Ghost In Red

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I’m panting, perspiring cold sweats, and panicking when I have tried to rev the motorbike, yet it won’t.    

“Syd, just leave it and run for your life!” OJ anxiously suggested while keeping on looking for any signs of the person chasing me.    

“No, Adam will kill me.” I retorted and went down from it to begin pushing it to the highway.    

Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone running after me.    

When we were about somewhere on a slope, going down, I hopped on the bike to try to make it start, yet it still won’t, and I presume it has no gas.    

“I’m going to choke him. He’s a f*cking mechanical engineer, but he can’t fix the freaking fuel gauge of his bike? Ridiculous! And he didn’t even tell me.” I ranted as I had opened the tank only to see that it was empty, yet the indicator says it’s half full.    

“Oh, that sucks! What are you going to do now? Hopefully, there is a gas station near here.” The ghost asked, and I let out a heavy sigh of frustration and looked at the uphill part of this highway that I needed to trek while pushing the hell out of my brother’s rotten motorbike.    

“F*ck this!” I cursed and started my tough task in the middle of the night on a dark highway while the moon wasn’t in the mood to help me out. And I should be about a mile away from home. I certainly had no other choice.    

“I wish I could help you, Syd.” OJ muttered, walking behind me, and I let out, “I can do this. This would be nothing. I will wake up tomorrow and remember this as just a dream. A nightmare, to be exact.”    

---    

“Oh, you’re finally home! I thought you had gotten laid at the party and won’t make it here till dawn, sissy.” My ass-of-a-hole brother greeted me when I had stepped inside the house after parking his motorbike at the garage. Thankfully or unfortunately, the open gas station we had stopped by was about halfway from OJ’s mansion and here.    

I glared daggers at Adam and tried to talk with a toned-down voice but couldn’t.    

“Why the hell didn't you tell me that the fuel gauge is broken, Dam?” I belted, angry as hell, and he gasped while acting like he was shocked.    

“Oh, sh*t! Yeah, right, I forgot. I’m sorry. I am yet to repair that tomorrow.” He replied, and I just rolled my eyes and grunted as I walked past him to go to the kitchen. And OJ followed me.    

“So, did you push that all the way here? I thought it had rained while I was asleep, Syd. You are wet as sh*t.” He uttered, and I poured myself a glass of water and faced him.    

“No, I carried it on my back.” I countered with sarcasm as I am not even near having a good mood right now.    

“Mmm, cool. You could have just pushed it, you know?” He said, making the ghost in red burst out laughing, and I sighed in annoyance.    

“I don’t know why brothers are one hella pieces of a jerk, Syd. They are annoying as heck.” OJ remarked while composing herself from laughing so hard, and I couldn’t agree more.    

“Hey, what’s that on your belly?” He asked, and I looked at where he had been staring at.    

Oh, it’s OJ’s little bro's toy car.    

I took out the car and its remote, and the man got a face of full confusion and curiosity.    

“Where did you get that?” He asked, and I shrugged my shoulders in response and said, “I stole it. Good night, Dam. Morning, I mean.”    

“Crazy kid. I am certain she’s been taking drugs nowadays.”    

I heard my brother murmuring, making me shoot him a death stare, and I just walked out of the kitchen to head to my room to take a rest. It’s almost three in the morning now, and I haven’t closed my eyes even for a minute.    

I closed the door and walked to my bed to take off my shoes.    

When I had taken out the things we had stolen from OJ’s room, I noticed the ghost sitting on the bed and looked at her mother’s pictures.    

They indeed almost looked alike. Now, I remember that I saw this woman during our primary days with her.    

I stood from my bed to change clothes, dry ones, and I could see on my peripheral vision that OJ followed her gaze at where I went.    

I took off my jacket, and when I was about to take off my wet shirt, I snapped my head to look at the girl in my bed, and I had caught her quickly averting her gaze at the things on the floor--my shoes. Hmm.    

