RICO SPADES

Episode 3

Episode 3

Aling Shirley looked longingly at the building opposite to her apartment complex.

She wished that the curse will be over soon, but unlike her newest tenant, her deepest desires are not granted by a magical bathroom.

A few more years, she thought.

She has grown tired of the constant failures of the past tenants who used to occupy General's space. Each of them has only one job to do for her, but she never saw it accomplished in the past seventeen years.

To escape from the complex was one of her wishes.

But to meet her only daughter for one last time and to be able to ask for her forgiveness was the ultimate one.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a phone call from the security officer.

"Aling Shirley. There is a deliveryman on our gate looking for General."

Zenith tried to contain her laughter after hearing what her brother had just said.

"Did that really happen?"

"I wish it didn't, but it did."

General laughed and shook his head, trying to erase the image of that extremely embarrassing moment inside his head.

"Hey, do you have a paper and a pen?" Zenith asked. "I want to teach you a game."

"I think I have those stuff on that drawer," he replied, pointing the furniture beside his sister.

"We have to play it this way," she told him, showing an empty piece of paper.

Then she started to write something that read as: "I will tell you again what one of the other tenants here had told me earlier."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes. You go first," replied General.

The twins discussed the said matter through writing while faking some reactions.

Zenith pretended to be the winner of the game and excused herself to go to the bathroom, while General proceeded to do his part of the plan that they agreed upon.

He searched for his copy of the contract that Aling Shirley asked him to sign before moving in.

When he found the document they needed, he knocked on the bathroom door.

"I need to pee," he told Zenith.

When she opened the door, she could not help but joke about the embarrassing memory General shared earlier: "Make sure you won't come out naked later."

He sighed, regretting his decision to share with her what happened more than a year ago.

Thirteen months ago.

"Why are all comfort rooms closed?" twelfth-grader General asked himself.

He also wanted to question his decision to eat some yogurt earlier.

It was past lunchtime and the sanitary personnel traditionally close the comfort rooms during the said period so that they can clean those areas without disturbances.

General was lucky enough to be able to reach the fifth floor and find a comfort room open.

Locking the door was necessary because all the cubicles had faulty safety locks, so that was one of the things he did.

He was sweating heavily by the time he finished filling up a pail of water, so he also took off all his clothes before finally pooping.

While cleaning the mess he released, he heard the knob of the comfort room's door clicked open.

He was a move away from fully wearing his boxers when the cubicle swung open as a guy outside pushed it.

"Sorry," the stranger said and headed outside in a rush.

General cupped his face as he tried to get his focus back on what he must do.

Pretending that the mirror slipped off accidentally, he carefully studied the details of the inscription they had seen earlier.

Then suddenly, the room was covered in darkness.

"Zen!" he called out to his sister.

He tried reaching out for the door of the bathroom when he stumbled upon what felt like the body of an unconscious person.

"What the hell is going on?" he mumbled to himself in desperation and confusion.

"Gen, open up."

"I can't see anything!"

"Have you locked the door?" Zenith asked.

"I am not sure!"

She carefully pushed the door and it turned out to be unlocked. Insidethe bathroom was her brother laying on the floor beside a taller guy who seemedto be asleep.