Withering Reality

Chapter 4

Tori opens her eyes with light streaming. She deliberately opens them and quickly realizes that was the end of her dream.

"Ah! Ah! Sandali!" She shouts, frustrated as the sudden turning back to reality caught her too much off-guard. It was the first time she stayed there only for a few hours, let alone not reaching days and it was the time she needed. She wanted to stay.

"Bakit ine? Bababa ka na ba?" The conductor asks, shaking his hand full of folded paper bills. Tori takes a look around. "Hindi pa po. Nagkamali lang."

"Naku, ine! Muntik na akong atakihin sa puso. 'Wag ka naming sumigaw." He reprimands, holding his heart. "Saan ka ba bababa ine? Para naman hindi na kami magulat sakaling bigla kang magsisigaw diyan."

"Sa may Malolos ho ata." Tori replies.

"Naku, pare itigil mo na!" He shouts, quickly stopping the bus driver. "Lagpas ka na talaga ine!"

Tori quickly gathers her things and runs across the bus. "Salamat ho, pasensya na talaga." She murmurs to the conductor as she exits.

"Sakay ka nalang ng jeep diyan, ine. Tanong ka sa mga taga-diyan." The latter says as final words for departing, and Tori finds herself, holding her backpack with one hand, in an unfamiliar place.

Looking around, she finds a terminal for tricycles and deciding not to let her introverted self take over, trudges over them to ask for directions.

"Manong, alam niyo po kaya kung paano pumunta sa Malolos?" She asks quickly, almost as if she's rapping. The drivers looked puzzled for a moment, then they started murmuring. One of them looked up and said, "Saan sa Malolos, ine?"

Tori reaches for her phone, and reads her mother's text out loud. "Casa Oliva?"

"Kay Oliva daw pare!" He shouts, turning towards the more buffy man in the group, who was bald and was sporting a moustache.

"Naku, ine. Malayo-layo na ang Malolos mula dito." The buffy man answers, sighing. "Mula dito sa terminal ng tricycle, maglakad ka ng kaunti doon sa kabila at may jeep na masasakyan papuntang Malolos."

"Siguro nananiginip ka ng gwapo no?" Ano, ine?" The first one who noticed her says, teasingly. "Sino 'yan, ine? Si Paulo Avelino ba 'yan?"

"Ay! Berto!" The buffy man shouts out of excitement. "Grabe iyang lalaking iyan at nung nanuod ako ng sine ay nagsi-tilian ang mga babae sa loob ng sinehan. Pero wala pa atang isang minuto ang paglabas eh!"

"Saan ka ba nanuod, ha pare?" Mang Berto asks, grinning ear to ear.

"Sa pirated DVD!"

Everyone laughs loudly, as if it was the best joke of all time. Meanwhile, Tori stares at them with lost eyes. She's lost and the people she can only rely on were busy enough to crack jokes.

"Teka nga, ine." Mang Berto stops laughing to turn back into teasing her. "Si Paulo Avelino talaga? Ieeee, Heneral Del Pilar."

The others tease her too, turning their manly voices into high-pitched dolphin screams, as they repeat, "Ieee, Heneral Del Pilar."

And so, it was just natural for Tori's face to turn red.

"Naku, naku. Dahil pinasaya mo kami, ihahatid kita sa Oliva." The buffy man says, starting his tricycle. "Sakay na, ine."

"Sasama ako diyan, Tinong!" Mang Berto says, excitedly. Tori rides the sidecar, placing her backpack in front of her while Mang Berto rides behind Mang Tinong, holding onto one of the metal bars holding the roof.

As the tricycle turns back, speeding along the provincial highway, Mang Berto continues to tease her, "Ano bang meron kay Heneral Del Pilar at nagustuhan mo?"