(Part II)
Christmas day, we got over to Shiela's place to wait for Jeff. They called in old classmates to come over Shiela's crib. No one was free. The three of us David, Shiela and me decided to go to Manila and spend the rest of christmas there. We decided to hook Maggie with us. Then they called up mumai. And Jeff called us that he'll follow. We hang by Walter Mart to wait for Jeff and Mumai.
(Maggie, Shiela and Chocolate [kiddin! that's David])
(pretty friends of mine - maggie and crazy mom (I mean gorgeous Shiela)
Then Jeff arrived at the mall and so did Mumai. We rushed by the street to catch a bus to Manila. While waiting for the ride we were deciding where to go (how splendid our plan was...very spontaneous). Some stupid guy (choose among the three guys [technically three, David is a chickboy] me, david and jeff [I wouldn't be calling myself stupid nor would I call a Bi stupid too]) said we should go to Divisoria. Others said we should go to eastwood or ortigas or maybe baywalk. I contributed star city out of nowhere, only mumai liked my idea(
syempre bespren ko ata yan!!!). Then all ideas were exhausted we had a quorum that we'll go where the first bus will take us. From the queue of vehicles by the street came a bus plying to Divisoria! (Darn! I take the word stupid back. hehe!) The traffic was so devastating that if we decided to stay and wait for a bus probably we'll be at Manila by new year.
We decided to go back to Baliuag to celebrate what was left of christmas there. We jump up a jeep going to Baliuag and stop by
Kainan sa Buho
We were so excited to come back there, the experience of last year was still fresh. All the good foods, drinks, and the cheap price plus the overwhelming services. Darn it was so good to come back. Entering the place, I pointed to the second floor. I told the rest of the gang that it would be better if we stay on the second floor, the whole place will be better viewed there.
So there we were, reminiscing the christmas of last year and how good Shiela's invention was; iced tea float with san mig lyt on it! Cool! I dare you to try it, it's cool, really cool! The attendant came and took our orders. Everyone was puzzled which to order. Anyway, we settled with
sisig (
special daw),
gising-gising (a mixture of seafood cuisine which is also delicious) and a grilled squid and of course a bucket of san mig lyt. One bad news was there were no Iced tea float any more (so sad!).
While waiting for the food we had a little chit chat... and then the little chit chat turned into a serious high school recollection. After 30 minutes of waiting the food were still nowhere in sight this turned out...
girls were smiling wildly for no reason...or so I thought. They were smiling for the guy over the porch...
...who seem to be contemplating over something (that I don't know and I don't care!!!).
hunger came over the people and they start to stood from their chairs. A mysterious music from nowhere filled our ears and then the whole place started to get bumpy. Shiela led the pack over the floor. While grooving down the
kawayan floors we noticed that there was a guy staring at Shiela...(looks like a stalker or some maniac who never saw a gorgeous lady grooving)
The strange guy stared at Shiela for half an hour. Studying every angle and every move... we were so afraid to tell Shiela since she seemed to be taken by the music. When we tried to approach Shiela this came to our view...
(to be continue...my tummy won't permit me to work anymore. :D)
As we stare to the image in front of us, we felt a forceful wind that seems to have been coming behind the image heading towards us. It struck us and blew us flat to the wall… I lost consciousness after hitting the wall. I lay in there for a while, back flat on the floor. I never knew what happened next…
And when I opened my eyes the first thing that came to my mind was to look for the others. I circled the floor and saw that everyone was down and unconscious. David was hanging by the bars of the wall. Sheila was… still dancing even at an unconscious state. Mumai was covered with chairs but seems to be unhurt. Neither bruise nor blood was seen from the floor. I lift everyone up and sat them to the nearest wall close to each other. As I pick each one of them, Maggie struck my mind. Where is Maggie? Everyone was here except Maggie. What happened to her? After lifting and setting them to a safe place I began my search for Maggie.
It seems like we were where enveloped inside a vortex or some sort of another dimension. The outside world continues to exist without any care of what has happened to us. They don’t seem to hear or see what’s going up the second floor. One of the attendants came up and a sudden relief came over me. I rushed into her as she stepped inside the place. As I close-in to her, a sudden chill wrapped my body that made me fell to my knees. My body felt so heavy that I couldn’t stand up. All I can do was to lift my head and reach for the attendant nearing me. I yelled for help, but she can’t hear me not even a slight reaction. I felt so helpless, she came closer and closer to me but I can’t get her attention. She walked pass across me like a ray of light passing through a stone. I turned my head to follow where she’s going. As I look, I see images of us settled down by the chairs and blissfully talking about our high school life. I turned to where I left my friends and there they were lifeless and unconscious, but how could we exist in both worlds at the same time.
My head started to feel heavier that it felt like nerves were cracking and exploding to the intolerable pain caused by the force behind all these things. The image of the guy who stalked Shiela and the image we saw before it all happen flashed in front of my eyes. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what he’s been trying to say to me… then a thought came in my mind. Where the heck is Jeff? Then suddenly everything felt so light…the image we saw earlier, dark and gloomy has brightened up. The image we saw was no other than Jeff. His image changed with all the dark lights surrounding him. Then he spoke with a hard voice. “Why did you call me stupid? Do you think I’m kidding when I suggested that we should go to Divisoria?” Jeff said. “I’m not stupid!!!” added Jeff. I tried to stand and reach for him but suddenly all that makes me heavy befell my body once again. I couldn’t move nor think of anything to do. He spoke again, “Divisoria is the place to be. There are lots of cheap stuffs there. We could even watch a movie there. But what did you do? You just laughed at me as if I’m this naïve kid asking to be heard! I’m no kid!!! I’m not stupid!!!” It all made sense now. Jeff was angered when we rejected his idea of going to Divisoria and me calling him s-t-u-p-i-d. I’m down by the floor so helpless a word came out my mouth… “S-o-r-r-y”. Then everything begun to circle, faster and faster, taking everything in sight. It felt like a twister hit the place. But instead of destroying everything that collides in its way, it felt that everything that has happened is being undone. Everything is moving except me, still down by my knees and in front of Jeff. It looks like that we were inside a film rewinding from the start. Then everything suddenly stopped to where my girl friends were smiling crazily over the guy by the porch, which was Jeff. He turned to me while I’m still on my knees and say “say it again”. I replied “what?” Say the word you whispered earlier before I returned everything in its places. I thought of it and then I said “stupid?” He pointed his finger on me as if he’s going to shoot me. I took back my words and say “SORRY”. “I’m just kidding you stupid naïve kid”. I crafted a grin and he grin back at me. He reached for my hand and helped me stand up.
It seems so clear right now, everything that has happened was just a manifestation of Jeff’s naïve anger. We laugh and laugh for all those things that just happened just for a stupid thing I did to Jeff. So crazy! Everyone gathered around me and Jeff. We had a group hug. We look at each other and exchange smiles, while doing that. Someone is not in the group, someone is missing then we turned back to look then we saw… MAGGIE!
(Photos by David B.)
