AMA-Con: The Compilation

Petrichor

Written by: @CrimsonSky17

Prompt: Childhood Best FriendS 

Prompt by: @yoursassybella9

***

Prologue

Her bed looked as if it was already too small for her, and it gave a squeal of protest as she sat on the edge.

Everything in her room looked exactly like how she left it more than 10 years ago. And yet it's all different.

The ceiling didn't look as high as she remembered, and she can now, finally, reach the top of her door frame, without even having to leave the ground. She's also pretty sure that even with her lithe physique, she wouldn't be able to fit through those window rails like the hundred times she did before whenever she was made to stay in her room by her mother.

She had to chuckle as she recalled, rather vividly, the sound of her mother's voice as she enunciated every syllable of her full name after she realizes that her daughter sneaked out, again.

She ran her fingers along her now dusty side table, and stopped abruptly when they reached a framed photo of two kids, about six or seven, hugging each other, and both missing a couple of front teeth.

RJ.

He was always right there, waiting outside her window to help her down. He would scrape his knees sometimes, kneeling on sharp rocks in the dirt, but he'd just brush it off and let her drag him to where ever that afternoon's hideout would be.

Climbing up those huge mango trees or just sitting under its shade, catching dragonflies resting on the tall grass, flying kites they made from scratch -- she always looked forward to afternoons spent with him.

She especially loved the days when he was able to bring along his older brother's guitar (its ok, as long as we put it back before he gets home, he said). They would spend the whole afternoon leafing thru song books, trying to make sense of all the chords and tabs.

"Meng..." A familiar voice pulled her out from her reverie, but the face didn't quite match the picture in her head. For the first time since she got that phone call, she broke down, and her small room start to crumble around her.

-----

RJ, Bulacan

End of Summer, 2005

It had been unusually hot all week, even with the overcast sky, and whatever wind that did blow felt like it could burn one's skin. They were making their way through fields that used to be filled with crops that grow over their heads, but now it has transformed into a vast open space of cracked dirt and soil.

She was unusually quiet that day but he just let her. He knew her enough not to ask, because if she wanted him to know what she was thinking, he won't need to. So he walked with her, just a half step back, following her stride.

Suddenly, it was as if the sky was cut open. One plump drop after another, the rain poured on them, drenching everything in its path.

He tried to look for the closest tree where they could take cover in. He was about to sprint to one when he was stopped by what he saw.

There she was, standing quite still, with arms wide open and eyes closed, her face directed up to the heavens, and slowly, as the rain's weight pulled her hair back from her face, she started to smile.