A/N: Hi guys, mas maganda basahin ang scene sa baba while the song on the link is played as background. HEHE
From the tired floor to the dented walls of white, depression was served cold.
Agnes, at the moment, was tacitly shaking, as her hands clenched above her knees.
"Yes, as clearly as I could recall."
"If so, can you still remember a thing that happened?"
Saglit na tumahimik si Agnes, at nagbaba ng tingin kasabay ng unti-unting pandidilim ng kaniyang tingin. Kasabay ng kaniyang pagbabalik sa nakaraan.
"I saw her, standing in the shadows, and later did I realize..."
Sa isang makulog na gabi, sa madilim na halamanan, habang mabigat na umiiyak ang mga ulap, at walang nakangiting butuin na sana'y naging saksi, dalawang bangkay ang nakabulagta sa paanan ng isang nakatayong batang babaeng naka destida de Lolita.
"... I already knew too much of who killed my own parents."
Victims of Medusa
-TALES OF THE LIVING YESTERDAYS-
Hapon na at payapa ang pasilyo ng ospital. Ang mga bintana sa kawarto ni Aquil ay nakasara upang pigilan ang pumapasok na lamig ng panahon sa kaibabawan ng munisipyo ng Malaybalay.
Aquil's body was grueling to move. He felt like he's being tortured with a ton of burden, and moving even just a finger was almost an impossible task too.
'Ang bigat ng aking katawan...' Aquil thought in his subconscious. Nagigising na nga siya ngunit nahihilo naman. Tila ba, ilang gamot ang dumadaloy sa kaniyang kaugatan at nilulula siya.
Aquil, finally, managed to open his eyes, and there, a flaring white meets his sight, until a human-like figure was formed. Makikita ang pagtataka sa kaniyang mukha.
Sa kaniyang paningin, ay isang babae, ngunit hindi niya ito klaro dahil sa pagiging malabo ng kaniyang paningin.
Until finally, he felt better and finally got back the normality of his sight. He gasped lightly upon recognizing who the person was.
His heart was beating in the patterns of joy that are born out of a satisfied longing. A'las, his eyeballs start shaking and sparkle, before finally speaking, "Mama..."
"Agnes!" Nakangiting kumaway si Vanjoss sa kaniyang pinsang dalaga sa kinaroroonang likmuan nang nakalabas na ito ng pinasukang pagamutan.
Nang magkalapit na'y muling nagsalita ang binata, "Kumusta ang iyong pakikipag-usap sa doktor, naging maayos ba ang lahat?"
"Oo kuya," may kasamang kalmadong ngiti na sabi ng dalaga.
Napangiti naman si Vanjoss sa kilos nito at sinabing, "Napapadalas na yata ang iyong pagngiti pinsan ah, ako'y natutuwa't naging maayos ka na."
Muli ay pagngiti lang ang sagot ng dalaga... but it was a smile of lies.
She was never okay since she saw Aquil in his most heart-wrenching deathbed battle.
'Hmm. At this point, I'm becoming more like Aquil. A pretentious liar of truth.'
Agnes found herself already gazing at Aquil's room from afar until she heard her cousin spoke up again, "Agnes, nais mo bang puntahan si Aquil?"
Saglit na tumahimik si Agnes at kaldamong tumingin sa kawalan.
"Stay away from my son while the cursed month is yet about to start." She heard those words from Aquil's mother in her mind again.
BINABASA MO ANG
Victims of Medusa｜PUBLISHED UNDER UKIYOTO
Genç Kurgu[The Jose Memorial Awards for Literature WINNER] Set in the late '80s, antisocial teenager Agnes Delgado, suffers from a mental disorder that makes her not cry, and a genetic condition that devoids her tactility. But what happens when she meets Aqui...
