KATALINA
Can’t believe that this file was here all along. It felt so strange, but I was too happy to dwell on it.
“I found it!”
I hurried over to the staircase rails and waved the file to Emilia.
Her face broke into a bright smile and she waved back.
“Come on. Come down. Let me see! ”
I hurried downstairs and she snatched it. She flipped it open and we found a bunch of papers. The first page of the paper had the normal contract information about the people involved. None of the names was English, or familiar. I tried to search for Mum and Huracio’s names, but they weren’t there.
If the contract has anything to do with Mum, shouldn’t her name be on it?
Puzzled, I watched as Emilia turned to the next page. More jargons about terms and conditions. I have always hated reading contracts. Too many definitions and explanations.
“Hm?”
Emilia rapidly flipped the pages until she came to the main body of the contract, but what we found on it was unrecognizable.
“What is this?” I mumbled, feeling perplexed.
Emilia quickly flipped more pages and discovered four more pages with the same unknown language. More like a mix of words and numbers, signs, and symbols.
“They look like codes. ” I whispered.
“Yes. They are codes. But what are they for? I have never seen a contract written in codes before. This is really strange.” Emilia’s frown deepened.
“Why will they write a contract with codes, Emilia?”
“Why else? They were being careful. Whatever is in this file is probably very dangerous and important. We need to be careful.” She grew solemn and said.
A chill ran through my spine.
It was at this moment, that I remembered my situation and how standing there, talking about it was stupid.
“Let’s go! ” I grabbed Emilia’s hand and started leaving.
On the drive back to school, I kept trying to figure out what these strange codes were, but I couldn’t figure it out.
“This is just a copy. The original one should be more colorful.” Emilia said to me.
“Why?”
“See those bold, darker characters, they are not of the same color.”
Indeed, there were several dark and bold characters randomly scattered within the texts.
Getting more confused, I furrowed my brows. ” What does that mean?”
“Its color coded. They are dark because this is a photocopy. The Original should be digital. The colors can be the codes if I am right.”
She turned towards me and I shook my head. “I don’t understand.” I said, feeling stupid.
Sighing, she continued. “If I am right, this is not a contract. It a rogue data.”
“Rogue data?” I gasped.
I may not know anything about codes, but I know about data in general.
“I am thinking that this is a part of a bigger data and it’s embedded in the batch of codes to keep it hidden.”
“Rogue data are useless, Emmy. What will Mum need it for?”
“Rogue data comes from somewhere, don’t they?” She gave me a knowing look then turned back to the road. “What if someone intentionally disintegrate the data to make it look useless. The major body can be the real data, while the extracted data can be the key. It will only work if it gets reintegrated with the main data. Outside that, it’s useless. A rogue data. I think it’s possible.”
“So, if Mum has the main part of the data and this part is the only thing missing,…”
“Exactly.” Emilia patted the steering wheel, excited that I caught up to her train of thoughts. “But her name is not on that file. If she is not the owner, then she is trying to make you steal from Huracio. What do you think will happen if he finds out?” Her tone turned solemn and low.
“I am not giving it to her.” I shrugged. “I have never planned to give it to her.”
Skrrrrri…
Emilia suddenly stepped on the break and we both lurched forward. Luckily we were belted in.
“What the hell? ” I yelled the moment my back hit the seat.
Looking around, there were other cars, but we were well spaced, so nobody ran into us. We were dang luckily.
“I am sorry. I am sorry.” She gasped.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Let me park!” She moved ahead a bit and found where to park.
Once the car was off the road, she placed her head on the wheel, trying to gather herself.
“You will not give the file to your Mum?” Emilia asked after some time.
“No.”
“Why?
“I don’t trust her.”
Emilia looked so confused. I didn’t want to tell her much because I didn’t want her to get too involved, but it wouldn’t be fair to her. I have been lying for so long that it’s a miracle we are still friends.
“Mum said she needs the file to stop Huracio from threatening her. But I don’t believe it. Just like you said before, she isn’t asking me to retrieve something that belongs to her. She is asking me to steal something that belongs to Huracio. She said she would leave me behind if I don’t bring her the file. I want to call her bluff. I want to see if she will do it again. She abandoned me once. I think she will do it again whether I give her the file or not. So, it’s better to hold on to the file and see what happens.”
Though my words were true, they were half truths. She didn’t need to know that I love Huracio and I am unwilling to leave his side.
“Plus, he is Mafia. I will rather not offend him.” Emilia mumbled. She seemed to be relieved by my decision.
“As long as you pretend not to know anything, you will be fine.” I reassured her.
“What about you? He will definitely find out that you came here. He will know you took this.” She gave the file a pointed look.
“I know.” I shrugged. “He will not hurt me.”
“Are you sure? If what Helena said is true,…”
” I don’t believe her.” Feeling uncomfortable, I cut her off, frowning.
“…”
She opened and closed her mouth, then nodded.
“Let’s go to my Mum’s house.”
“What? You want to go to Helena’s house? To do what?”
“I need to pick something up.”
“Ok-ay.” She nodded and started the car.
Mum’s house is on the wet side of town.
We lived in a small community not far from the beach. That’s how they met, Mum and Huracio. They met on the beach on a weekend after I moved in with Emilia. Who would have thought that such a harmless encounter can suddenly turn deadly.
I can still remember the last day I was there. If someone told me I wouldn’t return for four months, I would have scoffed at their ridiculousness.
I hurried to the front porch where there were withering pots of flowers. I lifted the biggest pot and retrieved the house key.
The moment I opened the door, I knew no one had been there in ages. The house was exactly as Mum left it, and every surface had gathered some dusty films. I stood in the door, looking around for a bit. Being back felt strange.
I walked over to the bookshelf and started surfing through it.
“What are you looking for” Emilia asked, sounding puzzled.
“Photo Albums.”
She joined me in checking and we found three. I sat down and started going through them. After searching them, none held what I was looking for. I dropped them and entered Mum’s bedroom.
I went through her drawers, closet, everything.
When I was growing up, we took a lot of pictures. Even as adults, we still loved taking pictures. The last set of pictures we took were during her wedding dress fittings…
By the time I was done, there was a small heap of albums on the floor. I sat down and started leafing through.
“Who are you looking for? ” Emilia asked, now more befuddled than before.
“I don’t know. But he has my eyes. He is the only one who has my eyes in the pictures.”
“You think he is your father? ”
“No!” I snapped.
The idea of my Dad not being my Dad. The idea that there is some stranger out there who might be my real father… these are things I don’t want to think about. Though I don’t believe Mum, I can’t shake off my curiosity. Even if it’s to expose her lies, I have to find out who that person is.
“Apart from having your eyes, what else should I look for?” Emilia sat beside me and picked up an album.
“Just the eyes.”
Nodding, she started leafing through the pages.
“Who is this person we are looking for? ” Emilia asked, breaking the silence.
“I don’t know. But when I asked Mum, she said he was a family friend from her hometown.”
“Where is that?”
“Somewhere in Italy. I don’t know. We can’t go back, so she didn’t tell me.”
“You can’t go back?” Emilia sounded alarmed. “Why?”
“Mum eloped with Dad.”
“What?”
“That’s what she told me. Now, I don’t know what to believe. I need to find out the truth.”