The Master of Time Last Page

Geno went to the Sanctuary,  climbed the narra stairs and saw Paul- the guy who was with Grace the other day. He was leaning on the railings of the veranda and beside him was a blind man sitting in a rocking chair with cane in his left hand. Geno stopped walking and sat on the stairs. They listened as the blind man spoke.

“If someone says he has faith but does nothing, his faith is worth nothing. Can faith like that save him? Someone might need clothes or might need food. And you say to him, God be with you! I hope you stay warm and get plenty to eat.”

Geno stared at his burnt hand and then, at the blind man who seemed to be looking at his direction.

“You say this, but you do not give that person the thing he needs. Unless you help him, your words are worth nothing,” the old man continued. “It is the same with faith. If faith does nothing, then that faith is dead because it is alone.  You believe there is one God. Good! But the demons believe that too! And they shake with fear. You are a fool to believe but faith that does nothing is useless. ”

The old man’s voice echoed through his ears as he remembered his last day in the hospital. A detective in mid-thirties stood in front of him while Grace was changing the gauze on his burnt skin.

“Are you sure?” the detective asked him while scribbling on his notebook.

“SAA2746”

The detective stopped writing and looked at Geno.

“That afternoon, you were walking around Mercy Street looking for a witness. I saw you got in your car.  It’s a  white Skyactiv, right?”

“Then, why didn’t you approach me?”

“I..uhm..” Geno started scratching his head. “Well…”

“He was too lazy to make the report that time,” it was Grace who answered for him.

“Lazy?” the police officer frowned. He closed his notebook and crossed his arms over his chest. “You see boy, the thing is, there’s a problem with that car.”

“Don’t tell me it’s a stolen car, detective?” Grace asked.”

“The car was found by PMP patrol officers in an alley near SVHS at around 7:30 in the morning. They said the car exploded and the driver, Mr. Pinlac was found dead inside. ”

“How could that happen?”

“According to the officer-in-charge, a cigarette caused the fire. But autopsy says he was under the influence of  drugs that day.  He was a known user after all who had been in and out of the prison for the last three years. So I guess, this case is as good as closed.”

“Guess there’s nothing that we can do about that,” Grace finished covering his brother’s burns with a new gauze. “How about our case? What happened to your investigation?”

“Oh well,” the detective scratched his neck as he tried to explain again that the fire started due to the leak in the gas range in the kitchen.

Geno flinched when he felt a little sting on his injured shoulder.  He stared at the detective and listened as his mind started to drift a thousand miles away.

“Now,” the blind man went near the railings where Paul was and stared down at Geno. “Show me your faith by the things that you do. It’s time to hunt the spirits down and win this war..”

Geno stood up and looked back at the blind man with eyes full of suspicions. “What is he, exactly?” he asked Paul.

“What am I?” the blind man asked himself. “I am just an old dreamer and a crazy blind man.” And he laughed out loud like a madman.

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The Master of Time Page 8

Geno woke up in the hospital. He immediately felt pain at  the right side of his body.  He noticed his right arm and neck was covered with gauze.

“You’re awake,” a familiar voice said.

When he tried to focus his eyes, he recognized it was his older sister, Grace.

“What happened?” he asked with a hoarse voice. He tried to move his body but felt pain. “How long have I been here?” he asked again.

“Three days,” Grace said.

Geno closed his eyes again and remembered the fire dancing in front of him. When he looked outside the window, the fallen was there laughing at him. Dark clouds swirled around him and in a blink of an eye, the dark shadow was already behind him. The smoke entered his lungs, blocking the oxygen. He struggled for breath and saw Lilah entering his sister’s room. He immediately opened his eyes and tried to avoid his sister.

“Are you not curious as to what had become of my house?”

He shook his head and pretended to be not interested.

“ I sent you messages that I’ll be coming that night, yet you still decided to hold the party?” she asked him again.

When Geno didn’t answer, Grace continued. “Are you too lazy to answer me because you are in pain or are you trying to avoid responsibility again? You should come with me to the Sanctuary and start praying for forgiveness.”

“Is the house more important than me?” he murmured. “I didn’t saw your message,” he said as an excuse.

“Of course not. You were too busy playing video games to check on that!”

“Sis, they all barged in the house there’s nothing else that I can do to stop them.”

“Is it that hard to say No?”

