Invisible (Rastro) COMPLETED

Invisible 002

Chapter Two of Invisible
ENJOY!
*****

Rhian dragged her feet to the nearest taxi stop. She needed to get out of there and seek for explanation somewhere and even if that meant she had to take public transports. She saw a taxi coming to her direction. She stood by the street and waved her hand to get the driver’s attention.

“Stop,” she mumbled.

But the taxi wasn’t slowing down.

“Hey, stop!”

The taxi went past her so fast that she had to take a few steps back from the road.

She gritted my teeth and scoffed.

“Why the hell aren’t you stopping?” she shouted on the sidewalk to the taxi that was already out of her sight.

“Fine! Go away! I don’t want to get on your stinky piece of crap taxi anyway!”

She stomped her feet a few times on the ground to let off her steam. But she forgot that she was wearing high heels. Suddenly, she couldn’t stand straight and lost her balance.

“Ackk!”

She kneeled down on the ground.

She looked at her feet and realized that the left heel of her shoes had broken.

“Nooo! This is Jimmy Choo! Noooo!” she wailed as she was holding the broken heel like a mother crying for a fallen child.

She felt something wet on her cheeks and touched it with her fingers. It was tears. She couldn’t believe that she was crying on the streets. She looked around to see if people saw her like this. There were people walking on the sidewalk and across the street, but none of them looked at her. No one wanted to help her get on her feet or at least asked her why she was crying.

She continued to sit on the pavement for a while but it was still the same. No one looked at her. So she wiped her tears and pushed herself up. She dusted off her dress and stood up.

She stood there, not sure what to do or where to go. She clenched tightly to her handbag and gulped.

She still couldn’t believe this was real. This couldn’t be real. No.

It couldn’t be.

Suddenly, a blue bus stopped at a bus stop just across the street.

And then her body just moved by itself. She couldn’t think but her feet were moving towards the other side of the street. She hurriedly crossed the street with her broken shoe heel. She entered the bus and found a seat at the back. The driver wasn’t looking at her, as expected, so she just sat there without wasting her breath trying to talk to him. A few high school students entered the bus and soon they were filling the space. She hid her face with her hands, not wanting to be seen by them. But soon she realized that it wasn’t necessary. None of them noticed her. They were chatting among themselves while holding coffee cups.

She suddenly craved for coffee too. Her stomach growled. She pressed her stomach, realizing that she haven’t eaten anything since morning, and it was already 3pm. She bit her lip and unknowingly eyed the red bean fish bread in one of the student’s hand. She was standing near her and she could take a bite if she moves a little nearer. She felt something wet trickling down her chin and wiped it with her fingers. She shook her head repeatedly, realizing how embarrassing it was to drool for a 50 pesos street snack.

The bus began to move and Rhian sat still on her seat. At each bus stop, there would be people coming in and coming out of the bus. Rhian kept hoping that they won’t sit at the seat where she was since it may appear invisible to them. She looked out of the window as the bus moved across the bridge, crossing Mnl River. She couldn’t remember the last time she took a bus.

The bus stopped. And this time, Rhian saw a stream of people filling the streets and the cars lining up. With such heavy traffic jam and crowd, she figured that they had reached the heart of Manila. A group of men suddenly entered the bus and one of them was drunk. One of them made his way to where Rhian was. She gulped.

No. Please go away.

“Get your ass away from my seat,” she muttered.

But the man was still moving towards her. He was getting closer and closer. Rhian couldn’t take it anymore. She could smell his stinky breath from where she was. She had to move or else the drunken man will end up sitting on her lap. She sprung up from her seat and ran towards the door. She pushed a few people along the way. They looked at each other and accused one another for pushing. Suddenly, the atmosphere became tense among the passengers. They might even punch each other but Rhian wasn’t going to wait for that.

Rhian got off the bus and walked away from there. But after a few steps she stopped and looked around her. She saw huge department store buildings and a street filled with thousands of people.


She felt her phone buzzing in her jacket pocket. She took it out to check. It was Lovi.

She picked it up, “Hey Lovi where are you?”

“Rhi? Hello?”

“Yes I’m here! Can’t you hear me?”

“Rhi, hello?”

“Hey Lovi!! Where are you?, you said you’re having a promotional appearance at the department store right?”

Then there was dial tone. Lovi had hung up.

Rhian scoffed and almost threw her phone on the ground.


**


Rhian broke off her other shoe heel so that she could walk properly. But it was still uncomfortable. She ignored the uneasy feelings and began walking to the department store where Lovi was. She pushed open the glass door to enter and suddenly a few people turned around to stare at her.

Rhian stood still.

“Do you people see me?” she asked.

But they didn’t respond; they just stared, shocked.

Rhian smiled proudly, “Yes, I know. I’m that Rhian Ramos Howell. Sorry but I can’t give autographs right now-

“Did the door just opened by itself?” asked one of them to his friend.

“Wow that was freaky,” his friend replied.

And then, they both turned around and hurriedly leave.

Rhian bit her lip. Her legs wobbled and she almost fell on the floor.

