Mirage (ON HOLD for revision)

Chapter 20: To Find Mari

Twelve days ago

Much to Cedric’s annoyance, the morning lacked the usual quiet of a place where hardly anyone ever talks, or wakes up for that matter, before noon on a weekend. But it wasn’t even seven in the morning and Cedric could already hear Shirley mumbling awkwardly downstairs accompanied by Leah’s shameless upbeat voice and the unmistakable sound of cleaning. He purposefully waited until three in the morning before going back home after his first meeting with his mother after ten years.

“Ugh, I really miss the quiet,” Cedric muttered as he buried his face on his pillow, willing the beginnings of a headache away.

“Cedric? Are you up yet?” Leah hollered.

“That damn brat never wakes up before noon on weekends.”

To Cedric’s surprise, the old man was also awake, and kicking, he added dryly.

“Everyone’s just getting wrapped up in your little finger again, eh? Bull shit.”

Stealthily getting off the bed so he wouldn’t make any noise and inconveniently announce that, against expectations, he is indeed awake, Cedric tread carefully to the window leading to the side yard. It was a good fifteen feet drop and it has been a while since he went out that way.

“Here we go,” Cedric said, giving himself a mental pat on the back and telling himself to break a leg—or not.

It was highly unlikely for anyone to see him since there were no windows downstairs on that side of the house, which was exactly the reason why he started using it as his escape route. He gingerly leaned out the window, grabbing the frames for support and made a free fall, hoping to land on his feet. Perhaps it was due to the frequency of his escapes in the past, but he managed to land just fine. Until he had to walk so quickly out the back gate when someone started approaching from inside the house. True enough, no one would see the side yard, but it doesn’t mean they wouldn’t hear it when a-one-hundred-and-thirty-pound-unidentified object suddenly falls from the sky with an ominous thump.

He managed to skip out before he caught a faint voice calling his name, another reason why Cedric thought he ought to congratulate himself.

“Now, where do we go from here?” Cedric asked aloud as he walked around aimlessly, still wishing he could sleep some more.

Without meaning to, and more because the path has been engraved on his memory, Cedric found himself three houses from Matt’s house.

“Ugh! It’s not like I can walk up to the gate, ring the door bell and ask old man Carlos if I could see Matt. That old bugger is an imbecile,” Cedric muttered to himself as he stared dejectedly at the house.

It was while he was dillydallying near Matt’s house that a motorcycle stopped right in front of it. Once the man removed his helmet, Cedric immediately recognized that it was Professor Art.

Thankfully, he was saved by the doorbell. He ducked behind the pole, grateful that Mrs. Carlos never took much time trimming her precious landscape art. Cedric crouched just low enough to be out of sight but with some visibility on whatever was going on in front of the house. Several minutes later, Mrs. Carlos answered the door. It was only natural, since the husband and wife were so conventional that the woman of the house would always be the one to answer the door during the day, relieved by her husband by nightfall.

"Yes?" Mrs. Carlos asked skeptically, and  with her tone Cedric knew she wasn't expecting the professor either; if anything, it felt like she suspected him of being a door to door salesman with his shabby shirt and motorcycle.

"Hi, good morning. I was wondering if this is where Marissa Ramirez lives?"

It was a name Cedric did not recognize. But judging by the expression on the old woman's face, she knew exactly who the professor was talking about.