C13 13

CALLEA is in a deep slumber. It was a beautiful day. She enjoyed chatting with Deive and she liked the progress of the story that she is writing. She wrote the flashback of Althea and her ex-boyfriend when he was not an asshole yet.

I don’t want to tackle love stories before. It took her days and even months just to create the cheese scences. It became easier because of Deive. He made her feel giddy with the way he cared for her and he tried to protect her from bats. And he even shopped clothes for her. It was not to her liking but she appreciated it.

Instead of horror backgroud songs and sound effects, she had chosen an old record of kundiman or love songs sung by her cousin. Even Luna loved the kundiman and slept right away.

But Deive didn’t leave her. He was in her dreams. She was imprisoned by a monster. He was calling out her name. He was in his armor while riding a steed and weilding a sword. He came to save her. Her eyes flew open when she heard a huge crash.

Callea’s eyes widened in darkness. With the help of the little light, she saw the books and dresses on the hanger rack topple because Marina hadn’t put it inside her closet yet. Even her skeleton friends, Napoleon and Marie Antoinette nearly shattered.

“What happened here?” I asked as I get up from the bed. I gave Luna and accusing look while it screeched as if she was at fault.

Then she heard a moan. From he rubble of skeleton, books and dresses, there was Deive who was trying to recover.

“Deive,” she called him in a soft voice. What is he doing in my room?

She saw his eyes turn into slits as he looked at her. “Evil spirit, what have you done to Callea?” He took out a something from his pocket then threw it to her direction. “Leave this world. Go with the light. Leave us in peace”

Salt? He was throwing salt at her and he called her evi spirit. “Deive, what the heck are you…”

Then Callea remembered what she looked like. She was wearing Althea’s costume. Her long black hair was laid down. She didn’t comb it and as if ten banshees tried to pull her hair. She was wearing a white nightgown full of blood stain. Synthetic blood was painted on her face and body.

I swiped my hair away from my fac. “Deive, wait. It is me, Callea.””

He put the cross in her direction. “You can’t fool me. Leave Callea’s body.” He closed his eyes and then murmured something as if on a prayer.

I opened the switc of the fluorescent lamp. Light flooded the room. Deive opeed his eyes and his eyes widened when she didn’t dispappear like an ordinary ghost or monster when bathed with light.

She put her hands on her hips. “I told you I am Callea. Do you believe me now?”

Deive blinked several times. “Callea? Why do you look like a bloody white lady?” He looked around the room. The shock and disgust in his eyes became worse. He tried to get off the rubble of skeletons and different props he was in. He dusted off his shoulder. “Why is your room out of a horror production?” He pushed away the webs on the side of her closet. “How could you sleepng on a place like this? How could you stand living in this house?”

“This is my world, Deive. This is who I really am,” she answered and spread her arms to emphasize her statement. “This is what I really look like. Or I want to be.”

He shook his head. “No! Don’t even go there. How did you become…” He stopped and saw the paintings and sketches that lined up her wall. He snatched one and looked at it intently. “Are you a member of the cult?

“No!”

“Why put these in you room? These are horrible!”

“Those are my artworks, you idiot!” she snarled.

“Artworks?” he asked and confusion took over his feautres. “Why do you create scary and creepy stuffs like this? Are you deliberately trying to turn me off? Don’t you like me? Or this is some silly test to check if I deserve to be your groom?”

“No!” It was frustrating the hell out of Callea. He thought she was just playing with him. “What part of “this is me” you didn’t get?”

“You don’t need these anymore, Callea. You won’t scare me. I am here to protect you from the ghosts of this house.”

“Y-You want to protect me?”

“Yes. When I realized that there are ghosts here, I thought about your welfare right away. I went to your room looking like a quack doctor or a shaman to make sure you are okay. I prayed at the church this morning. I kneeled for a couple of hours, begging for protection. And I am the type who doesn’t pray. Good thing I didn’t get an exorcist or I would look like a fool. Maybe you are laughing at me right now. I got scared with the sounds I heard. I believe in white lady and evil ugly cat.”

Luna screeched again as if insulted by Deive’s statement. The cat tried to attack Deive so she picked up the cat right away. “Stay here, Luna.” She noticed some gashes on his arm. It looked like he had another match with Luna. “A-Are you hurt?”

She didn’t expect that he would go through lenghts just to protect her. She didn’t think that he would seriously take everything he saw and heard. Her only fault was that she let it go too far. He was ashamed and hurt because of her. He didn’t deserve it.

“I have no intention to hurt you or deceive you,” Callea protested in a low voice.

He threw away the sketches on the floor. “Save your breath! As if I will still believe you.” His face was red with anger. “This is quite a show. You made me look stupid. To think that I even cared for you. Callea, I won’t force someone who doesn’t want to marry me. If you don’t want me, you should have told me right away. It would save us both time, effort and emotion.” He untied the string of garlic on his waist. “Don’t worry. I will vacate your haunted house soon.”

His footsteps were heavy as he made his way to the door. She went after him.

“Deive, wait! You can’t just leave…” It was in the middle of the night and he was still swimming in emotions. It would be dangerous for him to drive.

“How am I supposed to stay here? You are insane!” He pointed a finger at Luna. “Your cat is insane.” He spread his arms and lifted it up. “This whole house is insane. I have to leave while there’s still sanity left in me.”

