I woke up, panting. My hands are sweaty and my body is trembling. I looked at the clock near my bed and it was already three am.
I touched my forehead and it was also sweaty. My head was aching and my chest is still pounding fast.
What was that?
I stood up and proceeded to drink some water in the kitchen. I held my chest.
"Naparami ata ako ng kape." bulong ko sa hangin. "Pero hindi naman ako na-inform na babangungutin ka rin kapag masyado kang maraming kapeng nainom."
Bumalik ako sa k'warto at nahiga upang sumubok na matulog ulit ngunit ayaw ng mata at diwa ko. Bumangon ako at bumalik sa kusina upag ipagtimpla ang sarili ko ng gatas.
Oo, gatas. Baka bangungutin ulit ako sa kape.
I went to the living room and sat facing my laptop to read cases since I can't put myself back to sleep.
Then the dream pops up again. Bakit kaya gano'n? It felt like I was the one being tortured.
I found myself searching for psychological based studies about what I felt. It looks like I had typed an essay on the google search bar.
I scrolled through the results given but nothing satisfied me. Almost everything were about videos showing hypothesizm and other than that, there were articles that does not make any sense to me.
I was about to close the tab when I remembered a certain site that appeared in my nightmare.
"Gagi, bakit wala?" I murmured when I search for More Street but it only showed pictures of streets, literal ones.
"May mali ba akong nai-type?" I frowned, and glared at my laptop screen.
"Iss, punyeta!" padabog kong pinalo ang kamay sa may keyboard that I instantly regretted and said sorry to the laptop after.
Nang tinignan ko ang oras ay alas-kwatro na. Dahil madilim pa lang naman siguro, inalis ko na ang tab at bumalik sa pag-aaral ng mga case.
I woke up with a bang in the head and a loud ring on my phone. I picked it up sleepy and answered with a grumpy voice.
"Sino ba 'to?! Ang aga-aga!"
"Good morning to you, too, Ms. Morson." I froze upon hearing the voice coming from the other line.
I cleared my throat, "Good morning, Detective Cruz. What is the emergency to call this early?"
"It is already quarter to nine in my clock. How about yours?" he asked instead of answering.
With eyes half closed, I check the time on my phone screen and it was nine forty-five.
"Same." I responded and yawned until I realized something.
I took another peek of the time and this time, with eyes wide awake.
Putangina, alas-nuebe na pala!
"Gago, sandali, maliligo lang ako." saad ko at mabilis na pinatay ang tawag bago nagmamadaling pumunta sa banyo.
I'm two hours late! I need to rush to the firm, ngayon meeting ko with our clients kasama si Detective Cruz!
Natigil ako. Isang ngiti ang sumilay sa aking labi dahil sa aking naisip.
"You're three hours, forty-two minutes and thirty-two seconds late, Ms. Morson." Detective Cruz greeted.
"I'm sorry, okay." I smiled at him, "Napuyat kasi ako kagabi. I forgot about our meeting--"
"Unprofessional." he uttered coldly. "Cussing and staying up late to be late in a meeting saying the excuse, "you forgot?" How unprofessional."
