In that sinister night when darkness overshadowed the once progressive town of Palo, the scarlet moon was on its greatest peak. Despite the countless number of stars on the orient skies, the hostile brightness of the moon overpowered them all. The birds and even bats were not seen in the skies. No one could tell whether it had to do with the moon or something else... Nothing was heard, except for the slight whistle of the wind as it harshly pushed itself against the urban wires. The streetlights continued to flicker as a sense of 'aloneness' dominated the streets. Even the narrowest alleys were not exempted from this uncomfortable atmosphere. In this rare night, no one was around who took a night walk or a simple beer party with their friends. All the streets were completely barren.

All the houses were completely closed. From the doors to the windows, everything was secured. Except for a two-floored apartment which was built on the side of the national road. Yes, its main door was completely shut, but its only Jalousie window upstairs was feely opened. As the night breeze rushed its way onto this rectangular shaped window, its white transparent curtain flapped gracefully. So gracefully that everyone could have mistaken it as a ghost.

Below this window was a lad, who laid comfortably against a white colored mattress. Wearing a black cottony shirt and a white silky shorts, he snored as loud as a beast's growl. His short straight hair that was once orderly was now placed against a soft white pillow, disorganized and partially frizzed. As for his face, no one, not even the gods could picture it out. It was too camouflaged against the darkness that no one could tell whether his eyes were partially open or his mouth was the cause of his intensified snore.

Deep beneath this loud continuous snore was a soft ticking of a clock that seemed to deceive anyone that it could never produce a loud and dominating sound... Tic... Tock... Tic... Tock... It continued endlessly with the lad's snore for hours... Tic... Tock... Tic... Tock... It continued, disregarding the fact that sooner or later, it might strongly be hit by the graceful flap of the curtain that will surely result to its hard fall against the dark tiled floor.

Suddenly, a loud click was heard. Then... Clang... Clang... Clang... It finally revealed its slow death-inspired ring. A few seconds later, the white rounded bulb on that webbed cracked ceiling flickered three times and soon lit the whole place. Despite Paolo's inner demand to continue his sleep, the lifeless summoning sound of that blue sheeny clock was just too loud to be ignored. So, with his tremendous urge to stop its hostile clang, his weak and pale looking hands slowly reached for it and harshly tapped its upper part. Then in an instant, a sense of peace was back to overwhelm the cold eerie atmosphere. With a smirk on his saliva-stained face, he was contented with the outcome and imagined that it wasn't the alarm clock that he had just killed, but something else... Despite his astounding urge to

stay on his soft white mattress, his organized and strict characteristic just seemed to overpower it. Because of this, he soon disregarded it as he let his tall slender self slowly sit down. Then, with a yawn, he opened his sunken reddish eyes. Slowly he licked his dry pinkish lips and repeatedly bit it with his unpigmented teeth. With every motion his tongue made and with every bite of his teeth, a sense of satisfaction was felt as a prize. Slowly it energized his head down to his every toe, bringing with it a tingling sensation so pleasurable to never be ignored. It may had been a simple act, but for Paolo, it was enough to completely wake him up.

Then, as he looked at the halted clock, his face that was momentarily filled with an immense amount of pure satisfaction was instantly overpowered by the boiling heat of his hatred.

"Damn it... It's three o' clock... Again," He grunted as he rolled his eyes and slowly stood up with his left hand pressed against the black walled room.

Then, he looked around to somehow entertain himself and gain back his lost driven energy. As he looked on the right, the first thing that had caught his attention was the image of Sr. Santo Niño which was placed on top of a white plastic Durabox. Made entirely out of wood, the image was clothed with black. The golden crown on its head shimmered with the lightbulb's aid and its facial features smiled stagnantly, completely impressed with its newly painted self. For Paolo, this image was more than its appearance. Every time his mind was troubled with doubts and temptations, Sr. Santo Niño would always be his first option to be asked for help. Disregarding the fact that it will never reply anything to him physically, His presence and gentle smiling face was enough.

