บท 17: Seventeenth

They finally settled in. The twins were all set and ready to sleep at Pearl's room while the girls were already resting at Tamitha's room. Pearl's sleeping soundly beside Tamitha, however, Tamitha's been tossing back and forth, can't find the right position to sleep. Her mind's still clouded with thoughts of what happened earlier and every time she would close her eyes that horrible creature kept flashing through her mind.

It was terrifying to see something transform in front of you. One moment, he looked exactly like Castor, then in a flash, it changed into a huge devil form creature. Those red bloodshot eyes and gory face was traumatizing for Tamitha. Until now, she could feel those creature's touch on her arms and when she looked at it, she just noticed the bruises she got from the Flicker. Tamitha sighed and got up from her bed and got herself some milk.

While she was skimming around their refrigerator peacefully grabbing something she might like but end up changing her mind, she suddenly heard a faint sound making her panic a bit and froze to her position. She waited for a while before deciding to look at where the noise came from. When suddenly someone talked, "Hey, why are you still up?" Castor asked. Tamitha jumped from her place because of the mini heart attack Castor gave to her.

"Holy– don't sneak up on me like that!" She frustratedly half-shouted, afraid that she might wake Pearl up. She held her chest while giving Castor a death glare to calm herself from getting scared at Castor's sneaking up on her. Castor on the other hand held a stifled laugh to avoid getting Tamitha offended. After she finally recovered, she gave him a serious look assessing whether he's the real Castor this time.

"Don't worry, I'm the real Castor this time," Castor assured but Tamitha's being cautious now, she gave him a doubtful look before going near him and pinching his cheeks. "Aw!" Castor flinched. Tamitha then sighed in relief and nodded her head as a sign that she believes Castor now.

"Can't sleep. How 'bout you? Why are you still up?" She asked before walking up to their living room and opening the television. She decided to just watch some movies since she can't sleep, anyway. Castor followed with his hands on his cheeks, massaging the place where Tamitha pinched him. "Same as you."

They comfortably sat at the sofa while Tamitha trying to look for a movie they could watch. "Hey, Tammy, can I ask you a question? But, if you don't want to answer it's alright, I understand."

She then directed her sight to Castor before answering, "Yeah, shoot." Then headed back to browsing some movies. "Does it really looked like me?" That statement stopped and froze her into her seat as images instantly flashed in her head. "Hey, you good? I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you remember things. I'm sorry, forget it. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Castor panicked, trying to calm Tamitha.

Tamitha deep sighed before heading back to what she's doing and simply nodded and gave Castor an assuring smile that she's alright. "He exactly looked like you but his movement was off, I guess that's my fault actually falling from his tricks."

"Don't say that. Hell, you didn't even know that something like that actually exists. I too could easily deceive by those things. Pollux seemed to be the only one who knew about that thing and I have no clue, why?"

Tamitha exhaled loudly and picked a random movie. They started watching it. Filling the room with total silence. Both felt comfortable with that silence and enjoying the movie. Tamitha then remembered something. "By the way, is your brother already asleep?" She wanted to talk to him about the hidden message they unlocked yesterday. "He's not in our room when I went out of Pearl's bathroom. I don't know where he went." Tamitha looked disappointed, and that didn't escape from Castor.

"Don't worry, he's probably out there fishing some answers." The lad assured. She just gave him a warm smile and sat properly. "By the way, what happened to the letter you received last time."

"That's actually the reason I wanted to talk to your brother." Castor gave her a clueless look, not understanding how he's brother related with the letter. She felt the need to explain her situation to Castor, so she once again sat properly to face Castor. When she got to stare at his brown eyes, fear once again crept into her system. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before facing him once again. She just kept remembering that ugly monster whenever she would see Castor up close, but she brushed it off. While Castor was just waiting patiently for Tamitha, he understands what she's going through.

"I'm sorry–" Tamitha started. "You don't have to be sorry. I understand." He gave her a reassuring smile, showing off his cute dimples. He's smiles were contagious, making Tamitha smile too. "Anyway, when your brother went here; they sent a bag of letters to me with the same message, I don't even know how did they do that. Then your brother saw what's in it. In fact, he even translated it for me. It was something to do with light, I don't know! Then, before completely processing what's happening, suddenly he's already in my bathroom asking for some flashlight. And in an instant, something's written in my mirror." Tamitha explained with her hand gesture, making Castor smile while listening to her.

"What? Those letters were blank. How did my brother see it." Tamitha just shrugged? "Well, what did they write on it?" He added. "I can't remember what's written on the letter anymore but in my mirror, the capital letters L, A, and B written on it and I don't have any idea what's that supposed to mean."

"LAB?" He whispered with a creased forehead, thinking about what it could mean. "Maybe you'll find the next clue to your… lab?" He guessed. Tamitha once again shrugged her shoulder, not sure what to say. "Maybe. That's why I wanted to talk to your brother. Pollux seems to know what going on, anyway."

Tamitha and Castor talked about it more until they heard a noise coming from Tamitha's room. Tamitha suddenly got up and slowly walked to her room, worried for her best friend left in her bedroom. "Pearl?" Tamitha called, but she didn't get any response. "Pearl? Are you all right there?" She called once more, but she still got no response from her best friend. She faced Castor asking for help, Castor asked Tamitha to just stay in her place right now and head straight to the Tamitha's bedroom door.

Tamitha held unto Castor's arms, afraid of what might be inside her room. When Castor was about to reach for the doorknob, they noticed it was half-opened making Tamitha more scared for her best friend but when Castor was about to push the door when Pearl opened it first with a sleepy look while scratching her eyes.

"Oh my gosh, Pearl! You scared the hell out of us!" Tamitha screamed, but Pearl's still half asleep, not understanding what happened. "What?" Tamitha hugged her, happy to see that her best friend was safe.

"Why are you two still awake?" Pearl asked when she finally able to open her eyes completely. "Can't sleep." Both said in unison. "What was the sound we heard?" Castor asked. They saw how Pearl's eyes widen, making Tamitha felt a bit suspicious about her best friend's action, but she pushed that thought away. She can't help but doubt everything around her because of what she experienced, but she didn't want to live full of doubts too, she just needs to be careful.

"I-I bumped myself into your cabinet. I forgot I was s-sleeping to your room instead of mine." Pearl stuttered. Both just nodded as an answer and invited Pearl to just watch with them. Castor prepped their foods while the ladies were in-charged of the movies. In the end, they settled on watching a mystery-thriller movie. Luckily, all of them don't have any classes to attend the next morning so they enjoyed this night and got to know each other more.