Beth

Alexandra is witty and clever enough to play games like this. To someone - to me - whom she doesn’t know in person twenty years after. Discovering her hidden messages, albeit my limited knowledge, makes me feel superior.

Not only feeling proud of decoding it but the fact of having this rare experience enthralls me. Yet, never in my weirdest dreams, Alexandra’s story gives me a real life participation of how is it like to be a sleuth.

While reviewing the notes, I glance over the encircled name in one of the paragraphs of Chapter One. “Giovanni,” I whisper as I lean against the back of the chair. I press my pen against my philtrum, humming.

My fingers tap on the table and my eyes walk along the pinned newspaper cut outs to the ceiling. “What’s with him?” I drag the book towards the edge of the table and stare at the author’s name. L. Mendiola.

“Who is that man beside her?” He holds the wooden rails and steps aside waiting for me to catch up on him on the staircase.

“That was my Uncle Lucas.”

“Is he here, too?”

He shakes his head. “Nah, he already passed away three years ago. He died from this weird disease he got from their father. His brother also died for the same reason. But, my Uncle Lucas survived longer than his older brother.”

Lucas. The name sparks my interest, recalling Kaiser’s explanation in the mansion. So far, I know Lucas Mendiola is her husband, Kaiser’s uncle. As far as I remember, he mentions “older brother.”

Staring at the encircled name ‘Giovanni’ seems my gut churn as if there is a connection between the two names. I stand almost pushing my chair to its fall through my butt, grabbing my sling bag and pick my phone.

In a panic, I press Kaiser’s phone number and call as my eyes land on the wall clock. It’s already near midnight. I hope he’s not asleep. Not yet. The song plays on the other line, almost finishes, yet I hear no response from him. I cluck while crossing my arms and lean against the back of my chair. I bit my lip waiting for Kaiser to answer the call.

Before I press end, the call connects. “Hallo, Beth?” he says almost slurring.

“H-hallo, Kaiser. I know it’s already midnight. Sorry if I wake you up,” I say, pressing my lips together.

“No. I’m not asleep. I finished playing an online game. Sucks, I lost.” He sighs and clucks. “Anyway, what’s up?”

“Er…I want to know about your Uncle Lucas’s brother. You told me he dies of some kind of a disease. Can you tell me more about him?” I tap the pen on top of the piece of blank paper on my table, waiting for Kaiser’s response to my very important inquiry. His answer will lead to the next clue.

“Ah, Uncle Lucas has an older brother, actually stepbrother, paternal stepbrother. I forgot their father’s name. Anyway, his name is Giovanni Mendiola—” Got it. My gut feeling is right. Giovanni and Lucas relate with each other. Wide-eyed, I scribble notes on the paper while my neck presses the phone on my shoulder. “—I guess, he’s five years older than Lucas or more. I’m not sure. But, yeah. Both of them died of a rare deadly disease, which I assume they inherited from their father.” He pauses and an audible sound of his breath remains. “Why did you ask about him?”

“I somehow got the message why Aunt Jessica hands us the book, Kaiser."

“What message?” His sound fills with doubt.

“I’ll tell you when we meet.”

“Fine, I’ll go out anyway tonight. We can meet at the park.” His plan doesn’t sound right. My eyebrows knit together and I sneer instinctively with it.

“I…I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s already late at night. I couldn’t go out of the house anymore. My parents have scolded me a lot when I went with you to Aunt Jessica’s house without permission.” I sputter.

“Remember, this is for your project, Beth. You need to make a lot of daring decisions to get an A grade,” Kaiser says. I sigh out of dismay mixed with fear. Fear of my parents’ upcoming penalties once I violate their unwritten rules again. But…I have no choice. I have to get an A on my Philosophy final paper or else…I don’t want to say it.

“Fine, I’ll get there.” I sound disinterested.

“Great. I’ll be there in half an hour.” I end the call after he says it. I sigh and cup my face with my hands, shaking my head. Trying to get a grip on myself. Trying not to lose myself and my sanity.

