*Charlie's P.O.V*

Before Leo could fully comprehend what could happen, a click sound erupted. Jackson halted, turning to the sound, turning to Harry.

"L-let him go," Harry stuttered.

Jackson eyed him in ridicule, edging towards my friend like he's found an easier prey. Before he could seize my flustered friend, though, Leo utilised his reprieve to dash.

"Hey!" Harry yelped as he was caught in Leo's wind. A firm grip connected the boys as they skipped to the living area and out of the apartment. Hot on their tail, Jackson rained threats on them. The threats dragged on, and for a moment, Harry felt they had been running forever. They were already blocks from the man's apartment, nearing a busy road. The traffic lights were red. Cars were eager to move. Leo and Harry bolted before them in the nick of time.

Lights turned green. Their heads spun as Jackson met with a four-wheel. Horror dawned on him too late. It was a split second. Leo stretched out his hand as if it could salvage the matter. Harry held on to it like his life was the one at stake.

Other observers screamed.

Two minutes later, an ambulance came. Harry wailed so loud that they left him in, presuming he was related to Jackson.

The next day, Harry returned home. A tired Leo asked, "He is dead?"

"Yep." Harry's gaze froze.

Leo shook his head. Silence dawned.

"He said Charlie is with a cartel," Harry spoke sadly, "the Adiantes or something."

"Huh?!" Leo stood up. "We have to call -"

"I already called Mrs. Henley, but she was saying some things."

"What things?"

"Like- like they are now trying to find where the cartel's base is. But they suspect it's around where they've been bombings -" Before Harry could finish, Leo's phone rang.

Answering, he didn't bother greeting as Mia submerged his ears with worry. He gave the phone to Harry, who tried his best to calm her despite their dread.

*

Oh, how oblivion can entrap one's sanity
I have the same dread, but not because I don't know where I am or how I got here. I know everything. I don't like how dark my coffin is - too dark to see if there are insects in it. Too dark to crochet.

When Alexis returns with the thread and needle, I beg for a touch. Mastro shrugs - he cares less so long as I die.

Alexis brings the torch. They lower me into the coffin. I thank them for the light. They shut the coffin. The light is dim. The battery is not as strong as I wanted.

A mini earthquake later, I accept darkness.

When my eyes open, it's to the sound of soil sploshing over wood, trickling down either side callously. Mastro can't convince the Earth to swallow me whole; he drops his shivel upon his third soil launch.

"Water," he groans to his sister who rolls her eyes in response.

"Just come inside. When you have eaten and everything, you can continue."

"But daddy -"

"He's asleep. Mom can distract him when he wakes." Alexis grabs his hand. Unconvinced, Mastro follows her.

In the coffin, it can't be said that they have gone for good.  My lungs wonder  how long they can last before air becomes an illusion. All I inhale is the stench of imminent death. The walls of this coffin close in around me, giving only a little space in its claustrophobic sea. Silence mocks me to a scream, but I don't bother. Trapped in an unbearable nightmare I cannot bear, I drown in my own fear. May the darkness consumes me, erasing all trace.

As I wither away in this confined space.

My stomach rumbles, so I feed it my nail. Biting it hard, I imagine Leo scolding me for this habit.

What would Mia do? Get a nail polish. Aware that I like to coordinate my look, she would take whatever colour of an outfit on me and paint her nails, so I couldn't resist snatching polish. This would result in our nails matching. I have blue on blue: denim top and bottom. The jeans smell fresh off the laundry, taking me back to when Berry took me to a zoo.

That was a few days after the planetarium trip. I recall he said the giraffes liked my scent, to which I replied that I didn't wash my hair.

"Krypton?" Berry frowned. I blinked, and he grabbed my hand, saying, "It's alright to be stinky occasionally."

"No."

Chuckling, he left the conversation at that. When we returned to his apartment, he slipped out a joke about body odour. I didn't catch it.

If I knew he would shove my face in his armpit to 'help me understand', I would have preferred oblivion. I acted unfazed as he moved on to the topic of some awards ceremony we had to attend.

"Sidney will get an award, and then there will be a big party. Hope you are prepared."

"... I didn't know."

"Really?" Berry smiled. "Didn't your sister tell you?"