Geno turned to his side and pretended to sleep.

“Not doing what you have to do is the same crime as doing what you should not do. And I told Giselle to stop sending your allowance until you come back to your senses.”

Geno looked back to her sister and frowned, “How could you..”

“Oh, by the way, your girlfriend was here awhile ago. What was her name --”

“It’s okay, I can’t go back to school anyway...”

“Who said you’re not going back to school? You better get out of here as soon as possible! You’ve wasted one year already when you were in grade six. Mom and dad’s gonna kill me if you stop another school year again.”

Geno shook his head. “I wanna go back to Manila.”

Grace stood up. “I left there so I can watch over you.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

Grace tried to stop herself from throwing a fit.

“ If I can’t return to Manila, I’ll go to Australia and live with Giselle instead,” Geno continued.

“If she lets you, why not?” she stood up and went to the door. She stopped for awhile, took a deep breath and looked back to her little brother.  “We’ll talk again. I have to go back to the police station.”

“Sis!”

Grace opened the door and stepped out, “What!”

He clenched his fist and struggled to speak with all his might, “ABV-0132”

“What?”

“The..” he held out a sigh again, “The hit and run car.”

"The what?"

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The Master of Time Page 7

Everyone started running out for their own lives, Geno slowly stood up and went to the kitchen where the black, heavy smoke was coming from. The fire which started small was now huge, it made breathing difficult.

“Geno!” one of his classmates grabbed him. “Let's get out of here, man!”

“Go,” he pushed the guy away from him.

They continued to call  him but were too afraid of the fire and decided to run away.

Geno was left alone in the kitchen. He felt a bit dizzy, his body a little numb and the fire seemed to dance around him. Not too far from where he stood, he could hear the laugh of the fallen outside his window. Like it was trying to ridicule him.

Dark smoke filled the kitchen and swiftly blanketed the whole house. Geno began coughing and started to feel confused. His stomach grumbled, his nose and mouth felt sore and hot. He knelt on the floor, and that's when he heard a loud creaking sound above him.

When he looked up, he saw the ceiling was about to collapse. He tried to crawl away but it was too late. The burning debris from the ceiling fell right on him.  He was badly knocked down and the fire felt so real- he realized he wasn’t dreaming. His drunkenness disappeared while the fire burned the right side of his body.

At the corner of his eyes, he tried to look up. He saw someone standing behind him. The light was blinding, the heat was scorching.

“I-I don't wanna die yet,” he whispered on his last breath before losing consciousness.

Outside,  everyone was panicking. Lilah asked if someone already called the fire station but it seemed like none were on their right mind. Someone told Lilah that he saw Geno fainted inside the house. She panicked and told Jude to go check on him and save him. While they were arguing, a man and a woman approached them.

“Who was left in there?” the woman asked. She had a long black hair and looked familiar.

“I- I think Geno was still there. Someone saw him fainted,” Lilah answered.

“Where?”

“K-kitchen.”

“I’ll check on him,” the man said and quickly ran towards the house.

“Paul!” The woman shouted and followed him.

Lilah and Jude looked at each other, their eyes filled with terror. They watched as the two ran inside the house.

When they finally made it inside, they could barely see anything. The smoke was heavy and suffocating.

“Here!” the woman shouted as she led the way.

Paul followed but when they came near the kitchen, a dark shadow was blocking the door. When the shadow saw Paul, it just ran away in fear. Immediately, the black smoke hovering near the door disappeared. The two looked down and saw a young man lying on the floor.

“Geno!” the woman called to his brother. She approached him and was horrified when she saw that his right arm was badly burnt.

“He needs treatment but don’t worry he’ll be okay,” Paul reassured her.

They quickly took him out, hoping that the flames would give way for an exit path. And just in time, the firemen came and the ambulance carried the young one to the nearest hospital.

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The Master of Time Page 6

When he reached his apartment,  he immediately turned on the television and ate whatever food there was in the fridge. That was when the three minute afternoon news break came in.

