Kaizer's POV
I was running.
I didn't know where I was going.
The alley stretched endlessly in front of me, the walls on either side darker than they should have been.
And then I saw him.
My father.
He was standing several feet away.
His back was turned toward me.
"Dad!"
He didn't respond.
I ran toward him.
One step.
Two.
Three—
Golden threads suddenly appeared around him.
They wrapped around his body like they had been waiting for him.
I stopped.
"Dad!"
He finally turned.
His expression was strange.
Not afraid.
Not angry.
Just...
empty.
I tried to move forward.
I couldn't.
My feet wouldn't move.
The threads pulled him backward.
"No."
I forced myself forward.
"Wait!"
He disappeared.
Just like that.
Gone.
My breathing became heavier.
I looked around.
The alley was empty.
Then—
I heard a voice.
Come.
I froze.
The voice wasn't my father's.
It was coming from somewhere behind me.
I slowly turned.
And suddenly—
I wasn't in the alley anymore.
I was somewhere else.
Somewhere I hadn't seen for a year.
A car.
Broken glass.
The smell of smoke.
My hands were shaking.
And then I saw her.
My mother.
She was sitting beside me.
Blood stained her forehead.
Her breathing was weak.
Her eyes were barely open.
But she was still looking at me.
Still trying to smile.
"Kaizer..."
My chest tightened.
"No."
I moved toward her.
"Mom."
Her lips moved again.
I couldn't hear her.
"Mom!"
I reached for her hand.
But before I could touch it—
everything went dark.
I woke up.
My eyes opened suddenly.
I sat upright, breathing heavily.
For a few seconds, I didn't know where I was.
My room slowly came back into focus.
The ceiling.
The curtains.
The faint light from outside.
My breathing remained uneven.
I looked toward the clock.
3:07 AM.
I let myself fall back against the pillow.
It was only a dream.
But my hands were still shaking.
I turned onto my side.
And that's when I noticed it.
The black rubber band lying on the table beside my bed.
I stared at it.
I remembered the day Iris had given it to me.
"Keep it. It'll keep bad energies away."
I had just stared at her then.
I didn't believe in things like that.
I still didn't.
But somehow...
I had never thrown it away.
My eyes remained fixed on it.
And, as usual, Iris came to mind.
Not because I wanted her to.
She just...
did.
The way she had looked at me earlier.
The way she had quietly asked—
"Can you hold my hand?"
I remembered how she had stayed beside me when I couldn't hold myself together.
How she had let me cling to her without asking questions.
How she had held my hand in front of my father.
Just to make me calm down.
She hadn't tried to fix anything.
She had simply stayed.
I looked down at my wrist.
The rubber band wasn't there.
I reached toward the table and picked it up.
For a moment, I simply held it between my fingers.
Then I wrapped it around my wrist.
My fingers brushed against it once.
Twice.
I pulled my wrist close to my chest.
Maybe it really did keep bad energies away.
Or maybe...
I just liked having something that reminded me of her.
I closed my eyes.
And this time, I didn't try to sleep.
I simply lay there.
Thinking about her.
Until the night slowly passed.
---
By morning, the nightmare felt distant.
Not gone.
Just quieter.
I was sitting at the table when Iris came into the room.
She looked half-asleep.
Her hair was slightly messy, and she was still rubbing one eye.
She glanced at me.
"Good morning."
"Morning."
She sat across from me.
For a while, neither of us said anything.
The morning was ordinary.
Almost painfully ordinary.
She poured herself some water.
I looked at her.
"You didn't sleep well."
She paused.
"How do you know?"
"You look tired."
She gave me a look.
"You look tired too."
"I slept."
"Technically, I also slept."
I almost smiled.
"Then we're both fine."
"Exactly."
She took another sip of water.
For a few minutes, we talked about nothing important.
Classes.
Work.
The weather.
The fact that neither of us had been able to concentrate properly on studies lately.
It felt strange.
Yesterday, my father had disappeared.
We had watched him vanish.
And yet this morning...
we were sitting here discussing whether we had enough time to finish our assignments.
Maybe that was how life worked.
Something terrible happened.
And the next morning still arrived.
My phone suddenly started ringing.
I looked at the screen.
Kuya.
I answered.
"Hello?"
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Then he spoke.
"Kaizer."
His voice was different.
My expression changed.
"What happened?"
"I confirmed it."
I sat straighter.
"Confirmed what?"
Another pause.
"He is officially missing."
I didn't speak.
Across the table, Iris looked at me.
She knew immediately.