“Do you think your mom has some social media accounts?” I asked her and saw she slowly lifted her eyes on me, and I walked to my study table to open my computer, shirtless.    

“Uh… I… Don’t know. I never found one when I had tried so many times to search for her name.” She answered and went near me, and I wiped my neck with the shirt in my left hand.    

“Damn, you are dripping wet, Syd. You should put a shirt on. But… take off your… everything you are wearing first. You need dry ones.” She suggested, and my head turned to look at her with my left eyebrow raised. Then I saw her smiling brightly.    

“Strip? Right here? With you?” I asked with a smirk on my face, and she seemed to shake-nod her head.    

“Well… Yeah, I wouldn’t mind. I won’t peek. I promise. You’ll get sick if you keep those on till they dry up on your body.” She answered, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her response.    

“Sure. I know, Oj. But thanks for reminding me. Stay here, and don’t even think of walking into me in the bathroom.” I answered and warned her, making her let out a scoff. “What? Why would you think I would peek at you, butt-naked? I’m not a creep. Geez! Or…”    

She paused, grinning like an alligator, and looked at me from head to toe, more like checking me out. And I crossed my arms on my chest, looking at her intently and waiting for what she would say.    

“Or I might. No, I wouldn’t. Or I could. Yeah, I can. I may. May not. Just go, you, moron. I’m just kidding. Seriously, Syd, I’m not going to peek.” She continued, giggling, and I only stared at her dubiously for a moment.    

“Just go now. Wear a damn shirt, silly! You are making me uncomfortable.” She exclaimed, and I just chuckled at the look on her face.    

She could be blushing right now. Why would she feel uneasy, though? She could be something… something. Mhmm. Gay. Heh, how I wish.    

“Really? So, I’m the villain? Awesome! Stay here, okay?” I let out, walking to my closet to choose any of my baggy shirts, undies, and shorts.    

“You see, Syd, I had a question for you that was unanswered.” OJ began as I was about to step inside the bathroom, and I turned to look at her, telling her to go on.    

“Are you gay?” She asked, and I wasn’t expecting she would ask that stuff again.    

What would I answer her?    

“Why would you say that?” I asked her back, trying to play coy, and she chuckled.    

“I didn’t say as such, Sydney. I asked you. So… Are you…? Are you gay?” She replied and asked again, smiling brightly, and I gulped.    

I’m effed up.    

I had a quick debate in my head as to whether to tell her the truth, lie, or redirect her question. I don’t want to lie anymore. But if I tell her that I really am into girls, what if she would distance herself from me? Moreover, if she knows I like her. Damn, this is full of pressure. But what if she’s into me, too? She seemed to eye me differently lately. But what if… Ugh, enough of this!    

“I… Well… Why do you want to know?” I asked her, and she shrugged her shoulders and took a deep breath.    

“I just want to know. Come on. I won’t tell anybody. Cross my heart and hope not to die. It will be our little secret, Syd. So… Are you?” She answered, still annoyingly persistent, and I truly don’t know what to do or say right now.    

“I’m not answering that.” I asserted and stepped inside the bathroom, then locked the door.    

And I heard the girl groan.    

“Oh, come on, Roswell! The answer would be just yes or no. Or somewhere in between.”    

“What the f*ck? Get the hell out of here, biatch!” I cursed when she passed through the locked door and stomped inside, crossing her arms on her chest, just to keep interrogating me.    

“I wouldn’t go out if you won’t tell me. Come on, Syd. I really won’t spill it to anybody else. I’m a good secret keeper.” She argued, and I placed my clothes on the counter near the sink, and then I faced her.    

Yeah, good secret keeper, but you are the one I am keeping secrets from. The heck?    

“You want to know?” I asked her, trying to give all I have got, and she nodded her head vigorously, wearing a broad smile, and said, “Badly. No, just moderately. But yeah, I want to know.”    