With a sigh, he had made his eyes leave this comforting sight. There he continued to look around where accidentally, his eyes focused back on the alarm clock that was placed on top of a table designed with unorganized strips of black and white. To avoid that hatred to fill his over-paranoid mind again, he rapidly looked on the left side of it where he saw a picture of her newly admired lady named Amanda whom he had just met in school a week ago. It was neatly placed inside a frame which was entirely designed with golden wings and halos. Blessed with an astounding divinity, stains nor fingers prints were even ashamed to bother its heavenly feature. Its youthful quality was forever to prevail.

Undoubtedly appropriate with the frame's design, Amanda was portrayed with a long brown curly hair which was more beautified with her majestic light skin tone. Her bluish eyes seemed to spark on the day of its capture and her pink colored lips smiled so gently that it could straighten all the heads down under. For Paolo, she was an angel straight from the heavens. In his mind, he always assumed that she will be his wife in the near future.

Eventually, with the help of that simple eye tour, he gradually gained back his full energy to start his day. But as always, he would start everything, surfing the hour-consuming wonders of the web. With Paolo's aloneness for already a year, social media was the only one left for him to contact his friends or entertain his daily oneness. To keep his inner madness on hold, the World Wide Web served as his medicine that relieved him from his depression, stress and all the conditions experienced with living alone. With this, it had always been his routine. Day after day, it started in this manner... But somehow, at that moment, something was different... Something was chilling... Something was not right...

He gently grabbed a laptop from the lower drawer of the Durabox and took a seat back on his mattress. Then, he rapidly opened his laptop and pressed the "On" button. While he waited for the laptop to reveal its home screen, he looked back at Amanda's portrait, as if he could not help himself but be hypnotized back to her splendid beauty. With every blink he took, it seemed that her beauty intensified with an out-of-scale elegance... Blink... He could not help himself but slowly look closer to the goddess-like image... Blink... He soon found his whole surrounding slow down as he continuously focused his glance towards the lady... Blink... Everything that he heard was nothing but his breath as his mouth slowly opened... Blink... His moist pinkish lips was about to touch the frame when suddenly, an unknown whisper so gibberish to be understood but too eerie to be thought about caught his attention. At first, he could not help himself but widen his eyes from its unexpected revelation. But in the end, completely knowledgeable on its source, he looked back at his laptop as it repeatedly flashed a shade of pink, purple and blue.

"Well, here goes its abnormality again," He said irritably as he pressed the Escape Button to temporarily skip the annoying problem his laptop had haunted him for already seven years.

At the moment when the home screen finally revealed, with a slight smile on his face, he clicked the Google Chrome icon which rapidly shown his Facebook account. His ring finger was about to press the name of Amanda on the Search Button when all of a sudden, a beeping sound was heard. Soon it revealed a familiar name on the lower left side of the site. For Paolo, it was a bit new that someone initiated a chat with him, because through those years, it was him who started these conversations to his friends. The thing that made it even more peculiar was that it came from a boy. As his sunken eyes focused on the boy's name, he instantly felt a bomb blast inside his chest and this was followed with a rhythmic pound of his heart.

"Ensio Amadeo... Why is he chatting with me on this early Friday morning?" Paolo widened his eyes.

Suddenly, he cleared his throat as he felt the alarm of a repressed memory that for all those months he tried to forget... Too late of letting it stop, he had found himself travel in time back to that gloomy day where with a slow speed, he rode his small crimson car in the tree filled Magsaysay Boulevard. Harsh drops slid against the glass windows as a sleigh belled song entertained the inner atmosphere. For hours he did not talk. Only the soft sobs were heard from him.

He was about to pass the Madonna of Japan Memorial Park when a young lad suddenly caught his attention. He had a tall slim body and worn a plain white shirt which was paired with a black colored pants. With his tan hands covering his chest, he shivered. With a puzzled look, Paolo looked at the gentleman and asked himself the words, "What is he doing here? Why is he letting himself soaked?"

