What If...

14: Knowing Sylvester

I’m keen to know who is this Sylvester and why I intend to send such a sensitive message, a suicide note at that, to this person instead of giving it to either my mom or my best buddy. There’s only one way to find out, I have to contact him.

And so, I turned off my phone's Airplane mode so that I can connect with this mystery guy. As I was about to click on that message thread, my inbox was flooded by all these messages from unknown recipients. This is because Alex might have cleared his contacts list, that’s why I can’t tag these messages to anyone. Based on the first few words of each thread, the messages I received were words of encouragement, concerns on my whereabouts, rude comments, and even indecent proposals.

While trying to look for Sylvester’s thread, I heard Dennis answered his ringing phone.

   “Hello… I’m good… I’m still with Alex. Actually, I’m now at his place… I know, he recovered quickly that he was allowed to be discharged from the hospital… Alex? I’m here with him in his room. You want to talk to him?.. One moment…”

   “Budz, somebody wants to talk to you,” Dennis said as he handed over his phone to me.

   “Hello?” I asked as I reached my buddy's phone.
   “How are you, Alex? Haven’t heard from you lately,” the girl on the other line said with her sweet voice.
   “I’m feeling better now. Just got home from the hospital,” I replied. “May I know who’s this?”
   “Oh! You don’t remember me? This is Abi, older sister of Dennis,” she answered in a surprised manner.
   “I’m really sorry, Abi. The doctor said that I might have some memory lapses due to my accident. Everything seems new to me, even my house.”
   “That's difficult for you, Alex. I planned to visit you while you were confined at the hospital, but I’m too scared to see you in bad shape. Dennis was there to check on you anyway, and he's giving me updates everyday.”
   “I’m really thankful for Dennis to make an effort to take care of me during the past weeks. He even helped me settle here by fixing my stuff and giving me a tour of my own house.”
   “Is that how badly shaken your head was? I guess his frequent stay at your place paid off. I was about to give him clothes since he practically stayed there more than here at home. I hope he’s not bothering you while you try to recover.”
   “Oh no, not at all! Dennis has been a great help all this time, Abi. Don’t worry about anything.”
   “Okay then. It’s nice to hear from you again, Alex. Hope you can drop by our pad too when you’re well. I’ll cook your favorite dish, shrimps in chili garlic sauce.”
   “(gulp) That sounds…delicious. Can’t wait to try that.” (Actually I don’t know how that taste like for I’m allergic to shrimps. I guess I will give it a try since Alex loves it, plus he isn’t allergic.)
   “Looking forward for you to visit here. Can you please pass the phone back to Dennis? Thanks.”

Then I passed the phone back to Dennis and they continued their conversation as he moved away from me and sat near my desk.

I went  back to my business of getting to know Sylvester. Once I found the thread, I sent the draft suicide note and added a message.

   ME: What’s going on? I intended to send that message to you prior to my accident.

I was waiting anxiously at his reaction. I keep rolling and tossing in bed, anticipating for his reply. What’s taking him so long to answer back?

While waiting for Sylvester’s reply, Dennis returned my bed after talking to Abi.

   “Budz, I have some bad news. I can’t stay with you this entire weekend. Abi asked me to be back home tomorrow morning,” Dennis said with a prominent frown.
   “Is that so? That’s okay. I guess your sister needs you there. Is there some sort of urgent matter you have to attend to?” I asked.
   “Nothing urgent, Budz. It’s just that Dad will be back home to check on us,” he retorted with still that sullen look.
   “Glad that Uncle* will be back home. But why have that gloomy face?” I wondered as I worried about his grim mood after that phone conversation.
   “You don’t remember, do you?! I hate it when Dad stays at home!” Dennis snapped back. “We always ended up arguing about anything and everything when he’s around! He only visits us twice a month to give our allowance! Sometimes, he only visits once a month when he’s busy with training his team. He’s a football coach at HOPE Academy.”
   “But why doesn’t he stay with you guys? HOPE is just 30 minutes away from Montrose,” I inquired further.
   “Ever since we were kids, Abi and I were staying at Grandpa’s house. Grandpa took care of us, while Dad visits us from time-to-time. Dad had always been harsh to me, and even got tougher when I graduated from Elementary School. When Grandpa died last year, Dad decided to let us stay in an apartment 15 minutes away from Montrose. Although there’s enough room for the three of us, he still prefers to stay in his quarters at HOPE. I always felt that he only hated me ‘cos he’s always kind and caring to my sister,” Dennis opened up.
   I gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder and said, “Cheer up, Dennis. Don’t think that way about your Dad. Maybe he got reasons why he acts that way, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care for you.”