Then he stormed out of the room. She flinched when he closed the door with a bang. I felt weak and let go of Luna. It saddened her that things would end up like this with Deive. She was starting to like him. She didn’t want him to leave with a misunderstanding. He must be thinking that she was an awful person.

I slumped on the floor and Her room was a mess. Her life was a mess. All because of her real identity. Because she didn’t come clean with Deive in the first place. He was right. She wasted his time.

“This is all my fault, Luna. This is all my fault.”

TEARS show anew as Callea cleaned up the clutter in her room. Her sketches were crumpled but there’s noo tear. Her costumes were all over the place and her skeleton friends were detached. She could easily fix those. But she couldn’t fix the mess she had created.

She heard the sounds from Deive’s room as he packed his clothes. She couldn’t face him. Would he believe in her? And will he accept her if she told him the truth?

She was in shambles when Marina entered her room. “O! What are you doing here, Señorita? Your groom is about to leave. He said he won’t come back here anymore. He was also mad at me. He said that we are in connivance in terrorizig him. What do I know about that?”

“I am sorry. He learned the truth about me. He entered my room a-and she saw me looking like a bloody white lady. He thought that I am just trying to scare him so he won’t go through with the wedding.”

“Since the beginning, I told you to tell him to truth, remember? You didn’t listen to me. Now this happened,” she sermoned.

“If I showed him the real me, I am sure he would be scared right away. I mean, who would marry a weirdo like me? Grandpa Thomas would be mad if I do that. Deive would think that I am crazy. He would lose his interest to stay here in Villa Celesta.” She was only thinking about her own welfare. She didn’t want to lose the house.

“Well, you are bound to lose Villa Celesta now. You are cooped up inside your room and crying. As if it would help. It was as if you are counting your last days in this house. Do you want to lose this place?”

Callea shooked her head. “No! I don’t want to leave the mansion. This is our home.”

Villa Celesta was not only for her but for Marina and Luna. It was their safe haven from all the judgmental people who wanted to harm them. They could leave there without judgment. They were happy there.

Callea didn’t want Marina to suffer from people who hurt her and put her down because of her physical appearance. She wanted her friend to feel comfortable with herself and appreciate her own beauty. She didn’t need validation from people who thought they were better than other people and enjoy putting other people down because of their physical superiority.

She wanted Luna to keep on receiving love from her, not the cold streets with people who are cruel to animals or other cruel cats who thought she was a competition when it comes to food.

And Callea didn’t want to face the danger of the world because of her own beauty. She didn’t want any more blood in her hands.

“Then talk to Deive while he is still here. He is still your visitor. Be a gracious host. You must fix this. Show him that you didn’t intend to harm him or lead him on. I think he will understand.”

She didn’t want to face Deive or beg him to stay. It would be impossible for him to listen. But he was too good to her. She just wanted to thank him and show him that he was appreciated. Marina was right. She couldn’t let Deive go without clearing things up. She wanted them to part in good terms. He deserved to know the truth.

“I will just take a shower. Can you tell Deive to wait for me in the living room? Tell him not to leave yet. I… I just need to talk to him.” Marina answered her with a nod and left the room.

Callea didn’t waste time. She washed away the grime of synthetic blood on her body. After taking a bath, she had a chosen a clean flowing white gown. It was a new one that she hadn’t worn yet. At least she didn’t look that scary on that gown but she still looked presentable. She left her face devoid of make up. She didn’t clip her hair and let it flow on her back.

When she went downstairs, Deive was standing in the middle of the livinng room. He was holding a cup of tea and his luggage bag was alread at his feet. It looked like he was ready to go. She felt at loss as if she was used to his presence.

He looked at her direction when he heard her footsteps. His face darkened and drank the tea in a gulp. As if he was on a hurry to end everything and get away from her as soon as possible.

“Thank you for waiting.” She noticed that the scratch on his arm was already treated. She asked Marina to take care of him a while ago.

“I don’t want to leave yet without thanking you for your hospitality,” he said with sarcasm. “If you don’t want to marry me, you should have told me from the start. You don’t really have to put on this show. You only made it hard for your self.

She laid her palm to indicate the sofa. “Take a seat.”

“I prefer to stand. Thank you. I won’t stay for long after all.”

Callea sat down at the antique wooden sofa and crossed her ankles. “I just want to clear spme things before you go. You might get tired for standing so long. This could be a long, long story.”

He was force to sit at the sofa across her. “Then make it short. It is a long way back to Manila. I don’t want to waste anymore of your time. We already wasted enough.”

Callea clasped her cold hands. It was not easy for her because she knew she would be judged. But she owed him the truth about her. “For starters, I want to apologize. Luna attacks men especially someone he met for the first time. She is a manhater.”

“Don’t give me that crap, Callea! That cat is pure evil. Maybe you trained him to attack me so I will get scared.”

“Look. Luna was traumatized before because she has bad experiences with people. And whether you believe me or not, I want you to know that I accepted you properly as a guest. I tried to be a great host…”

He smiled sarcastically. “So this is your version of hospitality. You made it seem like this house is hauntned and you pretended to be a ghost to scare people away. That’s a nice touch.”