Midnight Pleasure

27

"Diaz, do you copy?"

I clenched my fist as I was looking at the building that is now getting eaten by the giant fire. Maliban sa kaninang pagsabog ay nasundan pa iyon ng ilan pa kaya naman mas lumalaki na ang apoy.

Dumarami na rin ang mga tao sa paligid ng nasusunog na hotel.

Marami ang bystanders, may ilan na napaparaan lang at kinukuhanan ng video at litrato ang nangyayari. Ilang mga pulis na rin ang nag-aayos ng traffic dahil sa mga sasakyan na humihinto para pagmasdan ang nasusunog na gusali.

I looked around and bit my lip. Marami na rin ang ambulansiya, bumbero at maging mga pulis sa lugar. Dumating na rin ang bomb squad para sa mga potensiyal na mga bomba na sasabog pang muli.

"Diaz, do you copy?"

I looked at Tamayo who was still trying to contact the others. Lumingon din siya sa akin at umiling ng mahina. Si Gary naman ay kausap na ang IC at kanina pa rin ito nagpupumilit na pumasok sa loob para hanapin si Nate.

We're all helpless right now, actually.

We have no contact with Diaz or Canlas, I don't even know what's happening to Nate, too. Sa kapal ng usok at dahil na rin sa kumakalat na apoy, he could be suffocating right now.

Muling nangilid ang luha sa mga mata ko habang nakatingin sa mataas na gusali.

The last talk I had with Nate started to flood my mind. How I told him to stop and how I wished we just never met so I won't have any problems now.

He was right...

I didn't mean any of those things. I was just really worried that my dad would be mad at me for doing something else instead of my job. I was scared I would disappoint him again...

Mabilis kong pinalis ang pisngi ko at naglakad na rin ako papunta sa lalaking kausap ni Gary.

"We need to go inside. Just give me a suit and I will go there and find them!" Inis na sabi na ni Gary sa lalaki na panay pa rin ang tanggi.

"As much as we wanted to let you go inside, we can't allow that. The first respondents will go inside and you should just wait here for instructions and–"

"Nathaniel Araneta is inside the building!" hindi ko na napigilan na singhalan ang lalaki na tumingin sa akin, halata namang nabigla ito sa ginawa ko. Even the people around us looked in our direction. They're probably wondering what the fuck I was doing but I don't really give a damn. Lalo pa at ayaw niya kaming pakinggan.

"Who do you think you are to yell at me, little girl?"

"You can stand here and give commands to your people and do your job, but we also need to do ours and that is to make sure he is safe! He's there, and we don't know what's happening inside! We don't even know if he's..." my voice broke as I looked at him and looked towards the burning building. "If he's still alive..." halos walang boses na dagdag ko.

Kumuyom ang kamay ko. Ramdam ko ang tila pagpiga sa dibdib ko habang naiisip ang posibilidad na may nangyari ng masama kay Nate sa loob.

"The media will surely drag your name to their reports once they find out that you're refusing our help to make sure the President's son is okay. It won't be long now that they will start reporting that he's inside that burning building and you're the incident commander, Captain. Surely, you don't want the press harassing you because of what might happen to Mr. Araneta," si Tamayo naman ang nagsalita sa may likod ko.

He looked at us and exhaled. Mukhang napaisip na rin ito sa sinabi ni Tamayo.

"Fine, but I still can't allow you to go inside. They will prioritize finding them while they're also trying to control the fire. You can wait here for further instructions. That's the only thing I can do for you now," sabi nito at hinawakan ako ni Tamayo.