Your Light (Tu Luz) [Joel Pimentel]

Chapter 2

Dhianna Gabriel

1 February 2013

I was walking through a dark abyss, surrounded by dark fogs. Few sounds was clear to my hearing but I decided to ignore it as I'm walking through.

The footfalls felt heavy but I was determined to find out who's screaming our for help in the middle of the night. The screaming came once in a while, but when it did, I was left speechless and my feet felt even heavier to walk.

"HELP!" The voice screamed again, now its even closer to me.

My hands were clammy and my heartbeat was going way too fast. Suddenly, a tall figure walked in front of me, with a smirk on his face.

"Dhia...Dhia...DHIA!"

Suddenly my eyes fluttered open, and I realized I was dreaming all the way. My dreams was being interrupted by screams of my name and banging of the door.

I get out of my duvet, and walked towards the doorway, feeling annoyed and still overwhelmed by morning stillness.

I opened the door and without looking at the person standing in front of it, I said, "This better be worth me sacrificing my sleep over."

A sobs escaped the person in front of me, and I looked up only to find a broken looking Mariana, with puffy eyes, tears streaming down her cheek and hairs all over the place. She was also panting hard, as if she'd ran all the way here.

"Dhi..Dhianna." She said before enveloping me into a hug. This hug felt so odd, it's like she was too broken and need this so much, so I hugged her back, with a pat of her back.

"What's wrong, Mari?" I asked, crushed between her strong arms.

"My dad...just died in a car crash." She said, only to cry harder. It's like she's convincing herself that it happened. Her dad is dead.

I gasped while putting my hand over my mouth unable to control my emotions. I finally, cried too. So there we are, crying in front of my doorway, with doors opening, and wind blowing inside the house.

"Come on, let's get you inside." I said, regaining my sanity.

Once she was on my bed, head in hands, I decided to sit in beside her, edging myself closer, while pulling her back into my embrace.

"What happened, Mari?" I asked.

"He..he went to get some flowers for my mum's birthday. She doesn't know about this, but..." She said in between tears.

I breathed, "You don't need to continue, Mariana."

She cried, "...she was crying and wailing and trashing at home, and I'm not strong enough to see all that."

My tears was threatening to fall again, "Oh, Mari, I'm so sorry."

"I..I don't want your sympathy, D, I just want my dad back home. Back in this world." She kicked the air and pumped the duvet.

"I know, Mari. For as long as I've known Emmanuel, he has always been a hero to me. He was there when I was going through grief of my parent's death. It was horrible. But he talked me out of it. He was a hero, Mari. He also died a hero and a devoted husband and father." I said, soothing her sorrow.

"It's funny, in his last few days, he'd talked a lot about adopting you, D. Legally. Now that he managed to do it, without you knowing, he was gone."

I was shocked hearing the news, "What, he did that?"

"He was about to reveal it tomorrow, as you're coming for my mum's birthday party. But..." She looked into thin air. Her eyes held so much pain, it was dull and not shining.

"Oh, Mari..." I hugged her again, finally crying again. While we're both at it, she held my head in her embrace and we stayed like that for many hours, looking into thin air, and reminiscing all the good time, when Emmanuel was still pretty much alive.

"When is the funeral, Mari?" I asked, finally gathering my power of speech as my tears dried.

Mari who just came out of the bathroom, looking limp, looked up at me, "In two days."

"Come on, let me help you write an eulogy. If anything, he deserved you saying good things about him, Mari. He's a good man, I'm too busy hero-worshipping him that I forgot he was a human. He's not immortal." I said.

She hesitated for a while, it's like she doesn't wanna do this because it means saying goodbye to her father, but after a lot of convincing, she finally agreed and we spent the whole night finding the right words to say.