Chapter Four: The One With The Sunset Silhouette

"Will you ever cut that out-?" Gianni shouted, overly distressed. He threw his arms up into the air like he'd dare to hit Rachel, but with a proper conscience, chose against it, settling on punching the air and only the air. His voice fell when he noticed he didn't know her name, which wasn't going to be easily accepted by her; she's a good person and all, I believe. With a major flaw of thinking the world revolves around her.

"Rachel. Her name's Rachel." I told him. Ever since we boarded a jeepney and I had the driver drop us off at the city park so we didn't bother the rest of the passengers for so long, they were either arguing or creating the most uncomfortable atmosphere out of their silence. The petty girl gave me a glance, angry that I'd feed him with such a basic piece of knowledge, even if it did piss her off he didn't know. Nothing could make her happy right now, so I couldn't be sorry about it. Biased or not, I think Gianni and I may be more on the same team than Rachel and I have ever been, even if our time knowing each other remains at the strangers-stage.

"Rachel. Of course it is." He sighed, like it was a typical name for a girl as prissy as she was acting, and I can't necessarily say he was wrong. It could be, a lot of the time, but this time he was spot on. "Rach, please. I'm not kidding around. You talk like you never knew Camille at all, and for a girl that's supposedly her best friend, that's embarrassing. Next time you do anything like that while we're in a hospital, we'll be kicked out of a place that has answers to what we're trying to find. I haven't been using force for the last two years I've shown up at that hospital, and just because of your big-mouth, I wouldn't like to start now. You're testing my patien-."

"Yes, they do have answers." She interrupted him, sitting down on a park bench. She had walked off on her own to get there, and we were both trailing on behind her and the ruckus she brought along with her. "The hospital does have answers, but because they're not the answers you're looking for, they're suddenly not answers. That's what you're getting at, dude. You've been targeting this medical record for two years, and now you got it. The confirmation is right in front of your eyes. So? Now what? You're gonna pretend it doesn't exist?"

"I'm not 'pretending it doesn't exist'" Gianni mocked her, using air quotes as he sat down too, with a purposeful space in between them. I stayed hovering over them from a couple of feet. Who would have that I'd be in a situation like this just a couple moments ago? First I'm suffering loss and the next thing I know I'm suffering loss and watching a bickering. "I'm going over all the facts. There's so much to consider, and Camille's fears and attitude is a big piece of it which in case you didn't notice, isn't matching up to your theory. You can't rely on one source. They teach you that in school. Did you ever go?"

"Excuse me?" Rachel wasn't having it, and I sensed that any moment she was going to start a physical fight. I decided to sit in between them, and though it didn't ease her or make her realize how insane she was getting, she did back off from doing any harmful actions. That didn't mean she was done with her words. "Is it a sin that I trust the medical facility? There might be a lot of information to consider, but this is the most important one, and you saw it for yourself. Some people you just don't know as well as you thought you did. That is a professionally done document. You held it in your hand, okay? What's not to believe?"

"I believe that doctors make mistakes, and I also believe that there's times they don't tell the whole story." His head faced the opposite direction from the girl causing his anger, and when he had to fidget the slightest bit because of how on edge it put him on, he looked anywhere, as long as it wasn't her.

"So," I jumped into the conversation. Things were already getting out of hand, and it took bravery to finally speak up, but I knew I had to. Whatever would come out of it in the end, it definitely wasn't good and it'd get more intense from here on out. Any subject change was gonna have to do whether I wanted to talk about it or not. "Where were you guys on the day of Camille's passing? I was getting groceries and I came home to an ambulance in front of our store and our house properties and a bunch of random people peeking in to know what the heck happened."

The fighting duo deeply inhaled and exhaled, extremely off beat from one another. Even that couldn't take a moment to line up in perfect sync. After a few awkward movements, Gianni situated himself to answer. "That must've been a hard day. Coming home, expecting the norm when it's not even close." He admitted. He shot Rachel a quick glance, and as if debating between choosing the angel and Devil on his shoulders, he hesitated on going on with what he was in the middle of or replying to me. In the end, he decided on dropping the argument.

"I was at Fred's Book Cafe, waiting for her, actually. She liked that place. The tranquility of it. The idea of so many make-believe stories at her access, surrounding us. Her last text to me said she had a shift at work and she'd hurry over right after. We had a choreo to get down and we wanted to include something new and unique so we agreed to meet up." He paused, staring out into the distance. The sun was beginning to set and it was setting the sky into this bright crimson color, with little bits of violet here and there. Seeing it moved something in him, and not in a good way.

"It was super hot that day and my biggest complaint was that I was the hungriest I've ever been in my life. I thought that was like the worst problem of the day, so I was pissed to find that text. - and I ordered without her. First time I've ever done such a thing and though such a small thing she doesn't know anything about, I wish it didn't happen. Yeah, the plate of spaghetti never tasted so good and I spoiled myself with this coffee halo halo dessert, but then as if the sky communicated with the news, it's color shifted and the sun fell away when a woman on TV reported what they said was a near-death being investigated. Her investigated death that sent her to the hospital in critical condition that killed her later that day and just like that the taste in my mouth was foul and disgusting. I could never eat either of those things again."

