who am i to you?

25.3

Vy didn't go somewhere. Vy isn't hiding. Vy didn't run away. Vy didn't go missing. He was taken away.

With the busy match kanina, walang nakapansin na hindi bumalik si Vy simula nang magpaalam siya kay Isla na pupunta siyang CR. I did notice he wasn't there when I looked for him in the crowd. I noticed but I wasn't in the right moment to find him.

"Where's Vy?" I asked Isla as soon as we were able to meet them during halftime.

"Vasily?" Isla looked beside her. "Right. Nag-CR siya kanina, hindi pa ba bumabalik?"

"Bakit ako tinatanong mo? Kayo kasama." I looked at Dani. "Dani?"

"No, hindi pa siya bumabalik."

"Call him," utos ko.

Sumunod naman agad si Dani at sinubukang tawagan si Vy. Hinintay namin mawala ang ring. Dalawang beses kaming tumawag at dalawang beses din hindi sumagot si Vy.

"Fuck." I combed my hair back in frustration, feeling the panic starting. "I'm going to find him."

Bago pa man ako makalakad paalis ay may humawak sa akin at pinigilan ako. Inis ko iyong tinignan.

"Hinahanap ka ni coach," Drix told me. "Saan ka pupunta?"

"Nawawala si Vy."

"Nandyan lang 'yun!"

"Gago ka ba?" Last time, during a match we had, he went missing too. And I found him with who I thought were his friends; David and his group.

Drix eyes balled in my sudden anger. "Grabe ka naman."

I shut my eyes, exhaling to calm myself. "Sorry."

"Kami na hahanap, Santi," Isla offered. "Bumalik ka nalang d'on."

"We'll inform you nalang if we find him na," Dani assured me with a smile.

"Okay." I said that but I wasn't really feeling it. Overthinking is getting into me.

I got benched for messing up. Gustuhin ko mang maglaro para maiba ang iniisip ko pero hindi ko na kaya dahil hindi ko pa rin nakikita si Vy sa pwesto niya kanina. I can't distract myself.

I didn't even care how the match turned out. As soon as it ended, I ran away from there to find Isla and Dani. No Vy was with them when I found them.

We called him, and looked around the place to find him. We tried calling people who he might be with, and asked people who might've seen him. We tried looking for him in places we thought he'd be. He isn't there.

Nawawala si Vy.

Hanggang sa umuwi si Shi at hanapin si Vy sa bahay nila, wala silang nakita. Shi even asked Vy's cousin but he got nothing. So, with nothing else to do but panic, I stayed in my room until this call with Shi, thinking about everything that could possibly happen. It isn't that half of my thoughts were bad things. All of them were bad and I hope I was wrong.

I ran out of my room as fast as I could. When Shi and tita came, I got in their car and with my restless foot, I sat at the back seat, waiting for us to get to the precinct.

When we got there, we can already hear a yelling lady. Nag-alangan akong pumasok pero kung nandito si Vy, kailangan ko siyang makita agad.

Nang makapasok, a sight of teenagers with police and a crying, loud lady is there. Brendan, Tony, Moises — David's gang but he's nowhere to be seen.

Vy is sitting on a monoblock chair, staring blankly at the floor. He's barefoot, no pants but boxers, and his shirt is bloodied and tattered. His right arm is limp on his side, his left hand is on his lap, repeatedly being wiped on his skin.

"Vasily!" Tita Naomi came quickly to his side. Vy moved to look at tita and with the lights now illuminating his face, his injuries became more evident.

He has a black bruise on his left eye. Blood drips on his head down to his forehead are dried. Even his nose and the side of his mouth has dried blood. His cheek is swollen. His neck has bruises. May pasa din siya sa braso at sa lahat ng parte ng katawan niyang nakikita ko.

"What happened?" tita asked him.

He didn't answer and moved his gaze to me. He met my eyes with his emotionless ones. And as soon as it registered to him that it's me, his eyes turned glassy with tears. Nilapitan ko agad siya.

As soon as I was in his reach, he grabbed me and hugged me with his left arm, his right arm unmoving. Naramdaman ko ang pagkabasa ng damit ko. He's crying without sobbing. Vy clutched my shirt, shaking visibly. Nagkatinginan kami ni Shi.

"Kumalma po kayo, Ma'am," a police officer repeatedly told the yelling lady.

"How could I calm down?! That boy killed my son!" The lady pointed at Vy in her rage. She tried to get closer to Vy pero pinigilan siya ng isang pulis.

Now I know who this lady is. She's familiar. Congressman Villavicencio's wife, David's mother.

Killed my son.

David is dead.

"I'm sorry..." Vy whispered in a low voice.