The way I was

1. Where is home?

Being in the city and watching how people interact with each other makes me feel estranged. I feel like I'm an alien who came to Earth with nothing but my body. I feel like a puzzle that doesn't belong to the group. I feel different.

I have no life left for me in this city.

I have been in this place for almost a month. I'm hiding myself, I'm trying to get used to the life here again. The noise, the lights, the pollution, everything here screams innovation and fast life. Unlike the life I have back in that island...

I've been roaming around the city, trying to familiarize myself again. It's been a long time. Ten years is a really long time and that span of time decreased my knowledge about civilization or being civilized.

I spent most of my time stalking my family - my twin sister, my parents, my other siblings and my grandfather.

My grandfather is Sancho Angelo Cruise Consunji. He is known in the business industry as the devil in the corporate suit an even though he's old, he's still the same ruthless business man the country knows. He gets what he wants and he's not even afraid of telling other people about it. He acts like he's the King, he acts like he owns everything in the country...

My grandfather...

That day, I have decided to finally talk to him. Naisip ko na tama na ang pagtatago ko. Kailangan ko nang harapin ang isa sa kanila para naman matapos na ang pagtatago ko.

I have made up my mind. I'm coming back to the family I left almost ten years ago. A decade is enough... I sighed. And I'm also doing this for her. If this is what it takes for me to have her back, I'm doing this. I sighed again.

Isang linggo ko nang minamanmanan si Lolo Tatay. Pinag-aralan ko ang mga routine niya at nang masiguro kong hindi naman nababago ang galaw niya ay nagdesisyon akong magpunta sa kanya. I followed him to the cemetery. I was taking my moment as he went inside the family Mausoleum. I stood beside his car and stared at him from afar. Nagsimula na akong maglakad papasok. Nakakaramdam ako ng kaba but I stopped walking when I saw Artemis and Piedro Plata getting out of the car. Pumasok sila sa loob noon at nagtagal sila. I was waiting for them, until twenty minutes later, the three of them got out. Hawak ni Artemis ang kamay ni Lolo Tatay habang masaya silang nagkekwentuhan.

Napatatda si Artemis nang makita ako. Humigpit ang hawak niya sa braso ni Lolo at saka huminto. Lolo Tatay looked at me with his eyes wide.

"Am I dreaming? Sinusundo na ba ako?" He acted as if he was whispering pero halata naman sa mukha niya ang pagkabigla. "Nakikita mob a siya Artemis?"

"Lolo, hindi po kayo nananaginip. Buhay po si Hyron." Mahinang wika ni Artemis.

"How could that be?"

I swallowed. Kanina habang papunta ako dito ay alam ko kung anong sasabihin ko. Praktisado ako. Alam ko ang sagot sa mga posibleng itanong niya sa akin ngunit ngayon habang nakatingin ako sa kanya ay hindi ko alam kung anong sasabihin o gagawin ko.

I walked to him. Kinuha ko ang kamay niya para magmano pagkatapos ay inagaw ko kay Artemis ang pag-alalay sa kanya. Dahan-dahan kong hinatak si Lolo Tatay papasok muli sa loob ng museleyo at nang naroon na kami at dahan-dahan ko siyang iniupo. I stood before him.

He was just sitting there, calm as he could ever be. He's holding his cane while staring at me.

"Grandpa..." I called him. He shhhhed me.

"I'm thinking about it." He said. "Are you really Hyron Demitri or you're just Helios Demitri from twenty years ago? Did you come back here to warn me about your future son who's going to rise back from the dead?" He's being sarcastic. I took a deep breath.