A Past with an Alien

CHAPTER 6

IRIS

My three friends were busy the whole day, and thank goodness! No one bothered me. I'm going home alone, but before that, I want to do something first. I'm not being nosy here, but I decided to follow Hector, and he doesn't know.

He made me even more curious about him the whole day. From the way he stared at me, I felt uneasy about it. How coincidental it was that he, too, was a teacher like me. And why did he tell Ma'am Batongbakal that we had a connection? Everyone in the school right now is talking about it. This new guy had intrigued them and tied me to him. It became hot news for gossip among my co-teachers because they knew my whole story. The school knew about Albert's suicide. And now this guy has put me in an awkward situation.

Speaking of suicide, no eulogy or funeral has taken place. I have never seen Albert's remains. That's why I'm still clueless about whether he took his own life. My mother told me that his relatives took his body and brought it to Manila after they found it.

But Miranda's story had a different version. She insisted that there was no dead body. And she was one hundred percent sure about it. Some of the teachers here had a connection with our city hall, and it was a topic of discussion out there. The authorities in San Francisco searched for Albert's remains but never found them.

Those story versions almost made me go crazy because I didn't know whom to believe. My parents' story was more disappointing because they lied to me. I became distant from them because I felt like my family had betrayed me. I relied on my friends because they knew Albert. They were the only ones who believed me. Albert's parents died as a teenager, and his uncles and aunts raised him. These people, along with my parents, conspired against me. They barred information about his death, which made my depression much worse.

It was six, and dusk was beginning to settle. I stopped daydreaming when I noticed Hector outside my classroom window. He was walking towards the gate. I was the only one left inside my room, and when I peeked through the window, I caught him moving with suspicious gestures. He would pace forward, stop, and glance around, doing it repeatedly.

I rushed to my table and grabbed my red shoulder bag. When Hector exited the school gate, I left the classroom, locked the door, and followed him.

I followed him like a detective, sneaking, peeking, and hiding whenever he glanced around. He was a meter away from me, and sometimes, I had to find someplace to hide whenever he stopped walking.

He moved like a robot with some sinister creeps. What's up with that guy? I knew he was just new here in town, but there was something odd about him. He glanced again in my direction. I panicked and hid behind a parked tricycle on the sidewalk.

I peeked, and when he continued his pace, I went out into hiding and followed him again. Does he live here in Poblacion? And why is he walking from here? Where was his hot car? I swear I'm so curious about him.

He changed direction, and this time, he was walking toward the plaza. Sometimes, he stood straight, and his head was the only one with movement. Like a robot, how creepy was that? He stopped walking again. When he turned his head towards me, I hid in a kariton. I sat on the cement road and took a deep breath. I curled my red bag between my shoulders.

"Ma'am, Iris!" I jolted from the voice, and my head bumped against the wooden handle.

I turned my head around. "Melvin, why are you here?"

"I stopped at the basketball court a while ago and hung around. What are you doing there, ma'am?" I closed my eyes, and my blood rushed to my face from embarrassment.

I stood up, but I noticed Hector was gone. "Nothing. It would be best if you went home now. Your dad is waiting for you."

Melvin scratched his head. I stopped a tricycle and directed him to climb in. I also paid the driver and ordered him to take Melvin home. I slapped my forehead when the tricycle was out of my sight. I sighed deeply and realized that I was the one who was creepy now. I kept stalking Hector like a lunatic.