46. Just OCD

46. Just OCD
Garber's POV

As soon as the ambulance is out, a new tension and pressure settle in the air.

It’s almost suffocating.

Almost because I can still breathe, although everyone else is frozen in place while their brains tried to either fry the memory or shuffle it to be forgotten forever.

Mia on the other hand was in flight mode even though her body couldn’t move an inch.

“The police. Where is the police, someone should call the police, Brother Ken, Ken please help me,” she was muttering to herself, as she stared ahead with a lost gaze like someone going through a psychosis.

A sense of jealousy overwhelmed me as I watched her call onto her brother while I remembered, crouching in the corners with my rosary in hand, no one else to call on but the one who had put me in the situation in the first place.

“We need to call the police, yes the police,” she said as she found some strength, scrambled up to her knees and fiddled around her pocket and bag for her phone.

Everything clattered onto the floor but she didn’t seem to mind it or notice it. Her hands grazed her phone a couple of times yet she went past it.

“Ah! My phone,” her lips trembled, her whole body shook as she continued to search frantically for what was in front of her.

“Isn’t this what you’re looking for?” My breath stilled and a chill passed through me.

I didn’t notice when she came to my side talkless of notice her squat in front of Mia.

“Uh? Thank you. Thank you so much. I need to call the police,” Mia was still very unaware of who she was thanking.

“Why though?” Rina asked, a faint smile at the corners of her lips.

Her eyebrows were fused with what anyone else would have interpreted as worry, but I knew better.

That look in her eyes was one of curiosity. She was curiously taking notes of how she could break Mia further.

“Someone was murdered just now and the cat… Oh the police. 9-1-1. I need to call,” Mia’s hand typed on her screen shakily as Rina held her hand.

“Oh but it was self-defense,” she said and Mia stilled.

“Uhn?” Slowly she raised her hand to meet Rina’s and a ear-piercing scream erupted from her throat as she tried to scramble away.

“G... get away from me. You get away from me…” she kept screaming as her back hit the car’s tire.

“Why?” Rina asked innocently as she picked up Mia’s phone and handed it to her.

“I was only protecting myself, so if you call the police, make sure you tell them it was self-defense and not murder,” she squatted in front of her again, giving Mia no room for escape.

The contrast in their height, age, and everything that made Mia Rina’s senior would have been hilarious if Mia didn’t look like she was going to have a heart attack in front of this sixteen-year-old girl.

Rina even had a smaller stature compared to her peers.

“Do you understand?” Rina asked, unfazed by all of Mia’s panic.

“Please don…” Mia started to plead for her life, but decided otherwise halfway and instead nodded.

My sister chuckled as she brought her hand up to Mia’s face and I feared that she would pass out before dinner was served, so I decided to shake off my own fear and stop any of that from happening.

“Rina, stop teasing Mia like that. She’s too shaken,” I said as I tried to pull Mia away.

“Mia?” Rina pouted in thought for a while before taking another look at her and chirping, “Oh. You are my brother’s girlfriend, the one who took a picture with his dingly thing?” she asked but it was more like a sentence.

Despite that, Mia nodded vigorously as I helped her to her feet while I ordered the maid to pack her bag.

“Oh wow, it’s so nice to finally meet you. And you are so pretty too,” she cooed fanatically like she was seeing her for the first time, circling the both of us judgmentally.

“N... nice to meet you too,” Mia sounded like she would throw up any moment. Surprisingly, she didn’t and I was grateful for that.

“Okay, how about we go inside first? It’s already getting dark,” I said and stepped forward but Mia hooked my elbow with hers.

“I’m not feeling too well. I want to go...”

“Oh, if you aren’t feeling too well, then we can just call the ambulance for you. You shouldn’t go home alone,” ‘concern’ laced Rina’s voice but Mia knew better than to take the sympathy. Instead, she shook her head vigorously as if she had a flash of the image of the last person Rina had sent in an ambulance.

“I’ll just sit down. It’s just a little dizzy spell,” Mia’s tone changed immediately.

“Oh, is that so?” Rina didn’t argue back, “then let’s go in and have dinner. Like you already,” she chuckled and skipped away into the house.

Then she stopped suddenly in front of the door and Mia sucked in a cold breath by my side.

“I really like you, Mia. You are so pretty, so let’s be friends,” Mia waved then went into the house.

The four of us—myself, Mia, the remaining maid, and the driver—all let out a heavy exhale as soon as she was out of sight.

“Let’s go in,” I urged Mia and this time she didn’t resist much, or at all.

“But I...”

“You don’t have to be scared of her. There’s only one thing you should take note of when it comes to her.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Mia hurried to my side, sticking so close to me while accepting that there was no escape this night, not with the excited glint we had both seen in Rina’s eyes.

“She has OCD and is extremely sensitive about it. We will have to change into home shoes and the door as well and you can pretty much figure out the rest,” I said as the door was opened for us.

“That’s all?” she seemed shocked that OCD was all I thought to warn her of about a girl who had just killed a cat and maybe its owner.

But even I didn’t know what to watch out for exactly, so I simply watched out for everything when it came to Rina. So instead, I replied with:

“You are both girls, you should understand her better,” leaving the ball in her court as we spotted my mom.

“Mom,” I called as we entered the house to the sight of my mom sipping English tea and watching telenovela despite the whole ruckus outside.

“Welcome,” she said as she turned around with a slight frown, “is this your girlfriend?” she asked and I nodded but I felt Mia stiffen by my side.

Her body was so cold against mine.

“Yes, mom. Did you know about what was going on? Why weren’t you outside?” I asked as her gaze turned fierce and I noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

I might hate Rolland, but his presence is missed.

All the while she was seeing him, she looked happier and could get some sleep.

However, ever since her second child returned home…

“There could be paparazzi. I can’t afford to be caught on negative press this time.”

“Momm,” Rina whined as she bounced on the couch beside her.

She had disappeared quickly and returned in a new set of outfits. Clearly, holding a dead cat and kneeling for fake sympathy had dirtied her previous one.

“What is it, my child?” Mom asked with a tired smile as she brushed Rina’s hair ‘lovingly’.

“Hmm,” Rina paused, her fingers underneath her jaw like she was trying to think, before adding a sharp “Nothing! I’m starving,” she drawled as she lay on the sofa, her legs on my mom’s thighs while I ushered Mia in to sit.

“Oh right, before we have dinner,” I held Mia’s hand in mine and tried to get her to look away from her shoes, “I need to remind you of some things to take note of about my sister.” THIS TIME SHE LOOKED AT ME.

The gaze and focus in her eyes was lost. It was almost like she was wearing a veil. I couldn’t reach her unless I pulled it, and she couldn’t associate as well.

Like she had dissociated from the moment my sister spoke to her and now, the trigger word to get her reaction was Mia.

So much for the excitement of wanting to meet my family for dinner.

I patted the back of her hand and muttered, “You’ll be fine.” After all, here I was after everything life had put in front of me.

DEAR READERS, FOR CLARITY SAKE:

MIA IS THE GIRLFRIEND WHO TOOK THE DICK PIC &

RINA IS THE PSYCHO SISTER