Chapter 4 Take It

• (TYRON)
• At last, some quiet place. It was what I needed.
• My head was throbbing but thankfully the tears had stopped. I closed my eyes and tried to block the memories from coming back again. How I wished something could make me forget my miseries. Something to live for, especially now that a person dear to me was gone.
• I wiped the wetness off my cheeks and attempted to savor the peace.
• The chirping of cicadas…
• The gentle rustling of trees...
• The cool night air brushing against my nape…
• Until a loud sound and the shuffling of small rocks destroyed the quiet. I swiftly turned my head around to see who or what it was. My body moved on its own when I saw it was a woman on the ground. But she has already stood up and was collecting her things from the dirt when I opened the car door. Three pieces of white roses remained on the ground so I picked them instead.
• “This must be yours,” I held out the flowers.
• She smiled out of the blue and panic suddenly rose up to me. She knew me, of course. My face has been all over the news for a month already.
• “I was really about to give them to you,” she said.
• Why? I gave her a bitter smile. Because you pitied me?! I wanted to cut the conversation short and drive off somewhere again but my hands reached out to give the flowers back to her.
• “Those are for you. There must be a reason why I slipped and you picked them up. You looked upset when I first saw you so I want to give them to you,” she said “It should remind you that everyone in the world has their own problems to deal with too.”
• I was confused so I called her out. She played deaf to my call and continued walking. Without thinking, I ran after her and grabbed her by the arm. I withdrew my hands immediately when I noticed her staring at it with concern, “Hey…”
• “Take it,” she looked back at the roses.
• (Tyron)
• “Take it,” she looked back at the roses.
• “They aren’t mine,” I replied coldly like I usually did to people.
• She smiled again and this time grabbed my arm to drag me inside the building. I was suddenly like a child who blindly followed his playmate and allowed her to do to me whatever she liked to for the sake of innocent fun. Only when my eyes met the huge cross at the altar did I realize that the car took me to a chapel. I was too troubled to even notice. How long has it been since I last visited a place like that? How long has it been since I last prayed? I couldn’t recall.
• “If you don’t want those roses, then give it to Him,” she ordered. “Tell Him all your worries. And I’ll tell Him mine too.”
• She released my arm and took the porcelain vase at the feet of the low podium. She removed the wilted flowers and waited for me to put the roses in. I wasn’t exactly religious and not really obedient but I couldn’t understand how that woman made me obey so easily.
• “Stay there while I throw these out,” she said, pointing at the dried flowers.
• I was left alone, holding the pot and dumbfounded. Why did I feel so calm around her? She didn’t even seem to know who I was. So, I really wasn’t that famous? I couldn’t help but smile at that little discovery.
• She took the vase from me and busily searched for something in her bag. She looked at me like a worried kid when she failed to get whatever she hoped to find, “Too bad, these flowers will wither fast…”
• “You need water,” I suggested.
• “Yes of course,” she stared at me like I’ve just said something stupid. Which I did. Of course, she must be searching for a bottled water in her bag. A bottled water! I remembered Deo stopping by the convenience store for a bottled water. He’s a desert; always too thirsty.
• “I’ve got water in the car,” my words came out easily.
• “Hurry and get it,” she excitedly said. Was I getting bossed around by her? Regardless, I hurried out and ran like a robot on a mission to get the bottle.
• ( Tyron )
• She poured the generous content and tried to put the pot on the high space by the altar.
• “You’re too small to reach it,” I said in thoughtlessly. “I’ll put it instead.”
• She glared her round eyes at me in annoyance, “You’re only tall because you’re a man.”
• She handed the vase to me in a swift motion so the water almost spilled out. How could that woman make me act so dumb? I smiled. Women indeed…That girl might just be looking for a sponsor for the old chapel and thought I looked rich to be it. How shrewd!
• She was already on the kneeler when I turned, hands clasped together in a prayer. I sat on the pew behind her and watched her back heave softly as she breathes. Suddenly I was analyzing, noticing the little things about her. Her frame was small like a teenager, skinny but nonetheless with pleasing curves. Her brunette hair fell delicately on her shoulder and ended on loosely tied curls.
• Her eyes were brown almonds…
• “Are you done praying?” she asked.
• I was surprised to suddenly meet her eyes. My heart raced in surprise and wished she didn’t catch me staring. “How was it? Did you feel relieved?”
• “It was fine,” I mumbled.
• “You’re not from this place, are you?” She stood up when I nodded and bid her farewell. “It’s getting late. I have to go.”
• “Surely is. Take care,” I replied.
• I wanted to give her a ride home but it would look too shady an offer. After all, we’re strangers who didn’t even know each other’s name. How, in such a place, I was still unknown to somebody. She waved goodbye and disappeared as quickly as I have met her.
• I remained seated, amazed at how fast my little wish has been fulfilled. For a brief moment, somebody did make me forget. I turned my gaze at the altar and saw the white flowers again. Soon, I’ll be seeing a bunch of those at my father’s funeral. How funny it was that it’d remind me of her and remind me most of him. Those flowers were really mine and it suited me perfectly. I was already carrying them the moment I was born…
• …my flower of sorrow…
• (TYRON)
• I stood close to the altar and took one flower from its stem. The flower she intended to give me. I slid it in my pocket, went out of the chapel, and breathed in the fresh air for the last time.
• Deo’s car looked like a hearse waiting to take me back to my grave. I was slowly dying as the car took me back to the villa. Every weight that I thought I left at the chapel suddenly sprung back. When the gates opened, the lonesomeness of the Mansion greeted me. I wanted peace but the silence inside that cage wasn’t healing me. It killed me more instead.
• The maids stood in a line to welcome my arrival.
• “I was told you left the hospital alone,” Sya asked like a mother who’s about to beat her kid for getting home late. She looked worried, apparently because she might’ve known what I did at the hospital. The news already spilled it all.
• “Yes. I just wanted be alone for some time,” Ironically, it was the least I wanted when I was a kid. I wanted playmates but growing up, all I wanted was some isolation. “Did they get home?”
• “Dr. Eriez and Atty. Wenziel?” she asked as we ascended the stairs.
• I nodded.
• “I doubt they’ll be coming home today. They must be busy with your father’s funeral.” She looked me in the eye when we reached my room, “All of us here liked to express our sympathy for Master James.”
• I nodded again.
• “Just wake me up once Wenziel and Eriez arrive.”
• Every step that I took felt heavy. I felt so lost, worsened by the silence in my room. Sleep wouldn’t come but I fought hard to close my eyes and wished for a ridiculous dream to take me away from my reality. Failing to do so, I remembered the flower in my pocket.
• I sat up and watched it with interest and curiosity. Its petals have gradually lost its natural tinge and was already beginning to wither. But I suddenly remembered her smile and her crazy optimism.
• I dialed Deo to ask for his service. A private one.
• “There was this woman I want you to investigate. Get every detail of her for me…Everything,” I said while obsessing at the sight of the flower. “She usually goes at dusk to an old chapel beside an abandoned nunnery. Confirm with me first with her picture before delving in deeper.”
• “Aye sir,” Deo responded with his youthful vigor. “All noted.”
• “And one last thing, nobody should know about this,” I said before I hung up. “Good,” I whispered and let my body fall back to the huge bed. Something sparked inside me again and I was able to close my eyes. And slowly, I drifted to sleep.
• @SenaMangampo