Mirage (ON HOLD for revision)

Chapter 13: Reprieve

“Oh, so this is the famous Matt.”

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you!”

“I guess he was busy. Well then, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Ok.”

“How long are you going to stand around for, brat? Mari’s been waiting for you since Friday.”

Back to his senses, Matt turned around but all he caught was the man’s back.

He took several seconds more to steady his breathing before finally walking in. He sat by the stool, still in its place, let his backpack drop to the floor, before finally looking up at Mari—Mari who was looking right at him.

“Hello, Mari,” Matt managed to say.

Mari’s face broke from a wry smile to a shattered mirror, contorted with grief and guilt. She jumped off the bed and grabbed Matt, drawing him in her arms.

“I’m so sorry, Matt. I’m so sorry…”

They stayed like that, her apologies flying one after the other like a mantra, the next more desperate than the last. Her tears flowed continuously, soaking Matt’s left temple until, as if they were his own, they fell on a single track down his cheek.

“I was so scared when I didn’t see you after I woke up. I was so, so very scared I thought—I thought—“

I thought I killed you.

But the sentence was left unfinished, and no questions were asked related to that event. Matt didn’t care otherwise as long as Mari’s back.

“I love you, Matt,” Mari whispered as she stroked his hair, “I love you very much. I swear that I am never, ever going to do something like that again.”

Mari never promised anything, in fact, she never made any commitment or half-assed statement. She was not the kind of person who would even say ‘let’s have dinner together’ because she was always keeping her schedule free. The moment Matt heard that promise, he knew Mari has changed.

“Ok.”

Later, Matt asked the nurses who that man was, but all they could tell him was that he was an intern, and the day Matt showed up after being missing in action for five days was his last day on the job. The following weekend, Matt took Mari back, and once safely in the confines of Mari’s room, out of their aunt and uncle’s earshot, Mari ripped the covers on the windows and smiled, “I’m home!”

----

To Matt's relief, Cedric didn't press him for anything anymore. It would have been impossible, given how he basically had a nervous breakdown as he started shaking and covering his ears. It's never been that bad before, even with the constantly resurfacing memories. It was so strong this time that even Matt was taken off guard.

It must be because I heard your name again, right, Mari, Matt thought as he packed the worms back in the can.

"Is it just me or is our college debut strangely eventful?" Cedric asked.

"It's just you," Matt simply replied.

They sat beside each other on a misplaced bench at the back of one of the buildings with Cedric facing the opposite direction. It was Cedric's self-proclaimed personal space, something that came as a surprise to Matt since he always thought Cedric got along fine with everyone.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?" Cedric asked when Matt shot down his humor.

"Nothing happened," Matt replied dismissively, relaizing that Cedric was only waiting.

"Yeah, the sun rises in the west and we're in Jupiter. So, what happened? He obviously didn't dismiss you. He was all but yelling for you to come back," Cedric questioned persistently.

"I asked and I didn't get an answer. He just wanted to grill me some more. I won't bother with such assholes," Matt replied in exasperation, the closest to the truth he could let Cedric come.

Cedric must've felt it, too, for he was silent, watching Matt intently to detect lies and see if he should press for more.

"I wish you would talk to me, you know," Cedric finally said, his voice heavy with worry, concluding with a sigh.

"Let's just mind our own business shall we?" Matt bit back, his annoyance creeping back on the surface. "It's not like we're friends."

Matt knew he had gone too far to actually throw those words to Cedric's face. But he didn't have much choice what with Cedric being so persistent.

"You're right, we're really not friends," Cedric conceded forlornly. "I'm just some dumb idiot who stuck to you since high school. But if you ever need a sounding board, or a confession couch, just give me a wave or something. That's all I ask."

"I'm not going to need any of that," Matt replied stubbornly.

"If you say so," Cedric replied, smiling despite his disappointment.

It was obvious that he wasn't going to get any answer from Matt, much less the professor.

"What did your mother want?"

The question caught Cedric off guard. He was completely lost in speculations about Matt, and most of all, Matt was the person he least expected to know that his mother has returned.

"How did you know she's back?" Cedric asked for lack of better response.

"I didn't even know she left," Matt replied, "but I saw her earlier."

"Wait, how do you know what my mother looks like?" Cedric asked while he ran over the possible reasons for the woman's sudden appearance. He all but gave himself a smack across the head. It wasn't like there were other possibilities.

"So, what did she want?" Matt asked again, a little too obviously shifting the attention to Cedric.

Cedric knew he missed the first part of Matt's response.

"I'm not sure myself. I'll ask her later," Cedric replied.

"Isn't it because you've been skipping classes again?" Matt asked indifferently.

"You, so you noticed!"

"Whatever."

"Not whatever! I'm glad."

For some reason, those last words felt so uncharacteristically sincere to Matt. He even stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Cedric against better judgment.

“What are you up to this time?" Matt asked, slightly alarmed. He has been enduring so much of Cedric's unwanted attention that he clearly understood Cedric was just a bored, teenage piece of work who took a shine on Matt because he felt somewhat curious about Matt's existence.

“I'm not up to anything, really. Can't I just be really glad that you were actually paying attention to me? You're my one real friend after all," Cedric replied whimsically.

But before Matt could say anything else, he walked on ahead.

"Sorry! I forgot I had some errands to run!" Cedric hollered back and broke into a run.

 Away from Cedric's prying eyes, Matt ended looking up at the mocking clearness of the sky, haunted by Cedric's question, the professor's knowledge of his sister, and the unwelcome memories floating to the surface of his consciousness. It was June and he just started attending university. Save for the incident at the station, everything is as it has always been. The uneasiness in his chest told him otherwise though, and slapped him senseless with reality. It was June.

"Almost that time of year again, huh, Mari?"