CharDawn in Enca

4 MARCH 2039

Lots of friends and relatives came here to celebrate Mama Dawn's 70th birthday. My grandma, Madeleine, would often recall what a festive day it was. This part of the house was filled with music, thunderous and joyous laughter, and overflowing love for the woman of the hour.

Over there!

. . . . .

Mama Dawn was right here, playing the piano and having a real good time, when someone from behind held her in a warm embrace. "Happy birthday, my love," whispered the man whose touch felt like the sun shining in the sky after a hundred years of rain: full of longing, full of thrill to finally be back home.

Upon sensing an electrical spark all over her body, she recognized those arms wrapped around her. And I'm telling you now: they weren't my great-great-granddad's.

"Thank you, Gomz. I'm glad you're here," she said.

So yes, it was Richard Gomez.

Everyone knew they were in love with each other, from the day they met to the day they had their last breath. They were each other's great love and no one ever dared denying that. . . not even my great-great-granddad.

"Nakapagdesisyon ka na ba?" asked Richard.

"Oo, Gomz. Buo na ang desisyon ko."

And they held hands as tight as they possibly could. Although wearing older faces then, the fire between the two never ebbed. To both, they remained the most beautiful among all.

Richard then smiled and whispered once more, "Thank you, Dawn. I love you."

Let's go. Over there!

. . . . .

Then it was time. It was time to see what was meant to be.

The two made way to Mama Dawn's room. Yes, this place. We're standing on the same exact spot. They came here to find an hourglass hidden in one of these closets. It has been said that the two got it from the Caribbean, the so-called most magical place on earth. Etched in the golden hourglass was a hidden message visible to only those it had chosen.

My great-great-grandma and her man, Richard, looked at each other for so long, paused, took deep breaths, and then finally read: To a world where great love shall prevail, take only those whose time has come.

And that was it. That began their journey to the world where their love story could finally be.

They never disappeared physically; but their real souls had gone to another place long before their lives in this mortal world came to an end. This world never knew about their magical escape, for their physical beings remained to live here as if normal like everyone else, like their normal selves people knew them for.

No one knew that from that very moment the two uttered the hidden message, there would be no same Richard and Dawn ever again. They just would never be the same again. No one, until Mama Dawn started appearing in my mother's dream, and now, in mine.

It took many, many years before hunches and stories about that day came out. Someone must have learned about the magical hourglass or noticed something different in Mama Dawn or Richard. But as you know, our clan has always protected the secret. We denied everything, which of course, wasn't very hard because the story itself was and still is almost impossible to believe.

But I, Monica, great-great-granddaughter of Dawn, am telling you this with confidence that you will keep the secret, too. I chose to tell you, for I can sense a certain degree of truthfulness and kindness in you: something that closely resembles that of someone I know - Mama Dawn's.

*****

Yes, in this world, they had passed away. People thought their love story never had a happy ending. People thought that it was plainly a story of mistakes and bad timing. People thought it was forbidden until the end.

But in truth? They are out there, happy and alive, with their souls living in peace in a world where they are meant to be.