I met her down at the Gasoline Station one deafening wednesday afternoon. She was nothing of a sought-after fascination and yet she appeared pristine before my eyes.
"Clara!" I heard her friends call her name. I stand by riding a bicycle to take some rest. My friend, Al, who was on my left side, caught my scrumptious eyes glued at the lady. "Huy, sino'ng tiniti'gnan mo d'yan?!" Alarmed by his wicked mocks, I responded like a venus flycatcher and denied what is obvious.
But soon, after my muscles thawed, I was already grilling him with questions, "Tol, ano sa tingin mo? Maganda ba?" He would throw a strange look at me and said, "Di naman kagandahan, eh. Mas maganda pa ata ako," and he laughed. "Bakla ka?," I asked him.
One time, while I was at the Grocery, pushing the cart and spinning my bicycle keychain. When I finally decided to go to the counter, I found Clara right across on my way. How alluring, she just stands there like a princess who need no crown and throne at all. One quick look and I know I can just drop dead on the ground. I dropped my keychain instead.
Funny how I pretended to look for some crunchy snacks just to pass her with a glance. She was so close, I can smell her hair, but the scent suddenly vanished. A guy with a face of a boxer and a body of a gymnast grabbed her out of the grocery. If only I have the guts to defend her, I would. But I let that moron grabbed her like a bully grabbing a candy from a playmate.
Did she notice me? She was so contained. She won't even give a quick look at my spot. Why do they do that? Women surely know how to break a man's heart. I followed them with my sight. "Sir, is this yours?" The saleslady pointed the keychain I had dropped moments ago. I forgot about it.
I became busy helping my mother to do household chores and my father to build a Mini-Store, and it had been exactly a week since the last time I saw Clara. Suddenly, while I was walking on the highway, I heard a news that she was already dead. She was murdered the night after I last saw her and her body was found rotting on some grassland two blocks away from the Grocery Store.
What a pity. She had such a very mysterious face. Nobody knew how she was killed or who killed her. But they said, the police had found evidence that will lead them to the murderer. They said, the killer left his keychain in the scene. The keychain... I forgot about it.
