Phoenix

Chapter Four - First Doubt and A Lie

I am your half-brother.

That short sentence sunk deep into my conscious reality and I didn't have the time to speculate. I simply accepted the fact then moved on. During these past few months, my life went into its more stable turn though my memories were no way complete. Somehow, DK's confession has relieved my curiosity out of puzzlement as I often lingered why it felt like there was something missing between us though I couldn't put them in words or even describe it. We've been together for quite some time yet I've never comprehended things. I've been so blind. Until now, I wondered how he felt with the way I treated him —like a stranger, a mere friend. I might have hurt his feelings.

Recalling my thoughts of that night, —while as of the moment my hands were reaching for the hair tonic before the mirror —DK was searching for my emotions and obviously careful with what I would feel. I noticed that he never lost the seriousness in his face but I could feel his discomfort. He could barely say it and when he said it, he had to force the words out. At first, he had doubts whether I would get mad but truthfully, I was not. I understood how my family must have reacted to my condition and how worried they must be. If I were they, I would have thought twice about what I should speak of or say, too. I've always believed they just wanted to make it easy for me so I could catch up on things one step at a time. At an instance, my eyes twitched catching the sting of the inky hair dye all over my hair as I caressed them. For almost a year, I've been covering its blonde sheen with a crow-black tint matching the Dark Knights' suit, even my expensive mascara.

Over my shoulder I saw a pair of guns, my spears, a Glock, a zip-lock containing two pairs of contact lenses and emergency aids, some cards, phone and a red scarlet lipstick all lined up across the bed —those were the essentials I could never leave behind; the rest would be discretionary. My eyes gazed back at the dark-haired woman in the mirror and down on her chest, a pendant akin to a black pearl hanged from around her neck.

Tick did the clock's hand marking my departure. With my coupe, I drove to the airport and took a plane to California. I began to love taking trips even more as they distract me from rethinking of quite a handful of my personal issues.

Whenever I walked across a crowd —like this, hours later after arrival —the first thing I could not help of noticing was the crime that crawled in every corner of the city like smoke hiding on every doorstep . . . every window . . . among the corners of the subway . . . in every street. Just by looking at every place . . . every face, it would wrinkle my nose only if it really could because I could smell it. The stink of crime barely slept during the day and played around at night in every bar, every shop, every parking lot, and every block. Dialing up on my phone, I noticed, a few yards afar, a group of black kids chasing and beating down the skinnier boy against the corner. It made me pause like for a very short moment but I had to keep up with my hasty feet.

The task is simple and the subject was an ordinary local entrepreneur —he owns a doughnut shop famous just around the corner of this city. He is mostly Indian in descent but his dad is an American. I will pass by one of the franchise branches of his doughnut shop and I wondered how much money he has earning monthly; it was in the data file I forgot.

I reached my destination, the private residence of my subject. It would be too bad to be killed inside your own house but that would be the news. I've visited the place before and I had memorized the blueprint of his lair. I could easily destroy the surveillance cams around the house and they were not many of them located in the inside but mostly outside. It's a good thing.

I marched towards the rear part of the house which was obstructed by the adjacent house and I noticed that the houses among the neighborhood were very closely built except that the city walls are high. There was obviously no more space to build new houses.