Spook

Prologue
In Another Lifetime

JOHNNY Tangco was walking briskly towards his dormitory. He had just heard a very disturbing news. Disturbing for him; devastating for his best friend. He knew he had to get to him before the news did. "I hope nobody has told him yet," he thought as he almost broke into a run.

He was buying some take-out chinese food  for his friend when he heard a couple of girls talking about it. He wouldn't have had paid attention if the girls hadn't mentioned names. But as soon as he heard the names, he just had to eavesdrop.

"Yeah, she's definitely pregnant. She told me herself," said one of the girls.

"Are they gonna get married then? Seems to me they shouldn't have eloped in the first place. Her parents love him!" said the other girl.

"I guess they're really gonna have to get married now. What kind of man would he be if he didn't marry her now that she's having his child?" replied the first girl.

That was all he needed to hear before he got the take-out and almost ran out of the restaurant, worried about his friend in the room next to his.

It's been almost a month now since his friend's roommate left the dorm. Johnny didn't know what really happened and whenever he asked his friend he would just cry, so Johnny stopped asking.

He knew, of course, why his friend would have such a reaction. He was probably the only person in the entire world who really knew about it. "If just mentioning his name could bring him to tears, this news would definitely kill him," he thought, worrying some more.

There were quite a lot of people in the lobby when he got to the dorm. They were all talking in hushed tones, but he could hear what they were talking about. "Aww, shit!" he cursed under his breath as he sprinted towards the stairs of the Boys Wing.

He didn't even stop to drop his things in his room; he went straight to the next room. He knocked before he opened the door. And what he saw broke his heart.

The boy in the room was lying on his side coiled in a fetal position looking blankly at the empty bed on the other side of the room. There were no tears in his eyes. There was no life in it either. The boy didn't even bother looking at the door as Johnny opened it to enter the room.

The unoccupied side of the room was as messy as the day its owner left. The boy never touched that side of the room. Johnny didn't think that the boy had even set foot on that side of the room since that fateful day.

The room smelled ripe. Johnny knew his friend hadn't showered for a few days at least. "He probably hadn't moved an inch since I visited last night," he thought as he walked towards the boy.

He put the chinese food on the boy's desk. He had to shove a few books and papers to the side to make room for it, and he noticed that there were a lot of dried tears on the books and papers.

"I brought your favorite," he said as he crouched down to look into the boy's eyes. It seemed as if the boy was looking straight through him. "Dude, you gotta eat something," he said as he gently caressed the boy's cheek.

The boy's eyes finally focused on him. "I'm not hungry," the boy said after what felt like an eternity.

"I know," he sighed, "but you still gotta eat." He helped the boy sit up on the bed and placed a pillow on his back. He unwrapped the food. The wanton soup was still hot. He got the disposable spoon and scooped up the soup. He blew on it to cool it down a little before he placed the spoon next to the boy's mouth. The boy took it and sipped the soup.

"Johnny, I'm not an invalid," the boy said with a slight smile. "I'm pretty sure I can feed myself."

Johnny smiled. It was the first time that he had seen the boy smile since his roommate left. "Well, then, feed yourself," said Johnny as he handed the spoon and the bowl of soup to the boy. He pulled the chair out from the desk and sat on it, not taking his eyes off the boy.

The boy ate in silence as Johnny looked on. "When was the last time you had a shower?" Johnny asked.

The boy just shrugged his shoulders. "Do I reek?" the boy asked back.

"More than usual," Johnny said smiling. The boy smiled back, although the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I'll shower later," said the boy as he returned to eating the soup. "Thanks for this, by the way," he added. "For everything, really. You're a good friend, Johnny."

Johnny wanted to ask him if he had heard about the news, but he couldn't bring it up. "It's good to see him smiling again," he thought. "This would just bring him down."

"Uh... are you gonna be okay?" Johnny finally found his voice.

The boy looked at him intently. "Yeah... eventually, I guess," said the boy. They fell silent again as the boy drank some water.

"I, uh..." the boy said, breaking the silence. "I was thinking I should go back home early tomorrow morning. My father has been persuading me to go home for a couple of months now and I've really run out of excuses."

"But the final exams would be next week," Johnny protested.

"We both know I'm not gonna pass anything anymore," said the boy. "I haven't been coming to any of my classes for weeks now, and I wasn't doing well even before that. Like my dad says, I should just cut my losses."

Johnny didn't know what to say. He didn't want his friend to go. He knew that there was a huge possibility that they would never see each other again if he left.

"Will... uh... will I ever see you again?" he asked, unable to look at the boy.

"I dunno, man," said the boy. "My dad would probably ship me off to live with my grandma in California. Or, if I'm lucky, he would just transfer me in one of the local colleges back home. But I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want me to talk with anyone from here," he sighed.

More silence. "Maybe," the boy finally said after a while. "Maybe I'll see you in another lifetime... after all this shit has blown over," he tried to smile at Johnny.

"Yeah, I guess," said Johnny sadly. "I'll help you pack later."

"No, it's okay," the boy said. "I know you gotta study. Besides, this is something I should do on my own."

"Are you sure?" asked Johnny. "I mean, I don't have to study tonight. I still got a few days before the finals."

"No, really," the boy replied. "Don't worry about me. I can do this on my own. I have to do this on my own."

"Okay. If you say so," Johnny sighed. He stood up and looked at the boy's beautiful, sad eyes. "I'll be right next door if you need anything," he said.

The boy nodded. Johnny began walking to the door. He reached for the doorknob, but decided to turn around one last time to look at the boy. "Can I see you off tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'd probably be gone before you wake up," the boy answered, looking at him intently with those sad, beautiful eyes.

Johnny nodded before he turned back to the door and opened it. He was about to step out when the boy called to him. "Johnny," the boy said, "Thanks again for everything. You're a really good friend and I just wish things could've been... different. But... well... you know how it is. But I swear I'll never forget you."

Johnny just smiled at him, afraid that his tears would fall if he tried to speak one more word. He turned around and walked out the door. He sighed as he closed the door. He couldn't hold the tears any longer, and they began to fall.

He quickly ran to his room and threw himself on his bed. He thought about the boy again... his beautiful eyes... his smooth, fair skin... his gorgeous body. But mostly, he thought about how wonderful it could've been if the boy had directed his love towards him instead. They would've been happy together; he'd make sure of that. "But it's not me he loves," he sighed.

Later that night, as he forced himself to go through his assigned readings, he heard the boy in the other room packing. Then, he heard muffled cries. "He's crying again," he sighed. And he wished this would be the last time that the boy would cry.

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a picture of the boy that he had taken. It seemed like such a long time ago when he took this picture. The boy was smiling; his beautiful eyes were twinkling and full of life. He knew the smile wasn't for him; he could never get the boy to smile this way. The boy's roommate was standing right behind him when he took this picture. The smile was for the boy's roommate. It's always been for him.

He sighed again as he gently put the picture back in his desk drawer. He tried to block out the cries next door as he went back to his readings. But there was no way he could block out the boy from his mind.

It was past midnight when he decided he'd had enough for the night. He was still hearing the soft whimpers next door as he plopped on his bed. The last thing he heard was the creak of the closet next door as it was opened and closed again. And then he couldn't hear the cries anymore. He sighed as he willed himself to sleep, wondering if he would ever see the boy he loved ever again. "Probably in another lifetime... after all this shit has blown over," he thought as he shut his eyes and fell asleep.