No, Silver didn't. She wasn't even home enough for us to talk - either she was at acting school or her friends. I didn't know which friends she was visiting, but they seemed like bad company. Sil would return home dizzy and hysterical, which became alarming once she started switching my medication for some powder substances.

Berry knew. However, just as he acted nonchalant about disturbing my nose, so did he act nonchalant about Sil's behaviour.

On the day of the awards show, I was so happy to see my mother finally. Sydney looked like she knew she was the most beautiful woman on the planet. Sil and I felt special even if she wasn't paying us attention. We had her face - we might as well have screamed her name once she got an award for her role in a film we couldn't stomach for our age.

At the afterparty, she acknowledged us with a wave before attending to celebrity fans. We were left with Berry, but he, too, vanished. The good news was that he sent us to the 'kids' section of the party first; the bad news was that Silver wanted to hang with movie stars, not their judgy nepobabies. She sneaked out, so then I had to follow. She began introducing herself and me, much to the thrill of her audience. Many didn't know our mother was a mother, and we didn't lie since Sil wanted them to notice her. As such, I grew nervous. The more people we interacted with, the more I feared Sydney wouldn't like that. Also, I was nervous about meeting that many people, so I fled to a vending machine. Sil got me a canned Coke from her bag instead.

I blacked out a few minutes after gulping myself into coke paralysis. Woke up in pain. Bled in my washroom until I heard Sil calling, "Krypton?!"

"Yes?"

"Can I take a piss after you?"

"Go to your restroom."

"Ya, but yours is cleaner."

"Ok, please clean yours, then. "

"Bruv, I'll do that later. I need to take a piss urgently!"

"Sil -" I flushed my blood away. Revealing myself afterwards, I sighed, "I'll clean yours. Afterwards, never enter my room without my permission -"

"I'm not your room," she retorted.

I gave her a grave stare.

"What? I'm standing on the boundary between two rooms."

"Both of which are mine."

"Anyway, what took you so long?" Her head leaned on the door frame as she bit her little fingernail.

I grimaced, finding this gesture uncanny.

We used to look very different; however, at that point, she was almost my reflection. I thought of cutting my hair so people wouldn't mistake her for me or mock her figure.

"Silver, have you been eating -"

"Answer my question first."

"What question?"

"Charlie -"

"Oh, we're doing second names? Ok, Charis - " I one-upped her.

She rubbed her temples in defeat. " Why. Did. You take. So. Long?"

I looked away. "Sil, urm -"

"What?"

"A-at the party, please did you, ur- did you give me something ... thing that can maybe cause ur par-paralysis?"

"Pardon me?!" She folded her arms. Before I could reiterate, however, her mouth widened. I give her a puzzled mien, to which she puffed out. " I did, like, give you a little... confidence booster. "

"As in drugs?"

"Krypton, it's - I don't know, yes?"

I facepalmed. "You don't know what you gave me." Then, shaking my head, I moved away. It was like my eyes were wide awake in that instant.

"Hey, it was a mistake. I just wanted you to loosen up a little, and it worked! You become the life of the party. You were having chinwags with all the guests, and everyone said you were awesome. Don't get mad at me." She sighed, "How can I make it up to you?"

She couldn't. We both knew she couldn't, yet I assured her that all would be well if she distracted our mother while Harry sent me to a hospital.

Harry was disturbed by what Sil did, but I convinced him to let it go. We even agreed to hang out at his place afterwards. Return to normality.

Except, nothing was normal. The doctor insisted on seeing my parents, no matter my excuse. Then, there came the police.

Sydney came like lightning. I got hospitalised and questioned about the party. I told them I blacked out after drinking coke.

"Do you remember anything odd that happened?"

My head shook.

"So you were with who?"

"My mother. She was with us the entire night. We left the party after I told her I wasn't feeling well."

The police asked Sydney, shy she didn't rush me to a hospital then. She explained that I tended to fall ill often.
Our return home was plagued with silence. Sydney spoke of an engagement party while I dozed. Little did I know it would happen so soon as if nothing was wrong. As if she did not almost lose me.

