When the Dust Lies

Prologue

In life, people gather for only two reasons: to celebrate a union or to mourn a loss—marriage and death.

Marriage. They're a promise, right? A promise of forever... of sharing a future with someone.  They believe love is beautiful and lasting. It's like they're all looking forward together, hands joined, and hearts beating in sync.

But there's also death. A sudden stop. No more promises, and the quiet that follows is different. People show up, like they have no choice. Maybe it's out of respect, or maybe it's the inevitable realization that we can't escape the endings we all fear. It's almost like we need each other more when it's over. We gather, not to cheer, but to remember. To grieve, to reflect, to try to make sense of what's lost.

But why? Why is it that we only come together for these things? We wait for someone to die, or someone to marry, before we'll sit down together in one room. When was the last time we just gathered for the sake of it? To laugh without an occasion, to hold hands without promises, to simply be with one another without waiting for something big to happen?

It feels strange, doesn't it? How people move in and out of your life, and when something big happens, you all somehow end up in the same space, as if time and distance never existed. It's like life is forcing you to be reminded of what you have, what you might lose, and maybe even what you wish you had done differently.

Sometimes, I wonder if it's just easier to be with people when something happens, when the world has shifted enough to make it obvious that we need each other. Maybe that's when we realize we don't have forever, and that maybe, just maybe... we've been taking too much for granted.

Was that all life was? A constant cycle of meeting, losing, and letting go?

I felt a tightness in my chest at the thought.

"Kasalanan niyo 'to! Walang puso!"

Suddenly, a loud voice echoed through the church, snapping me out of my thoughts.

...Huh?

"Tangina... Ibalik niyo ang buhay ng kapatid ko!!!"

I blinked, my head snapping up.

The quiet murmur of the Mass earlier had shifted to an unsettling buzz of voices. Some were crying. Others were shouting. Whispers spread like wildfire as people speculated about the tragedy that had brought them together.

What...? This isn't just a regular Sunday mass! This is a wake. A funeral mass for someone who had passed. I hadn't realized it sooner, too absorbed in my own thoughts. Until the mass ended, and everyone erupted into chaos.

My mind scrambled, trying to make sense of it all. The wake and the mass—together in one place, yet so separate in their purpose. I blinked rapidly, trying to process the confusion around me. In a place of worship, I had come seeking peace, but now all I could feel was the turmoil of both life and death converging in the same sacred space.

My eyes found the family of the deceased sitting near the altar, their faces pale and streaked with tears. Sa likuran ko piniling umupo kaya malayo ako sa kanila, pero ramdam ko ang tensyon at emosyon ng lahat.

The crowd's chatter, the sobs, the awkward glances—it was all too much.

"Kuya!!!" A woman cried, embracing the white casket in the center.

The cry echoed through the church, loud and raw, as if it was tearing apart every wall. It was so full of pain, Ramdam na ramdam mo ang sakit sa bawat sigaw na nagagawa nito. The sobs were broken, desperate, isang klase ng pag iyak na hindi mo na kayang pigilan—parang lahat ng sakit, lahat ng hinagpis, sabay-sabay na bumangon at sumabog.