She woke up to the sound of the roaring thunder outside her window—she had fallen asleep on her couch yet again. Yawning, she sat still for a moment, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. A minute has passed and still, everything was pitch black.
She rubbed her eyes, closed and opened them, but there was nothing.
There was absolutely nothing.
A panic rose within her as she rummaged for the remote to turn the television on for light and as it came to life, a slight calm upon its sight and sound arose within. But as quick as her respite came, horror crept into her chest instantly as she began to grasp how dark and hazy everything still was.
She closed her eyes again just to see if maybe she was still adjusting to the dark, but no. Nothing changed. She would have loved the feel of it all, had it been a filter she could use on her camera. But it wasn't. She looked around for a sign that maybe she was just in one of her crazy dreams, that perhaps this was just a nightmare. She slapped her face hard, but still, it was the very same darkness she had feared.
The terror was swallowing her whole. She tried to find her way to where she put her reading glasses last just to see if that would help. She felt her way to the light switch before she fell smack on the floor, her heart thumping nervously as her body ached while her sobs were pinching through her heart like daggers. She could barely breathe. The room seemed to suffocate her and she all of a sudden had no idea where to go in a place she knew like the back of her hand.
"Oh God, if this is a nightmare please wake me up."
She shouted as she struggled to find her way to her office. She put her glasses on, the feel of cold metal sending shivers through her spine. She closed her eyes again and counted to three.
1....2....3
Nothing.
Everything was all a blur, everything was two tones darker.
She tried to find her phone and she dialed the last number she called.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Hello, Dei?"
"PAOLO PLEASE COME OVER! I NEED YOU."
She could hear the loud club music and incoherent screaming from the strangers in the background.
"Wait. Why? What's going on?"
"JUST HURRY THE FUCK UP PAO."
"Alright. I'm on my way. Hang tight."
"Drive safe but please bilisan mo before I lose my mind."
Paolo hung up the line and hurriedly exited the bar without so much as saying goodbye to his new found friends. Adrenaline was kicking in and his imagination was taunting him.
"Fuck. Ano kaya nang yari?"
He said to himself as he fired up his car. Luckily Maine's condo was only 15 minutes away from his location and he quickly drove past everyone he could barely give a shit about at the moment. It was the first time he's ever heard her desperately call for anyone's help. It was not the type of person she was. She was always head on, stubborn. Never needed help from anybody. But the frailty and desperation in her voice was different and it brought a very unsettling fear in the pits of his stomach.
He knocked on the door and opened it as soon as he realized it was unlocked. He inched his way through the familiar house and he turned the lights on as he went.
"Dei?"
He strode through the house as it were his own. He had been there more times than he could count. But his urgency brought him falling on his knees as he found her in the corner of her room, crouched like a baby, her pillows drenched in tears.
