Shipwrecked Hearts

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She crossed her fingers together. Bumaluktot ako. I rested my joints on my knees, as if showing her that I am eager and interested to know whatever it is that should be told by her own mouth, "I woke up, with fuzzy memories. Kung may maaalala man ako, it's too foggy, the faces of the persons are blurred. And there's something inside me that clicked, telling me I should do something. So, I did, I researched on Enhanced Senses and made a formula that made this legacy possible. Using certain crucial procedures that includes in vitro fertilization. It is a process of fertilization where an egg is combined with sperm outside the body. I used this chance where the baby is still undeveloped and a fertilized cell and added the formula that will enhance one division of their sense."

"But I needed subjects, willing subjects who would sign this confidentiality letter, and so I gathered information on people who were desperate to have a baby but infertile. I got around thirty willing couples. Therefore, there are thirty of you, Akira. I don't know where they are, but I know most are already dead."

Dito na unti-unting nagkaroon ako ng pangamba. My parents... most of the ones with sixth sense's parents are dead. Doon na rin ako naguluhan. K is the mother of Mermaid. And she's alive. Siguro namali lang ako ng hinala dati. I sighed mentally. I need to process everything. Carefully. Every single detail.

"Why did you suddenly disappear?" Tanong ko. Alam kong alam niya agad ang aking ibig sabihin. All traces of her were gone. She disappeared like she didn't even exist.

"There were people after me. They want the formula." Sagot ni K, "the formula... it is a genetic mutation. It is a step in taking evolution into another level, but it defies the nature of Science, it defies nature itself. I received a lot of offers from this certain organization. They said they wanted to take me in, so I can continue creating babies with six senses, but I declined, they didn't take no goodly." Nagbuntong-hininga siya, "and during that time, I just gave birth," she must be pertaining to Mermaid.

"So, I gave the baby away for her safety and burnt my journals containing the formula, to an orphanage... then, I hid myself... nagpakalayo-layo, namangka ako. Hindi ko alam kung saang direksyon. I was in the middle of the ocean for three days. Dehydrated. Then I lost consciousness. I was starved to death and all I see from the directions was the wide and vast ocean. Hangga't sa may isang pirata na nakakita sa aking bangka noong mga sandali bago ako nawalan ng malay."

"He saved me. Alexander Renaissance... doon ko na napagtanto na isa siya sa mga batang dulot ng aking eksperimento, his father Alexandre The Great Renaissance. He took me in and I ended up on this island. Of course, I didn't tell him... hindi ko sinabi na ako si Excel. I just told him the truth... that I had no name, that people can just call me K instead."

"Bakit hindi mo sinabi kay Maximo na ikaw si Excel?"

"I thought hiding the truth from him will be for his utmost best." There was sincerity on her voice. Too sincere for my own comfort. She was opening entirely everything. "But Nick... another subject of my experiment, he found out."

"How?"

"It was my own stupidity. I opened up to him. Alam mo naman na kapag lasing ang isang tao, maraming nasasabi. That was my case. Noong nalaman ko na ang bagong bata ay ang anak ko matapos siyang dalhin dito ni Maximo, nagpakalasing ako. What a fucking small world. Tila pinaparusahan ako ng mundo. Nalaman ko rin ang mga karanasan niya. She was adopted by a family of assassins... tortured and trained..."

"Then you're the mother of Mermaid." I concluded... even if I already knew that since the beginning.

"Serene." Pagtatama niya. "Her real name is Serene..." I can smell the longingness in her voice. The sadness that her heart beats, "ever since she came to the world, to my world... all I've felt was tranquility, calm, peaceful, stillness, and quietness. She is the reason why life seemed to have meaning. Yes, she is my daughter... and she's the 31st, the last subject to my enhanced sense experiment... dumating ako sa punto ng buhay na pakiramdam ko'y mag-isa ako. There was this hollowness. That's why I made her... and the father..."

"Who?" It can't possibly be Nick since Nick is one of the in-vitro babies, like me. He has the sixth sense. Naghinala agad ako kanina na baka si Nick ang ama, ngunit hindi. "Who is the father?" Who the fuck is the sperm donor?

"Kid." Tipid na sagot nito. "Kenneth Idler Dwayne. That's what he told me, I never really saw his face. He was masked during that time when he came..." I gasped. My eyes widened in horror at the sudden realization, it was unsettling. "Kid..." All this time, ang mga totoong magulang ni Mermaid ay nakakasama niya at nakakausap. Si Joziah at K, o Kid at Excel. They were Mermaid's biological parents. And everything went wrong. Hindi rin pala alam ni K ang katotohanan, na si Joziah ay si Kid. Pakiramdam ko hindi rin alam ni Kid na si Excel ay si K. Maybe this is because they pretended to be someone else. I wonder what happens if K revealed the truth that she's Excel and that Joziah is Kid since the beginning. Hinayaan ko na magproseso ang mga sinabi ni K, hangga't sa ginawa ni Kid kay Mermaid... He killed his... he killed his own daughter. "K... Excel... Lashanaja... whatever it is," saad ko, "do you know Joziah?"

Kumunot ang noo niya, "yes, I know that he's a traitor and if I had known sooner, I should have killed him."

"But do you really know who he is?"

"What do you mean?" So, she really doesn't know who Joziah really is... that all this time... "may dapat ba akong malaman?"

"He's Kid and he killed your daughter, he killed his daughter," Mermaid... "Serene."