A Twist Of Time

eleven

After Maribeth the living witch left the room, Margaux suggested that we have a reading session altogether including Hisako. We taught her some Filipino words and made her read some newspapers to practice her reading skills. Jane and Elpidio entered once, offering glasses of tea. They joined our reading session and when they left, Hisako immediately fell asleep on Margaux's bed.

It was nearing night when Margaux and I finally got to talk with each other without anyone in between.

"So, what did the two of you talk about yesterday?" Margaux inquired, sitting down next to me on my bed. Don't tell her.

"Nothing. It was awkward, actually. The both of us weren't talking to each other and Hisako was running around the room." I felt guilty lying to her.

She looked doubtful and seemed to have seen through me. "Mhm, I don't believe that. I heard him and you laughing. What were you doing?"

"Fine. We talked about things and joked with each other."

"And you told me you didn't do anything. What else?"

I shrugged. "That's it, I swear." I don't.

"Really? I heard something else." Margaux raised an eyebrow. Deadlocked. What if she heard?

"What do you want me to tell you?"

"That—I don't know—he called you adorable?"

"That's it? I thought you were mad at me for a second there. I really thought you heard the two of us talking about how you were his"—and I held my breath. I exhaled slowly and thought of something reasonable to justify my words since she looked suspicious. "That you were his presidential adviser along with Quezon when you were eleven." Good job, Valerie. Turns out you aren't as idiotic as you thought.

"Uh huh. Why did he call you 'adorable,' though? Is there something going on between the two of you that I don't know?" She smirked.

"Margaux," I groaned, dragging out the a. "I come from 2016. He's dead in my time!"

"In 2016," she corrected. "Not now. Besides, it is wrong to fall in love with dead people?"

I gawped at her because of how obvious her question was. "Of course it is! That's like pedophilia but for corpses!"

"Necrophilia. Find your words, Valerie."

I rolled my eyes. "No, that's for having sexual desires towards dead people. I don't like him that much to think of that!"

She gasped. "So you do like him?"

I shook my head with my mouth wide open. "I don't! You completely misunderstood me—I don't like him—well, maybe I do, but that's completely platonic—"

"You like him! Ha! I knew it!" She started laughing and teasing me, nudging me repeatedly while jumping on her bed. "You like him, don't you?"

"Stop jumping on the bed, you might fall!"

"Don't change the topic." She stopped and knelt down beside me and asked in a quiet voice, "But really, do you like him?"

I looked away and thought of the question. Just let your feelings come out, Valerie. You can't hide them forever. They will find a way to completely wreck your life. Might as well wreck it now. "Fine. But don't tell anyone."

"Promise." She stuck out her pinky and looked at me weirdly when I left it on air. "What? Aren't you going to pinky promise?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Are you really Valerie Helfon who came from 2016? Even people from the 1940's know what a pinky promise is, did it disappear in your time?"

"No, I just don't know what it is. It's for promises?"

It was her turn to roll her eyes. "What did you think it was for?"

"I don't know, relationships? Food sharing?"

"It's for promises, silly. It means that if you break the promise, the other person has the authority to cut your pinky off."

"Oh, so it's for that, then? Good." She intertwined my pinky with hers and smiled with contentment. "I'll break this off when you break it."

"Where is she? Did you let her escape?"

A third voice was coming again from outside. "Can't we talk to each other without some outsider screaming at people?" I asked Margaux in frustration. She nodded in agreement and told me to be quiet so we could hear the voice better.

"I swear. Did any of you let Valerie and Hisako escape? Did Margaux have anything to do with this?"

I started laughing, but tried to fight it. "It's Sergio. He's literally screaming and looking for us."

"Oh my god," she muttered, laughing as well. I shushed her and continued listening.

"Sir," another voice started, "Maybe they're just here, I saw them around this morning and—"

"Then why don't you help me look for them? I checked my room and they weren't there when I specifically told them to stay."

I sighed. "I'm dead. We escaped."

Margaux shook her head. "If you're dead, I'm dead too. He's my boss and I should be following his every order. He's nice, though, he'll excuse us. Trust me, I'm used to it."

I could hear Jane's signature boots clicking on the floor. "Osmeña! Buksan mo nga 'yang mata mo! Sa tingin mo, saan sila pupunta?" (Osmeña! Open your eyes! Where do you think they will go?)

"Hindi ko alam! Kaya nga naghahanap ako," (I don't know! That's why I'm looking!) he answered as if it was obvious and Jane should've known.

Jane sighed aggressively. "Kaninong pinto 'yang nasa harap mo?" (Who's door is in front of you?)

I guessed he finally found out where we were, because somebody started knocking on the door. Margaux immediately got up and opened all five locks. "Oh, hello there!" she greeted happily. She was probably holding in her laugh.

"You were there the whole time and didn't tell me?" Sergio whispered. His face was flushed red.

"Ano ba? Saan pa ba? Sa Baguio? Sa ibang bansa, kasama ni Quezon?" (Where else? In Baguio? In another country with Quezon?) Margaux sarcastically answered. He opened his mouth to ask something, but was interrupted. "Bago ka magtanong, oo, nandito sila." (Before you ask, yes, they're here.)

"Good, now hide me because they're all staring at me weirdly."

She let him in and locked the doors again. Margaux winked at me behind Sergio's back, making me glare at her. "Well, that was embarrassing," I commented as he made his way to my bed. "That's what a mad person gets."

"I told you to stay in my room, Miss. What did you do?"

"I don't know, had breakfast like you told me to? Stayed in this room rather than yours because you literally have nothing in there?"

Margaux sat in her bed, watching us attentively. "Then why did you stay in my room yesterday if it was so boring?" he asked.

"Because I had someone to talk to."

"You have Hisako."

"She's asleep most of the time. And she can't understand what I'm saying."

He shook his head disapprovingly. "Don't do that, alright? I was scared that you escaped."

"Why does it matter to you if I escaped?"

"Your case?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'll be willing to chase after you again like back in the palace."

Margaux coughed violently, obviously faking it to tease me. "Sorry, throat problems," she croaked out.

"Just don't ever do that again."

"I am a person who got stuck in the 1940s and not a prisoner. Where's my freedom?"

He looked at me calmly. "You have freedom, I just want you to be safe."