Star-Crossed Melodies (Echoes #1)

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Beg

Only now am I piecing together everything that's happening. Everything my dad told me about Diccio being a varsity player before. It's been two years since they couldn't play because they lost their team.

It's also been two years since what happened to Ellis. Everything they've been telling me is starting to line up, and I feel like my brain and body are about to burst from the overload of information.

I'm furious with myself. Why am I only finding out now? My brother was the one who raped Ellis! My brother harassed the one I love!

Can you fucking imagine that? It's disgusting. Even if Diccio is my half-brother, his blood flows through me. And we don't have a lineage of rapists! That's not my character! I'm not a rapist like him!

The world is spinning around me. It's so hard to find out who really did it, and it turns out they were right around me.

At kanina? I even played with him.

I feel betrayed. And I don't want to think that my dad knew about this! Does he know that his son is a rapist?

"Kung hindi natin ginawa ang krimen na 'yon kay Gomez, sana ayos pa tayo! Sana hindi nawala ang binuo nating team noon! We wouldn't be haunted by this fucking guilt every night! You've done nothing but make my life miserable, Eduard! Hindi ako nakakatulog t'wing gabi dahil sa ginawa mo! Sinama mo ako na gawin natin iyon kay Ellis! Sinama n'yo akong tatlo!"

Hindi pa rin ako umaalis kahit na alam ko na ang buong nangyari sa kanila. I want to hear it all. I want to know everything, even though my heart is being torn apart as I realize that Ellis and I are both caught in this.

"Ang gusto ko lang mag laro at makalaban pero sinama n'yo ako sa kagaguhan! Hindi ako rapist kagaya mo, Ed! Kaibigan lang kita kaya nangyari iyon! Matapos mong gawin ang bagay na 'yon, umalis ka na parang walang nangyari? Iniwan mo kami sa dilim na parang mga sisiw na kumakapa kung babalik ka pa ba! Wala kang paramdam! Alam mo ba kung ano ang nangyari sa amin pag katapos mong gawin 'yon, huh?"

Tears kept flowing from Diccio's eyes, as if he had kept these words hidden for so long and was finally letting them out now.

But his words couldn't buy my anger. His reason that he was friends with Eduard and that's why he went along with the act of rape is not valid. It's not like that. Because fucking hell, that kind of behavior should never be tolerated. Even if it's a friend or family.

"Nasira ang team na binuo namin kasama ka! Alam mo kung bakit? Dahil nag sumbong si Gomez sa mga matataas! But because we didn't want to go to jail, we denied the accusations even though I was guilty! Umusad ang araw na punong-puno ng guilt ang katawan ko, isama mo pa ang galit dahil sa pag takas mo! Dalawang taon, Alvarez! Dalawang taon pero walang paramdam?! Tapos mag papakita ka sa amin... na gan'yan! Maayos na ka na! Habang kami, nakakulong pa rin sa krimen na ikaw naman mismo ang nanguna!"

They won't forget because what they did was a crime. No one forgets something like that in this place. The burden and the guilt will haunt them every day until they surrender to prison.

But they, they never really surrendered. They were minors when they committed that act, but now that they're of legal age, they're still running away from the world. But no secret remains hidden forever. The truth will inevitably come out.

"May celebration daw sa bahay ni Coach Willy..." ani ng isa nang makabalik ako.

Bumalik ako sa kanila pag katapos kong malaman ang lahat. They were still happy, while I couldn't replace the anger in my body. We won, we should be happy, but it seemed so difficult to do so.