From Bernadette

Sometime in 2006

Papsi:

If you're reading this letter, then something has already happened to me.

I just want to tell you that I love you, and I appreciate everything you've done for me after Kuya died. Please stop blaming yourself for what he did. You and Mamsi don't deserve to suffer like this.

He had always blamed you for every bad decision he made. You know how stubborn he was. It wasn't your fault that he fell blindly in love with the wrong girl.

I'm sorry if I didn't tell you what was happening to me. I was at the bombing site because I discovered something I couldn't even explain to myself. It wasn't the bomb I had discovered. It was something far more sinister than that.

Do you remember my classmate, Silverio? I hope you do. Isabel liked him so much, but I sensed something strange about him ever since the day he was called to the guidance counselor's office for having that nude comic book.

He's a weird kid in the first place, but that day he acted as if he were hiding something... not the comic book. Later that day, I learned that he was preparing a gift for Isabel, which he secretly slipped into her bag during lunch.

At first, I thought it was a prank, but Silverio was known for being the nicest guy in the class. He wouldn't do such a thing, which only deepened my curiosity. I took the gift from the bag and hid it under my skirt.

The gift was wrapped elegantly with a golden ribbon, and there was a glossy greeting card that said "Belated Happy Birthday."

The truth is, I had always envied Isabel for getting everything she wanted. She was the top student, the class president, living in an ancestral house with enough money to buy all the cool stuff. But getting the attention of the richest and nicest boy in the school? Who was I to beat Silverio Santorini? I was just the "best friend".

So I decided to keep the gift for myself and never mentioned it to Isabel. I felt bad doing this to her. But knowing what it would cost to unwrap the thing, I was glad I didn't give it to her.

The gift was actually a journal. But when I looked at it, I realized I had stepped into something I should never have intervened with.

The journal wasn't empty. It was already filled with entries written by Silverio. But it did not only account for what had happened to him in the past. Some accounts were dated one, ten, even eighteen years later, and they belong to other names... Delia, Diana, Bobby, Jessie, and Timothy.

Timothy was Tim, our neighbor. The journal said that in 2024, he would be accused of money laundering in the government. He would be held in contempt and suffer in jail.

Diana referred to our Social Studies teacher, who, as it said, would soon die of "unnatural causes".

Mrs. Delia, our school principal, was marked as the "Watcher."

Bobby and Jessie were our classmates. The journal said that they would defend Silverio's innocence to the guidance counselor over the comic book issue... and they did.

What was written in the journal happened later that day, and that includes me stealing it from Isabel's bag.

The journal also revealed that a Japanese bomb had been buried beneath our school during World War II. I bet it has already been discovered by the time you read this letter.

At first, I got chills from what I read because how on earth could Silverio have written this? It looked like a murder map rather than a prediction.

What's even creepier was that Tim already knew everything that was going to happen to him. When we went into the computer shop to do our homework, I sensed that something had changed in him. He was no longer the introverted, timid boy who was bullied at school. He talked like he had the wisdom of a thirty-year-old man. When I saw him at school, he mingled with his classmates as if they had been friends for a long time.

I was not sure if he knew anything about the journal or if he had gained access to it. But whatever was happening around him, it made him a better version of himself. I was hoping that the journal would do the same thing to me as well.

So, despite the eerie feeling I had about the journal, I scanned through its pages, looking for any mention of my name. But the journal never mentioned anything except that I was labelled as the "intruder".

There was nothing in it that told me whether I would ever get out of the mess that Kuya left behind. Up until now, I still couldn't get past the staircase where he hanged himself. I still couldn't tell Isabel what I really felt about her. I was still the one who was left behind, the sidekick, or the second choice.

I had done everything I could to become part of the loop because I was desperate to gain access to this power. I even tried following Silverio, hoping to uncover how he had written the journal and how he gained access to the future. But all I ever reached were dead ends.

That's why I will go to the site, because the journal said that a time loop will open at exactly 00:08:41 and remain open only for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. But it will only work if I survive the explosion.

I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all of this when I had the chance. I'm just tired of being a burden to everyone else. But if this thing works, I will be able to save Kuya. I will be able to save our family.

If not, I've already given you the information. Find the journal. Find Silverio.

I love you Papsi! Please tell Mamsi I love her too.

I hope to see you all in my next timeline.

Love,

Bernadette