The Girl Named Mirage

As soon as his car driven by Cris Adams leaves the Esquibel mansion, Nicolo calls Agatha, a maid servant.

” Call me immediately when something happens. Thank you. ”

He breathed out exasperately after the call. Then he dialed again.

” What’s up? ”

” Something’s off with her. ”

” Mirage? Tell me. ”

” She’s… not herself. She’s acting strange. She’s unusually quiet. I’m sure something is wrong but she’s not willing to tell me what it is. She even asked me to go out with Euphy today. ”

And Nicolo glances at the rearview mirror to look at Adams who’s also busy making calls using a hands free device so he could still drive with caution. He’s cancelling all their scheduled meetings for today.

” I’ll come right away to check up on her. I’ll call you later. Take care. ”

” Alright, thanks. ”

Nicolo ended the call with Travis. He looked at Euphemia who was enjoying the view outside the car window. She looked so happy. Her eyes are sparkling with amazement. Unlike the sadness that reflects through Mirage’s eyes he has seen earlier. He looked outside and searched his head for answers on why she’s being that way all of a sudden.

—

Travis arrived at the mansion. Fortunately, it’s his day off today. Agatha is already waiting for him at the door.

” Where is she? ” he asked the maid right away.

” She locked herself up in her room, Doctor. ”

Travis didn’t say anything and hurriedly went upstairs, Agatha followed him. He breathed out when he reached the door of Mirage’s room. He put his hands on his waist and hesitated for a while. He’s trying to figure out what’s going on inside. There’s no movement at all.

” Mir? ” Travis called her out after he knocked softly.

The door opened immediately to his surprise.

” Yes? ”

He looked at her. She averted his eyes and looked sideways.

” Is there something wrong? Are you feeling okay? ”

” Yeah. Sorry for worrying you and Nico. Please, don’t tell Gramps about this. I’m really fine, it’s just that… ”

She was lost for words.

” Whatever. I’m really fine, I’m not hurt anywhere. Just… let me be… at least for now. ”

Travis couldn’t answer. He’s lost for words, too. He doesn’t want to tell the old man either. Don Augustus was out of town on a vacation with some of his friends and having fun right now. They don’t want to ruin that. Because their grandfather doesn’t have a decent rest for years. They want him to unwind even for a while, now that he’s getting older.

After some seconds she sighed heavily.

” Please stop staring at me. Can we please forget this whole thing? We can just talk about this some other day. I promise, I won’t do anything stupid…

Just leave me alone. ”

Mirage’s voice sounded desperate. It made Travis’ heart ache a bit for unknown reasons.

But it’s hard to leave her alone when she’s behaving like this. She seems genuinely sad. So much that he feels like she’s about to cry and she would drown herself in tears as soon as he walked away. But he knows it’s not appropriate to push her more and make her talk when she obviously doesn’t want to. And he’s worried that would just make things worse for her even more.

” Okay, Mir. If that’s what you want then. Let’s discuss this whenever you’re ready. ”

Travis said, giving in. Mirage sighed heavily.

” Thanks, Travis. ”

” Mir… ”

Mirage stopped from closing the door and looked at Travis.

” Don’t forget that we are all here for you. ”

Mirage sadly smiles and closes the door completely. Travis bows down and comb his hair with his both hands while staring at his feet in frustration. He can’t do anything before and he still can’t do anything for her now. He sighs once again then straightens himself and goes downstairs, he’s going to inform Nicolo.

—

Mirage lies in bed staring at the ceiling thinking about anything and everything that has happened. After hearing Travis’ knocking and calling outside her room, she knew that he and Nicolo were just concerned and worried sick about her. But she’s really fine. If it’s about her head injury, that is.

She really can’t understand why she’s been like this all of a sudden. What’s wrong with her?

She stood up and walked straight to her bathroom. She slipped out of her clothes and stood under the shower.

‘ To whom am I trying to hide these tears? Myself? Maybe, I’m losing my mind… ‘

She slowly sat down and hugged her knees under the running water from the shower. She’s been like that for an hour or so. She decided to get up when someone knocked outside her room. She wrapped herself with a bath robe. She opened the door slightly, it was Agatha with a tray of food.

” Dr. Travis asked me to bring this to you… We informed him that you haven’t eaten anything yet since you woke up. ” Agatha said awkwardly.

Mir gave her a thrift smile and then took the tray.

” Thanks. ”

And she closed the door again. She just put the tray on her coffee table. She doesn’t have an appetite so she didn’t even take at least one bite. She just took it so Travis and Nico would be a little less worried.

She feels exhausted. A different kind. A type of exhaustion that comes from knowing she will never get rid of her thoughts that keep running inside her head on repeat. The kind of exhaustion that makes her tired to the core and this overwhelming pain that is so hard to deal with.

She just sat there on the carpeted floor beside her bed and stared into space for some time. She doesn’t know how long she had been sitting there but she was surprised when she realized she fell asleep. She just woke up by a knock from the adjacent door.

She looked at the clock and found out that it was already past 6 in the evening. She stood up and slowly walked towards the adjacent door of her and Euphemia’s room. She opened it and it was Nicolo.

” I’m fine, don’t worry. I just woke up. How’s your day? ”

She answered his questioning stares before he actually had the time to voice it out.

” She’s already sleeping in the car as we drive home. She enjoys playing with the other kids. She totally had fun today. ”

Mirage smiles and walks towards the crib where Euphemia is sound asleep. Her baby looks happy. She bowed down and gave her a kiss on her head, carefully not to wake her up.

” Thank you, Nico. ”

Mirage is full of sincerity as she turns around and faces Nicolo who’s carefully eyeing and reading her every move. Nicolo simply nods. Acting cool as ever when deep inside he’s still rummaging his brain for answers on why she’s being like this.

He was already accustomed to their daily bickering routine. He finds amusement whenever she comes out with her weirdest retaliate. He loves her sarcasm. And he loves how warm her real personality is despite her acting distant, cold and unbothered towards everyone.

Just like the way he is.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

” Rosita, please sleep here with Euphemia tonight… Thank you. ”

And she left the room in an instant leaving Nicolo even more distressed.

‘ What’s going on inside your head, Mirage? ‘