The Stray Kids of Edogawa Rampo

Calling

CALLING

J U N E Cortez
December 24, 2:08 am.
Leonhart St., 887 Malfoy Building.

"Lance!" I called him and he immediately pulled the key out of his shirt. He's been wearing it over his neck just like what Twelve does ever since he left. Halos magkadapa-dapa pa kami para lang makatakbo paakyat sa kwarto ni Twelve. And my heart is just about to explode out of my chest. I can barely hear anything aside from its loud beating.

I don't know if we're hysteric or not, or the ringing is just a hallucination, but whatever it is. It's freaking Edogawa. And we need to ask for his help.

KRIIIIING! KRIIIIIING!

Nag-uunahan kaming pumasok sa kwarto, Lance inserted the key and opened it. I can see his hands shaking as he tried to insert the key to the lock. Zen took the vintage phone out. I licked my dry lips as I felt their stares at me. They expect me to pick up the phone. Alam kong marami silang gustong sabihin kay Edogawa pero 'di nila ito kayang kausapin. They're intimidated. I am intimidated.

I inhaled deeply and mentally said a soulful "fuck it".

Then I pulled the freaking phone up.

"Hello," I said. Anxious and unsteady. I lifted my gaze and met theirs. Lahat sila nakaabang sa sasabihin ni Edogawa.

A long static sound erupted on the phone's speaker. I almost threw it away. I thought my eardrums will tear. Kahit sila Hiro na malayo sa phone ay nagkiskis ng ngipin dahil sa tunog. Then after that, it's just silence.

"Binaba niya na ba?" Hiro asked. I swallowed and signaled him to wait. Walang nagsasalita. But I hope he's in the line.

"Y-Y-You're n-not Twe—elve."

It was an auto-generated voice. Robotic voice na parang altered. The voice itself is creepy enough, it sounded like a combination of thousands of voices. Like it's coming down from hell itself.

"Yes, I'm not," I answered. "Of course, I'm not. We have a problem, Twelve's got taken away from us."

Katulad nung una, it took him a long time to respond. If my intuition is right, he's typing his response first before he can turn it into an audio. If Twelve can, I'm pretty sure he would've traced Edogawa using this line, but since he's still searching for him, I guess it's impossible.

"I—I know..."

"You know?" Lance spoke out of the blue, his balled fist is shaking and I can tell that he's furious. "And yet you did nothing?"

Zen tapped Lance's shoulder, "Lance, calm down. Let's listen to him first."

Huminga ng malalim si Lance, I can see his jaws clenching. I closed my eyes and tried to think of an intellectual response. It's really hard to talk and stay calm. Without Twelve, everyone is tensed. We feel like we're in a crisis.

"Please help us. We need Twelve back so that we can do what we need to do," I told him over the phone. "Kailangan namin siyang makuha pabalik."

Silence covered the other line for a good minute once again. The tension is nerve-wracking. I wanna lash out on him as well. Kung siya nga si Edogawa, ang taong tinitingala namin, if he's really that powerful then why can't he do anything to help us? Why is he hiding from us?

Bakit kailangan naming mag-usap mula sa telepono?

"I-I---I c-can't do tha—at."

"Ha?" Hiro exclaimed. "What did he say?"

"He said he can't help us," Zen interpreted what he heard.

I tightened my grip on the phone, "But why? We have no leads on how can we get him back. We don't even know his current condition!"