With my book in my lap, I swing at the park blocks away from our house. Meeting Kaiser in the middle of the night is weird. But swinging in the playground at the wee hours of the night is weirder.

My feet push my weight up a bit enough for a slight movement while my hands holding the chains and keep my balance. Glancing around the dark surroundings, I am not sure if I should enjoy the view. Especially the full moon shining above me.

I’m more scared of ghosts than Mr. Dizon’s F grade or losing my diploma. I’m more fearful of my life at stake than losing my freedom in my parents’ invisible fence. Their agreement is clear: If I don’t graduate, no independence. My life will be like the United States without the Statue of Liberty. There will be no sense at all.

When I give my last sigh, facing down the dirt staining my feet on my sandals, I wipe it with my hands. And when I raise my head seeing a pair of chucks in front of me, I see Kaiser with his usual smirk.

He waves his hand. “I’m here,” he says. I roll my eyes because it’s obvious. What would I say? I wouldn’t see him if he isn’t here, right?

Before he utters another petty remark, I show him the book and beckon to sit on the next swing beside me. He did without saying a word and grabs the book, flipping its pages.

Something caught my eye.

Kaiser is more attractive when he’s in focus and at a side angle. His chiseled jawline, his pointed nose, his cheekbone, his angular cut. Especially his earrings on his ear match well with his looks. On top of that, his long legs make the swing look like in kindergarten compared to how I seated.

He looks at me and somehow the light reflected from the moon shines on him, revealing his hazel eyes that stare at me. I press my lips and look away as if I am thinking of something or relative to Alexandra’s case. Yet, I am not but making silly fantasies over my best friend. “What did you find so far, Beth?” he asks in baritone. Hearing his deep voice without finishing my imagination adds to the perfect mix. I want to scream and shake my whole body to release the unusual tremor. A romantic one. I shake my head.

He taps my shoulder and I jerk. “Are you okay?”

I nod, trying to keep my composure. “Y-yes. I am. You know, I’m thinking of the clues Alexandra gave us.” Yes, a great alibi. You’re doing great so far, Beth. You. Did. How could you dare imagine ridiculous things about Kaiser?

I add while pushing my weight again and swing a bit. “Anyway, as you see, Alexandra gives us clues inside the book per chapter. From chapter 1 to chapter 7, she somehow arranged them in order. So, we have to start from chapter 1 and identify the messages in the paragraphs before we proceed to chapter 2 and so on.”

He nods agreeing to my explanation and he looks away and returns his focus to the pages. “I know you want to know about me. But it won’t be easy,” he whispers as he reads the notes. “It will be fun.” He sighs and utters, “She likes to play games with us, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, she is. She has reasons why she has to hide her story through your Uncle Lucas’s book.”

“She’s hiding from someone or escaping from something, it seems. I don’t know,” he says. I gulp thinking of the reason why Kaiser has to meet me in the park at this hour. He can tell me of his thoughts on the phone. We can talk late at night if he wants to. “I bet Alexandra knows Giovanni.” His assumption sparks my attention, causing me to retreat my feet from pushing my weight up and look at him.

“Why do you think so?”

“Look. She’s Aunt Jessica’s friend, who is the wife of Uncle Lucas, Giovanni’s stepbrother. Of course, they knew each other. But, given that she encircled his name in the paragraph. There is a deeper story we need to know.” His narrative is plausible. The fact they’re related to each other, it’s clear Alexandra and Giovanni have connections.

But how?

That’s something we have to figure out. But, I am still disturbed by Kaiser’s sudden late-night meeting. I want to know them. He’s not someone who calls me to meet him if there’s no strong reason. Like our meeting in the cafe, for example. He wants to meet me because he’s my best friend. He wants to meet me as soon as he returns to the country after a year since he returned to Germany. That’s unquestionable.

But, meeting in a park in the middle of the night? Should I ask him? I guess I have to. “Er, Kaiser.” He halts from flipping the pages and fixes his eyes on me. I gulp and take a deep breathe in before I continue. “Why do you want to meet me at this hour? You know, you can tell these things on the phone, right?”

