“Do you want to go back?”
Azora glanced at Robert. He stepped closer to her and stood beside her. They both looked at the TV screen.
Azora sighed. “No. I don’t want to, but my conscience tells me otherwise.”
She caught Robert glancing at her from the corner of her eye. “What’s the reason you decided to leave your father’s control?”
Azora trusted Robert completely now, so she took a deep breath and recounted her experience with Simmy, how she had poisoned her while she was locked in her room. But she didn’t tell him about Anthony Clasiso’s death.
After explaining her reasons, they sat silently for a few minutes. Then, Robert invited her to sit on the couch. He inserted a DVD into the player, and soon a movie appeared on the screen. But Azora’s mind wasn’t there.
Her thoughts drifted to the times when they were still a happy family together. Her father, mother, and herself. Those times when the innocent smile never left Azora’s lips, when all she wanted was to make her parents happy.
Years had passed, and those lost times could never be brought back. She sighed as she stared blankly at the screen.
Robert glanced at her. “Aren’t you amused by the comedy?”
Azora turned to him and then looked back at the screen. It was a humorous movie. She sighed again and managed a weak smile at Robert. “I want to sleep.”
Robert studied her face and nodded. He didn’t waste a minute. He stood up immediately and walked towards the stairs. Within a few minutes, he reached his own room. He threw his body on the soft bed and stared at the ceiling.
She couldn’t understand what she was feeling at that moment. It was as if there was a huge hole in her heart. There was something missing in herself, and she didn’t know what. She wanted to find something but didn’t know what to look for or where to start. There was an emptiness in her heart that she didn’t know how to fill.
After the innocent years had faded away, there was a void in her heart. It was like an empty room, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t fill it. Even though she went shopping, bought all the luxuries, even had a boyfriend, even though she had everything she wanted, the emptiness in her heart remained.
And at that moment, lying on the soft bed and staring at the ceiling, she focused on that emptiness. In that quiet room, her heart suddenly felt heavy, as if something was weighing it down.
She cried.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the sunlight streaming in through the open window. She got up slowly and took a shower. She put on a green dress and decided to leave her room.
The house was quiet, and she could hear the birds singing outside. It made her smile.
She stepped out of the house and saw Robert busy feeding two large birds. They were white with somewhat yellowish wings and tails. They had black beaks. They looked like parrots but not like the ones she saw on television.
She approached Robert, who was wearing just a thin white T-shirt and cargo pants.
“What species are they?” she asked.
Robert paused from feeding and looked at her. He took one bird out from a large cage.
“Cockatoo,” he answered, stroking the bird’s feathers.
Azora stared at the bird and felt like it was staring back at her. She blinked and managed a hesitant smile. “Are they tame?” she asked.
Robert gestured for her to come closer. She obeyed. He chuckled and held her hand, guiding her to place her hand on the bird’s feathers.
Robert stood behind her, still holding her hand while stroking the bird’s feathers. She blinked and quickly withdrew her hand. She moved away and looked at the bird. “Is that a male?”
“Yes. The female is inside the cage,” Robert replied, returning the bird to the cage.
The two birds made noise, and she couldn’t help but grin. “They’re noisy,” she complained.
Robert laughed. “They crave attention. Since you’re not doing anything here at the house, you’ll be the one to play with them.”
“Wait, what?”
Robert grinned at her. “They want attention. You can take care of them. Make sure they don’t get depressed; they might commit suicide.”
“Wow.” She narrowed her eyes at Robert, but he left laughing. She watched him walk out of the gate and disappear from view.
She sniffed and returned inside the house. She went to the kitchen and found breakfast already prepared and covered. She ate quietly and, because she had been staying at Robert’s place for a few days now, she had learned how to wash dishes. She took the initiative to clean up after the meal.
When she finished all her chores, she went to the living room and sat on the sofa. She stared blankly at the turned-off TV screen. She didn’t notice the passing of time, and when noon came, that’s when she snapped out of her daze.
There was a knock on the door. She frowned. As she recalled, she left the main door open. She stood up and went to stand in front of it. The main door was indeed open, but there was no one there. Who knocked?
She shrugged and walked back to the living room. She sat down again on the sofa and turned on the TV. Anthony’s face appeared on the screen. She furrowed her brow even more when the news anchor spoke.
“Months have passed since the reported death of Anthony Clasiso, a student who allegedly committed suicide. There were no other motives for the crime except strong evidence that he ended his own life due to problems.
But just this Tuesday, the case was reopened after an unidentified person went to the station and provided a documentary containing the autopsy report of Anthony Clasiso’s body. The autopsy report contains the true cause of the young man’s death, and the police themselves admitted that it was not a suicide but a murder case.
The victim’s father has offered a reward of twenty million pesos to anyone who can identify the person who provided the documentary to the police.”
Azora was stunned. Who provided the autopsy report? What will happen now that the case has been reopened?
She clenched her fists.