Palace in the Woods

11

The minute Pia woke me up to unload our stuff, I ran, exiting the vehicle to barf on the bushes of the resort at the farthest corner of the area.

I was wiping my mouth when I heard an unfamiliar voice coming from behind me. "I don' t think barfing on the plants will make them grow healthier."

I looked up to see this gorgeous girl. She looked like an angel! An expensive one, might I add. She was wearing a sundress that looked expensive, sunglasses which looked expensive, and a pair of wedge that looked really expensive.

Her skin was porcelain- like and her lips were pink and small.

She was smiling at me.

"Hi. I' m Asha. You must be Mia Dimagiba. "

Awwe, she sounds and acts like a an angel too! Am I in heaven?

I stared at her with mouth slightly open.

"Mia! ! Asha, stop pestering my sister," shouted Pia while running towards us.

The girl, Asha, pouted. "Eh? I' m just befriending her. What' s wrong with that? "

"You are! Every aspect of you is wrong! " Pia shouted coldly. Asha was taken aback by Pia' s outburst. I was, too. I' ve never seen her like this and even though I' ve only been in the palace for a week, something tells me that she' s not usually like this.

She grabbed me by the arm and hauled me towards the native building with a sign  "RECEPTION AREA". I gave an apologetic smile to Asha.

"P- pia, are you okay? " I asked a very angry- looking Pia.

She sighed, shook her head, smiled, and looked at me. "I' m fine. Just...promise me you' ll stay away from that woman."

I nodded. I don' t wanna argue with her right now. She looked scary.

She left me with Aaron who is still playing in his iPad and talked to her Dad in the far corner. They were whispering to each other.

Papa looked worried when he looked at me.

What could they be talking about?

"I assume you' ve already met Asha." Aaron suddenly said. He was still facing his gadget.

"Uhm, yeah. I guess." I hoped Aaron would explain his Ate' s and Dad' s behavior and when it seemed obvious that he wasn' t, curiosity got the best of me so I asked ,"Why do Pia and P- ahem, Papa, seem to make Asha' s presence a big deal? "

He looked at me for a long time. And then he shrugged and continued playing.

I sighed.

Since the game we had, Aaron has bot been cold but he also has not seemed friendly. Most of the time he' s pretty silent around me. I feel cheated.

---

We were supposed to have our individual rooms in one of the resort' s biggest native hut but Pia insisted that we share one room so I ended up, gladly, with her, while Papa and Aaron had their own rooms.

I learned when we arrived that we were to stay there for 3 days and that Pia prepared my wardrobe as well since I had not brought any clothes because I thought we were only staying for the day and I decided not to go swimming.

So for that 3 days, I decided to stay in my room.

It was night time when we arrived so I slept right after dinner.

I was awoken by heavy steps which I heard just outside the room.

Time:2AM

In the palace, all activities normally stop by the stroke of 12AM. And I know this is a practice by everyone there because not once had I been awaken in those hours. I' m a very light sleeper.

In horror/suspense movies, the main characters are always very dumb. They always freakin' open the door  , explore,  and get killed. But I refuse to get killed so I wrapped myself with blankets and tried to sleep again which basically summed into my closing shut my eyes and further listening to the weird sounds outside.

The floor creaked and creaked. It did not stop.

What should I do?

What if something expensive gets stolen?

*GASP. What if everyone gets killed because of that ghost? !

OH NO! I' ve got to warn somebody!

"Pia." I said in hush panic  to wake up the person sleeping beside me. "PIA! " I rocked her but she remained sleeping.

So this girl sleeps heavily. *sigh.

My conscience would not let me live peacefully if anything bad happens because of that culprit. And so I ended up tiptoe- ing in the dead of the night, a baseball bat in hand.

Don' t ask where I got the freaking baseball bat because I can' t answer you. :)

I hid behind the door and readied myself for swinging as I felt the ghost come near where I' m standing.

I knew I should have took any sports class in school. GAH! LORD GOD, please give me strength to beat the hell out of this ghost.

Oh no! Will the ghost even be affected by the impact of anything it hits? !

Oh crap!

BAM!

The ghost was a he. I could not quite see his face because of the lack of light looked at me dazedly, shocked, and then anher and then...he fainted.

I was catching my breath as I turned on the lights.

Hmm.. He seems familiar.

Oh, GOD!

He' s the one on the portrait! He' s the KUYA (big brother) of Pia and Aaron!

Oh no. What have you done, MIA! ?

Now he has a black eye. What if he gets a concussion?

OH MY GOD!

Mams, Dads, I think I killed somebody. How am I supposed to be with you in heaven if I KILLED SOMEBODY? !