Connection

Chapter 2

I didn’t know how resurrection felt like until I regained my consciousness and gasped for air so bad like I was deprived of it for so many years. There’s a mask on my nose supplying me of some clean oxygen and yet I am still panting. I’m alive. And I didn’t know what scares me more— being dead or being alive.

“Thank God you’re awake!” I turned to my left side upon hearing that. The nurse of the school infirmary, Nurse Tin, welcomed me. “We were all ready to send you to the hospital. Are you feeling better?”

I am. Enough for me to remove the oxygen mask and breathe properly without it. I still feel nauseous but definitely better than how I felt before passing out.

“H-How was the fire, Nurse?” I didn’t know how long I was unconscious but I need an update on what happened earlier. I just hope nobody got badly hurt aside from me. I hope Ivan is fine.

“It’s been taken care of so you have nothing to worry about. Wala namang nasaktan bukod sa’yo pero nag-declare na rin ang principal na huwag na ituloy ang mga klase para maasikaso ‘yung damages.”

I can breathe in relief now.

The door of the room where I currently am opened, revealing Miss Salonga. She just gave the nurse a nod before Nurse Tin left us alone here. She locked the door as I tried to sit up.

“Breathe in,” she commanded me so I breathed in. “Breathe out,” and then I exhaled. Not that I don’t know how to deal with my asthma, this is just the routine.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better... I’m fine now, Miss,” I said and reached for the nearby bottle of water to drink the very familiar pill she just handed me.

“I already called your Dad and he will be here any minute now to take you home. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’ll just wait for Daddy,” I said. “Can I know how long I’ve been out?”

“Why would you do that when you know you have an asthma?” Miss Salonga threw me a question instead of answering mine. Her voice is still unyielding.

“I-I ju—”

There was a knock on the door even before I could finish justifying why I did so. She looked at me disappointingly and sighed before opening the door. I could say she was somehow taken aback with whoever was behind the door, but she was quick to recover from that.

“Come in.”

It brought me a different kind of comfort to see the man I’ve been waiting for. My father’s presence has always made me feel safeguarded in a sense that nobody can ever do. He treated my first knee wound and he was there when I got rejected by my crush on third grade.

“Daddy...” I softly uttered like a child again. He didn’t say anything but just hug me the moment he got closer. “Dad, I-I was so scared,” one moment I was fine, and then on the next my voice is already cracking.

“Hush... it’s okay. You’re safe now,” he told me. I assume he already knew what had transpired. “Should I take you to the hospital just to be extra sure?”

“No need. I’m really fine now.”

From my peripheral vision, I could see Miss Salonga looking at us. She might have sensed that I caught her doing so, that’s why she started to open her mouth and say something.

“Uhm... I should excuse myself now. You can already take her home, Mr. Muhlach.”

Dad looked at her and nodded, “Thank you.”

She glanced at me one last time and I chose to have an eye contact with her this time. It would have made me feel better if it was a take-care-of-yourself kind of look— I was hoping for that. But it was just a second of nothingness before she left the room.