Searching For Andromeda

These are things Lucian knew when he befriended the collected Ephraim Ignacio Hughes. He still can"t remember what drove him to be friends with such a manipulative guy (yes, he considers Raim as one). Because they were polar opposites—with nothing else but their gender and the fact that they"re cla.s.smates as the mark of their similarity.

People told Lucian he ought to follow Ephraim"s example. Who wouldn"t? Ephraim was the student council president with good grades, good manners, and good looks. Everyone liked Ephraim Hughes. Girls confessed their love to him, and boys found him amiable enough. Ephraim was the school scholar who got along with everyone and wasn"t nerdy enough to bury himself in books all the time like an antisocial queer.

He didn"t only engross himself into studying. He also played sports, created art, practiced music and the likes. In high school his popularity as the boy next door was so infamous he almost ignited Lucian"s jealousy (but no, Lucian wasn"t having it with Raim"s schemes). Given these characteristics Ephraim possessed, it was clear to the people both outside and inside the academy what he was.

He was the epitome of perfection.

Well, he WAS.

Until he chose to study Archaeology.

"Why?" was their question.

And Ephraim answered those who pried with a simple sentence.

"I like it."

And then the Ephraim whom everyone praised was not the epitome of perfection anymore; he was now considered no more than a child with insipid dreams who longed for grandeur and fictional adventure.

"This was expected," Ephraim answered Lucian when he asked why he wasn"t explaining himself to other people. Ephraim, whom Lucian considered as someone with the ability to monopolize people. Ephraim, who can tell them off in seconds. Lucian thought Ephraim could answer them with sheer sarcasm ending with a smile plastered in his innocently devilish-looking face. But no. Ephraim chose to simply withdraw himself from the people who once praised him.

"The general public, well—almost. I don"t want to generalize, but you get the picture," Ephraim says, "believe in pseudoarcheology."

"Pseudo . . . whatchamacallit?" Lucian asks. He was never the literate type, after all. Unlike Ephraim, Lucian did badly in his academics and social life. Although he wasn"t totally an antisocial, Lucian tends to scare off the majority of the people around him, thereby attracting delinquents. It wasn"t that Lucian was a terrifying person himself, he just simply emitted an aura that one could detect as something sketchy and obnoxious. Lucian remembered one time when a girl asked him if he could dance with her and he ended up shoving her away (not physically) in a violent manner when the real reason was that he was just astounded and shy.

Raim teased Lucian for it, and tried to convince the girl and talk her to it. Instead of the girl asking Lucian after the talk, she asked Ephraim instead. Lucian always brought it up in arguments wherein he was on a losing end, but Ephraim always managed to turn things around and make him look like a fool in the end. But at the end of the day there was no hard feelings involved.

"Pseudoarcheology." Ephraim answers Lucian.

"I still can"t speak it, but whatever." Lucian answers. "So what"s this pseudo stuff? Fake archaeology?"

"It"s the norm that archaeologists go to these foreign lands to get some magical stuff of some sort. I kind of blame movies for it, but Nah. Movies like that are cool, so I just blame the norm instead." Ephraim utters. "I don"t think there"s anything else I could say rather than "I like it," Lucian."

"Why do you like archaeology so much, anyway?" Lucian asks Ephraim with bemused eyes. Although he himself was still indecisive on what degree program he would take to college.

"It"s quite simple," Ephraim answers as he stares at the window that viewed the school"s courtyard where a large tree was situated. "The future is indeterminate. The present is foreseeable. But the past cannot be changed."

Ephraim smiles - a genuine one. "I think it"s how archaeology works. We cannot change the past, so we study the past and its links to the present. Looking back at the past makes us foresee the future. I don"t think I can romanticize anything further. In simpler terms,"—Ephraim eyed Lucian and flashed a small grin, standing up as he climbs onto the opened window—"I just like it."

"Ephraim?" Lucian blinks. "What are you doing?"

Ephraim, without looking back, smiled. The next thing Lucian could ever remember was Ephraim plunging down, with him screaming his name—

Lucian opened his eyes only to wake up with his heartbeat ringing to his ears. He sat upright, looking at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand.

3: 31 AM

He clutched his chest, calming himself down. What was that dream about? Ephraim? Ephraim falling down?

Lucian immediately grabbed the phone from the nightstand, browsing through his contacts in an attempt to call his friend.

But then he stopped.

"What the h.e.l.l am I doing . . ." Lucian mutters, his voice rasped and hoa.r.s.e. It was too early after all. "He"s working right now."

Lucian sighs and lied down to his bed. He shouldn"t fuss over a dream so much. It wouldn"t help him or Ephraim one bit.

"I think I should get myself a real girlfriend," Lucian says, and then eyed the clock once more. He scowled as he narrows his eyes at it once more.

3:00 AM.

"Huh, weird." Lucian tilts his head. "I"m sure it was 3:31."

"Ah, whatever," burying himself to the soft mattress whilst covering himself with the thick sheets, Lucian drifted to a deep slumber as he ignored such peculiar things he had seen. He was too groggy to care.

He was sure Ephraim was doing fine. A dream meant nothing over factual elements.

When Raim"s back, Lucian would simply tell him about the dream. He could hear Raim"s mischievous grin and sarcastic remarks on the back of his mind. Lucian shook off his thoughts.

He"ll just tell Raim when he"s back with the task force.

If he still remembers the dream.

Or if Raim will ever be back.

Lucian chuckled. What a drag. Of course Raim would be back. When he arrives, Lucian noted to himself he has to get Esmeralda"s number.

Lucian pulled the sheets to the bride of his nose. He had to act and have some courage the moment they come back. Take it or leave it, they say.

"Now or never."