Only Berry seemed concerned for me.  He listened to my narration so much so that I even slipped out the truth. I begged him not to tell my mother, but Sil did something to invoke Sydney's anger, causing the party to end terribly.  The moment it was apparent Sil was too high to register scolding, Sydney put two and two together. She started threatening to call the police, so Sil broke some glassware and fled, though a prompt call from Anna's mother informed us that she was staying with them.

Sydney wouldn't talk to me. I poured my burdens unto Berry, begging him to talk her out of reporting, to which Berry said, "Krypton,  sometimes people need punishment -"

"Oh, please. Please, please, please, she won't do it again. Please!"

"Ok, calm down."

"Please, I'll do anything!"

The world stopped.

"Anything?"

I felt I had no choice.

*
*

At least, this time, I had a choice. I chose to be here, on Earth. I would like to imagine I am leaving for another planet. Heaven or hell doesn't even cross my mind till I hear something like ... fireworks? It's a little louder the second time, so I close my ears. The smell of smoke coupled with flames whipping against the air reaches me in muffles. The more I endure the darkness, the more I suspect it is Hell.

If it is, that's fine, so long as no one ends up here because of me.

Will I see Igor? I prefer to burn in peace.

The sounds grow cacophonous, so I sleep. I hear rain somewhere in the void of my mind, but I don't read much into it. My body moves to one side of its own accord when suddenly something impales the coffin. Light, mud, and air flood in. It's too bright; the morning of the next day. Slowly recognising a branch between me and the light, I inhale. Exhale. Then I start kicking the crack of the coffin. It takes agonising effort to worsen the crack, after which another falling branch serves it completely. I cower to the corner,  unsure if it's safe to get out. What if the next branch impales me?

I die? Wait...I die, but it will be quicker than a slow descent in this box. It will be a sharp pain and then nothing.

So I keep kicking. The gap widens for me to poke my head out, scrutinising an uprooted burnt trunk slanted like a ladder. More smoke hits my nostrils while drizzle splatters my face. Carefully, I climb the trunk up to the surface. I cough. I look out.

Everything is burnt.  The Adiante mansion is ashened. The rain put out most of the fire, though I can see tiny glows of orange inside. Dead bodies litter the compound, their weapons close to them to inform me that they are guards.

And their attackers? Who knows? Limping into my wheelchair, I then take one of their rifles and wheel myself to the front step.

My head is blank. It doesn't sound like anyone is alive. I keep staring, though, hoping for a sign. My hands shake.

Four minutes later, there was still no sign of life. What is happening? What happened? A bomb? Given that there are no cars around, I suspect so.

When I wheel myself inside, it doesn't even feel real. What was once a living room is just a container of burned bodies. None of this is real, right? This is a nightmare. I pinch myself. Nothing changes.

"Grpphel-GH!" Something shakes from my peripheral vision, directing me to the dining room.

"Mastro?!" I gasp. He looks up despite having half his body squashed by a shelf. Getting out of my wheelchair, I pull him to no avail as if my back doesn't hurt already.

"Leave me," he pants. I shake my head. I can do this. I need to hold the pain in. My teeth clench as I lift the shelf slower. Once high enough, I wedge a chair between it and Mastro, pulling him out. I won't look at his lower half as I get him into the wheelchair.

"Al-"

"Alexis?" I look around. After finding her body in a corridor, I wheel Mastro out for air. He wails as I wonder how we will get a ride or something.

"Guess we'll have to go on foot," I chirp. Mastro shoots me a look of disbelief, to which I sigh, "We may meet someone on the way -"

"They are gonna kill us." He wipes his tears. "If anyone is coming around here, it is to kill us."

I shake my head, wheeling him faster. We get to the gates, where I unscrew the lock pad with the crochet needle since Mastro warns that using fingerprints may alert the attackers.

It takes some time to get it functioning manually, after which we hide close to the road on the forest's edge.

Until the FBI finds us.

*

×

*

"Charlie?"

"Mm?"

"Hey," I hear.

My eyes flutter open, adjust to the light, and lower. Mia smiles.

"M...Mia?"

"Yes."

"Mia." I reach out to hold her. An ache shoots up my back, but I swallow it whole. I beam brighter than anything, wrapping my arms around her.

"I...I-" she croaks, "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"Oh -" she starts crying.