When I was 18 (COMPLETED)

Chapter 11

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Chapter 11
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He covered me with his black jacket.

Pagdating naming lahat sa bahay ay sinalubong ako ng magulang ko. My Mom was still on her office suit. Mukhang kadarating niya lang.

She surveyed me with a concern in her eyes when she got back with a towel.

"What happened? Bakit kayo nagpaulan?" She begun to caressed my hair and glanced at my friends who's now busy wiping themselves. Ako lang ang basang basa. Ako lang naman ang walang payong kanina. Though my brother came, it was too late. 

Speaking of him, just after we went home he immediately went straight to the bathroom.

No one uttered a single word to Mom.

Isa-isa kaming tinapunan ng tingin ni Daddy. Until he peered at me. "Changed first. We'll talk later." Then he turned his back and sat back on the couch.

Mom nodded at me. Sinulyapan ko muna sila Elisse at Third.

"Hindi naman kami gaano nabasa. Magpalit ka na," ani Third.

"We're perfectly fine. Go changed. Baka magkasakit ka pa," wika ni Elisse habang nakangiti.

I stared at her for a moment before I formed a smile. Seems like I was hallucinating earlier.  I thought she's mad.

Thinking of it, why would she even get mad? Normal lang naman ang ginawa ni kuya kanina. We're siblings. Period. There's nothing special what he had done earlier. I... swear.

Nang nasa kwarto na ako ay agad kong hinubad ang jacket niya. I paused for a moment when heat flushed on my cheeks when I remembered the scene earlier.

"Gosh!" I lightly slapped my face. 

I started to feel something uncanny that I had to hurt myself to convince it's not because of what he had done why I feeling this way.

There's something that strolling inside me and it made my internal organs tickled. Dinamay din nito ang puso dahilan upang dumoble ang kabog at maghasik ng nakakapasong pakiramdam sa loob.

It was not because of Flynne. I swear. Every time I think of him, all I felt was pain. But every time I think of my brother... clearly, indeed, there's something I couldn't fathom.

I shook my head as I headed to the bathroom. Maybe, a splashed of cold water could erase all this strange feelings.

It took me a half-hour before I finished changing new clothes. I just wore a simple white shirt and gray sweatpants. Bago ako lumabas ng kwarto ay dinampot ko muna ang jacket ni kuya para isauli sa kaniya. My eyebrows raised when I felt something hard in its pocket.

Nang kinuha ko ito ay tumambad sa akin ang isang litrato.

As I scanned it, my lips parted.

Picture again.

Though it's really obvious that this is my brother's childhood picture. I found it again... odd. Where he was sitting on the floor, smiling widely, and holding a truck toy, I think he was 5 or 6 years old here. Katulad nang nakita kong unang litrato, bunot ang buhok nito.