THE MAN IN GREEN UNIFORM (Montenegro Series #3)

Final Chapter

Celestine's POV.

Labing-siyam.

Dalawampu.

Dalawpu't-isa.

Yun ang bilang ng baril na ipinaputok habang walang patid ang pagbagsak ng luha ko.

Ramdam ko ang panay na paghagod ni mommy sa likod ko, pero hindi nito magawang pagaanin ang loob ko.

"Good afternoon and thank you for coming. We've come to share in the loss of Captain Stephen Connor. We've come to weep, to feel, and to wonder in anguish."

Just by hearing his name is enough to let me know that this is all real, that there is no turning back.

That I've lost the man I love the most.

That destiny took a major plot twist and decided to take him away from me.

The first man I've loved so much more than my father and brother.

"We don't come today with any glib answers. Let's face it. This is tough stuff. We're stunned. We're hurting. We don't understand."

Hindi ko talaga maintindihan, nahihirapan akong tanggapin kung bakit nangyari lahat iyon.

Dapat ba mas mas inagahan ko ang pag-alis?

Dapat ba hindi ko na lang piniling umalis?

Dapat ba mas pinag igihan ko ang pagmamakaawang bumalik siya sa 'kin?

What could I have done more, para hindi siya kinuha sa 'kin ng ganito.

"It might be difficult to believe, but the Bible says that it's actually good for us to be here today. In Ecclesiastes 7:2, God says this:

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of every person; the living should take this to heart."

Mas humagulgol ako sa pagkakaiyak.

Destiny?

Ito ba yung destiny naming dalawa? Yung paglayuin kami at habang buhay ko ng siyang hindi makikita.

"I would like some words from the family."

Mabilis kong naramdaman ang paghawak sa braso ko ng kung sino, naka shades ako pero paniguradong sinumang lumapit sa 'kin ay maririnig ang pag iyak ko.

"Anak, do you want to say something for Stephen?"

Saglit akong nakipagtitigan dito, his mom is in front of me, sa tabi nito ay si Selestiel na magang-maga na rin ang mata.

I bit my lip and slowly shook my head.

"Hindi ko kaya tita, h-hindi, h-"

"Hush anak." Mabilis akong niyakap nito kaya mas umiyak ako. "Kailangan mong maging matatag above anyone else, dahil habang nabubuhay ang anak ko, ikaw ang naging lakas niya. Ikaw ang naging rason why he wanted to live."

"But I am not enough tita, hindi ako naging sapat kaya mas pinili niya paring ialay ang buhay niya."

"Dahil alam nyang nasa peligro ka, he chose to save you and the people around you."

Dahil sa sinabi nito ay mas nagpatuloy ang pananakit ng puso ko at ang patuloy na pagbagsak ng luha ko.

"Ate, mahal na mahal tayo ni kuya," Selestiel said that before sobbing, mabilis ko itong niyakap.

I might be full of sorrow now, but it is just not me.

Everyone is hurting, some are dying like me, while we're looking at his coffin, it is now covered by our national flag.