Lucky

7 years ago...

       I woke up in the library with a book on my face. I didn’t notice that I had closed my eyes while preparing for my report in our world literature class. Time flew. My life as a teenager didn’t go wrong. I finished my high school life well and now I am taking my college degree happily.

I returned the book and walked down the hall towards our classroom. My classmates were already there and I saw my professor entering. I finished my report properly and received applauses from my classmates.

Life seemed to work well for me and I couldn’t ask for more.

When I went home everything was still fine. My eldest brother got his first salary and my elder brother will be graduating this weekend. My dad’s retirement couldn’t be that soon.

For the next three days I took my end term exams and some were harder than I expected, but it was fine. With that done the school year had ended. Summer was once again coming but for the past eleven years we only stayed home. A few years ago my grandparents went to Manila because my grandfather was sick. They stayed there until he passed away. My grandmother had then lived with us.

The summer vacation would have to wait as my elder brother will celebrate his graduation first. There were many students that time with their parents who were supporting them. My eldest brother, father, and of course I were there to witness the program. After the graduation we stayed for few hours for to savor the moment, and then we went home. I couldn’t sleep that night, I was thinking about my college life and about that moment when I was on stage receiving the diploma. My future is yet to come and I’ll have to wait for it.

Summer arrived and nothing changed. I just slept the whole day and played some computer games. I got bored sometimes and tried reading book so that I could learn some new and amazing things in life.

A few days later my father took us for a swim in some resort. I still haven’t learned how to swim, embarrassing as it is. So I just stayed near the stairs where I could reach the floor. We stayed for about the whole day in the resort and went home at night.

I didn’t notice that there were only two weeks left before the next school year. The summer break was quiet longer than what we had during elementary and high school because for college students there’s always a one week extension.

Some students celebrated at the fact that there was an extension, as for me… well I wasn’t happy. I wanted to go to school where I get to talk to someone because whenever I make friends I feel as though somehow my days were worth living.

The next day, some of my friends posted an event on Facebook. They were planning a celebration for my friends’ birthday, a week before the next school year. I knew that it would be fun but I didn’t know if I was really that on to it so I just signed out.

At that moment my eldest brother assembled us. He wanted to propose something.

“As you all know I just received my salary –”

I clapped my hands.

“If dad took us for a swim well for me I wanted to treat all of you for a vacation”

“Vacation? Isn’t that late for summer” my father wondered.

My eldest brother nodded. “It’s just a perfect timing because I wanted to go back to Albay and spend the remaining days of summer there”

I froze as I heard those words.

Albay? Our old province…

“It’s probably time to visit grandma’s house again” my eldest brother added.