“Metropolitan police are still looking for the person responsible for a hit-and-run at Mercy Street this morning  and hope to identify the car from the nearby surveillance camera. At around 7:10 in the morning today a sixteen year old high school student from Sunset Ville High was identified as Ken Rivera -the son of Metropolitan 1st District Congressman Rivera. Witnesses said that he was hit by a car for crossing against the light and disobeying the "don't walk" sign. The student was taken to St. Raphael Hospital and is currently in coma. Anybody with information on the incident is asked to --”

Geno turned off the TV at this point and sat on a couch with a flustered face. He placed his hands on his nape and messed up his hair while looking down the floor. He remembered the police officer just this afternoon who was looking for a witness, and it seemed like no one knew anything about the suspect. It seemed nearly impossible for no one to notice the car speeding away from the crime scene.

While he was deeply lost in his dilemma, he realized that the doorbell had been ringing for quite awhile now. When he opened the door, he was disappointed to see Lilah’s friends. On the contrary, the girls were too happy to see him and were delighted that they get a chance to prepare for the party in his house. He let them in while he decided to stay in his room. He played video games all day long, trying to ignore the noise outside. He was so busy he didn’t notice the message sent by his sister on his phone.

<Ate Grace:> Hey! I'm coming home tonight.

* * *

The night was still young but a lot of students from Metro High had already swarmed in Geno's place. As expected, Jude arrived together with Lilah and some of his boys. A couple of his classmates also came and others he didn’t even know. Loud rock music began to reverberate throughout the house and in an instant, the whole place was a mess. He took a bottle of beer thinking, if his sister found this out, it would be the end of his life.

But what irked him the most was that everyone was talking about Ken- the hit and run victim that morning who happened to be the top student of SVHS. There was a rumor that a girl pushed him to the pedestrian that he got into an accident. Some say that the girl was his stalker and he was hit while trying to ran away from her.
Geno felt sick just listening to the rumors. It was after all, what he hated the most. He was pissed off and tried to drown himself with beer.

When he looked up, he happened to saw Lilah on the stairs talking to some of her friends. She looked astoundingly hot in her little peach cropped tee and black skater skirt. Her messy hair was pinned on one side and flowed down to her bare shoulders. For the first time, he noticed that she was wearing light make-up with a slick of pink lipstick on her lips. She seemed a bit tipsy while she chat with the girls. They were all laughing, but from afar one could see that they were obviously faking it. When was the last time he laughed with Lilah? He couldn't remember. It seemed to be a long time from a far away place.

After a minute of zoning out, he looked for her girlfriend again but realized she was gone. He stood up and looked around, then saw her entering Giselle's room- one of her older sister's. He remembered how he gave her a cold treatment at school this afternoon, so he stood up and decided to follow her. Now’s maybe the time to apologize for his behavior for the past few days

He took the stairs and ignored some of the girls who were trying to catch his attention. When he reached Giselle's room, he stood there for awhile, took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob. Still hesitant, he slowly opened the door, then stopped. Someone else was talking with Lilah- it was Jude's voice coming from inside. Geno was in shock as he stood there listening. After gathering his wits back, he slowly closed the door and stepped down. He had forgotten the reason why he even decided to follow her when he was already sitting comfortably down the living room.

He sat back on the couch and laughed to himself. He shook his head and that's when he noticed that a fallen was lingering outside the window of his house. It was looking straight at him- like it was waiting for him to collapse in drunkenness. He took another bottle of beer and drank it all.

Now, the night was almost over and everyone was drunk. An uninvited person went unnoticed to crashed the party. She quietly entered through the front door, watched everyone with her eyes filled with hatred, and finally went to the kitchen area. When she left, panic already filled the place.

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The Master of Time Page 5

The day dragged on while Geno slept in his class all day. Some teachers got angry and some didn’t dare to waste their time getting stressed out. When the afternoon bell rang, Lilah came to see him.

She entered the classroom and saw Geno sleeping on his desk. She leaned on the table in front of him and stared with her arms crossed.

“We’re you sleeping all day again?” she asked. When he didn’t answer she spoke in a louder voice. “Hey! Geno! I told the girls to come and clean at your house later.”

After a few seconds, Geno lifted his head and yawn. He slowly blinked his eyes upon seeing Lilah’s face. “Do what you want.”

She placed her arms down and bent closer to him, “Well, I..am..going shopping later. Would you like to come with me?”
Geno looked down and squinted his eyes. “I’m busy.”

“Busy with what?” Lilah shouted again. “Busy playing video games?”

Geno nodded and gave her a cold stare.

Lilah stood straight and opened her mouth in disbelief, “You are hopeless!”

