One Night

That One Night (April 28, 2015)

The day I lost everything.

I have always said to people that I can handle any problem that comes as long as I still have my energy boosters, my family. I never get that hurt when I suffer from breakups or when someone bashes me. But that day changed everything.

One night changed everything.

One phone call changed everything.

"Insan, Uwi ka na. Si mama mo nasa hospital, nabaril." (couz, please come home, your mom is at the hospital, she was shot.)

Those were the words that directly hit my heart. Then tears just started rolling down from my eyes.

I need to travel 5 hours to reach home. Plus the time waiting for a ride.

Fortunately, I was able to immediately find a ride. With tears I boarded the bus having no idea of what really happened.

On my way home, I was able to calm myself a little thinking that my father will never leave my mom's side.

So, I dialed his number.

But no one answered.

I thought maybe he didn't want me to worry that's why he didn't answer.

That very moment I only had one person in my mind who could do such terrible thing to us. My father's sister-in-law. But since I didn't want to point my fingers at anyone, I shrugged at the thought.

I dialed my mother's number hoping someone would answer. But I failed. Then I tried dialing my brother's number. No one answered. Then I dialed my sister-in-law's number, and I had no response.

I couldn't stop myself from crying, worrying that I might lose my mother. I never imagined that such thing can happen to us since we aren't bad people. We never hurt anyone, my parents' life was dedicated to helping others.

I dialed my grandmother's number hoping I could get a clearer view of what really happened. Another cousin of mine answered the phone and left me a cryptic message before she hung up.

"Hindi ko alam ading, si tita nasa hospital sana makaya niya, si ate mo maya, wala na siya, si Shane hindi mahanap."(I don't know what happened, your mom is at the hospital, let's hope she survives, your ate maya(my Sister-in-law) is gone, and Shane(my niece), we couldn't find her.) she said in between her sob.

I knew what she meant when she said ate Maya is gone but in my mind I was still hoping that that's not what she meant.

To calm my senses, I started scrolling on facebook but at the top of my newsfeed was a post from our neighbor who is at abroad.

"Totoo ba? Namassacre daw yung pamilya nila kuya Alexander Peralta. Patay na daw silang lahat." (Is it true that Alexander Peralta(My father)'s family were massacred? I heard they're all dead now?)

I was stunned, devastated and I didn't want to believe.

I started reading the comments and they were all talking about how an unknown man went to our house and started killing my family.

I started panicking, no one inside the bus could stop me from sobbing.

I lost all the hope I had. But a small part of my mind wants to think that it isn't true, that this is not happening. That later when I get home, they will all be there to surprise me with no particular reason, that I would still be able to say sorry to my brother. That I would still have a chance to express how much I love my parents.

I then again called ate Sheng(Cousin who informed me about my mom in the hospital).

Five rings before she answered the phone.