The Last Glimpse

Chapter V - The weight of goodbye

Akiriana

The walls of Akiriana's world stood tall and encroaching, folding around her like a fortress. Each day had blurred into the next since her husband, Shio, and their little son, Akairo, had left her world in an instant. The echoes of their laughter haunted her, amplifying the emptiness in her chest. It had been weeks, but it felt like years. She got up every morning just to draw the curtains and let the sunlight pour in, but the glow only reminded her of the joy she had lost.

Her mother, and her brothers stood by her, offering fragmented support, but they were like silhouettes against a brightness she could no longer see.

If they can just understand me like they do.

However with Tita Fiona and Tito she felt at calm that somehow everyday she just loosens up from the pain unlike before.

“It’s going to be okay, Kiri,” Tita Fiona tried, clutching Akiriana’s shoulder, desperate to instill hope. But how could she? How could light possibly reach a heart so shrouded in shadow?

Kiri. Nickname nila sakin eversince bata palang ako. Sila lang ang tumatawag sakin nyan.

Akiriana had dwindled into a ghost within her own life, existing in moments but never feeling alive. And yet, beneath the numbness lay a stubborn ember that yearned to endure, ignited by the life inside her. Akaira—the name felt heavy on her tongue, radiating both longing and sorrow. Her unborn daughter had become a bittersweet reminder of the family that would never be whole again.

___

Shuan

Tito Shaun stood at the threshold of Akiriana’s room, observing the suffocating weight that seemed to hang over her. He found it difficult to reconcile his memories of Akiriana as the vibrant girl who danced when she was happy, the insatiably curious young woman who dreamed in colors against the backdrop of a bright future. Now, all that remained was a mourning silhouette that barely recognized its reflections.

I look at Fiona hugging akiriana like her own baby make me wonder where is her mom? Her dad? Her lola?

Fiona creasing her hair with tears bawling in her eyes quietly seeing akiriana like this.

“Fiona,” I said, voice low but urgent not trying to wake up akiriana. As they stood under the muted glow of a soft lamp. “We can’t just keep waiting for her to snap out of this. We need to do something.”

Fiona’s heart ached with dread. “What do you propose? We’ve tried everything. I wish it were as easy as calling her back to us like before."

" Di na ganun kadali. Di na kaya ng yakap to Shuan, di na sya katulad ng dati na isang yakap mo lang pag nahuhulog sya sa mga ATV ok na.” Fiona chuckles a little remembering those times

“A trip to the U.S.,” Shaun suggested.

“Let her live with us for a while. She can grieve in the space of new memories, give her the chance to heal somewhere away from the past.”

Fiona turned to face him, her eyes shimmering with cautious hope. “And what of the baby? Akaira... ang apo natin....”