The next thing she knew, Luna found herself waking up in her bed. She instinctively held her head while she sat upright for a moment and attempted to normalize her breathing before she turned on the lights and checked the mirror. Other than her long black hair being the victim of a bedhead and some redding on her eyes, the young lady looked alright though she couldn’t shake this sense of dread that was emanating from within her.
She tried to lie back down, tossed and turned in her bed looking for that comfort zone to send her back to the memento realm. Unfortunately, her heart would not stop beating fast and that sense of dread would not go away. Unable to sleep in her own bed, which I might add is being stared at by several dolls around the room, the young lady fixed her long black hair before picking up her pillows and blanket.
She slowly crept into the middle hallway, illuminated by the automatic light detecting her presence. She crept to her brother’s room next door and, like some kind of seasoned infiltrator, Luna picked up the key on the altar located at the end of the hallway and right next to her brother’s door.
Inside, her brother was facing away from the door and Luna silently pulled a bedsheet from under his bed. She placed her pillows and blanket onto the freshly pulled bedsheet before returning to the world of dreams and mementos, her brother none the wiser.
Of course, her actions have consequences as the second the sun shone inside the room, her brother accidentally stepped on her stomach as he was waking up.
“Luna?!” he exclaimed.
“Hi kuya…” Luna replied after a chuckle and cough.
“What are you doing there?! I thought I locked the…”
He cut mid-sentence, spotting the key to his door on top of his computer desk. “You actually used the key…”
“I had a bad dream and couldn’t sleep…”
“Luna… You’re about to be 22 years old. Hell, you’re a psychology student damn it!”
The young lady responds to her brother’s statement with a chuckle and a shrug.
Her brother sighs in turn. “...Fine. I’ll get up now. You have class in the morning, right? You should get up too.”
“Ok” Luna responded as she stretched while lying down.
On her way to the dining room, Luna spotted her brother’s college diploma framed on the wall alongside his graduation photos from 2 years ago. Filbert Laurence Yeshua Pancho: Bachelor of Science in Development Communication, Graduation Batch 2018.
Seeing the framed photos of her brother’s graduation ceremony gave Luna a sense of pride as she remembered his 7-year struggle to graduate from the University of the Philippines Los Ba?os.
Reaching the dining room, the siblings’ parents were nowhere in sight but the rice, tocino, and sunny side-ups were neatly served on the table alongside the plates and utensils.
“Where’s mama and papa?” Luna asked.
“Papa already left for work and mama went out grocery shopping” her brother answered. “She’ll be back home once you’re done with your classes”
“Ah ok. Will papa still fetch me later?”
“Yeah. He said he’ll be there around 7, 7:30”
“Ok then. Should I eat dinner there?”
“I don’t think so. Mama should be at home by then”
“Alright. Let’s go eat!”
To the chagrin of her brother, Luna takes her public appearances seriously to the point of taking almost an hour of showering, getting dressed, and applying makeup. Honestly, I am on the side of the brother for this one as she was only putting on a black coat over a white blouse and a light blue skirt, her university uniform. Why take your time to put things on such simple clothing especially since she isn’t going to a fashion show anyway?
Nonetheless, she wasn’t in too much of a hurry as the professor in her first class wasn’t the most punctual teacher in the university though that wasn’t much comfort for her brother, who had to wait the entire time before the two locked up the house and left for Makati.
For the most part, this Monday was no different from any other Monday in Luna’s school life. She would take a bus to PITX then take another bus to EDSA Carousel and drop down in Makati where a jeep will take her to St. Dymphna University.
Once there, she had Social psychology in the morning, psychological statistics shortly after lunch, and, her dreaded subject, general zoology near the 2pm mark. Keeping with that theme, most of that day wasn’t anything to write home about… That is until 2pm struck.
Walking into the laboratory, Luna couldn’t help but feel nervous as she sat down on her chair. While her classmates chatted with smiles and laughter, the young lady languished with each passing second, strongly wishing for the class to be canceled for the day. It bears to note that particular Monday wasn’t an exam day nor was there any kind of event happening in class.
At long last, the professor finally arrived with jars of frogs neatly placed on a trolley cart. The second her and a frog’s gazes met, a chill ran down Luna’s spine.
“There’s no escaping this…” she muttered with a defeated sigh.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Without much dilly dally, the professor distributed the jarred frogs to each student. I think we can all surmise what is about to happen here… While the other students began placing their frogs on their respective trays, Luna spent a good 2 minutes staring at hers, contemplating on what she should do next.
With the class’ pressure upon her, she finally plucked up the courage to open the jar though she clearly hesitated dipping her hand inside. Nonetheless, she eventually grabbed her frog and strapped it on the tray. Applying the necessary sedatives, Luna hovers her scalpel over the now-sleeping animal.
