The Heart Can See (Completed)

Day 20 - Eye of the Typhoon

A/N: Very raw update, mainit-init pa. Advance apologies for the typos and errors. I will correct them on the way to work. Isusunod ko na rin po ang mga A/N's later.

It's still dark outside. She glanced at her watch. It's now 3am, 3 more hours before daybreak.

How can she unsee everything she has witnessed when every time she closed her eyes, images of the typhoon wreaking damage would invade her thoughts, of people in dire situation asking for help, of children crying, of roofs flying or being twisted by the unrelenting wind as if they're just pieces of paper, of raging water and trees falling as people scuttle for safe haven but there's really none to be found.

Nature really has a way of reminding people how small they are.

These images won't let her sleep so she volunteered to watch over their equipment and things while rest of her team tried to catch some sleep. They were not able to go back to their hotel on the lowland when the typhoon made its landfall so they had to seek refuge in one of the evacuation centers along with hundreds of evacuees.

Maine is now sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall in one of the corner spot on the stage of this covered court. She surveys the span of the hall with the sea of people. There are a number who are awake like her, mostly mothers talking to each other as they try to put their children to sleep against the sound of the generator set powering the lights inside.

Lights, which occasionally would flicker, like the flickering hope of these people of finding their homes intact once everything settle. For now, survival is the name of the game.

Outside, the typhoon continues to rage on as it slowly leaves the province. She had never prayed so much as she did in the past 24 hours.

They have lost contact with the mother studio in Manila sometime late afternoon yesterday. They lost contact with the outside world, period. Even satellite feeds or connections are no longer working. They don't have any choice but to take as much footage as they can that they can send once connectivity is established again.

She took out her phone. It made no use that she tried to save battery power yesterday when she can't even send a single SMS message. Not even one bar or a note of Emergency Calls only. Her phone is now effectively just a camera and notepad.

Nag-aalala na siguro si Ate. Maine scrolled down her inbox, reviewing the messages she received from her yesterday. Halos 12 hours na yung huling usap ko sa kanya. Siguradong alalang-alala na yun ngayon. Puwede bang mental telephathy na lang para i-assure ko siya na buhay pa ko?

There were also messages from sir Jiggy from their base asking about their location. At least they know where they are.

Messages from the rest of the satellite team, people that she's now working with for the first time. They were still able to joke around before the typhoon came and she smiles as she reads their message.

She scrolled some more and came across his last message.

Stay safe.

Alden is at least in the safety of his own home, probably sound asleep. Masarap matulog kapag umuulan or bumabagyo basta alam mong ligtas ang bahay mo.

His message reminded her of her decision to volunteer for this assignment despite the protest of Ate Ann. But she was able to prevail. Mabuti na ring hindi ko siya makita nang ilang araw. While I think of how to treat him after my discovery of his identity.

He will forever be Tisoy now, not Alden the newscaster. Can she separate the two? Can she look at him now while he does his broadcast or sit across the table in front of her and not remember his teenage voice?