Stay With Me

Hello?

T I S O Y

"Meng?"
"Yeah?"
"Pwede ba kita makausap?"
"Isn't that what we're doing now?"
"H-hindi. Pwede ba kita makausap ng harapan?"

I've heard people say how deafening silence can be. I never really saw any truth behind it until now. I can hear her breathe on the receiver— it's really the only thing that kept me from pulling my phone back to make sure she didn't hang up on.

Not that she would. I think.

I should never had done this.
I should've just let her go.
But I can't.
So now we're here, or at least I'm here.

Stuck in a perpetual state of limbo where ghosts of what I've done nag at all thoughts of what I should've.

"Hello?"

More silence.

"Meng?"

"Fine."