The Adventures of Nico Zamora: The Minokawa

Chapter 1: Nico Zamora

(Continuation of the last published part. I will update the story every week.)

---Nico Zamora---

PAUSE....NEXT...Hip-hop music starts to play...PAUSE...NEXT...Smells like teen spirit.....hmmmm...nah...PAUSE...NEXT...K-pop music ...ugh...it feels good

*presses the PREVIOUS button, the classic of Nirvana plays again*

Ahh...better.

Whenever I get bored, I get on top of the roof and play some music while watching the stars. Climbing up into the roof is easy but the problem is...

I'm always bored.

It seems I lack some motivation in life. I'm at the point of my life where I want to find my purpose. Why am I here? Others may say, "Kid, your purpose in life is to graduate, have a decent job and have a family." Nah...I don't want to be like that. I want something more than existing. I want something more.

*music stops*

My phone died just like my mood.

The night was eerie silent and has a strange atmosphere. I can honestly say someone is watching me every night on the roof but this time... it is near. Since I was a kid, my mother tells me stories about the creatures of the night. These stories gave me chills every time I remember them. Though I am not the person who gets easily scared because in the first place I don't even know if they really exist. It may be true but I will only believe if I have seen them in my own eyes. However, the most logical explanation in my mind now is it is just only my imagination. No one really watches me here on top of our roof. Given the fact that I am hungry now, imagination plays its role well.

Time to cook some dinner.

Upon climbing down, something furry moved on my feet. I almost jumped. The creature purred at me while rubbing her feline body on my leg. It looks like my cat Jinx wants to have her share for dinner earlier. Walking pass the front door of our rented house, a strange rustle from the leaves caught my attention.

Someone is really watching me.

Streaks of red smoke burning with some sort of energy can be seen behind the bushes while footsteps can be heard running away. Jinx seems not to be scared or even have sensed danger at all. Weird. She always seems to be irritated to anything that goes near as if she was protecting me from something. I rushed inside, there is no reason to stay out in the moonlight while a stalker with creepy red smoke trails is on the loose.

Inside, Jinx lay down on the top of the kitchen table while I'm preparing some stewed fish for the two of us. She is the only company I have while my mother is working abroad. My father mysteriously disappeared before I turned four that even my mom doesn't know any clue about his disappearance. Just like every dad out there ditching their families, he just left with no information on where he will be going. Even with those circumstances, I feel no grudge on him. I just want to know why he left us as my mother always told me. "He surely has a reason why he left. A father will always do something for his family and I have faith in him that he made the right decision." Those words always gave me hope to believe that he has just something to do beyond our knowledge. He will come back to us. If not, I will find him and give him a reason to stay.

The aroma of stewed fish filled the whole kitchen as the two ate their dinner.

________________________________________________________________________________

I was woken up by the sound of thunder and the flapping of the loose parts of the roof. Reaching for the digital clock on my right side, I found that Jinx is sleeping right below my legs. The digits shone bright green illuminating my face showing that I only have one hour to prepare for school. I slowly removed the blanket that covers me which I did cautiously, I don't want to disturbed Jinx while she is sleeping. Or did she? As I stand up, I can see her glistening eyes staring at the window. The window is slightly opened and the wind is directly blowing the curtains. The thunderstorm's gust must have opened it. Well... the window will not close on its own so I just clo...

*shuts*

It closed on its own. Dude, I am starting to feel our old house is really haunted but the strong winds outside can take the blame. The room is now dark and gloomy. Curtains block off the faint light emitted by a street light meters away from here. My watch then suddenly rang with white light flashing on its sides. Its digital face revealed that I only have 55 minutes left before school. God... do we really have school today? So I checked the class suspensions on the internet. No storm signal---- we still have classes (arghhhh). I cooked some sunny side up eggs while giving Jinx some leftovers last night. She didn't look satisfied at all. Got some quick bath and brushed my teeth. Comb some hair here, stretched some joints, straighten up and... Done! Now I looked plain. Honestly, my long wavy curly hair is the only thing that stands out on me. The other parts of me are just plain looking. A plain looking dude with an existential crisis that everyone can easily forget. Anyway, I'm ready for school. As soon as I opened the door, the wind blew hard as raindrops reached my face. I waved goodbye to Jinx and opened my umbrella.

The leaves rustle violently as I walk into the highway. Normally, our class is suspended with this weather but due to this unexpected thunderstorm... the city mayor may only suspend the afternoon class. Vehicles drive one-by-one, more than a dozen umbrellas can be seen with people under them from all walks of life. Some are dressed in their office attire, some are students, and some are just doing their daily duties even with this rain. Waiting for the jeepney, I took my phone and entertained myself with the internet. I always lose my sense of time when I'm surfing the internet on my phone which is kinda handy when you don't want to be bored while you wait...

Wait...

I tilted my head up. The whole vicinity is barren with no trace of humans from before. It looks like the whole place became a ghost town in an instant. The rain already stopped too but the grey clouds are still up. Okay... now... this is really strange. My train of thoughts hits its emergency breaks as an old looking jeepney slowly moves into my front. I must be busy thinking about what to do that I didn't notice it was moving in my direction. The jeepney is covered in rust with no people aboard. The driver is just staring blankly at the road. It was really a scene from a bad dream. The driver then signaled me to board the jeepney by pressing the button for the car horn. The sound pierced the silence and seems to magically move my feet to board it. From this point, I knew you were thinking about why would I choose to ride this thing than going back to my house but my mind wasn't in the mood to think right. At that time, the only reasonable thing for me is to find other humans... which is possible if I ride the jeepney to downtown. And so I go, like a fish lured by an angler. As I walk into the entrance of the vehicle at the back, a huge man bumped into me. He smokes a cigar with bright red cinders on its end. By his looks, he is in his forties with a rugged looking face. A well-grown beard matched his trench coat and he is about 7 feet tall. I climb aboard as fast as I could. Only red streaks of smoke now remained on where I and the man bumped into each other and the stranger is nowhere to be found. Then the jeepney started to move. My phone is still in my hand so I decided to call my classmate to know if I'm dreaming. Knowing if you can use your hands normally can help you wake up from a dream. I scrolled into my phonebook to find Syd's number but before getting further, I was interrupted by a bump the jeepney ran over while speeding about 30 kph. To my surprise, the whole seats are occupied now with people talking and using their phones.