Life is a blank canvas. It's empty. It's just me. There were no colors, no smudges, no traces... nothing, just me in black and white.
My name is Dante Go. I was born in 1995 in Laguna and grew up there. Laguna wasn’t really a Hollywood type of city, but it was the kind of city that anyone would have a nice childhood in; well, I know I had. I spent most of time of my childhood not studying but playing. Yes, I got the worst kind of grades any kid could get. Well, I can’t say I was truly an idiot. I just didn’t pay much attention to my studies. I found playing and making friends or barkada, as we called it here in the Philippines, as something much more valuable. It turns out it wasn’t the best influence on me. I started having failing grades, and I still didn’t care that much. My parents, having only me as their only so-loved offspring, were alarmed. They sent me to summer classes and school training programs. Somehow, it felt like it was still worth trying hard at school. Well, it didn’t really matter that much. I already caught up to my grades, so fuck school!
I grew up though. It turned out every semester in the University I went in, the De Lasalle University, wasn’t as cheap as my high school tuitions, so I had to shape up. At the very least, I had to keep a passing grade of 1.0 on every course so I wouldn’t have to repeat anything. So far, that’s going well. I haven’t failed a course yet, and hopefully, I won’t have to. The rest is just up to God. Whether I fail or pass, as long as I tried my best and left it to God, I don’t care what happens.
Just because I had such a positive outlook doesn’t mean life wasn’t going to be a bitch anymore. The day I started going to college, everything got chilly at home. I was too busy at school. Dad was too busy at work, and mom was too busy with her chores and other concerns. Lately, I’ve noticed a change in my family. I thought it was nothing, but I got too careless. Life was a real A-hole, and I never said I could live with it. I knew I had to do something. Knowing the risks, I just knew I couldn’t just stay put there. I had to do something. I have to save my family and my relationships with other people.
~~~Beginnings~~~
Here we go again. Have you ever heard of the word conyo? Here in the Philippines, it’s like a combination of the English and Filipino languages made to sound even more fabulous than either of the two languages. In our school, a lot of people talk like that, but at the same time, a lot of people hate people who talk like that, so I’ve decided I’d just speak in English. It couldn’t hurt that much. Everyone around speaks English, so why not me? It’s a universal language, and everyone can understand it, so I’m never going conyo.
Anyway, it all started the first few weeks after my second year of college officially began… the beginnings of a hero. It may sound immature and delusional, but I assure you, this story is epic. It started on a Monday when my first class was 7:30 in the morning. That was a stupid move. A guy that’s so not punctual like me takes a class at the earliest possible schedule. Anyway, by 7:25, I was still at the bus stop of Vito Cruz, which is still a jeepney away from the University. I ran out of the bus before it even got to the bus stop because it was barely moving due to the traffic. Mondays can be painful. At the intersections of the bus route and the jeepney roads that head to Taft, there was a lot of traffic that came in the way for my super speed commuting to make it in time for class. Well, I was hoping that I could do it in five minutes, but heck no. So, the first few jeepneys got ahead to the road to school, but I thought I’d wait since the jeepneys were already full and I felt lazy to squeeze myself in the fully loaded seats. So I was contemplating the facts that I actually wasted my two minutes waiting for a vacant jeepney to come by and I was still hoping I could make it in time when I suddenly heard that sound again… the warning sound that the train was coming. Perfect. The train railroad crossings went down and stopped the jeepney flow, making it impossible for me to make it in time unless there was a miracle bird that would fly me to class in less than two minutes.
