We Are The Gods

Chapter 3 🖋️ The Punisher

Chapter 3

The Punisher

           MY EYES OPENED, greeted by the blurry ceiling littered by the glow-in-the-dark stars, a couple of them dangling overhead, the strings that held them so thin it was almost invisible, making an illusion that they were falling stars. I rubbed my eyes, sitting up lazily.

Nagkalat ang mga libro sa sahig ng kwarto ko, may mga nakabukas, may mga nakasara. All of them were books I borrowed hastily from the library, sifting through them in haste like I had gone slightly insane.

"Hihiramin mo 'to lahat?" tanong ng library asisstant na si Kiara, nakataas ang kilay habang inaayos ang salamin. She looked at me like I had gone mad, exasperated. Parang sinasabi ng subtitles sa mukha niya na para akong tanga na kinakailangan pang magbasa ng napakaraming libro para makaintindi.

Nag-iwas ako ng tingin, medyo hinihingal pa habang sinusulyapan ang gabundok na librong ipinatong ko sa counter. Honestly, I have nothing to say, I can't even defend myself. Ngayong nasa harap niya na ako, na-realize ko ring para nga akong baliw. But it's already too late to put it back now, so I did what I was always good at.

Feigning nonchalance.

I nodded twice, schooling my expression into that of someone who views all the mundane things in the world beneath them.

Kinonutan ako ng noo ni Kiara. "Can you even carry all of these?"

Walang reaksiyon ko lang siyang tiningnan. "Kung hindi pa'no ko ba nadala sa harapan mo 'yan? Kaya ko 'yan," I said placidly.

           I FELT LIKE MY BACK was about to snap when I dropped all the books on my study table, my whole body aching and clammy with cold sweat. I cursed those three crazy con-deities in my head a few hundred times before dropping myself on my rotating chair. I recklessly pushed myself, swiveling in place.

I barred my foot on the rotator, stopping the chair's motion as I turned towards one corner of my room.

That's where I met with three pairs of owl-like tantalizing eyes, staring at me like the souls of the dead. Huddled in the corner like that, with their wooden attention and unmoving, pale face, I suffered one of the greatest frights of my life.

My mouth opened, posing for a scream.

In the blink of an eye, three pairs of hands clamped at my mouth, stacking over each other as if just one of them wasn't enough to silence me. The scream went back to my throat.

The black-haired one sneered.

"Look at this brat."

"The future's unclear."

"We entrusted our honor to a rat."

"A shame, oh dear."

Sabay pa silang umiling-iling na tatlo, bago tig-iisang kumuha ng libro sa lamesa ko at bumalik doon sa sulok, sumalampak, at sabay na binuksan iyon.

"Look, sister, they called us ugly."

"Who are they calling ugly? Them humans are ugly."