How much do you trust the surrounding people? Would you trust someone who you have known for a while? Or someone you just met?
Let's find out from Lyka's story, then decide for yourself.
Lyka glanced at the set of medicine in her hands. Her sigh was heavy as if two boulders were resting on her shoulders. Shaking her head, she twisted the doorknob of her father's room.
Her eyes became somber at the glimpse of the old man sleeping on the spacious bed. His eyes were sunken bags of sadness; his cheeks were as deep as the sorrow Lyka felt every time she looked at him.
"Will tomorrow ever come? A tomorrow when you are strong and healthy again? I miss the vigorous you, papa," Lyka told herself, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"Lyka!"
A deep but sweet man's voice came from behind her. It was Lyka's gay childhood friend, Brendon.
"You're early!" Brendon said with eyes opened wide in surprise. "I thought you were gonna be home by eight?"
Lyka scanned her friend's face. His cheeks were white and red because of the excessive foundation with blushed cheeks. His scarlet lips made him look as if someone had busted them. Brendon's physique was bulky like those men in the gym, even though going there wasn't his cup of tea. With his body built, no one would think that his heart was that of a woman: soft and fragile.
"I bought new medicine for Papa," Lyka said. "Only a few were left the last time I checked."
"I see. Well, I have given him his scheduled medicine today so you can leave the new ones on his table." He smiled and walked past Lyka to get in the room first. "Sorry, I need to take Uncle Ben's dirty laundry to wash them ASAP."
She ignored such rude behavior, thinking that her friend was just in a hurry.
When Brendon left, she walked to her father's bed. Seeing him in agony also pained her. If only she could take her father's place, she wouldn't hesitate.
"Pa, I'm sorry, I still can't find someone to look after you. I can't bother Brendon that much. He might get tired of doing two things at the same time. Poor guy, he has to do the laundry and look after you. How are you feeling?"
Old Ben gave his daughter a sad look-- one that could crush one's heart. He had been sick for several months. But all the doctors who checked him couldn't determine the cause of his illness. The findings were always normal, and nothing was wrong with him.
He couldn't stand or walk. He spent the most time on his bed, in his gloomy room where heavy dark curtains covered the wide windows. For some time, his desolate confinement had been his world where the hope of recuperating was impossible.
"It's excruciating. It feels like something alive is crawling under my skin. There are many of them! Ahhhhh! My chest is tightening! I... can't breathe!"
The old man writhed in pain, and Lyka could only hug him for comfort. She didn't know what to do. She ran to the mini refrigerator by the bedside to get some water. With shaking hands, she handed the glass of water to Ben.
"Brendon! Help!"
The next day, when Lyka was about to leave for work, she saw an old woman standing outside their gate. Her gray hair was tied in a bun. She wore unironed clothes, making her look like a vagabond asking for alms.
"Good morning!" the old woman greeted her with a smile when she was several steps away. "You need a maid, right?"
Lyka was stunned. 'How did she know we need a helper?'
Confused, she nodded. There was something strange about the old woman. Her smile was as sweet as honey, but it hid mystery.
"Can I apply?" the old woman asked. "My name is Mary."
Despite the sudden and weird appearance of the applicant, Lyka accepted her. She couldn't put a finger on it but couldn't explain why she agreed.
"Brendon!" Lyka called. She walked into the house searching for her friend.
When no one responded she ran to her father's room on the second floor. She hurriedly grabbed and twisted the doorknob when Brendon's voice permeated from the room.
"That's right Uncle Ben. Make sure to drink your medicine. This will help you recuperate soon so you can leave your bed."
Brendon squeezed his low baritone voice to sound like a woman.
Lyka swung the door open and rushed to her friend.
Brendon had been their housekeeper for about twenty-three years. Since his parents died, Ben accepted him in their home.
"Brendon, how many times do I have to tell you that taking care of Papa is no longer your responsibility? I want you to focus on doing his laundry so you won't get too worked out."
While saying that, Lyka's eyes were quick to catch a glance of Brendon's hands putting something in his shorts' pocket.
"Don't worry, sis. I only want to repay your kindness to me. I want to help look after Uncle." He smiled at her, then gave Ben a side glance.
The old man's eyes were filled with terror... the look Lyka failed to notice. If only she glanced at her father, she could've seen the horror in Ben's face when Brendon gave him a silencing glare.
"Thank you so much. But starting today, someone will be looking after Papa. We have a new maid. Please meet Mary."
Brendon's facial expression changed from sweet to sour. But he didn't let Lyka see that.
"Oh, by the way, I have to go. I went here to collect Uncle's laundry. I already have given him his medicine, okay?"
He stepped out of the room without paying attention to the new maid as if she wasn't there.
The next day, when she got home, screaming from the kitchen caught Lyka's attention. She walked toward where the noise was coming from and almost dropped to her knees at what she saw.
BEN WAS WALKING AROUND THE KITCHEN COUNTER AND LAUGHING WITH MARY!
"Papa? You... you're walking?!"
Ben rushed to his daughter. "What happened to you?" He held her arms to help her stand. "Mary did this to me! She helped me recuperate."
