Almost Isolated

Chapter 28 - Humming

"A ghost possessed you, didn't you know?"

Philip stared at her, his thick brows meeting, scowling at her as if she'd lost her mind.

"F*uck! It's true," she insisted. "Julian Jones did possess you. Your eyes had turned blue -"

"You were going to punch me -"

"I punched you the first time!"

Philip's eyes narrowed as he touched his jawline. "My eyes turning blue? You're crazy."

Just then, they heard the door opened downstairs. The officers had returned from their lunch break. Margot hastily hid the envelope and the other receipts back to the drawer's secret compartment.

"Let's keep it between ourselves for a while okay?" Margot fixed her surgical mask over her mouth and nose. "I mean... We can show it tomorrow -"

"Your community service ends this afternoon -"

"You can show it yourself tomorrow!" With that, Margot shoved the drawer back to its bottom place and left Philip to do her cleaning in the next room.

She came back to the Jones' house that evening after sneaking out from her own home. She knew she'll be in trouble once Dianna finds out what she'd done but she was too excited to worry about it. The envelope's contents intrigued her.

"Who's the boy?" Julian showed up the moment Margot entered the house through the side door.

"The question: Why the f*uck did you possess him?"

"It was my first time if it concerns you." He jeered and followed Margot up to the room, gliding all the way. "That boy's body was inviting. There were grey clouds around him. He seems broken. You know ghosts can possess the gloomy types."

It's because of Elaine, Margot thought. Philip was still under the b*itch's spell despite of everything!

She was carrying a flashlight; she pointed the beam to the floor, glancing at the first room, which was Elaine's room. It was pitch black; Margot remembered it had more stuff with lots of fancy clothes, shoes, bags and other female accessories compared to Helen's.

"Well... I cleaned your house," she turned to the ghost. "What do you have for me besides that envelope?"

"I think that's everything. You don't have to hear the details of how that man butchered Helen Empoy. Or do you?"

Margot didn't see Helen's murdered body but she'd imagined it covered in blood. She winced.

"It's all there in the brown envelope," the ghost continued, slowly fading with his military greenish brown uniform. "You should hurry. I bet, that boyfriend of yours have many questions in his mind."

Boyfriend? Her face flustered. Then she gaped at him in realization. "Philip is here?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Margot turned her flashlight to Philip who automatically, shielded his face from her beam. He was standing in Helen's room, the brown envelope tucked under his arm.

"Sorry." Julian had disappeared when she glanced back at the ghost. "I was probably singing," she said and hummed a song.

Philip pulled his facemask from under his chin and fixed it over his mouth. He glared at her, unbelieving. "You don't sing well."

"Anyway," Philip added briskly, his tone softening. "I'd already seen some photos. One photo shows a woman in a suit who looked a lot like her."

Margot shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it was really Elaine."

Philip pulled a photo from the brown envelope. "I don't think so."

~oOo~

"You really don't know?" He looked calm but there was a hint of betrayal and suspicion in Robbie's voice; Neri felt annoyed.

"Jade is my ex-boyfriend. Of course, I didn't invite him to go here. He came here to visit me as a friend."

Neri wasn't sure about her latter statement. As soon as she'd let Jade into her home, he'd hug her fiercely, ignoring his escorts - the two barangay employees. He told them, he had spent his visit in two separate Philippine quarantine facilities for a month; he was clean and he didn't give a damn if Neri was infected.

"He hugged you. Did your ex resign his job as a nurse as well?"

"He said, he's in a long vacation -"

"Probably, to have you convinced in going back to Seattle... or taking him back."

There it was! Robbie was being jealous. Neri remembered the banging of door and his nasty mood back then. It was all about Jade.

They were having the private conversation inside Neri's room; there was a gentle knock on her door.

Jade came from the kitchen. She'd left her ex-boyfriend eating dinner, thirty minutes ago. Now, he'd gone tired of waiting for her to come back.

"Is there someone with you?" He called and Neri began to sing.

"No one. There's no one with me." She laughed, nervously. "Are you crazy?"

Her current boyfriend gave her quiet look as Jade chuckled, sounding like an amused teenager.

"Then can you see me now, again? We have lots to talk. Nimfa is really worried about you."

"My sister?" Neri raised a brow. She and Nimfa may had few, two to three conversations via Messenger every week; her elder sibling didn't mention her ex coming to see her.

... Or Jade could be lying!

With a sudden feeling of distrust, Neri opened her bedroom door only to be caught by her ex-co nurse, ex-boyfriend in a strong embrace.

"What the -?"

"I really miss you, Babe."

Darn it... Babe?

Her cheeks burned. Not in desire but in humiliation and disgust. Jade on the other hand, was gazing at her, his eyes burning with lust. As his lips moved down to claim hers, a powerful force had snatched him from behind.

"Oh, my God!"

Her ex was thrown down the hallway, almost to the stairs. Shock was on his face, his slanting Chinese eyes were huge. He seemed dazed as he got up, steadying himself. "What... What was that, Neri? Have you been working out? You're strong... I'm sorry."

"Me? Wo- working out?" Robbie was standing next to her; she glared at him. "Oh yes... sure! I'm sorry too, Jade. You startled me."

Neri turned back to her room, signaling her ghost boyfriend to join her. "You can use the guestroom here," she told Jade without looking at him. "Talk to you later. I'll have to deal with someone first."

"Who -"

Neri had shut the door before Jade can finish.

"He attacked you," Robbie said as walked through the door. He looked solid in his military uniform. His brows met as if pondering about something. "... or was it okay to you? You must missed him, too."

Neri had an urge to slap him. He was an apparition, she wondered if she can hurt him; she gave out a sigh, controlling her annoyance. "You almost killed him."

"Did you miss him, too?"

That did it!

"Of course not!" She said in a raised tone and then hushed herself, meeting Robbie's dark calculating eyes.

She couldn't believe what was happening. Her wonderful next-door guy had turned into a narrow-minded ogre. Ugh!

"I don't want Jade, anymore, Tobias," she told him, emphasizing his real name. "Not that I was a lousy girlfriend and I don't deserve him. I was a lousy girlfriend because I realized, I wasn't in love with him in the first place."

Robbie's face softened but then his jaw clenched with Jade knocking the door again.

What now? Neri thought.

"There's a girl here to see you," her ex-boyfriend said. "She said, she's your cousin."