She scowled and cursed as she left stamping her feet.

When she was gone, Geno smiled feeling contented. He stood up and walked towards the window, pulled himself onto the ledge and paused. He turned around to see the puzzled expression in the eyes of the three remaining students who were in charge of cleaning the room.

One of them was Andrew who stopped halfway from erasing the whiteboard.

“Ciao,” the guy said with a faint voice. His face was still red and swollen from this morning’s beatings. He turned his back and continued cleaning the board.

Geno nodded. He quickly jumped out of the window and disappeared.

“He ditched us again,” one of the girls shouted, throwing the broom on the floor.

“I’ll offer a candle to Virgen De Los Remedios if Geno stays to help us,” another girl said.

“Miracles don’t happen anymore,“ Andrew said in a voice only he could hear.

* * *

The dry leaves on the ground made crackling noise under Geno’s feet as he heavily walked  through the school backyard. When he reached the back gate, he was shocked when something black jumped in front of him. He saw a pair of constricted pupils looking straight at him, flatten ears and with a black tail rapidly moving back and forth. Geno entered a moment of temporary loss as he listened to her loud hiss. After a few seconds, he realized it was only Midnight- the campus feline who illegally settled at the school backyard.

“What the..where’d you come from!?” he shouted at the black Persian cat after regaining his composure.

The cat stared at him with a sneer as loud as an overload radiator.

Geno blinked a couple of times. He decided to remove his gaze at the cat and made a soft whistling sound as she scanned the surrounding.

Midnight’s tail started to move slowly as if trying to make up his mind of how she should feel. When she heard her five kittens faintly cried for milk, she decided to walk back to where they were.

Geno breathed a big sigh of relief and placed his hands over his chest.

“I really hate you,” he cursed the cat who angrily snarled back at him.

He was surprised and was taken aback.

“I was joking,” he whispered again.

He slowly walked towards the wall and silently vault over the gate.

“That cat’s gone mental,” he whispered as he walked down the aisle.

When he reached Mercy Street, he saw an officer roaming around the area.

“Did you saw the car’s plate number?” the officer asked a coffee shop waitress.

The girl shook her head and made a gesture that she doesn’t remember anything. Even the people around her said that they didn’t see the car who hit the young man. The officer scratched his head and tapped the small notebook on his hand. Disappointed, he went back to where his car was parked and took one last look around before getting in.

Geno felt the hot scorching sun seeping under his clothes and felt thirsty. When he walked past the traffic light post, he heard a creepy laugh coming from above it. When he looked up, the fallen was looking at him with a smile on the face.

“Judgement is inevitable,” the fallen said again.

He ignored him and hurriedly went home.

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The Master of Time Page 4

Geno entered his school gate and greeted the guard who was not even surprised upon seeing him coming late. He took out the student logbook and gave the pen to Geno.

“Looks like your friend was getting trashed again,” the guard told him.

“He’s not fighting back?” Geno asked while signing his name on the paper.

“Do you think it’s better if he doesn’t?” the guard asked him.. “I already gave the boys a warning though, but I doubt those kids will stop just like that.”

“Ahh,” Geno nodded without answering his question. He returned the pen and when he was about to leave, he heard a cat’s purr. He turned around and saw a silver kitten crawling near the guard’s post.

“Oh, this Persian boy got lost again,” the guard said.

“So the crabby cat already gave birth?” Geno asked him as he knelt on the ground. He placed his index finger under the kitten’s chin and started to fiddle him. “You shouldn’t stray away from your mother.”

“Yes, it was yesterday. The time he was born,” the guard said. “Do you want to take him?”

Geno shook his head and stood up, “I even have no time to take care of myself.”

The guard chuckled and nodded, “Guess you’re right.”

When Geno left, the guard stared at his back with eyes filled with sadness as he whispered, “Is it not the time to gather the scattered stones?”

* * *

“I told you not to show your face  again,” Jude said as he slapped Andrew’s face in front of four other students along the grade 10th corridor. “Do you really enjoy getting slapped huh?”

Andrew just stood there with no complaints, his eyes turned down to the floor. He had already received a couple of punches and kicks from the other boys before and a few slaps wouldn’t mind him.

“Hey noob! What is this? You’re not even fighting back, huh? Are you gay?” Jude shouted repeatedly hitting him in the head.