With compassion beyond any doubts, Paolo stopped his car in front of the poor fellow and opened one of its front doors. In an instant, the lad took the chance and swiftly went inside. Then, he rapidly closed the door and looked at Paolo as he showed to him his thankful smile. He had a slanted eyes and an iris so black that one would ever thought that he had worn contact lenses. His eyebrows were impressively thick and proportional. He had a tall nose bridge and his pinkish juicy lips were perfectly paired with an unpigmented well organized teeth. As Paolo looked down, the first thing that had caught his attention was the six packed abs which was slightly visible under his wet shirt. At that moment, Paolo could not deny that he had been jealous with that guy's majestic look as he looked at his own torso with its baby fat to steal the whole attention. But with a sigh, he denounce his jealousness as he looked back at the lad's angelic face. With every second that passed by, as he continued to keep an eye contact with him, he felt a tremendous pound slowly reveal itself... Louder it went, but he was not alarmed. For it meant something not to be afraid of... A craving was somehow satisfied.

To stop that minutes of awkward silence, Paolo asked, "W-What is your name?"

"Ensio Amadeo," The lad answer with a smile. "How about you, bro?"

"Paolo," He answered.

"Oh! That's cool," Ensio Amadeo smiled. "Anyway, thank you for your kindness, bro."

"It's no big deal," Paolo smirked as he looked at his black dazzling eyes. "You don't have to thank me."

Then, he looked back on the road and continued with the words, "We better get going."

With a shake of his head, reality emerged as Paolo saw himself back inside his room and in front of his laptop. With a doubtful shake of his right index finger, he dragged the mouse to his friend's name and clicked. In an instant, he saw the rebirth of their year drought conversation... "Hi."

With a pound of his heart louder than before and his stomach suddenly bothered with butterflies, he bit his pinkish lips and typed the word, "Hi."

"It had been a while ever since we chatted," Ensio Amadeo said.

"Umm... Yeah," Paolo replied with a sigh.

"Look... I know that you don't want to talk with me anymore," The lad spoke. "But is it okay if I take a chat with you for the last time?"

Quite intrigued with his request, Paolo took a gulp and slowly looked back at the alarm clock. He narrowed his eyes as if the alarm clock was commanding him to stop the chat. Despite of this, Paolo knew that nothing will defeat the decision of the body's own desire. In the end, he breathed heavily and looked back at the laptop, completely disregarding the stand of the clock.

With confidence, he typed the word, "Sure."

Upon seeing the reply, Ensio Amadeo typed the words, "You know? I will always be thankful with your kindness back in that Madonna landmark."

"You don't need to thank me," Paolo replied with a smirk on his pale face. "Look... It had already been two years ever since that happened... It was no big deal."

"Oh really?" He asked.

"Yeah," Paolo answered.

"Honestly speaking, I was not expecting that your kindness will not end in that very spot," Ensio Amadeo spoke. "I was never expecting that you would actually bring me to your apartment to spend a night."

At that very moment, Paolo had felt a sense of blast from his sweating chest as his both eyes widened to like that of an owl. His mind was instantly haunted with what Ensio Amadeo had said. At first, he pondered the thought that this guy was already crossing to his once repressed memories and therefore should be halted. Because he never wanted to regain those memories back that only God knew exactly the number of days he tried his best to erase. But deep beneath this hostile decision, he heard a whisper too soft that it needed a complete attention to be understood. With this, he tried to calm his mind and listen to this ghost-like whisper... With a voice too gentle, but cursed with a tone of an eerie child, it said the words, "Listen to me... There is nothing to worry about... Let it all come back... It is time to reborn your true self..." In a repetitive way, it slowly crawled into the depths of his paranoid-driven mind that it completely swallowed the previous decision. The voice slowly turned louder and louder and with it, the child-like voice uncomfortably turned into a voice like that of a grunting demon... Louder and louder it went, completely ignoring the threshold that Paolo could take. "LISTEN TO ME... THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT... LET IT ALL COME BACK... IT IS TIME TO REBORN YOUR TRUE SELF..." It continued. He tried to cover his ears with his shaking pale hands, but alas! The hands could only minimize the external sounds and not the inner ones. For Paolo, it seemed impossible to be stopped and its creepy loop was too far from its end (if there even was).

At the brink of himself turning into a madman, the creepy voice suddenly stopped when 'Beep'... He received a message from Ensio Amadeo.