He nods and smiles, chuckling a bit. “That’s why I want to ask you for a ride, Beth.”

“Excuse me, a ride?”

“Yes.” He chuckles and sounds overconfident with an offer. I’m no easy girl roaming around the town with a guy alone in his car.

“What would other people tell me, Betelgeuse? That I allow my daughters to roam around the city at night with some guy?” Mom says with a clear disappointment written all over her face.

“But—” He interrupts me when I am about to speak something to stop his ridiculous offer. Instead, he grabs my hand dragging me to his black wild truck. “W-wait—” He opens the door without hearing me first and pushes me to get inside, sitting on the passenger seat.

He runs around the truck and sits on the driver’s seat, latches the seat belt. He holds the steering wheel and looks at me. He leans his torso towards me having his face close to mine. I shut my eyes in an instant pressing my lips as if I try my best to avoid a major mistake. He laughs when he buckles my seat belt and returns to his seat, facing forward.

“You’re cute, Beth.” Then, he turns on the engine and drives away fast.

After an hour drive, he parks the car on the right curb. I glance outside and see nothing familiar. It isn’t a place nearby. Around the neighborhood are warehouses abandoned. There is nobody there. “Are we here?” I ask, almost stammering.

He nods and unlatches the seat belt, opening the door. I did the same and hop off of the car. I turn to close the door and glance at the surroundings clearer. The whole street, filled with warehouses from different companies, is completely eerie. The sounds of the crickets fill my ears. The deafening silence, as we walk along the street, seems enough to give a shiver. More than the effects of a horror movie.

He beckons as he crosses the street entering a narrower entry, more like an alley. After a few houses away near the dead end, he stops walking and steps nearer to a house. He releases my hand and rustles with his black belt bag, grabbing a whole bunch of keys. “Where did you get that?” I whisper, almost squeaking trying to avoid the neighbors waking up because of our noise.

He smiles. “I stole it from mom,” he says while he figures out the key matching to the doorknob. I look around in full alert thinking somebody might pass and accuse us of trespassing. I press my lips and squeezed my palms together, soaked with cold sweat.

“Come on, Kaiser. Let’s go home.” But he didn’t seem to care as he switches from one key to the other. He spends minutes figuring out the right key. My body keeps twitching as I become too sensitive to my surroundings. Hoping no ghosts or criminals around us.

When I am about to tap his shoulder and say something, he exclaims. “Finally.” He turns the knob and opens the door. He gestures at me to enter first and he follows, closing the door as as he could. Then, he walks around looking for a light.

At the moment, I couldn’t see anything but pitch black. But I knew it smells old. More likely an old library. Then, the lights turn on…My guess is right. The whole space filled with libraries of old papers, books, arranged on their shelves. Some of them scattered on the floor and on the table as if someone ransacked the property. A police raid or a fight went on leaving the place in disarray.

“Who owns this place?”

He glances while placing his hands on his waist. “It’s my Uncle Lucas’s secret room. I don’t know what’s inside here. But I saw him telling my mom about his hideout while bragging the key he held. I was a young kid and at that time, I didn’t care that much.”

“But why steal it and visit his old place, Kaiser?” I sputtered, confused on his plan visiting this room without proper ventilation.

He looks at me and says, “We could get something here. I don’t know myself what’s here but my gut tells me to start our investigation in this place.” He sighs, leaving me in deep thoughts of where to start. It’s a big space and lots of papers around. We could spend a whole night here reading to make sure we didn’t miss anything. At least a face mask would help me survive this awful place.

“Uncle Giovanni died in 1999, a year after Aunt Jessica and Alexandra met. My uncle died in 2015. So, he’s visited this place many times and kept a lot of secrets inside these libraries. Twenty years, Beth. Twenty years after Alexandra’s death sentence. For sure, we can get something here,” he says with conviction.

He’s right. If there’s someone we could dig in first to get a whole picture of what Alexandra wants to tell me, it’s Lucas. The closest person we can delve to begin this whole investigation. This place would likely direct us to Giovanni and reveal his relationship with her.

No one else.