Never Ever Say Goodbye

2 | Assignment

Shadows from buildings fell over me in dark silhouettes, rivaling the gray skies just behind them. It had been a slow day compared to the other days I spent in the camp with nothing but paperwork and lunch happening the past five hours since clocking in.

I fixed the cap perched atop my head, letting the brim shade my eyes from the muted sunlight. No wonder it was boiling hot the past few days. It's going to rain soon. If not later in the evening, then tomorrow at the latest.

Soldiers dressed in the same uniform as me passed me by in groups of three, two, or alone. We gave each other acknowledging nods if the badges on our chests indicated the same level and a quick salute if it's higher. By the time I cleared half of the journey towards the Major's office where my summons came from, my head felt light from all the nods I did and the muscles in my arms throbbed from all the salutes I gave.

It has been a few years since I graduated from the academy and got assigned to the camp back here in Manila. I wasn't too thrilled about being away from the cold mountains but if it meant being close to my family, then I supposed I could make do. After saving most of my first paychecks, I was also able to move my family out of Pinyahan and into the better barangays around. My mom, being a Quezon City native all her life, didn't want to let go of the city entirely so we had to reach a compromise at some point.

That's how we ended up with a small house by the side of a major road flanked by trees and untended land all over. We wouldn't even need to argue about why I was adamant about that lot.

Now that they're settled and my brothers were already in highschool, I told my parents to stop working too hard and let me handle most of the expenses. I didn't have anything to buy for myself and generally little things to spend my money on so I was more than happy to do that. My dad, though, disliked the idea and kept pestering me to let him get back to driving tricycles. Finally, after months of enduring it, I relented but with the condition that he take his meds for his liver as the doctor has said and not be stubborn about it.

Everyone was happy with how our lives were arranged. We got a landline, which Gab couldn't stop using to call his friends and his potential girlfriend. Heck, we even have television now. Never in my whole life did I imagine my life sitting in front of a box and getting so engrossed in it. In fact, never in my whole life did I imagine I would get to buy my family Cadbury chocolates for Christmas.

It was a good life—one I got only because I was in this place.

I raised my eyes to the glass windows peppering the buildings, letting my gaze brush through the faded blue paint on most of the walls. They all look identical to a fault, despite the cars belonging to high-ranking officers parked in the meager lots outside and the trees and benches circling each of the building's territory.

As long as I do my job, not ask stupid questions, and follow those of higher rank than me, I'd be able to keep this life. For my family and ultimately, for me, as well.