He Caught Her Eye (Caught #1)[UNEDITED]

36

RIANA GARCIA

"You're really not going to put that away?" I asked Jay after Mom snapped a photo. I made a face at the gigantic brown teddy bear he saved a seat for right at the head of the table. His toy was half the size of a teenager, which bugged Marla a lot.

"Uncle Galla gave it to me," he pinpointed with a cute frown. "I want to keep it."

"You don't have to always keep bringing it with you though." Marla said, looking up from her phone, giving Jay a silly look.

Jay just made a face at her. "You wouldn't let me bring my cars." He and Marla constantly fought, so I wasn't new to their bickering. I always had to stop them from taking things too far. "And Uncle Galla gave me this before he left the country. I'll miss him."

"What a whiny kid." Marla muttered, snapping her attention back to her phone.

"Marlene," Dad hissed, eyeing her. "We're in public. Apologize to your brother."

Marla, of course, didn't say anything while Jay knitted his eyebrows together, staring at the table. In front of him, Mom pulled out her phone and nudged Dad as the two couple took a photo of them together, smiling brightly.

I looked around my surroundings, awed. "I love Oriano Island's waters," I said, speaking to no one in particular even when I knew my siblings could hear me.

"I heard this restaurant's crabs are the best," Jay shared, joining me as the two of us engaged in a conversation. As usual, he moved on from his silly little argument from Marla. "I wonder why it's so different from the rest."

"Because this is a floating restaurant and we're in the middle of the sea." Marla scoffed, not taking her eyes away from her phone.

Jay opened his mouth to interject, but then in a flash, a pile of debris were in the air after a sudden BOOM.

Smoke filled in the atmosphere. After a couple of coughs, squints and curses, a few vacant tables near ours exploded into pieces. One table on the right was occupied with a little girl who was quickly embraced by her mother, crying.

Screams were heard everywhere, and everyone was panicking when the legs of the building trembled — we all felt it, thinking it was exactly like an earthquake with a greater magnitude as the tiles started breaking and we all found ourselves longing for the feel of the ground, too scared to grab on any furniture — figuring it might burst into flames as well.

I wake up, terrified.

Five years ago. On this day.

THAT happened.

I lost my brother.

Numerous people lost someone dear to them, and not everyone got to see the corpses of their loved ones. The floating restaurant was located in the middle of a vast body of salt water near Oriano Island with a clear view of the ocean.

It took more than four hours to get to that restaurant, considering it was exquisite, and also because there was a big accident on the road (which I don't remember much about.)

Some bodies had already drifted away — like Jay's, to be specific. Their bodies weren't found.

Those found bodies were nearly decomposed. Some had already died because of hypothermia, some because of the major injuries from the explosion. We assumed the bodies that haven't been found might've already decomposed, or got eaten by sea creatures.

I check my phone and see that it's two in the morning. Bored, I go online, my breathing rapid as I browse the internet for temporary entertainment that can help me fall asleep.