Almost Isolated

Chapter 6 - Crazy Kid

"I went to the Jones' house last year with a friend -"

"So... how does he look like?" Neri interrupted. She seated herself opposite Margot across the dining table. "The ghost?"

It was a quarter before five in the afternoon. Past curfew. She should had told Margot to go home. Somehow, she found her nasty cousin, comforting in a way that she found someone relatable.

Neri won't be sharing though. She only wanted to confirm to herself, she wasn't seeing things and she was sane the whole time.

"Tall... and as I said, he was a soldier from World War 1. Well... I bet everybody in town knew about him." Margot didn't bring her anything. Her cousin told her, she was just in the neighborhood, thought of dropping by for a while, shrugging off the idea that it was already curfew hours, and that she was a rebellious brat.

"His hair?" Neri had to entertain Margot with her stash of potato chips she'd brought from the Sari-sari store to make the teenager talk. She'd been regretful as soon as she witnessed how Margot easily munched every piece of her chips.

"Black."

"Was it dark and messy? Were his eyes magnetic – I mean, solemn ... like he's nice? Did he insult you guys?"

"Insult us?"

"Like for instance... he told you that you look like a boy. Something like that. Errr... a tomboy, I mean."

Margot glared at her. "I'm not a tomboy."

"Was he an offending type?"

"I don't really know. It was one time, and it was right after seven pm..." Margot stared at her suspiciously. Her mouth stopped moving. "What the f*uck. Did you see him too? Where? From your balcony?"

"Of course not. I'm just really fascinated." Neri managed a meek smile then moved for the refrigerator to avoid the teenager's eyes. "I have some soft drinks here. Do you want one?"

"Sure." Margot sounded convinced and went on. "We went to the house for revenge ... Not really my idea but f*uck -"

Is really the 'F' word necessary? Neri wanted to ask her; she bit her tongue and kept her patience. All in good time.

"It was that b*itch, Elaine. She'd been fooling with my friend's brother, Philip." Margot's tone seemed to soften with the name as if being sympathetic. "Gave him impression that she likes him, asking gifts and money and then ditching him for a bigger catch. What a user!"

"Ohhhh... Elaine?" Neri raised one brow with the name, pretended like, she didn't know the woman.

"She and her sister Helen lives in the old place - the Jones' house. She's younger than Helen who used to be mom's schoolmate. She's a real assh*ole. Ambitious... as my friend, Fiona told me. She works in a hotel in Lucena city but always on a lookout for auditions. She wanted to be an actress. F*uck... Fiona told me she was a lousy one but did a good performance with Philip."

Margot drank straight from the soft drink bottle before raving on. "Anyway, Fiona knew how to get into the house. Philip had mentioned to her that there was a spare key hidden under a flowerpot by the side door. We snuck in to trash the house... not really to make a 'real damage' though. We only planned to mess up the place by throwing rotten meat pieces, smelly innards and blood all over it -"

"Rotten meat... Innards and blood? Eyoww! I mean where on earth did you find those -?"

"Fiona and Philip's parents own a meat shop in the market," the teenager explained and went on. "Fiona made a good job in the kitchen and living room. Helen was on a hospital duty that evening; Elaine was whoring with her new guy somewhere. We heard, both sisters were so pissed off the next morning when they came home."