Skeptic, Lyka looked at the smiling lady. Her mind was bothered by several questions.
How did she do it? She was only here for one day.
How did Papa go from being bedridden to hyper?
Her mind couldn't process what was happening, so she left them and went straight to the laundry room to talk to Brendon.
"What brings you here?" he asked, separating Ben's clothes from Lyka's.
"Shouldn't the white clothes be separated from the colored ones? Why are you separating my clothes from Papa's? Won't it be a waste of time and water?"
Stunned, Brendon tried to hide his panic by giving her a forced smile. "Darling, you know Uncle is sick, right? I can't afford to have his inexplicable illness be transferred to you."
Lyka remained quiet for some time. Though unsatisfied with the explanation, she ignored it. "I saw Papa standing and walking. He was even laughing with Mary as if he hadn't been sick at all. Not that I'm unhappy about it, but... they're acting weird."
Brendon's fist curled into a ball upon hearing what Lyka had to say. And that didn't miss her eyes.
She left without waiting for her friend's reaction, pissed off at the thought that everyone in their house was acting weird.
The following day, arguing voices woke Lyka up.
She walked to the backyard, only to see Brendon and Mary pulling Ben's shirt like they were playing tug-of-war.
"Give this to me you, witch!" Mary yelled.
"You let go, old hag!" Brendon shouted back.
"What's going on here?" Lyka cut the yelling. "You're waking the whole neighborhood up with your noises." She yawned and walked closer to them
"Sis, your new maid is taking my sole responsibility from me! She wants to do the laundry now!"
"Mary? Would you care to explain? Just yesterday I saw you feeding Papa with cow's meat which you know is not good for him because it's fatty. Now, you want to take over Brendon's job? That's too much!"
"Ma'am, you don't understand. This man is doing something to your father," Mary said. She finally managed to grab Ben's wet clothes from Brendon and threw them in the burning pile of dried wood and leaves she prepared earlier.
Lyka's jaw dropped when the clothes blazed as soon as they reached the fire.
'How did it burn when they're wet?!' Lyka's mind screamed in disbelief. When Mary threw something at Brendon, she hadn't recovered from the shock yet
He screamed in pain, and Lyka saw his skin burning as Mary threw salt at him.
"Ah!" Brendon's scampered away, not knowing what to do with his burning skin.
"What did you do?!" Lyka yelled at the old woman.
"I can't explain. It's hard to explain," Mary said.
"You've cut the last straw of my patience towards you. Please leave our house now. What you did is too much!"
That same day, Lyka went to Brendon's old house under the bridge to apologize, but he wasn't there. As soon as she left the place, she went home.
"What are you doing?" Her soul almost left her body when she opened the door of their house and saw Mary, face on the floor with both arms spread sideways and legs closed. Her position was as if she was crucified on the floor.
"I'm protecting this house from the witch's spell. I'm creating a barrier, ma'am."
"I don't care what you're doing. Stop that right away and please leave. You have already caused too much trouble for us."
"Yes, ma'am, I will leave. But please let me finish, so I could save your father."
**
With Mary and Brendon gone, Lyka filed for a leave to look after Ben. But after two days, the latter came back with burn marks all over his body.
"Sissy, sorry for what happened. I didn't know that the maid I hired could be troublesome," Lyka said as Brendon collected Ben's clothes.
"It's okay, sissy. I'll see you later Uncle."
Lyka walked to the bedside table. With furrowed brows, she picked up the medicine bottles.
"Are these your medicine, Pa?" Ben shook his head with difficulty. "Are you sick again?"
"You accepted that fake friend of yours again. And you threw Mary out of the house. And you still expect me to get well?"
"What do you mean?"
"You still don't get it, do you? Brendon has put this curse on me. He is the reason why I'm sick. Mary was trying to help me, but you mistreated her."
Lyka remained silent.
"Your friend is a dark spell user. Mary sensed it, so she applied here."
"Bravo! So that's what happened. That maid has been working against my spell."
Ben and Lyka were stunned. But the latter was quick to recover from the shock. She took swift stride towards Brendon and slapped him.
"How dare you! We accepted you! And this is how you'll repay us?!"
Brendon's face turned red because of anger.
"You accepted me, yes. But has your father accepted my love for him? He didn't. Instead, he badly treated me!"
For the second time, Lyka's jaw dropped. "He treated you like a son! Where's the maltreatment there?!"
"I like him to treat me like his lover, not his son!"
"Stop your foolishness!" Mary's voice cut the drama. "You're out of your mind! Leave this family alone, or I'll spill your tea to the neighbors. You don't want to be executed, do you?"
Brendon was murmuring spells to punish Mary but he got confused. "Why are my spells not working?"
"Come on, you're just a kid. An amateur. Your power can't harm me. LEAVE NOW, or you'll vanish from the surface of the Earth!"
Brendon scampered away, afraid for his own life.
"Don't ever come back!"
Lyka thanked Mary for what she did and pleaded with her to cure her father.
"The tomorrow you were wishing for has come," Mary said with a smile.
**
NOTE: ALL IMAGES ARE AI-GENERATED
