Project LOKI ③

Chapter 49: Sign of the Four II (Forepart)

A/N: Intense ba 'yong last update? Sige, chill na muna ngayon. Rewind tayo nang kaunti.

LORELEI

LET ME go back a few days before things got complicated. When we were all still okay. Before things broke down between the four of us.

On the Monday following my dad's death, I went back to school. Ilang araw din akong um-absent para bigyan ang sarili ko ng panahon upang magdalamhati at bumangon mula sa pagpanaw ng papa ko. If he could only talk to me, I was sure he'd tell me to not miss any of my classes. He wouldn't want my grades to be affected by being emotional.

I couldn't really say that I missed the campus. Mabilis na lumipas ang mga araw kaya 'di ko ramdam na para bang matagal akong nawala rito. Clark High was still the same, except for one thing: the high school instructor known as "Friedrich Rivera" is nowhere to be found.

For everyone at school who knew me, they must have been thinking that my last week's grief was all about my dad's death. Little did they know that I also lost an uncle. He could have been a father figure to me, but he took some drastic actions which led him to being incarcerated.

Do I feel sorry for what happened to him? I couldn't say. I was still angry at him for intervening in my peaceful life. Kung sanang hindi niya ginawa ang mga ginawa niya, mag-iiba siguro ang tingin ko sa kanya.

If there's one good thing about my uncle's disappearance from the school, it's definitely the third party case. The fog of mystery that clouded us the past few weeks since Augustus' death has already dispersed. Questions were answered. Obstacles were surpassed. Now we can go back to solving the case that has eluded us since the beginning: the Moriarty case.

"Miss Lorelei, pasensya na kung lagi kitang iniistorbo. I know that you are busy with your school, but I have to get your approval for these matters."

Every now and then, since I was proclaimed the sole heir to my dad's fortune, his devoted secretary Nancy has been calling me. Medyo considerate naman siya dahil tumatawag lang siya kapag break namin sa umaga, tuwing lunch time o after class. But I was not used to this kind of set up.

After giving her my response, I hung up the call and slid the phone back in my pocket. Wala akong nagawa kundi mapabuntong-hininga. I only had to give a yes or no answer, but I still felt tired right after replying to her questions. I was not prepared for this job. If people thought that I was lucky to have everything from my father, they don't know anything at all. It's both a gift and a curse.

I was about to turn around and walk back to the execom office. But I came to a halt when I saw a group of five students coming my way. Nakaramdam ako ng kakaibang lamig nang magtagpo ang tingin ko at ang tingin ng isa sa mga estudyanteng paparating.

Here it went again. That eerie feeling.

There's only one person in the campus who could make me feel this way: Luthor Mendez. He was walking with the other student council officers, with Emeraude on the lead. He stood tallest than the rest of them.