Therrie's Thirty Days of Temperamental Cycle

Chapter 20: Certainty

Katatapos lamang ni Therrie maligo at ang lahat na nanggaling sa communal shower ay bumalik na sa kanilang mga kwarto o ang iba ay nagpalipas ng oras sa ibang sulok ng pasilidad. Bantay sarado pa rin naman ang buong paligid, no one can leave their places without being watched.

Therrie hated being watched, but because there's nothing she can do about it, everything she do was exposed. Hanggang ngayon kasi wala pa ring ideya si Therrie kung nasaan ba si Bianca. She doesn't care about her condition or the situation she was dealing in right now within herself dahil mas inaalala niya ang kaibigan niya.

Bumalik siya ng health facility at ang tanging nasa isip lamang ay ang sarili pero hindi niya pa rin maalis sa isipan ang kaibigan. Malakas ang kutob niyang may hindi magandang nangyayari.

Bianca wouldn't be gone if something bad didn't happen. There should be. Iyon ang paniniwala ni Therrie. There can't be any reason she wouldn't be out, going around places dahil kung walang ginawa si Bianca, she could be there hanging out with them on Benji's birthday yesterday who was so happy celebrating it with everybody.

Habang pabalik si Therrie sa kwarto niya, mapadadaan naman ito sa office ni Doctor Carmona. Isa pa iyon sa ikipinagtataka niya. Hindi pa siya ipinapatawag ulit. If they're really invested on helping her, they would check on her gaya ng mga napag-usapan nito sa pagbabalik niya, but it seems like nothing's going to happen.

She's lost, in darkness, with nothing she could do, but watch everything unfold at once.

But then Therrie loses something that could justify her actions and words. She's just going with the flow.

Nang unti-unti siyang makalapit sa doctor's office, napahinto pa ito sa paglalakad nang bumukas ito. She watched who will come out of the office, but she was expecting to see that doctor's cranky face and attitude. But that's not what she heard of as soon as the people started walking out of the room.

She's behind the door so she has no direct sight of who is in. Just where she stood up, whoever stepped out first of the door she would know by then.

Ang una niyang nakita ay si Doctor Rivera which when he turned around and saw Therrie across him, he acknowledged her presence pero ni ngiti o pagbati kay Doctor Rivera ay walang sinagot ang dalaga. She knows that the new doctor has his desk inside the same office as her doctor so it's not strange anymore, but what's stranger... someone followed him. She has her head bowed down as if she can't meet anyone's eyes and by only that, Therrie immediately recognizes who was it.

"Bianca!" pagtawag nito.

Pero walang kibo si Bianca. Hindi siya nilingon nito o kung ano man. Her chest started beating rapidly, not because of anything, but because she was afraid for herself and scared of what they did to her. Therrie couldn't even move her feet and join her there. She was just looking her across—just a few feet away.

"Bianca..." muling pagtawag nito at bahagya nitong napansin ang mabagal na pag-iling nito bilang respond sa kanya.

She doesn't know what to do or say. All she can do is watch her and do nothing.

Kasunod ni Bianca ay si Doctor Carmona. At that moment, it wasn't a surprise anymore. She saw that kind of smile on the doctor's face and she felt so weird looking at her. Felt like she had done something worse than counseling Bianca. Or maybe it's more than that—Therrie isn't sure.

It's just bad for her to feel so uncertain about things today. She wants to believe what she was thinking, but she could also be wrong. She could possibly be wrong. She cannot trust herself today.

"Oh, Therrie," pagbati ni Doctor Carmona kasabay ng malambing nitong ngiti. She examined Therrie from head to toe. "It looks like you've gotten freshen up. How was it? Does it make you feel better? You know, a cold fresh shower helps to boost the immune? Do you know that?"