“This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening…”

She lifted her feet to walk, one by one until her pace was steady. And then she ran. She ran up the escalator and pushed away people who blocked her. But her shoes were making her uncomfortable. Her feet hurt. She stopped as soon as she reached the top of the escalator and took off her shoes. But it was cold to stand on the floor without anything to cover her feet. She saw a sportswear shop nearby and sneakily grabbed a pair of pink sneakers. The owner didn’t notice; no one did. Rhian looked at the shoe that she was holding tightly in her arms and then at the owner who was standing just in front of her.

“So, everything I touch becomes invisible too?”

Rhian shook her head, “No, the door wasn’t invisible. They saw it moved.”

“So, anything I touched with both hands became invisible?”

Rhian put on her new shoes then walked to a cosmetic shop next to the sportswear shop. It was a Banila Co. outlet. Her face was on the display and the wall. She couldn’t help but felt proud. She had been endorsing the brand for a few months and she heard the sales increased. Suddenly, she took some of the items there, the lipstick, some blusher and cc cream and shoved them in her bag in front of the sales assistant.

“I’m taking these and I don’t want to pay. It’s okay right?” she asked the girl.

But she was looking somewhere else, ignoring her.

She rolled her eyes, “Hey girl, look at me. Without me endorsing this product you won’t be able to get paid, you know? At least you should respect me.”

But the girl was too busy gazing at her newly-painted nails.

“Okay fine. Let’s see you get scolded by your boss when this rack filled with cosmetics falls on the floor.”

With that, Rhian pushed the rack. It fell, startling everyone.

The manager came, “What did you do?!”

“I didn’t do anything. It just fell!”

Rhian smirked and laughed as she left the shop. For a moment, it was fun being invisible and to cause trouble for others. She excitedly went into a few other shops and finally changed into a new expensive jacket she picked. After that, she made her way to where Lovi was but the place was already cleared out. The stage was there but it was empty. She was too late.

“Darn.”

She took the elevator and rushed down to the VIP parking lot, where she knew celebrities always parked if there were events there. Once there, she looked everywhere to find her. Finally, she saw a familiar silver car. It was Lovi’s car.

She was walking excitedly towards it when suddenly she saw Lovi walking from the elevator from the other side.

“Lovi! Lov!!!!” she called.

But the girl didn’t even glance at her. She was walking with her usual entourage, which were her manager and her makeup artist. But this time, there was another woman joining them. That woman was walking arms in arms with Lovi and they were chatting along the way with smiles on their faces. Rhian creased her eyebrows in confusion.

“B??”

Lovi’s entourage took another car while Lovi led Bianca to her own car and opened the door for her. They didn’t look a bit worried that Rhian had been unreachable for the whole day. Rhian walked closer to them.

“How about dinner with me?” Lovi asked to Bianca.

The older girl nodded, “Okay.”

Rhian wanted to hear more. She was curious. But by the time she was there, Lovi already slammed her door shut and then drove away.

She stood alone in the parking lot.

It suddenly felt so quiet there.

She gulped.

What dinner?

Where?

Without her?


She never knew they were this close.



**



Rhian pushed open the front door and headed to the streets. It was already dark outside. And the amount of people at the streets had multiplied. She dragged her feet to walk. But it felt hard to even move a muscle. She walked less than ten steps and then stopped at a nearby bus stop. She pressed her hand on the clear glass to support her from falling down. She looked down on the ground and bit her lip.

“This can’t be happening…”

“No. I am Rhian Ramos H-

A teenage boy suddenly walked into her, and she fell. She looked around her, furious.

“HEY WHO DID THAT?! HOW DARE YOU?!”

She got up on her feet and began stomping around angrily. She walked to a man who was waiting for the bus.

“WAS IT YOU WHO PUSHED ME HUH?! APOLOGIZE TO ME!” she shouted.

But the man was busy with his phone. Not even glancing at Rhian.

Rhian gritted her teeth and walked to another person. This time, it was a woman.

“WAS IT YOU?! HEY LOOK AT ME!” she screamed. But the woman didn’t even flinch. She was chatting with her friend beside her.

Rhian took a few steps back and creased her eyebrows. Tears were brimming in her eyes but she was too proud to cry.

She looked at everyone in the crowd, and none of them were noticing her.

She was invisible.

“Hey, I-I am Rhian Howell! How could you all-

She choked.

And this time, she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. She blinked and tears were streaming down her face.

“LOOK AT ME!! YOU B*TCHES JUST LOOK AT ME!!” 

She walked backwards as she sobbed, not realizing that she was already over the sidewalk. She was standing on the road.

“LOOK AT ME YOU IDIOTS!!” she shouted.

Suddenly, the people at the bus stop stood up and walked towards her. Rhian was puzzled, but then she looked to her side and saw a bus towards. In that moment, she thought of just standing there and letting the bus crash onto her.


It’s better to die than to be invisible.


So she stood still.

The bus was approaching.

It was getting closer.


Being invisible was as good as dead.


Goodbye world.


No.

