Chapter 138: 138
“You never needed to mention that. I’ll make sure not a single guy will be with her!” he proclaimed.
“Hah! I think that’s going too far.” I replied.
“Too far? I thought you were the king of dark jokes, what happened?” he said.
He’s now a bit cheered up and he’s wearing a smirk.
“Are you taunting me then? I’m saving this up for a long time now, I really think this is not the time to say this though.” I replied with a glint in my eye.
“Oh~? I’ve heard you’re jokes. They’re nothing special. Hit me.” he declared.
“Well, here goes nothing.” I thought to myself.
“I’m gonna start on learning taxidermy so when you die, I’ll have a figure of you at your house. I’ll stuff your skin with whatever is needed. If I can’t, I’ll just settle for a wax figure.” I said in a single breath while I wait for his reaction.
“WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he exploded.
“I told you it’s not the right time. Even the delivery is off.” I replied.
“BUT!” he tried to retort.
“You taunted me, I’m gonna say that if this is all over but you taunted me. Here we are.” I replied as I pointed at him.
“TAXIDERMY?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K?! ARE YOU STILL ALRIGHT IN THE HEAD KID?!” he can’t stop shaking his head.
“I told you old man before. I lost something here, remember?” I said as I knocked my temple.
“…” he calmed down and he looked at me with solemn eyes.
“You still couldn’t figure out why?” he asked with his normal tone now.
“Yeah.” I replied.
“Kaley’s mom, Marisha. Have you talked to her at least?” he asked.
“I think I would put that off for now. There are still some things I can’t talk about people to yet.” I replied.
“Won’t you tell me at least? I told you before kid, you need to tell people what you have bottled up inside you.” he said.
“I talk about it all the time.” I replied.
“What? With who?” he asked.
“Myself.” I replied.
“…” he was speechless.
“What? I need expert opinion. Who better to talk about my demons than myself? I’ve solved a lot of my problems in here by just talking with myself, there’s a few more things I still need to iron out here.” I said as I knocked on my temple again.
“I dunno kid. I still think you need to talk to someone. What about Kaley though? Can’t you at least talk to her about it?” he asked.
“Hmm, in due time. This is something I think I need to take care of myself. Besides, this is not too serious of a problem as you think it is. It just takes long to solve. Like answering a test with the same questions that spans a million pages. It takes time but I’m slowly getting there.” I replied.
“Okay then. Just always remember that you have me here okay?” he said as he pats my back.
“Sure thing old man.” I replied.
We headed outside and then everyone is looking at the two of us head out. They are all wearing solemn expressions while a few have helpless looks. I walked up to them while Oscar followed from behind. Jared is carrying a trash bag filled with some of the broken plates.
“Before you guys say anything, eat first. Even if the food tastes bland on your tongue, eat. Even if something on your mind is forcing you to put the spoon down, eat. Eat first even if you don’t want to and we’ll talk about what happened after. I promise you I’ll answer whatever question you have at what happened there though I think some of you already know.” I said as I grab my plate.
“Are we gonna eat like it’s noth-” Manilyn from the group in a corner said then I cut her off.
“Please, eat first. I’m not gonna say anything until we finish the food that’s in our table.” I replied.
She was about to get emotional but Jo patted her down. The kids are still oblivious to what happened to their friend and some of my relatives who have spent time with the people we lost has sad expressions. The rest gave bitter looks at their food but a few now started on eating them, albeit slowly. I grabbed my spoon and started to eat my meal. I think this is the first time we ate together where everyone is completely silent. You could only hear the clinks of the spoon and fork. Even when we’re all clearing the table, everybody is quiet. When everything was done, everyone is gathered and no one was talking, all was looking at me as I stood up.
“Okay, I’m gonna tell you what exactly happened. We discovered that Ellen turned maybe in the middle of the night where everyone was sleeping. From looking at her corpse, she seemed to have passed naturally and made victims of Susan and Peter which were sleeping with her in the same room. We’re gonna burn the bodies after and-” I was cut off.
“Wait, we aren’t gonna bury them?” Thelma asked.
“No.” I replied.
“Why?” she replied.
“It might contaminate the soil if we don’t burn them.” I replied.
“B-but those are people we’ve known here!” Joanne chimed.
“If I die, I don’t care if you burn me as well to ensure that those alive will rest easy.” I replied flatly.
“Didn’t you know Ellen since you were young?! How can we be so cruel?” Vangie, Arnel’s wife chimed as well.
“Yeah, I’ve known most of you when I was younger as well. Let’s say we bury them and the crops absorbs some of the virus from their bodies. What now?” I replied.
“Can that happen?” Arnel chimed.
“To be honest, there’s a possibility.” I replied.
“Then doesn’t that also mean that there’s a possibility that it can’t?” he replied.
“You really want to bet on the chance that it can’t when on the other side it could kill us all? We burn them. If we have a crematorium, we could always cremate them to hold a bit of memory from them but the nearest one here is a bit farther from Pulo. I don’t even know the situation from that side since we haven’t gone there yet. Burning them is what we could do for now.” I said.
“Can’t we make a trip there?” Charlene, Zeidrick’s wife chimed.
“Not for now, we still have lots of work to do here.” I replied.
“But! ….” she can’t find the right words to reply.
“If you really want to honor the dead, there is one more way. Inside here.” I said as I tapped my temple.
They all gave solemn expressions.
“There are two conditions in which you really cease to exist, first is if you leave this world and the other one is when people stop talking about you when they forget your existence. We can always honor them by remembering them. I happen to have the best memory out of everyone here.” I replied.
They all looked at me.
“Ellenita ‘Ellen’ Rubiano she’s 72 years old. Born and raised here. I first met her in my old house when she’s already driving pedicabs to make a living. She has a female partner who left her a few years ago but they soon continued being friends even if her partner returned with two kids. She didn’t mind them and took care of them like her own. Her left eye twitches a bit from her stroke back then but she continued to live her life as if nothing happened to her. She has a foul mouth but what I call it is crude honesty. She speaks what she meant and never heard her utter a lie. She always lived her life to the fullest and she made a lot of friends back then and even now.” I said.
“Susan and Peter Aquino 77 and 3 years old. I’ve met them at the South Supermarket when I rescued Allan. It is also where I’ve found Jenny, Chris and Charlotte who were here with us today. She lost her daughter when this thing started and she made sure that her grandson is safe though we lost them in an unfortunate accident. I’ve only talked to them a few times before but they are good people. Also…” I added more details to what I remember from them albeit small.
The rest of them now stood one by one to say what they remembered from the people we lost today. I made sure to remember what they said and a few now are starting to let their tears flow since what happened really can’t be helped. The kids eventually learned of the incident and they wouldn’t stop crying. They lost two mother figures and a friend.
We brought their bodies outside to burned while a few watched and slowly dispersed when the bodies slowly turned to ash. Russel is still with me along with Kaley and Oscar. He’s just looking at them solemnly but his appearance now is much more… contained. It still has a shred of sadness in his eyes but I think he’ll pull through.