“It’s Geno,” one of the boys whispered to Jude.

Everyone turned around and saw Geno walking along the hallway. Jude stopped hitting Andrew and smiled. “You came.”

Geno stopped walking and asked, “What’s going on?”

Jude came near him and whispered, “Oh yes. Don’t worry, Silvertoes is not yet in.”

“Right. I should have slept more,” he said disappointed.

“By the way man, we’ll be having a house party tonight. I told--”

“Not interested man,” he cut him off and started moving away from them.

“I knew it,” Jude followed him. “That’s why we are doing it in your house.”

Geno stopped right in front of Andrew. He looked at him and sneered, “No way man. My place’s a mess.”

Jude placed his arms around him and continued, “I know. That’s why I told Lilah to clean up, ok? Just chill. It’ll be fun.”

“That bitch, did she say yes?” Geno asked.

Jude smiled and patted him at the back. Geno shook his head and removed Jude’s hands from his shoulder. “I’ll think about it,” he said with a big sigh and walked away.

“C’mon man,” Jude called at him. When he was already far away from them, he turned back to Andrew and gave him a final blow in the stomach.

“Serves you right,” the boys said as they watch him fall on his knees. They laughed together and left him in the hallway.

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"That student have the same uniform as yours," a middle-aged man wearing a white shirt said as he glanced at the young girl in the front passenger seat of his black tinted car.

The girl beside him took a small mirror from her mini bag and stared at her big round eyes.

"So you'll give me what I want, right? I did what you told me to do, you should keep your promise," the man continued as he lit a cigarette in his mouth. "With money, I can do everything. Even if I have to kill."

He puffed and the car was filled with smoke.

“Hey are you listening to me?” The man who was a bit pissed off shook his head.

"I told you to kill the girl. Not the man behind her, " she finally said as the pupils of her eyes started to contract to vertical slits.
"Does it matter who I kill?" the man said nervously, fidgeting in his seat.
"Hmm, well I guess not. A promise is a promise then," she said.

The car was filled with cigarette smoke and the man nodded his head in relief.  From the corner of her eyes, Angel watched the man opened the car's window and puffed smoke again. She clutched the chain strap of her metallic bag with her left hand and gave his neck a long cold stare. She heard her own heart started to pound. Her blood rushed to her head making her feel warm. The tip of her fingers began to tingle and her eyes were about to burst.

“However, it would have been better if that girl was dead,” Angel said looking back at the mirror. “What will you do about it?”

“Dammit!” the man spat out the window. He threw his cigarette, took another one from his pocket and tried to lit it with his shaking hands, “I can kill her if you are not satisfied. J-Just give me some time.”

“No. Your life is enough.”

Finally, the cigarette was lit.  “I said, give me some time..” the man said turning his head towards her.

“The problem is, I don’t have time. But don't worry, I'm giving your money.” Angel returned the mirror inside his soho leather bag and continued, "Oh, and also.." she turned to face him, "a free trip to hell."

The man froze and his cigarette fell out of his mouth. Before he could speak, he realized that the chain strap of Angel’s bag was  already  wrapped around his neck.

“You know that a little disobedience deserves a little punishment, right?” Angel whispered to his ears. “And yet, this disobedient child still craves for a reward? Don’t make me laugh, fool!”

The guy struggled and gasped for breath, but his whole body was numb and his mind was filled with confusion. It must be the girl’s piercing eyes that filled his soul with terror. Now he realized he was about to die in her hands. Slowly, oxygen failed to travel to his brain as he clutched on the chain strap around his neck. When he was about to lost consciousness, he saw Angel’s lips turned into a smirk.

Finally, the man stopped breathing and Angel removed the strap around his neck. "Father as promised, I offer this soul to you."

The lit cigarette which fell from the man's mouth had started to burn his jeans. Angel took the lighter from his shirt’s pocket and started to play with it. The little sparks it created looked wonderfully perfect and made her heart quiver. When she got off the car, the spark she made had turned into a huge fire- burning the driver’s seat together with the scattered peso bills.

The wind blew and brought chills on Angel’s face. When she looked up, stratus clouds started to appear in the sky as it whispered, “a time to die, a time to pluck what is planted, a time to kill, a time to tear down, a time to weep, a time to mourn, and a time to scatter stones…”

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