Project LOKI: Forward ⏩

Till We Meet Again

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please don't read this special chapter if you haven't finished Project LOKI Volume 3. The following content contains heavy spoilers.

LOKI

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

I SLOWLY opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep off. My vision was kinda blurry, but I could see the face of a young woman whose braided hair was hanging on her left shoulder. Was that Jamie?

I cast my gaze around the area. While my vision wasn't in high definition yet, I could deduce that I was in the comfort of the QED clubroom. The long wooden table. The bookshelf beside me. The corkboard on the wall. I couldn't be mistaken.

My eyes looked down. I found myself seated in a swivel chair. My hands were clutched tightly on the armrest, as if I had been in a rollercoaster ride and braced myself for the thrill. Then I felt a stinging pain in my head.

"Masakit na naman ba ang ulo mo? Sabi ko na kasi sa 'yo na matulog ka nang maaga. That's not good for your health."

I was slouched in my seat, so I sat upright and reclined on the backrest. "Thank you for the concern, Jam—"

My jaw almost dropped as my eyes widened at the girl in front of me. I could clearly see her face now. Initially, I had thought she was Jamie Santiago, but I was wrong. She was someone so familiar. Someone whose face I haven't seen in person for quite some time.

"R-Rhea?" I called her, my eyes blinking and my voice cracking.

She looked at me and gave me that trademark glowing smile. "Bakit ganyan ka makatingin sa akin? Parang nakakita ka ng multo, ah?"

I was dumbfounded for a minute.

In a sense, she was a ghost. She's... dead. So her appearance before me couldn't be anything but a paranormal experience. Did she come here to visit me? Do ghosts—which I still didn't believe in—have that kind of power?

"O, bakit hindi ka makakibo riyan? Para kang laptop na biglang nag-freeze. Hello? You still with me?"

I slowly reached out my hand to her until my fingers felt her face. She was staring at me, bewildered by what I was doing. She was solid, my fingers didn't pass through her. She was warm. Her cheeks were soft. She's alive.

"Hey, Loki? Bakit ang weird mo ngayon? I know you're already weird, but this is definitely on a different level of—"

I cupped her face with both of my hands as I leaned closer to her. My eyebrows furrowed deeper as I maintained eye contact with her. She averted her gaze for a second, but she returned mine a moment later. We were squinting at each other: Me wondering if she was real, she wondering what's wrong with me.

She was real. She was really there.

This was getting awkward already so I let go of her face and reclined myself again in my seat. She stood there stunned, her eyes blinking as they kept on staring at me.