PSYCHESTRAIN

03| Image

 03| Image

"She didn't kill the cat," Irwan told Sigmund. They were at his office. "That's what she said..." 

"She told you that?" sounds doubtful rather than questioning. 

"Yeah." 

"You confronted her about that." 

"No, I didn't. I talked to her earlier this morning. I never even mentioned anything about the dead cat, and yet she opened that up when I was about to leave." He explained, "Indeed, your daughter is a smart girl." Sigmund didn't answer and only stared at Irwan. 

"But she was aware," he muttered audibly, "she just woke up that moment, and yet she knew about it. Possible namang sinabi sa kaniya ng kasama niyo dito si bahay一 siguro si Aleng Nina." 

"I doubt." Irwan met his gaze, but as soon as it did, Sigmund looked away. "She was never that attached to my daughter."

"She said Allysa wasn't eating what she served."

"She usually doesn't." 

"And you are letting her?"

"She makes her own food, and she is not really used to taking heavy meals. But she eats bread, fruits, and other snacks. Her doctor said it was okay so long as she was eating."

***

"Hindi ka raw kumakain," Irwan told Allysa after a long silence. They were in her room. He was sitting comfortably on the couch in a certain corner of her room while she was sitting on a stool facing outside the window, her back facing Irwan.

"I ate some bread." 

"That's not enough. And I know that you know that." 

"Of course I do." She grinned. "You want to know something." She faced rightward and said, "I never really eat the food Nina prepares." She turned her face forward. 

"You have some conflict?" 

"I simply don't like her." 

"And why is that?" 

"Hindi ko rin alam." She again grinned. "There's just something about her and what she does that makes me resent her."

"That seems exaggerated."

"Well, at least I do not hate her whole existence." 

"She must have done something to you." 

"No, not yet." 

Irwan could not scrutinize what was really going on in her mind at the moment. He was uncertain whether the young girl was sincere or not. And he comes to the realization that he never really figured out if she had been sincere all along. The emotions she shows on her face could easily be determined. Yet, due to what he had learned about her relationship with Nina and as he recalled the moments he witnessed her casual and warm interactions with Nina, he concluded that she might have been showing what she wants people to see. 

"I have to show you something." 

He pulled something from a compartment of his bag. Allysa, without being commanded, turned her whole body to face Irwan. Then, Irwan started showing some images.

"What do you see on his face?" he asked, referring to the smiling old man in the picture. 

"Oh, so, like, I'd be telling their expressions or emotions." 

"Something like that; now what do you see?" 

"Rage," she responds. Irwan took a glimpse at the image. The man was simply smiling, genuinely happy, and showing contentment. That was indeed how the image was defined.

"I'm kidding," she grinned, and Irwan remained calloused. "He is happy, not that kind of happy that he was really rejoicing over his circumstance. It is more of a happiness brought by contentment or acceptance. It seemed he had already accepted a terrible something with all his heart." 

Irwan did not respond yet but was already satisfied with her response. He then moved that image to the last, showing another one. A smirking young man was now in the picture. 

"How about this one?" 

"Malice," she chuckled. "He literally looks like someone capable of things that are unfathomable, with eyes full of mischief and minds filled with malevolence." 

"Things like what?" 

"I don't know," she snorted. "Maybe murder."

"But this is a kid." 

"Everyone can have malice aforethought, regardless of age."

Irwan did not respond, but that somehow hinted at him. He moved the photo and showed another one. This time, an emotionless girl, young like the latter,. 

"And this one?"

"Certainly, innocence." She looked closer to the image. "And deception." 

"Why?"

"Nothing's more deceptive than appearances, such of a cliche. Sometimes, people tend to pretend and only show people that part of them that they want to be seen," she explained plainly. Yet she added, "Regardless of the age."

Irwan then proceeded to move the photo after perceiving what she said. The next image showed a sorrowful woman.

"This?"

"A melange of emotions," she mumbled. Irwan sensed the changes in her aura, as if the image reminded her of something, which he never intended to do. 

"What do you mean?"

"A woman so hopeless and sorrowful. She looks so blue and worried and miserable. She could have been coming from a terrible situation that made her damaged. But like the previous picture, she was contented, for she already accepted her fate."

Irwan again took a glimpse at the image. She is right, but that seems way deeper. It made his conclusion evident that the image may have reminded her of something. 

"You have depth in almost everything," Irwan commented as he put down the image. "It seemed to have been coming from something." 

"She just happened to look like someone." 

"Who?"

"It does not necessarily look like her, but she was showing exactly the face that my mother last showed me before she decided to hang herself."