"Did you accept her death right away?" I murmured. Tears stung in my eyes recalling the incident. How personal it was for me because it was right in front of me - the chaos of it; I don't know if that made it better or worse. In my position, I wished I didn't have to see any of it because it's not easy to watch without any capability of making it better, but if I were him, I knew I'd feel guilty that I wasn't there. It felt weird to act so close to a person I barely knew, but it wasn't bad because our bond over her vanishing matched up pretty well. "I couldn't. I'm still not fully to terms with it if I have to say."

"Well, no. I didn't. The first time I allowed that thought to sink into my head, I was registered to compete for championships. Camille and I - people said we had a chance at first place; to completely own it and come home with awards all across the board. But as the rules have always been, if your partner doesn't show up, you're automatically disqualified. Camille wouldn't miss a competition for anything, but she didn't come this time, and when I was kicked out of the championships it sit in me a little deeper. She's not coming because she can't and she won't be able to ever again." He kicked his feet as he answered, scratching his soles against the cement and every so often a mini piece of gravel would fly into the air like a speck of dust. "But I'm not fully to terms with it either. I miss her, you know? It invades my dreams."

I opened my mouth to respond, but I couldn't talk. As I pondered over what he was saying, I felt that while Camille knew Gianni, she was lucky. She might have a side to her that she didn't express to her own sister, but from what I do know about her, she needed a person like him more than any. He was an honest person, he spoke his mind for what the truth was, and didn't hide any of his emotions.

If he feels whatever kind of feeling, no matter how it makes him look, he'll say it. There's not that many guys out there so willing to let themselves be so mentally and emotionally exposed, or supposedly defenseless. She'd like that kind of person, because then she knew they would do more than just tolerate her when she needed relief.

"How about you, Rach? Where were you on that day?" He spoke up when the noiseless scene started to poke at him, and it's the first time I can remember that he addressed her kindly. After a few seconds, he looked her in the face, as if everything that had went down didn't happen. Thank goodness for me that someone was willing to be the better person between the two of them.

I finally took a seat on the bench they were on, evenly spaced out from them. Rachel and I have talked about this before, and she said she came to the site of the tragedy. She lives in the neighborhood and when she overheard everyone talking, she got curious. I didn't see her, but it wasn't difficult to believe because there was a pretty large crowd hiding out behind the yellow tape, and with as urgent as the situation was, my attention wasn't aimed at figuring out where Rachel was. I never thought much more about it.

After being asked the question, she was in a daze from Gianni's sudden sweetness, and was seemingly not all there, like her feet weren't planted to the earth. Part of her still wanted to fume, but listening to his words all this time softened her too. Combining those feelings made her numb, to the point she didn't know what to do with herself. "I was in Anda." She said, her vision fixed to the cement, not wobbling one bit. "My distant cousin was getting married and I was her bridesmaid." Her response made me react as if I was electrocuted. That was two and a half hours from the site in Dauis; nothing like any story she's told before.

"No you weren't!" My angst put me right back to putting pressure on my feet, turning so I was looking at her. Gianni was peering in at us, wondering what could be happening without the history we have, but I couldn't help but to ignore him. Not in a moment as contradicting as this. It was my turn to be angry with her. She seems to have a thing for doing that to people today. "You've always said you came to the site. Why are you changing everything now? Which one is the lie?"

"Hey, Shang. It's not like that. It's-."

"It's what?" I barked, as she struggled to defend herself. The apprehension filling her made her look smaller and smaller sitting in front of me, and I was near to taking advantage of a girl who seemed to possess such a little amount of strength. I knew though that she could probably take me. The confusion, rage, resentment and annoyance - it made me feel stronger. It didn't mean I was.

She shook her head, trying to wake herself back up to what she was facing and what came out of her mouth. "Come on, Crish! It was two years ago. I don't remember everything I did two years ago!"

"You don't remember at all? So much that you can get being at the site of a murder and the marriage of your distant cousin mixed up? It's not a normal day, alright? The food you eat, the weather that day, the smells around you, the music that played, the color of the clouds - you remember all that, and it changes how you perceive them for the rest of your life." I played with the zipper on my bag, struggling to look at such a mysterious person who buried so much - more mysterious than Mew who apparently had a life of her own that I wasn't a part of.

Still, a zipper can only be a distraction for so long, because the thoughts are still there, the words she said, the lack of trust in her she herself injected into my body - she made memories a curse. There was so much suspicion that came out of it, that's so normal to human nature. With that, I picked up the bag, turning my back to the two of them. I couldn't stand to be around her.

"I'm going home." I mumbled. "Goodbye."