RICO SPADES

Episode 18

Episode 18

"Are you kidding me or what?" Karvin asked his co-tenants.

"This better be not a prank, Fely," Antonette said. She then turned to General who was sitting on Fely's bed: "Hey, look at me."

General looked towards the direction of the angry voice.

Antonette raised her hand in a position where it could land on General's cheeks, then asked him: "You can't see me, right?"

"What are you planning to do?" he asked, worried that the owners of the voices might be taking advantage of their invisibility.

"Ouch!" shouted Antonette, shaking her hands which barely touched General's face but still managed to feel the feedback force of a slap.

"Serves you right," Fely said after laughing at her friend.

"I thought we are hiding from people who want to kill me."

"That's what I'm thinking," Steven added. "With all these noises we're making, we're putting him closer to danger instead of protecting him."

"I forgot to bring up that he's the only tenant from downstairs that can hear us," Fely told everyone in her unit.

Karvin interrogated General in a low voice: "What have you done against those people?"

"I think they misunderstand me. I am sent to help them, but they believe I am here to kill them."

"Who sent you?"

"Trimmittee, the person who commands Aling Shirley."

Aling Shirley hid under her bed, hoping that DJ will notice the three shadows walking around her unit and figure out that she is in danger.

"Turn off the lights and lock the door," Nicholas told his companions.

"Aling Shirley," called Loida. "Where are you?"

"Activate the advanced locks of the gates, DJ," Trimmittee told the security officer.

"You're going to pacify them by yourself?" asked DJ.

"The gates are extremely secured now. What are you supposed to do in your post?"

DJ laughed as he removed his shirt.

Trimmittee kicked the door of Aling Shirley's unit open.

"I guess we don't need this," DJ told himself, pertaining to his keyholder.

After inspecting every space, they figured out that the three tenants have already brought Aling Shirley somewhere else.

Trimmittee looked at the Rico Spades on his left palm. Its colors were growing bright.

"Where's General?" he asked DJ.

"He's upstairs with the other five tenants."

Trimmittee rushed out of the room, went downstairs, and headed straight to General's unit.

"What can I help you with?" Loida asked Trimmittee.

"It will help both of us if you move out of my way before I slam this door right on your face," he replied.

DJ caught up with the true owner of the apartment complex and followed him into General's space.

"I want you to look at this stupid symbol and remember how many people have lost their lives because of it," Jotham told Aling Shirley while Nicholas removed the mirror that concealed the inscription on the bathroom wall.

"You don't know what you're saying."

"It's clear to me that you have trapped us here so you can kill us for a demon," Jotham answered back.

"Are you a demon, Trimmittee?"

"No, and I don't remember asking Shirley to kill anybody."

The two tenants were taken aback by Trimmittee and DJ's sudden appearance.

"That symbol and this place are supposed to help us all overcome our most painful regrets," Aling Shirley told the two tenants.

"Liar," Jotham shouted at her face.

Trimmittee hit Jotham's arm and tried to take the proxy owner of the complex into safety.

"Not yet!" screamed Nicholas, holding Aling Shirley's hand to prevent Trimmittee from completely bringing her out of the bathroom.

He continued to stare intently at the Rico Spades. He knew he had to memorize its details if he wants to win his freedom back.

It was 11 o'clock in the morning when General woke up. The barricades that he and the invisible tenants have placed on the passages of Fely's room were still there.

"You're awake."

"I don't remember hearing that voice last night," he realized.