It was Thursday night. Everybody was exhausted from a day filled with learning. As usual, they would gather around their wooden table to refuel their starving stomachs for an eight-hour cell-revitalising slumber. Sleep is the best time of Mrs. Cruz's day; or shall we call her Daisy? This is the only time when she could stretch her legs horizontally to relieve the stress from an entire day of standing.
"Mama, when is Papa coming home?"
"Soon, dear. Papa will be gone for a while, maybe a week or two."
"Where exactly is Papa going?"
"To Manila, Piper. Papa will bring back presents for you, Quinn and Rio."
Off to bed they went but not Mrs. Cruz. She still had to do the dishes and write her lesson plan for tomorrow before she could doze off.
At around 10:32 pm, Daisy had already finished her paper works.
"Squeek! Squeek! Squeek!"
"What was that?"
A screeching noise was coming from the comfort room as if two mice were drowning. At first, Mrs. Cruz paid no attention to these calls for help. As time went by, they became more frequent. Still, she played deaf to the animals' SOS.
"Squeek! Squeek! Squeek! Squeek! Squeek!"
Daisy rushed to see what the fuss was about. To her shock she saw two mice clinging onto each other to escape death. They were both worn out due to the continues paddling of their legs to keep them afloat. Both of them were shivering and wet with disgusting toilet water. One could easily determine that they were about to drown in a few.
"Damn you mice! How the hell did you get into my toilet?"
Instead of helping the poor things, Daisy just fixed her eyes on the dying mice and watched as they slowly drowned. She exhibited no facial expression. Neither a grin nor a frown could be seen on her. The straight face she kept was a mirror to her amazement and excitement of the fact that she is actually going to witness life being taken away.
And then there was silence. The annoying screeches had stopped. The mice are gone and Daisy shed no tear nor faked a smile. They just suddenly stopped moving. Their scratching ended, their life gone.
After the mice had their tragic end, Mrs. Cruz headed to her room, ready to call it a day.
Mrs, Cruz had a vivid dream of her husband on board a ship. The night was filled with stars and music could be heard everywhere. Mr. Cruz or Henri was on the deck. It's as if he was bidding farewell. He was waving his hand and blowing kisses at the sea -- at her.
"No! What? What? It's only a dream."
The time was 3:45 am.
"It's just 3:45, I better get back to sleep."
Daisy was puzzled with her dream. It was so vivid it had her believing that Henri was about to die. She was saddened by her dream and thought of it for a while, trying to decipher what it meant. She eventually got tired and fell asleep.
The following morning, Daisy was up to her daily routine: cook breakfast, get ready, have coffee while reading a newspaper and leave for school. While reading the headlines, she. . . dropped her mug.
"Mom! What's wrong?"
She could not utter a single word. She was in a state of shock.
"Mom! Are you okay?"
The headline read: "MV Hermogenes Collides with Tanker Velocity, Thousands Missing."
