THE AUTHOR (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER 11 - CRUCIFY!

Adie and I headed to Pampanga, needless to say my curiosity was reaching its peak. As much as I bothered Adie with it, he wouldn’t enclose a detail as to why we were traveling to Pampanga. I just knew that travelling there was had to do with ‘Adie's extreme measures’ plan, which made me uneasy. Adie could seriously go overboard sometimes, like how he managed to hire a paranormal ‘expert’, whom I doubted, and to this day was unsuccessful in finding Wisdom.

"Adie, so what exactly are we doing in Pampanga?" I turned to Adie, which at the time, was wearing a sleeping mask. Yeah... this was normal considering Adie was involved.

"I'll tell you when we get there." Adie muttered energetically as he turned to face the window.

"Can't you tell me now?" I grabbed his shoulder trying to turn him facing me, while keeping an eye on the road. Adie struggled for a few seconds but in frustration by my disturbance, took off his sleeping mask.

"We’ll try to change your fate! Is that okay? Uh!" Adie raised his voice as he placed his sleeping mask over his eyes again.

I didn't say another word after that. I was getting annoying, so I let him be. However, boredom quickly took over and my thoughts flew everywhere, landing onto Life Foundation. My heart beat faster as I thought about Grace and how much I admired her, but I was feeling guilty by the way I last talked to her. I slipped my right hand in my pocket, reaching for my new cellphone. My left hand on the steering wheel, I scrolled down the inbox with my other hand to check if there was a text from Grace. Suddenly, I had an outburst of excitement when I saw an unread text message from Grace. I couldn't hide how joyful I was, and my inability to hide my wide smile would prove it. I could feel my smile reach up to my ears as I opened the message.

'Jake, the foundation would like to let you know how grateful we are for your help. You are always welcomed to come and visit us. -Grace'

"Now, I have a reason to visit Grace." I said aloud, not worried by Adie hearing me since I could hear his light snoring. Every minute I was able to slow down, I would reread the message again and again. I knew it wasn’t anything, but I was contended by just receiving something from the person who was starting to make her way into my heart. Grace’s image invaded my mind until I noticed an arc that said we were near Pampanga.

"Adie we're in Pampanga. Again, where exactly are we going?" I shook Adie to wake him up from his nap.

Adie moaned, "San Pedro Cutud village."

I refocused on driving, "And why do we need to go there?" furrowing my eyes, quickly glancing at Adie.

"Okay! Okay!" Adie lowered his sleeping mask. "We are going there to pay for your sins! Got it now? So, drive your way through the village. Your car has GPS on it, so we shouldn’t get lost!" Adie went back to sleep after that.

Silence swept over both of us and so I kept on driving. I got bored, again, by only seeing trees ahead, but I suddenly had the urge to joke on Adie. I turned on the radio on full blast which made Adie jump in surprise. He stared at me like a grumpy old man, gnashing his teeth at me but I could only grin at him. In the end, he gave up on sleeping and straightened up staring at the road ahead still drowsy, until we finally arrived to the village.

“WELCOME TO SAN PEDRO CUTUD”

I slowed down as we entered the village; the first thing I noticed was the number of people who inhabited the village. It resembled a festival rather than the peaceful village I had in mind. The village seemed entertaining and I then caught sight of some people who looked more like tourists. But something was going on, and my anxiousness only grew, especially when a few foreigners passed by us.