My brother continued.
"The police are asking questions. They want to talk to the people who were with him last."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"Us?"
"Yeah."
I looked at Iris.
She was already watching me.
"We need to go to the police station."
I swallowed.
"Okay."
He exhaled.
"I'll meet you there."
The call ended.
For a moment, neither Iris nor I moved.
Then she quietly reached across the table.
Her fingers found mine.
I looked down.
She didn't say anything.
She didn't need to.
I held her hand.
And for the first time that morning, the nightmare didn't feel quite so far away.
---
My brother was already waiting outside the police station when we arrived.
He stood near the entrance with his arms crossed, looking more irritated than worried.
I knew that expression.
He was worried.
He just hated showing it.
"You're late," he said.
"We came as soon as we could," Iris replied.
He looked at her, then at me.
"Whatever. Come on."
We followed him inside.
The police station was quieter than I expected.
A few officers were speaking among themselves while another sat behind a desk, going through some papers.
One of them looked up when we approached.
"Kaizer?"
"Yes."
"I need you three to answer a few questions regarding the missing person."
Kuya nodded.
The officer gestured toward the chairs.
"Sit."
We sat down.
Iris was beside me.
Kuya sat on my other side.
The officer opened a file.
"According to the information we've received, the last confirmed sighting of your father was yesterday morning."
I nodded.
"Were you with him?"
"No."
"Then?"
I hesitated.
"The three of us were coming back home when we spotted him on the way."
The officer looked at his notes.
"Where did you see him?"
"Near an alley."
"What alley?"
I gave him the location.
He wrote it down.
"What was he doing there?"
I looked at Iris for half a second.
She was already looking at me.
There was no way I could tell him the truth.
Not here.
Not like this.
"He was just standing there," I said.
"Did you speak to him?"
"No."
"Did he appear intoxicated?"
Kuya immediately answered.
"Yes, but..."
The officer looked at him.
"You're sure?"
"I've known him long enough to know when he's drunk. But yesterday was different."
The officer nodded and turned back toward me.
"What happened afterward?"
My fingers tightened slightly.
"I saw him walk toward the alley."
"And?"
"I followed."
"And then?"
I looked down.
"I couldn't find him."
The officer frowned.
"You lost sight of him?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"I don't know."
"Seconds? Minutes?"
"Seconds."
His pen stopped moving.
"Then how did you not see where he went?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Because I had.
I had seen exactly where he went.
He had simply...
disappeared.
The officer looked at me.
"Mr. Kaizer?"
"I don't know."
He studied my face for a moment before writing something down.
"Did anyone else see him?"
I glanced toward Kuya.
"He did," I said.
My brother nodded.
"I saw him near the alley."
The officer turned toward Iris.
"And you?"
"I followed them."
"Did you see the missing person?"
"Yes."
"Did you see him leave?"
"No."
Another silence.
The officer closed the file halfway.
"Is there anything unusual about the situation that you think we should know?"
My heart sank.
Unusual.
There were a hundred things.
Golden threads.
A voice.
A disappearance that shouldn't have been possible.
The fact that only Iris and I could see what was happening.
But none of those things sounded believable.
So I simply shook my head.
"No."
The officer nodded slowly.
"Alright. If you remember anything else, contact us immediately."
Kuya stood first.
"We will."
The officer looked at him.
"One more thing."
Kuya stopped.
"Your father hasn't contacted anyone since yesterday?"
"No."
"Then we should consider this a missing-person case until we have more information."
"Understood."
We left the room.
For a few seconds, none of us spoke.
The moment we stepped outside, kuya let out a long breath.
"I don't believe this."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"He was there yesterday."
"Yes."
"And now he's just gone."
I didn't answer.
He rubbed his forehead.
"I'll call if I hear anything."
He looked at us.
"You two go."
"Where are you going?" Iris asked.
"I have some things to check."
He turned away.
Then stopped.
"And Kaizer?"
I looked at him.
"Don't isolate yourself."
I didn't respond.
He gave me one last look before walking away.
I watched him disappear down the street.
Iris stepped beside me.
For a moment, we just stood there.
Then she reached for my hand.
I looked down.
Our fingers intertwined naturally.
Neither of us commented on it anymore.
We simply started walking.
Neither of us knew where this would lead.
But at least...
we weren't walking alone.
The streets were quieter than usual.
Maybe because it was still early.
Or maybe because my mind was simply too occupied to notice the usual noise around us.
Iris was still holding my hand.
Neither of us had mentioned it.