The young lady began to manually breathe as she slowly and shakily descended her scalpel over the frog’s stomach area. She was about to cut an incision but hesitated at the last moment. Feeling a sense of intense pressure, she was desperately fighting to reacquire the courage to proceed with the action especially since her classmates were almost halfway finished with their current lab work. She began to inhale deeply and exhale rather quickly through her mouth instead of her nose. Tunnel vision set in as she unconsciously focused on the frog’s stomach area. She swallowed her anxiety as her scalpel descended and, to her surprise, she found a droplet of water suddenly appeared at her scalpel’s target destination.
“Ms. Pancho?” the professor said as he approached the young lady. “Are you alright?”
“Sir?” she responded as she jolted upward like a soldier standing in formation after being called by the drill instructor.
“Why are you crying?”
“Crying…?”
Perplexed, Luna felt something run down the side of cheek and upon feeling what it was, she uttered “tears?”
Realizing what was happening, Luna tried to quickly wipe her tears away but, like a hydra, more tears left her eyes with each wipe. Needless to say, she created a scene in class and, lucky for her, the professor was considerate enough to excuse her early for the day and allowed her to not proceed with the dissection.
Causing quite the scene in the classroom left the young lady embarrassed to no end. The moment she found her opening, Luna briskly walked her way out of that classroom, hoping to salvage whatever dignity she thought she had left.
Influenced by her embarrassment, Luna avoided the more populated parts of the university, going through the biology building to the top floor of the sociology building. The young lady sat down by the chairs in front of an empty classroom.
She lets out a disappointed sigh. “What the hell am I doing…?”
Before her thoughts could continue, a male voice echoes from the stairs to her right. “Well first off, you walked right into a deserted part of the university”
Startled, Luna let out a scream as a brown haired young man emerged from the stairs. “Damn it, Nathan! You scared me!”
“Did I?” the young man said as he fixed his glasses. “Sorry. I was just checking up on you. Are you ok?”
“What do you think? You saw what happened at the lab…”
“Well uh… Why did you start crying anyway?”
“I didn’t want to hurt the frog.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you mean ‘that’s it’?! A frog is still a living thing!”
Nathan let out a sigh for a moment before offering a chocolate bar. “Yes I know and I’m not really into hurting animals either but… we’re gonna have to do this again at the end of the semester. You do realize that, right?”
Luna pocketed the chocolate bar as she let out her own sigh. “The final exams, I know… but… there has to be another way…”
“Hey, it’s admirable that you don’t want to hurt the animal but… maybe sometimes we have to do things we don’t like to get the things we need, you know”
“I know we’re gonna have to dissect some frogs again for the finals but… I just can’t… hurting another living being is just…”
Luna’s thoughts were then interrupted when a student emerged from the same stairs on the right. Nathan and Luna both stared at the young lady. She had a blank expression on her face, the uniform was a bit disheveled with the patch depicting the insignia that marks her as a first year having a few black spots, and her long black hair was sloppily tied into a ponytail.
Despite her appearance, Nathan paid no mind to her as she proceeded to walk towards one of the overlooks that have a beautiful view of the university below.
“Is she ok?” Luna wondered as the student leaned forward against the railings.
“I won’t lie. She could use some work in dressing properly…”
“Nathan! That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what?”
“Can’t you notice that there’s something off about her…”
Nathan then turned to the student and called out to her as he noticed that she was leaning on the railings. The student didn’t so much as acknowledge his presence as she continued to lean dangerously close to the railing’s edge, prompting him to brisk walk towards her. “Hey! That’s kinda dangerous. You might wanna ease off on the leaning…!”
She continued her forward lean as Nathan instinctively reached out his hand in concern. Within the span of a few seconds, gravity finally got the best of the student and pulled her down.
“HEY!” Nathan shouted as his instincts kicked in, grabbing the young lady by her leg before she was completely out of reach.
“Nathan?!” Luna exclaimed as she ran to assist her friend
“Help me pull her up!”
“Y-Yeah!”
Luna used the young man’s jacket to reach closer to his waist before wrapping her arms around him as they both pulled with all their might. Nathan gripped the hapless student’s leg with both hands while Luna pushed the railing with her right leg, hoping the momentum would give her enough strength to pull the two students. Throughout this ordeal, the student neither moved nor resisted and, though the two couldn’t see it, her face showed no fear, no emotion.
Despite their outwardly thin appearance, it seemed like those two were strong enough to slowly pull the student up. Just as they were about to succeed, a number of long ethereal arms with a purplish aura surrounding them emerged from the building’s walls, one floor below.
“What the fuck?!” Nathan shouted as the hands grabbed onto the young lady’s head, shoulders, and arms before proceeding to pull her down.
Locked in a tug of war, Nathan widened his legs and rested his feet on the concrete pillars.
“What’s going on, Nathan?” Luna said as she realized that they were being pulled back towards the railings. “Getting heavier…! Nathan? What’s going on?”
“Weird shit! Just keep pulling! I’ll tell you later!”
“What are you talki-”
Luna’s sentence was cut short upon the sight of those same ethereal arms emerging from the floor. They moved with such speed that the second Luna let out a scream, they had already grabbed her and Nathan before proceeding to throw them off the railing.
As the ground slowly grew larger with each foot they descended, a purplish portal opened up directly below the young students, swallowing them.