. Neither does it have a silhouette of a man nor animal.
It only shows itself as a walking pile of flesh, then a tongue suddenly protrudes from a teeth ridden whole from the creature as it rubs on her stomach
The cold saliva made her whole body shudder, she tries to scream - but she can't.She could only let out a pathetic whimper
Then it spoke
"Haa, princesssssss…"
*GASP*
Poppy suddenly woke up with cold sweat soaking her pajamas up. She hyperventilates while touching her face and body, she lifts up her blankets, and her legs are still the same modular ones.
She started sobbing uncontrollably, she gut-wrenchingly moaned every time she gags on her own saliva, tears and sweat began to mix together on her face, as she wrapped her arms around her shoulder, shuddering in the dimly lit room.
Where no one can hear her cry.
But then she stops.
Her breath turned shaky while her fingers began to claw her own face, pulling the skin down.
Her watch vibrates and says "[warning! Abnormal heart rate detected!]"
She got up from her bed, then opened her closet. Behind the closet lies a hidden door, where all of her weapons are hanging, organized by size and purpose, countless knives and firearms - all of them are small enough to conceal in a pocket.
She switched her clothes from pajamas to a more combat ready outfit.
A denim vest in which every space on the inside is filled to the brim with knives, gun holsters on the chest as she preps with pocket pistols, she ties her hair into twin pigtails, then finally she equipped herself with combat boots that ride up all the way to the knees.
Meanwhile at Zephyr's place.
It was raining lightly tonight, he's wearing a raincoat, limping alone on the sidewalk. The only thing filling the night was the sound of the rain hitting his coat. Street lamps illuminate the streets, as he can see his own reflection on the shallow puddles.
The area was surrounded by apartment complexes, however the place has electric cables tangled between blocks, clothes hanging in balconies. Cars and scooters are parked bumper to bumper between blocks, finally he arrives at his destination.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
"Is anybody home?"
He knocks again
"Helloooo… Anyone there?!"
He sighs and knocks one more time
"Tao po!"
Suddenly he hears a muffled "Teka lang!"
The door clicks, crackles, and clanks as it finally opens, a woman answers the door.
"Who are they?" she looked up at Zephyr and gasped "Nak, It's you! Come in! Come in! We just finished dinner!"
She lets him in while his coat was still dripping wet
"C'mon nak, let me hang these for you." She takes off the raincoat while she shouts
"Pa! Someone special is at the door!"
A voice from upstairs echoes "Wait! Pababa na 'ko"
As his mother finally took off the coat and went on to hang his coat, his father finally stepped down the stairs. He sparked a smile on his face when he appeared climbing down, however…
As soon as he found out it was Zephyr, he turned a straight blank face and stopped climbing down the stairs.
"Oh Zephyr…"
"Hi pa"
His father looked at him from head to toe from upstairs. He even lock his eyes on his crutch.
"You gained weight… nak"
Zephyr puts his hands on his pockets and turns his head away while he sneaks a few sideeyes
"I've been bulking… pa"
His mother arrives on the scene, seeing the two of them face-off. Her eyebrows squeezed together while she grimaced. She looks back and forth between them for a few seconds before breaking the silence.
"Um… Nak, I've reheated tonight's dinner, why don't you come sit with us?"
Since the living room is connected to the kitchen, he sits on the sofa; his father climbed down the stairs to sit on the couch near the stairs.
At this moment the two of them sat in front of each other with a coffee table separating them.
With his father's back resting, his fingers clasped while his thumbs twiddle "So… nak- how's your job as a servant of god? Eating good I see?"
"Er…"
His mother suddenly arrived, serving him a bowl of rice and fried fish, with some eggs on the side.
"Oh- thanks Ma"
His mother said while she tried to sit right next to the father on another sofa. "Nak… We have not heard from you in years since you turned 18 ha. What happened to your leg?"
They didn't notice that he's actually already taken a bite, He swallowed before he said "Ma- I'm…" he looked at his bandaged knee "I just fell down a flight of stairs, just a stupid misstep."
His mother gasped as she covered her mouth "Oh my god pa!"
His father hammered his fist on the armrest while he exclaimed "This is what I was saying when you have not proven anything yet! Do you know how worried your Mama is!? She cannot sleep at night!
No video call, no text! Nothing!"
Zephyr swallowed another bite as he timidly said "But what about the money I sent you?"
His father leaned forward and shouted "You sent us nothing but change! You keep posting about your podcast, and puro na lang yabang about how much money you earn!"
He he shot up from his seat pointing his finger
"WALA KANG UTANG NA LOOB!"
Zephyr's spoon froze halfway to his mouth.
He looked down at the rice.
Then very quietly he put the spoon back in the bowl.
His mother quickly approached his father, pushing down his shoulder while saying "Pa your high-blood, please relax" then she suddenly looks at Zephyr.
"Nak, if it is okay to ask. Why did you come home?"
Zephyr slowly swallowed another bite "I just needed a place to sleep for the time being"
His father sternly said "I want you out in the next morning ha?!" Then he swatted away his wife's hands while he said "stay out of this!" He proceeded to storm off upstairs.
Further into the night.
He sleeps on the sofa wrapping himself with blankets, then he hears somebody climb down the stairs.
It was his mom! Yet she was climbing down quietly, but each step creaked. She finally climbs down then heads straight to her respective couch.
Zephyr sat up and asked "Ma, why are you still awake?"
"Nak shhh! He's a light sleeper so be quiet"
Zephyr whispered "Why are you still awake?"
She whispered "Mama is excited, Happy ako that you're sleeping here with us, I also want to know how is your girlfriend?"
He tilts his head to the side "Girlfriend?"
His mother showed him a picture where it's him and Poppy hanging out together "She looks very cute and her hair is very beautiful! What's her name?"
His shoulder relaxed while he answered "Oh that post is a long time ago. her name is Poppy ma - she's… not my girlfriend"
She firmly gasps her phone "You should marry her, she looks very cute ha!"
"Ma that's an old post. That was 1st year in the church, besides, Poppy is quite the handful"
*DING*
His phone loudly pinged, he pulled it out from the sofa's cushion as it opened by itself. It's a notification for…
"An Uber? But I never booked a- wait I forgot! Poppy uses my account!
But it's past midnight?"
His face shot wide open as it struck him, he gasped
"Oh no"