WRITTEN BY:
MayumiHabagat
16th of July, 2020
Maine watched the sunrise as she sips from the cup of her favorite coffee. She is sitting on her favorite spot on the beach. Everything around her was quiet and peaceful. She could hear the birds chirping and the sound of the waves splashing on the shoreline. Maine glances on a family that was currently on the seashore. The Father was teaching his daughter how to swim. The mother was playing with her daughter, making sand castles. She smiles as she looks at them. They seem to be a wonderful family.
Family. A word that was so unreal for her, five years ago. For some people it is their source of refuge, strength and a beacon of hope. But for her, it was a nightmare. It was a nightmare that haunted her since she was a kid. No matter how hard she tried to understand how it feels like, expecting her to feel the love, warmth, and security, but it looks like a cliché. There were times that she wanted to commit suicide. Because Maine only sees herself, as a useless tool for other people's selfish desires. She sees her life slowly falling apart. There, she was on the edge of the cliff, waiting for her death. But someone came and snatched her out of that perilous side of her life, out from the fires of hell that's waiting to burn her alive. Gradually, things started to change.
//
16th of July, 2015
It was a Thursday night when Maine received a call from her friend, Tricia. She was all alone in the house, since her adoptive parents were out. Maine felt bored and was currently thinking on what to do when she heard her phone rang.
"Ano ka ba, Tricia! I told you many times, okay? I'm not coming. Kulit mo naman e.", she said to her best friend who's on the phone.
"Maine, please. Just this once. It will be great, I promise.", Tricia tells her with enthusiasm.
"Huh? It will be great? Sus, ang boring kaya. Go find someone else to invite."
"Okay, Maine. Hindi na ako makikipag away sa 'yo. But, I'm still hoping that you would come. I already texted you the address. Paki message mo nalang ako if pupunta ka. Okay?"
"Okay, I will. But...I think, I'm not coming..."
"Sige, I'll hang up na. The service was about to start. See you, Maine. Ingat ka. God bless.", Tricia finally said before ending her call.
Her best friend Tricia was trying to invite her to come over to their so called 'party'. Maine came to know her since they were kids. Both of them grew up on the same orphanage. Maine was an only child and her parents were killed by some heartless men when she was still ten years old; Tricia was left by her mother on the gate of the orphanage when she was one month old. They became the best of friends. They were separated from each other when both of them were adopted. Tricia was adopted by a Pastor, and she, on the other hand was adopted by a cold hearted couple who only thought of their business as their main priority. Since then, they never stop communicating with each other. Tricia would tell her stories about God. She would always tell her that the Lord loves her so much. But she couldn't feel or believe what she says.
"Walang Diyos.", she remembered saying those words out of nothing. He doesn't exist at all. Because if he does, her life would not be this way; full of sadness, bitterness, pain, and unending sorrow. He sees God as a punishing God, never loved her the way she should be loved. On the other hand, Maine sees Tricia as a very kind hearted, and patient friend who rescues her every time she'll be in trouble. Tricia would sometimes pick her up when she can't drive anymore because of too much drunkenness, or paying the bail for her when she's locked in jail, because of her foolishness. But, she finds her sometimes weird. There were times that Tricia would pray for her, even in public. During those years, she would invite Maine to come and attend their Youth Reload gatherings during Thursday night's but she would only refuse her invitation.