It had become strangely normal lately.
After a while, she broke the silence.
"Do you think they'll find him?"
I looked ahead.
"I don't know."
She nodded.
Neither of us said anything for a few seconds.
Then I noticed her looking at me.
"What?"
"You're worrying about studies."
I frowned.
"I'm worrying about my father."
"You can do both."
I gave her a look.
She smiled faintly.
"I'm serious. We haven't been able to concentrate properly for days."
"I know."
"You have your final year coming up."
"So do you."
She shook her head.
"Not exactly."
I looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"My school is ending."
I already knew that.
But hearing her say it made it feel different.
"You're going to university."
"Hopefully."
"When are your entrance exams?"
"Two or three days after the farewell."
I stopped walking for half a second.
"That's soon."
"I know."
She looked down at our hands.
"I'll have to start preparing properly."
"You haven't?"
"I have."
"That didn't sound convincing."
She looked at me.
"I've been busy."
"With work."
"And other things."
I knew what she meant.
The disappearances.
The journal.
Everything neither of us could explain.
I sighed.
"Maybe we should study."
She smiled.
"Maybe."
We continued walking.
After a while, the familiar café came into view.
Iris slowed down.
"I have work."
"I know."
She turned toward the entrance.
"You should go home."
"I will."
"Don't stay outside unnecessarily."
"I won't."
She looked at me for a moment.
Then smiled.
"You should at least have something before you go."
"I can eat at home."
"You probably won't."
I didn't answer.
She pointed toward the café.
"Sit. Drink something. Then go."
I sighed.
"You're becoming bossy."
"I've always been bossy."
I almost smiled.
She was about to walk inside when someone suddenly entered through the café's front door.
I recognized him immediately.
"Uncle?"
He stopped.
His eyes widened slightly when he saw me.
"Kaizer?"
Then his gaze shifted to Iris.
"Oh."
Iris smiled politely.
"Hello, Uncle."
He smiled back.
"Hello, Iris."
I looked at him.
"Why are you here?"
"I was meeting someone."
Iris suddenly looked interested.
"You're meeting someone?"
My uncle glanced at her.
"Yes."
She smiled.
"That's nice."
I didn't think much of it.
I already knew he had been seeing someone.
He had mentioned it once.
Nothing serious enough for me to ask questions about.
At least, that's what I thought.
Then my uncle looked toward the counter.
"I'll be inside for a while."
"Okay."
He walked away.
I turned toward Iris.
"Do you know who he's meeting?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Then she paused.
"Actually..."
"What?"
"My manager is also seeing someone."
I looked at her.
"Your manager?"
"Yeah manager Celine."
I had heard the name before.
Only because Iris occasionally mentioned her.
Strict.
Organized.
Apparently terrifying when someone messed up an order.
But Iris respected her.
"She told you?"
Iris nodded.
"Not directly. She mentioned that she was meeting someone."
I looked toward the café.
Then toward my uncle.
Iris followed my gaze.
We both went silent.
"No," she said.
I frowned.
"What?"
She looked at me.
"Your uncle is meeting someone here."
"Yes."
"My manager is meeting someone."
"Yes."
She slowly raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me..."
I looked toward the counter again.
A woman was walking toward my uncle.
Iris's manager.
I had never seen her before.
But Iris had.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh."
I looked at Iris.
"That's your manager?"
She nodded slowly.
"That's her."
I looked back at them.
My uncle was talking to her.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing secretive.
They simply stood there, speaking quietly like two adults who had met many times before.
I looked at Iris again.
"So..."
She nodded.
"Your uncle."
"My manager."
Another pause.
"They're the same people."
I nodded.
Apparently, they were.
I couldn't help looking at Iris.
She seemed equally surprised.
"I didn't know."
"Neither did I."
We stood there for another moment.
Then Iris smiled faintly.
"At least they're both adults who seem to know what they're doing."
I looked at my uncle.
He was laughing quietly at something Celine had said.
"Hopefully."
Iris looked at me.
We simply stood there, watching two people who had somehow managed to keep the same relationship completely separate from both of us.
Then Iris looked at the clock.
"I should get to work."
"Right."
She started walking toward the counter.
After a few steps, she turned around.
"You're still going home after drinking something."
I sighed.
"Yes."
"Good."
She smiled and disappeared behind the counter.
I stood there for another moment.
Then looked toward my uncle again.
He noticed me.
He gave me a small, knowing smile.
I immediately looked away.
I had a feeling that conversation was going to happen eventually.
Just...
not today.