In that split second, Rhian sprinted out of the way. She kneeled down on the sidewalk, panting. She glanced at the bus where people were boarding in a line. She thought it was easy to die. But she couldn’t do it.


I want to live.


**


Rhian was not sure how long she had been walking. She just walked along the sidewalk, in a single direction. She knew she was already far as the streets were getting quiet. She pulled her jacket closer to keep warm and shoved her hands in her pockets. She regretted not stealing a pair of jeans back at the department store. Her skirt exposed her legs to the cold wind at night.

She was tired.

She was hungry.

She missed her bed.

She glanced at her watch and realized that it was already five minutes past eleven. She looked around to look for any signboard and noticed that the streets were almost empty. She saw a big cinema building at the other side of the road.

“Han Theatre…”

She realized that she only walked till Han Street. She went to the bus station and sat on the bench. She planned to get on the next bus heading to Tunjo but after almost half an hour, there wasn’t a single bus passing by. Then she noticed a sentence on the bus route map.

No bus after eleven pm.

She couldn’t take the taxi to get back because the driver won’t hear or see her.

She needed a place to spend the night.


**


Rhian planned to crash the night at a five-star hotel’s lounge. The staff wouldn’t chase her away because they couldn’t do that to someone who’s not visible to them. She might even be able to sneak into one of their luxury suites and have a good sleep. Well, she thought since she was invisible she might as well take advantage of it. She just needed a good long sleep. And then tomorrow when she wakes up, everything will turn back to normal again. She hoped so.

But there wasn’t any five-star hotel in Han Street. The street was filled with cinemas, cafés, convenience stores and industrial lots. Suddenly, Rhian saw a Hilton sign from where she was. She picked up her pace and began walking towards that direction, not caring about the route she took. She walked away from the main road and took a turn behind a building, thinking she could get there faster. She encountered a few drunken men at the alley but she was not concerned since they couldn’t see her. She paced faster until she saw a pair of eyes staring right at her.

A brown and huge dog.

She stopped.

“Get out of the way, dog. You can’t see me, right?”

But the dog continued to stare at her with its furious eyes. It didn’t look a bit tame with its sharp gritted teeth and saliva dropping down from the corners of its mouth.

She moved to her right to walk around the brown dog but it moved around to block her and barked.

It barked again and again.

Rhian gulped.

“You can see me, dog?”    

The dog suddenly charged at her, taking her by surprise. She turned around and sprinted away as fast as she could through the alley. But even though she was wearing the pair of branded running sneakers that she stole, she was not much of a runner herself. The dog was getting nearer and nearer every time she turned around to check.

“HELP ME!!!” she screamed as her voice echoed to no one but herself.

Her legs were getting weak and she knew she couldn’t run any longer. She couldn’t keep running. She had to change her plan.

She saw a building two lots away from where she was, and unlike other buildings there, the lights inside were switched on. She had to take this chance and try to enter that place. The door could be locked but she didn’t have much choice. She ran as fast as she could to the building and grabbed the handle of the front door. The dog was still pursuing her and its mouth was just inches away from her calf.

The door has to be open.

It has to be.

Rhian pushed it open.

And luckily, it was unlocked.

She entered the building and closed the door behind her. She fell on her knees and leaned against the closed door. She touched her cheeks and realized that they were wet. She was crying. Never had she thought she’d be chased by a crazy dog in the middle of the night. She is Rhian Howell. But everything that happened for the whole day was nothing she ever thought would happen.

She hugged her knees and closed her eyes as the dog continued to bark. Even though she was already in the building, knowing that the dog was still outside scared her. After a while, the sound of the dog barking eventually stopped. She finally let out a sigh of relief.

When she had finally calmed down, she looked around her. There was a tall rack with numbers on her left. There were also shoes around where she sat. She quickly got up once she noticed the smell of other people’s shoes. She dusted off her skirt and jacket as her eyes continued to roam the new space. She saw a counter but there wasn’t anyone on watch. She wondered what kind of place it was. There was also a computer and a cosy green sofa on her right.

On a normal day, Rhian usually wouldn’t even want to sit on that cheap-looking couch, but that night the sofa seemed so comfortable and every part of her body was calling out to lay on it. She had a long, weird day and a good sleep was everything she wanted at that moment.

She hastily made her way to the couch. She took off her shoes and laid on the sofa.

“Ahhh, this is nice…” she mumbled.

Rhian closed her eyes and for the first time that night, her mouth crept up to a smile. She couldn’t wait to sleep and wake up from this nightmare to her normal life as Rhian Howell, the top musical star and up and coming new actress. And most importantly, visible. She was about to drift off the slumber land when suddenly she heard someone.


“Excuse me, you can’t sleep here.”


Rhian’s eyes shot open and the first thing she saw was a girl with a pale face and no eyebrows. Or maybe it was there but hardly visible. She looked at the girl and blinked a few times but not saying anything.

“Miss, you can’t sleep on the sofa,” the girl said again.

Rhian sat up and stared at her, shocked.



“Yo-You can see me?!”

***
How was it?hahaha..
Who's that fella?

3250 words..hmmmm..not bad.hehe..