To Be Found: An Eternal Flame Short

Series: Eternal Flame
Lagdameo Residence
October 2012
7:32PM

Elisa R. Lagdameo almost never cried.

Not in front of anybody else, at least.

In fact, the only person who had seen her cry was her mother, and that was two years ago. Her mother had broke to her the news of possibly moving to another country, and in her shock and anger, Elisa ended up crying.

To her relief, the move didn’t push through. Elisa’s mother was instead made to stay in the country, as her skillset was much more valuable locally than somewhere else. Her mother still teased her about it on the occasion. Elisa would just roll her eyes and pretend that it had never happened.

But now was a heavily different story.

The five of them – Megara, Beatriz, Gaby, Teresa and herself – had parted ways after leaving Arizona’s home. Elisa had earlier asked for Ame to go on without her with much convincing.

The words revealed to the five of them earlier that afternoon hadn’t penetrated her as much as it initially did to the others.

Megara’s hand flew to her mouth. Teresa paled. Gaby whispered a horrified ‘no’ to herself. Beatriz shook her head, rose to her feet, and demanded that the man repeat what he had just told them.

He did.

Beatriz was furious.

Megara and Gaby tried to hold her back. Beatriz launched question after question while Teresa looked on, biting her lower lip.

Elisa remained standing, her eyes blank and mouth not twitching or moving or anything else. But her fists were clenched.

At the same time, she felt as if the wooden floor was slowly pulling her down.

* * * * *

When Lukas greeted them at the door, the five of them had different reactions.

Megara and Teresa, the more cool-headed out of the five, were the first to (properly) react. “Lukas,” Megara managed. She looked him up and down, the corner of her mouth curving down slightly at the look on his face.

Lukas Aquino, the so-called Ice Prince of the Sophomores ’12, looked terribly distraught.

“What are you doing here,” Teresa finally asked, just as Gaby frowned deeply and Beatriz folded her arms over her chest. Elisa, who was at the back, merely kept a stony expression on her face. “Did Arizona call you? We’re the ones who are supposed to deliver her notes and assignments. Ms. Reyes clearly stated that to Megara and Elisa,” the VP of II-3 said irritatedly, but Lukas cut her off.

“They want to see you inside. All five of you.” Beatriz and Gaby exchanged apprehensive looks. Tereza’s irritation grew at his interruption. Megara calmly looked at Lukas, waiting for him to speak more. “Excuse me. I have to go home.” He said curtly, the five making way for the male as he left.

The door was left ajar.

“What’s up with Aquino this time,” Gaby muttered. Elisa shrugged and glanced at Megara, whose eyes seemed to be looking upwards towards the second floor of the Sanchez’s home. “Meg?”

Megara blinked, turning her attention to the rest of them. When she spoke, her voice seemed oddly even more serene than usual – with a touch of emptiness.

“Let’s go inside.”

Elisa didn’t think that the afternoon would lead to her breaking down later in the evening, only to be caught by her mother. Alayne Lagdameo remained speechless as her only child told her the chilling news reported to them by Officer Reyes only three hours ago.

Alayne struggled to decipher the words behind her daughter’s sobs and crying. Finally, Elisa grabbed her phone and typed it out.

Arizona is missing
She wasn’t at home when her parents checked on her
She wasn’t at school
She wasn’t in the surrounding area
They can’t find her

Eyes widening in shock, Alayne could only take Elisa into her arms, gently rubbing her back as the latter exhausted all the emotions her tears could drive out. Elisa eventually stopped and left for her her room, Alayne watching with an unreadable look on her face as her daughter’s expression turned stony.

With a slam of the door, Elisa sunk onto the ground, hands grabbing at her hair. Her eyes, sore and red, turned wide as the events of the past days appeared in her mind. Her mouth was open but no sound came out.

“Where the hell did you go,” she whispered. “Arizona Sanchez, where did you go this time and why did you have to leave?”

What did we do?

What did you do?

Why didn’t you come to us –

Elisa buried her face into her knees, still tugging at her hair, and let a fresh batch of tears begin to flow.  She didn’t know how long she cried this time.

By the time she looked up, the moon was high in the sky and no stars seemed to illuminate from beside it. Staggering as she stood up, Elisa approached the window, opened it, and looked out. Immediately did cool air rush into her blue bedroom, blowing her hair.

Memories.

Memories of them and the gang.

Memories of herself and Arizona.

Memories of herself and Arizona laughing.

Memories of herself and Arizona crying.

Memories of herself and Arizona under the covers, giggling as they watched episode after episode during the occasional sleepover.

Memories of Arizona spilling her heart to Elisa, and Elisa doing the same.

Elisa clenched her fists.

Something felt off – something felt wrong.

Immediately Elisa grabbed her phone from her pocket and dialled Megara’s number, her heart beating wildly in her chest. “Elisa?”

“Arizona wouldn’t wander off like that.” A beat of silence passed between the two. “Arizona isn’t the type to do that. She isn’t stupid. She can’t commute from here to the nearest mall. Why would she leave?”

“Elisa–”

“The most she’d do is to just stay in her bedroom and not go out unless her brother forced her to,” she continued, thoughts racing. “Arizona didn’t leave volunarily, Megara. She didn’t.”

“Are you saying someone managed to breach the Sanchez’s security system, sneak into the house, and kidnap Arizona without her fighting?” Elisa gritted her teeth.

“No. But I’m also saying that Zone wouldn’t do this volunarily.” Megara fell silent. Elisa took a deep breath. “Zone has to come back, Meg. She has to.”

Megara said nothing.

Elisa closed the windows and faced away, the mirror in the bedroom catching her reflection.

“If nothing happens, I’ll bring her back myself.”

As Elisa said those words, a star flickered next to the moon.

For a split second, Elisa could have sworn that the reflection in the mirror had a blue flame bursting out of her right eye.