Author: @JoStokedo_O
Prompt: Maine goes blind + she wants to publish a book so she hires RJ to be her transcriber
Prompter: @hdrm24
First of all, I would like to thank my AMACon family. Ya'll are a bundle of joy and to this day, I still cannot believe my luck that I was chosen to participate in something so beautiful.
@nocturnalselene- I've said this before and I'll say it again, this all started because you were nice enough to read the beginning of a stranger's story and urged her to keep writing.
@Bankingonkismet - proof of how small the world truly is. Thanks for the coffee dates and conversations.
@hdrm24 I hope I was able to give your prompt justice.
To the readers, I thank you for reading my story. It is both an honor and a privilege to write for you. Special Holla to my funny moms and to my avid readers who then became my friends.
Lastly, @LeyaLaFea, I would not have finished this story without you, my dear writing buddy, confidante, and partner in crime. "Servio tibi" always. This story is for you.
I sat motionless by the shore, enthralled and dazed by the beauty of the Pacific. My hair danced to the warm summer breeze. The white sand felt like powder beneath my feet. I could taste the salt of the sea and the sound of the waves were beckoning for me to take a plunge. I smiled as the sun set, spreading my favorite shade of red through the calm skies and I stretched my hands towards the horizon as if it was within my reach.
I lived a beautiful life, full of adventure and wonder. Every day I woke to an unrelenting desire to go beyond the bounds of my own limitations, beyond what people deemed as conventional, breaking the very definitions of contentment. I hit the ground running at all the moments that awaited to be seized. All the love, the reckless abandon, the joy, and kaleidoscope of emotions that demanded to be felt.
This, right here, was one of those many moments that I wasted away sprawled on the ground, immersed in all that is good in this wreck of a world. I breathed in the salty air and took one last look at the dark blue color of the water and closed my eyes to listen to the calming melodies of the ocean. I heaved in exhaustion as I spent the whole day trekking the mountains to get to where I am now. I laid down on the white beds of the shore not caring about whether I'd get sand all over my hair or my clothes. This was paradise, heaven on earth if you must, and here was where I had always felt perfectly at home.
For a few minutes, I lay there remembering the day I packed my bags merely a couple of weeks ago. My mother furrowed her brows in contempt for the paths I took and choices I made with my life. She and I never really did meet eye to eye, but I have always loved her no matter what. She just didn't understand what it felt like to fly, to swim, to crawl around the earth as if you were one. For the most part of my 21 years of existence, she had always wanted for me to live amongst the zombies in the city, the ones who simply dragged their feet to work and busted their asses to make a decent living. I have much respect for people like them, heck I can only imagine how hard it could be. But it was just never the kind of life I had envisioned for myself. There's just so much to discover about the world and I can't wait to unravel its mysteries even if it took my whole lifetime doing it.
Travelling, writing, getting to know natives, taking photographs, getting tanned, getting bruised and abused from hiking, trying out countless new things and exploits while getting lost in the beauty of it all and being paid to do it at the same time had always been, and always will be, my biggest accomplishment.
Sure, it has its cons, such as my inability to keep a relationship long enough before it all goes to shit, but still, I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life.
"Dei?" my thoughts all of a sudden interrupted by the only familiar voice I wanted to hear.
"Hey Pao."
"What's up? Are you thinking about existential crisis again?"
"Hahaha you know me too well my good friend."
"Gaga. Syempre ako lang naman ang nagiisang lalake sa buhay mo. Tara na, dinner's ready."
"Alright."
Paolo Ballesteros indeed was the one man who has ever been constant in my life. He's been with me through most of my travels and he's the best friend anyone could ever ask for. I'm not sure how I would've been able to live a day without him by my side. We met during our interview for Mabuhay Magazine and he and I hit it off right then and there. He's my ball of sunshine, I'd have fallen madly in love with him, if only he were into girls. I stood up, taking one final glimpse of the setting sun before I heeded his call. He's not one to wait and sit around for me. He's a diva and my "bestfriend for all unintended purposes" like how he'd always say.
