Always And Forever

Grief

The newsroom archives smelled dust and old papers. Between the stacks of boxes and filing cabinets, there was George, silently ruffling through the files. Searching for something he, himself doesn't even know. He was about to consider it a day when the archivist placed a box on the table near him.

"1989", the archivist said, "You should look from where it all started".

What he heard made sense, he spent the last three weeks searching for documents that seemed to be imaginary. At this point his brain is fried. Why didn't I think of that?

"Makulit ka rin attorney no?"
"Persistent" he replied as he was rubbing the back of his neck.
"Makulit, in other words"

He smiled at the archivist, let out a frustrated sigh and started digging through the box. One page after another, nothing significant, another and another. And then, one headline caught his eyes.

ROMERO DEMANDS FULL INQUIRY INTO ILLEGAL MINING OPERATIONS

The article was from July, 1985. He pulled the news paper closer. The article detailed a congressional inquiry involving illegal mining operations linked to several influential families, including...

"Rodriguez..." He muttered under his breath.

KEY WITNESS EXPECTED TO TESTIFY IN MINING PROBE

Another article from 1986 came into his hand. His eyes traced towards the end of it
"The truth has a way of finding its daylight" It was Francisco Romero's statement.

He dropped the newspapers and stared at the ceiling, processing what he just read. A realization dawned unto him: He wasn't just reading random news papers, he was reading a timeline. A timeline that might be the key to a murder that happened the same time as he learned how to speak English.

=

Leonor was walking slightly ahead of Ferdinand, not because she was a fast walker, but because Bongbong was lost in his thoughts. His gaze fixed unto her. Earlier, he watched her simply sit on the grass and talked to her parents as if they were still with them, he realized she never stopped talking to them. She glanced back, noticing that he's way behind.

"You okay?"
He instantly snapped back to reality and hastened his steps.

"Murder" she randomly uttered. What an intro.
"What?"
"They were murdered, mom and dad. Both of them"

He was caught off guard, she told him with such calmness as if she was just telling what she had for lunch.

"I figured out na you wanted to know", she added and shrugged.
"I...I'm sorry", was all he could utter.
She let out a faint smile, "Don't be, thirty two years, that's enough time to grieve I guess."

"Still feels like yesterday tho"
He replied after a pause. She looked at him with such confusion, waiting for him to continue.
"It's been thirty two years too", his voice trailed, "Since I lost my parents".

She stopped, "Doc..." , He shook his head before she can continue "But I didn't grieve like you" .
The tears on the corner of his eyes was waiting to race at any moment and it took him his strength to hold it together.

"They don't deserve it, at least" He continued, avoiding her eyes. "Napaka selfish", He sniffed, his intonation hard as ever. "Suicide. Over a controversy. Di man lang inisip na may walong taon silang anak na maiiwan."

It was her first time seeing anger on his face, it doesn't suit him. This time, he was the one who showed fragility.

"Napaka selfish" he uttered again. Fist clenched.
His words hung heavily between them, and for a moment she simply watched him. Letting him process his emotions.

The afternoon brushed against them. Neither spoke, both reflected.

"Mine were taken, yours left." she first broke the silence.
"Bonding ba 'to nang shared trauma?" he joked, even with his eyes red.

Both shared a chuckled, that moment revealed the things that kept them tied to the past. The conversation was carried out not by the competent doctors that they are, but as children who simply grieve.