“Okay. Then don’t die, and I will tell you. I’ll tell you more secrets and facts when you get back on your feet.” I answered, not lying, denial, and no clue, and she rolled her eyes in response.    

“You’re no fun, Syd. Don’t bother. I know the answer. You are gay, and you got a crush on me. You can’t convince me otherwise. Period with a T.” She said, full of confidence, and my jaw dropped in disbelief.    

“Huh! You wish!” I scoffed, and she nodded her head. “Yeah, I do.”    

“F*ck off, Hunters. Dream on.” I reached for the faucet, and she just stuck her tongue out and made faces, taunting me.    

Ugh, what a damn real mature person!    

“Get out!” I belted and splashed water at her, and she just laughed her ass out, walking past the door.    

Damn, that girl would be the death of me.    

---    

“Forget about that for a moment, Syd, and get some sleep. It’s almost four AM now. Let’s continue some other time.” OJ told me after I crossed out another F B profile picture of a woman named Veronica Dawson. She’s the eighth person out of the many here that we need to check the photos on her timeline. She has the same name as OJ’s birth mother, and we had seen no signs that it could be her that we were looking for.    

“No, I’m fine,” I answered and opened another F B account, but her hands blocked the screen of my laptop, making me faintly see what was on it.    

“Take a rest, I said. You need to. Don’t be stubborn as you are. It won’t be good for your health. We will continue tomorrow. Later, I mean.” She insisted, and I nodded my head lightly and yawned.    

“Fine. How about you? Are you going to sleep?” I agreed and asked her, and she shook her head.    

“I’m fine. I don’t want to close my eyes. I’m afraid if I could see darkness for too long, I can’t get back to where there is light.” She replied, and a half-smile crept on her face. No, that wouldn't happen.    

“Alright. Don’t go anywhere, okay? We will accomplish this mission together.” I told her, which caused her lips to form a full sweet smile, and she showed me two thumbs up.    

“Sure. Don’t worry, Syd. I’ll watch over you.” She answered, and I stood up to head to my bed.    

“Oh, please don’t. I don’t want to melt.” I smirked and jumped on my comfy resting place, and she laughed softly.    

“Oooh, now that you mentioned that… I… No, I don’t want to start a fire with you. You might not want to sleep. Go on. Get under the sheets. Then close your eyes now. Sleep tight.” She replied, slowly walking to my bed and settling her butt by the edge near my feet.    

I just smiled at her and didn’t say anything as I lay on my stomach to head to sleep finally.    

Let’s call it a day, a stressfully good day and night, and another day.    

---    

I fluttered my eyes open, groaned, and rubbed my eyes as I had just woken up.    

My gaze roamed around my room and looked for something, no, someone as I am afraid everything was just a dream that OJ was with me.    

And when I saw no signs of her anywhere here, I hastily got up and called her name.    

“Oj? OJ? Where are you?”    

I heard no response, and I felt fear rush in my system.    

“No. Where did she go?” I mumbled and looked at the things on my study table, and I saw it was the same before I slept. Here are her mother’s pictures, her wallet, and her phone. It certainly wasn’t a dream.    

My eyes stopped at the clock on my nightstand, and I squinted my eyes to see the time clearer.    

“Oh, gurl! One PM? Are you kidding me? What the…? I slept that long?” I cursed in shock, and I hurried to the bathroom, hoping to see her inside.    

“Hey, Oj! Don’t freaking play games with me. I just woke up. Do you know that you better make jokes on a drunk person than the ones who just woke up? I am not in the mood for pranks today, Hunters.”    

I kept calling and looking for her, but she was nowhere around.    

She can’t be gone. I made it clear to her not to leave.    

When an ugly thought slowly creeps inside my head, which makes my chest tighten, I bite my lower lip to hold myself from crying.    

She can’t leave me like that. She won't.    

I closed my eyes, and my tears finally fell.    

No, I shouldn’t have closed my eyes to sleep earlier. Where are you, OJ?    

“Please come back to me.”