FLAW: FORTY-THREE

**ALEX POV**

The last bell of the day rang, notifying us that today's classes had ended. Our professor bid us farewell and reminded us about our assignment due tomorrow. Sky, Maica and I were still packing our things into our bags. After a minute, we were done. Since our professor was still here, we also said goodbye to him. He waved as we made our way toward the door.

As we stepped outside, Trisha arrived right on time. She had the same exhausted look as Maica. "The classes were so boring!" Trisha commented.

"You said it," Maica agreed. I looked at Sky, who was emotionless, looking at me.

"Are we going?" Trisha asked, making me turn to her. She must be referring to Trevor's invitation to their club. I looked at Sky, hoping to get a response, but I failed. He must be hesitating whether to go or not. But if I were to decide, I would go.

"If Alex wants to go, then we'll go," Sky said. All eyes turned to me after what Sky said. They were waiting for my response, so I nodded.

"Let's go, then," Trisha invited, and we began walking. Exiting the college building, we headed towards the Senior High School Department. The club rooms of SHS weren't too far away. We walked until we reached a two-story building with three rooms on each floor. Since it was almost night, the lights were already on.

"There!" Maica pointed to a room on the first floor. We searched each door with a sign saying "Enigma Club," and we found it—the last door on the left. We went straight towards it. We heard discussions from other students in nearby club rooms. Soon enough, we reached the door of Trevor's club.

Without waiting, I knocked. We waited for about ten seconds until we heard footsteps approaching the door. We heard multiple metal clinks as if multiple locks were being unlocked. After a while, the door opened, and the first face that greeted us was a girl. If I'm not mistaken, she's Calli.

Calli's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, my gee! Pres, they're here!" she called out to their president and looked at us again with an amazed expression. Someone walked behind her towards us, and we saw Trevor smiling widely when he saw us.

"Let them in, idiot."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Come in!" Calli pulled the door to open it for us fully. We entered one by one, and I was amazed when I saw the inside of their room. Fairy lights were hanging at the four corners, and there was a miniature fountain garden with small chairs and tables. Beside it was a table full of pictures of bones of some sort. The sign said "fairy bones."

On the other side, behind the door, there were books and articles about spotted UFOs and aliens. This also included the Alien Abduction Confessions that became popular last year. On our right was a whiteboard with mathematical equations and schematics that we couldn't quite understand. Some words were familiar, but mostly, we didn't know.

"What is this place?" Trisha asked while looking around the room.

"Welcome to our club room! Where mysteries, paranormal, and supernatural are being appreciated."

"That explains your club name, Enigma," Sky commented.

"Yes!"

"So, what are your club's objectives?"

"Promoting the hidden mysteries lying within this world," one guy answered. We searched the room and could only see two—Trevor and Calli. Where's the rest? "Sorry. I'm here!"

We noticed a waving hand sticking out from a divider. Nope, not a wall, but a divider. A guy emerged from behind it, followed by another guy and a girl. Good! All five of them were here.

"You established this club to unravel and unlock the mysteries in the world?" I clarified.

"Exactly."

It's kind of absurd to think that they believe in such things. But I couldn't just ruin their goals and destroy their dreams.

"You mean aliens, ghosts, witches like that?" Maica asked, still looking at various parts of the room.

"That's to name a few," Justin replied.

"Have you seen anything?" Sky asked.

"None," Wernie replied directly. We weren't surprised by their answer.

"How disappointing," Trisha commented.

"Disappointing it is, but not until now." Trevor had this wide grin, with his eyes fixated on me. Was it just me, or was Trevor referring to me? "You, Kuya Alex, are our first discovery. You proved to us that supernatural phenomena truly exist in this world." He was indeed referring to me.

"Enough of this chit-chat. You said you have something important to say about the changes in the world. What is it?" Sky rushed.

Trevor's joyful face from earlier suddenly turned serious. He looked at Dao, who had been silent all along, and Dao nodded. Dao left as if he went to get something, and when he returned, he had a laptop with him. He handed it over to Trevor, who then presented it to us.

The monitor displayed a line graph labeled "Earth Energy Analysis." The graph showed an increase in the Earth's energy.

"Our planet has this innate energy since it's made of matter. This energy increases only if there are any physiological shifts or changes like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc. However, this one is special," Trevor explained.

"What do you mean by special?" I asked in confusion.

"What you are looking at right now was not caused by any natural physiologic phenomenon. Not a single earthquake, volcanic eruption, or anything of that sort happened then," Dao suddenly replied, surprising me. I thought he would stay silent.

"And your conclusion?"

"Something, or let's just say someone, caused this."

Someone? Who could—

I noticed that all five were looking at me, implying that I was the one Trevor was referring to.

"Me?! Are you sure about that?"

