May kumalabog.
Not loud. But clear enough to pull me out of whatever shallow sleep I was pretending to have.
Hindi ‘yun imagination ko.
I sat up. Held my breath.
And waited.
Wala.
Dead silence.
Walang kahit anong ingay mula sa hallway.
But i swear—something moved. Something shifted.
I reached for my phone. 2:47. No notifications. No missed calls. No—
Kalabog.
This time mas malapit.
Parang may nahulog.
Or nabangga.
Or...
Huminga ako.
Mabagal.
Para hindi ako mahulog sa sariling kaba.
Calm down, Aurora.
Wala ka na sa States.
Wala ka na sa—
Don’t.
Don’t think about it.
Don’t remember.
I got up. Slowly. Parang may CCTV ang mundo and i couldn’t let it know i was scared.
I opened the door of my room just enough to peek outside.
Pitch black.
The kind of black that eats you alive.
Pumikit ako, mabilis. “It’s nothing,” I whispered. “You’re just tired. It’s just the new condo. New noises. New shadows. No one’s watching you.”
I said it like a prayer.
I said it like i believed it.
I said it even though i knew it was a lie.
I don’t know when my feet started walking, pero bago ko pa na-realize, I was standing in front of Calix’s door.
Barefoot. Hoodie on.
Kumot nakasabit sa balikat.
Para akong multo.
I didn’t plan this.
I didn’t want him.
Pero mas ayoko nang mag-isa.
Especially when it starts whispering again.
Tok.
Tok.
Tok.
Buksan mo na please. Buksan mo—
The door opened.
Calix.
Half-asleep. Shirtless. Irritated.
“Aurora?”
I looked up at him. Blank. Lost.
“Let me in.”
He blinked. “What’s going on?”
“Just—don’t ask questions. Please.”
He stepped back.
No more questions.
I stepped in.
Door shut behind me.
Locked.
Bolted.
Deadbolt.
I checked all three.
“I don’t need company,” he muttered, dragging himself back to the bed. “I need sleep.”
“You’ll live.”
I dropped my blanket beside his bed and sat on the floor, knees up, arms wrapped tight around myself.
He stared. “You’re seriously sleeping down there?”
“No. I’m just... breathing.”
Calix didn’t say anything.
But i felt his eyes on me.
I hated that.
I hated being watched.
“Are you running again?” he asked.
His voice wasn’t sarcastic this time.
Not smug.
Not anything.
Just… curious. And a little too quiet.
I turned to him, slowly.
“Do you believe in karma?”
He blinked. “What?”
“Do you think... there’s a point where the things you try to bury start digging themselves out?”
He didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t have to.
I lay down on the floor. Hard. Cold. Comforting.
“You know,” I said, eyes locked on the ceiling, “I read somewhere that trauma has no concept of time. That one day you’re fine, then a flick of light, or a scent, or a sound—boom. You’re back where you swore you’d never go again.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“I’m not supposed to.”
Silence.
Then—
“Is someone after you?”
I smiled.
The kind you only make when it’s too late to laugh.
“No one has to be. The past has legs. It finds you.”
“You could’ve told me if something was wrong,” he said.
“Like you’d understand.”
“Try me.”
I sat up.
Looked him dead in the eye.
And whispered:
“I saw him again.”
His face changed.
Fast.
“Who?”
I shook my head. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good,” I said. “Now we’re even.”
I crawled to the bed.
Got in beside him.
Not because i wanted to.
But because the floor suddenly felt too open.
Too exposed.
Like something else was there now.
“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” Calix asked again.
He was facing me now, close enough that i could see the lines on his forehead.
I stared at his chest.
Not in a sexy way.
More like: If i memorize the pattern of his breathing, maybe i’ll stay in the present.
And then i whispered the thing i swore i’d never say again:
“You already knew about it”
I swallowed.
“And now it wants me to remember.”
“Who does?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does?”
“I don’t know.”
“What are you talking about—”
“CALIX.”
He shut up.
And for the first time, I let the silence say what i couldn’t.
Because whatever this is—whatever memory, whatever fear, whatever secret i was trying to drown—it didn’t die.
It just got quiet.
And quiet things?
They always come back louder.
The fan creaked.
Tiny, meaningless sound.
Pero sa loob ng utak ko, parang may gunting na naghiwa sa katahimikan.
Calix shifted beside me.
His arm accidentally brushed against mine.
I jumped.
He looked at me, eyes now fully awake. “You’re shaking.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Aurora.”
I stared at the ceiling again.
“I hate ceilings,” I mumbled. “They always feel like they’re waiting to fall.”
“You’re not okay.”
“You think?”
He sat up slowly, as if moving too fast might spook me.
“You haven’t slept in three days, have you?”
“Two.”
“You’re pale.”
“I’m always pale.”
“You’re not eating.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m coping.”
Calix stared at me.
Long. Quiet.
Then:
“Do i have to stay up with you?”
My throat tightened.
“Yes,” I said.
Just that.
One word.
Barely audible.
“Yes.”
He didn’t respond.
Instead, he stood up, pulled a hoodie over his bare chest, grabbed an extra pillow, and threw it beside me on the bed.
Then he slid down beside me again.
Closer this time.
So close, I could smell his shampoo.
Earthy. Familiar. Safe.
“Kahit di mo sabihin,” he whispered, “I know you’re running from something. I just don’t know if it’s chasing you or if you’re chasing it back. Is this about paul again?”
I didn’t answer.
I didn’t move.
I just kept staring at the ceiling.
Until the ceiling started to look like something else.
A hallway.
A flicker.
A room with no door.
My breath hitched.
I closed my eyes and whispered, “Don’t. Please don’t let me go there.”
Calix turned to me.
“Then stay here.”
He didn’t touch me.
Didn’t offer his hand.
But he was there.
Breathing next to me.
Grounding me.
And for now, that was enough.
Because even if the monsters came back—
at least this time, I wasn’t alone.