Dao took the laptop and typed something. Then he presented it to us again. We were surprised when we saw the NASA logo.

"How did you get into NASA?" Maica asked in amazement.

"Dao found a way."

If earlier it was a line graph, now it was a map with a red dot in the middle. The information on the map stated the time and date I confronted the monster. It also contained the address that I didn't expect to read.

"Unova Food Corp.," I read.

"At first, we thought there was an earthquake or something that happened in this span of time. But when we checked the logs, there was no data. Luckily, news about a psychic teenage boy came out immediately," Trevor explained.

"If I did this? How?" I looked at Sky, who was closely examining the laptop.

"Dao has a theory. Go on, Dao," Calli nudged her friend.

"Whenever you use your psychic abilities, you gather the Earth's energy."

"That is because it's my source."

"And then he releases it," added Sky.

"You, Alex, act as an amplifier. You strengthen the energy you collect. That means whenever you deliver an attack, the energy you release is stronger than those you have pooled twofold," Dao added as an additional explanation.

"Let's just say that Alex is the one behind it. How is this connected to the world being changed?"

"Have you seen the movie The Cloverfield Paradox?" Trevor asked. Trisha nodded, while the three of us—Maica, Sky, and I—did the opposite. "In the movie, they use some kind of an accelerator that can hold a tremendous amount of energy that can power up the whole world. However, it malfunctioned. The energy got unstable, causing the appearance of unnatural events on Earth," Trevor narrated.

"Like what?"

"Demons, monsters, etc., things you wouldn't want to see here on Earth. Things that only exist in fiction," Wernie pointed out, individually pointing to their displayed fictional beings. "Because of the release of that immeasurable energy from the accelerator, the sheet that separates reality from fiction got severed. That's why monsters appeared in the movie."

"So, you're saying the same thing will happen in our world?" I asked anxiously. I didn't want to believe it, but the fear I felt just now told me that something bad might happen. And the worst part was that it was because of me.

"I'm not sure, but there's a possibility," speculated Dao.

"You mentioned that the accelerator in the movie can power up an entire world, am I right?" Sky asked, making Trevor nod. "In that tremendous amount of energy, there would be a shift in Time and Space. But what we have here is just an ordinary teenage boy who can't even power up a light bulb. Following that statement, it is unlikely that Alex will cause such a phenomenon. And how could he open a demonic portal in just one night?" criticized Sky.

"How sure are you that Alex used his ability only once? Whenever he uses his abilities, he gradually breaks the boundary." My eyes widened upon hearing his statement. I didn't want to believe him.

"You said that the world has changed, how?" worriedly asked Trisha.

"After Alex won the battle, people started claiming that they saw something unnatural. In Egypt, an apple tree grew just beside the Nile River. A cactus was found in Antarctica. We also found out that a marine biologist researcher in the Pacific Ocean documented the discovery of 50 new species of marine life in just one day."

"There's also a tree here in our city that, instead of bearing mangoes, yielded guavas," Wernie added to the examples mentioned by Justin.

"And all of this started just after Alex defeated the monster?" Maica confirmed. Trevor nodded in response. The whole room fell silent. None of us seemed able to speak after the revelation of the people before us.

"Oh no! It's already seven! Mama's gonna be mad!" Wernie blurted out, breaking our silence. Trevor closed the laptop, leaving his companions to gather their belongings.

"I never wanted to scare you, Kuya Alex. I just wanted to let you know so you could be aware. You did nothing wrong. It's just that your kindness has consequences," Trevor said to lighten my mood.

"It's okay. Thanks, by the way."

"Alright, we're going to pack up."

"Okay, we're heading home," I bid goodbye. Trisha left first, and I was the last one to leave. Disappointment and fear now enveloped my entire system. I didn't expect that my abilities could have this kind of effect. If only I had known, I wouldn't have used them.

"Hey? Are you okay?" Maica asked, rubbing my shoulder.

"I'm fine, I think."

"You know, Alex, don't worry about it. If it was destined to happen, then we can't avoid it. All we have to do is find a way to prevent it from causing too much damage," Trisha explained.

"Trisha is right. Some things are inevitable, especially when fate is involved," Maica agreed.

"You don't have to worry, Alex. We're here," Sky added. I knew they were just trying to comfort me, so I went along with it. In fact, Trisha was right; we couldn't avoid things that were meant to happen. But if something could change fate, I would use it, even if it cost me my life.

We continued walking back to the school parking lot. We quickly got into the car when we arrived, while Trisha went to her own. Trisha left ahead of us. Actually, we invited her to have dinner at our house, but she declined. She said she had something to attend to.

On the way home, I couldn't help but think again about what Trevor had said earlier. Is it really true? What if they edited the visual aids they showed to scare me? But what would be their motive for doing that? This is giving me a headache again!