Deus Ex Machina: Dusk.

Part 1: Sun. Chapter 2

The sun filtered from a window at the far end of the room; etching a dim yellow color into its surrounding area. From where Feb lay, he saw the needlelike strands of light calmly pierce the rusted iron railings of an empty bunk bed there; the discolored and chipped blue paint of its iron frame was made more contrast against the beige wall by the morning light. He focused his eyes on those spots, making certain that his vision was better now. And they were. He could even faintly see the dust specks hovering aimlessly like tiny insects.

He thought that the place was somewhat familiar, but he wasn’t really sure. He turned from his side with care, and lied on his back again. The mattress springs groaned loudly as he dug his elbows into it and determinedly try to push his body up into a sitting position. The effort took a lot of energy from his system—he was almost gasping for air and a thin spray of sweat broke over his chest. It made the yellow hospital gown he was wearing stick to his skin, feeling a bit nauseous. Finally, he sat up and started to relax his breathing when he heard the lithe shuffling of feet beyond the screen door. The shuffling halted for a few seconds that it was like someone made whoever moved there stop, he heard what seemed to be a hushed conversation in that direction but was unable to make anything from it.

The movement continued after a few seconds and the screen door slowly opened with a long creak.

‘Good morning’    Sophia spoke in a tiny voice, entering the room and facing Feb as she balanced a steaming bowl in one hand and held the door open with the other.

Margaret came in. both nuns had a look of being awake for quite a while.

‘Good morning’    Feb said back awkwardly through his parched lips, remembering that he hasn’t introduced himself the night before.

He openly let his eyes rest on Margaret whom despite the nun’s clothing, he still found strikingly attractive. This bothered him in a way because he’d never seen beautiful nuns before, not especially one as beautiful as Margaret.

‘Uh…’    Sophie muttered, gawking at him.

It was obvious to Feb that she was not used to speaking first. She reminded Feb of a caged bird that had a constantly startled expression.

‘We brought you food’    Margaret interrupted as she returned the stare at Feb.

He saw that her eyes had a tinge of gray in them. Feb swallowed as he tried to come up with a reply. He saw Sophia look up at Margaret with her forehead creased worriedly. Margaret noticed this and said softly:

‘It’s okay Sophia dear, you can go now’

‘B-but’   Sophia stuttered back, it came out like a squeak.

‘No, no, it’s really okay’    Margaret said with a smile while shaking her head.

She took the steaming bowl away from Sophia and nodded to her. Sophia bowed slightly and made her way towards the door with slow tiny steps.

Feb and Margaret stayed eye to eye during all the time it took for Sophia to make the exit, not pulling on the screen door as she went out and it swung freely, staying slightly ajar even as they heard her footsteps echo from some distance. Margaret set the bowl on the empty bed next to Feb and remained standing, she looked calmly at him, the white inner cloth of her hood peeking slightly inches above her thin eyebrows.

‘You’ll have to pardon Sophia, she’s not used to having men around’    she said to him, more like a declaration than an apology. She stared at Feb with a scrutinizing look, like he was an alien specimen she just placed under a microscope. It made Feb conscious of himself, he suddenly wanted a mirror.

‘We never had men stay for long before you came, or rather before we brought you here’

She looked away and shifted her vision to the far wall. Her eyes had the fathomless gleam of someone who was looking at the horizon.

‘We thought you’d never wake up, Sophia and I, we…’   She trailed off.

 Feb did not know what to make of this, and so he decided to keep silent, he noticed the deepened lines on Margaret’s forehead as she frowned.

‘After we found you, we tried to look for your family first and so we asked around for who could you be, where you live, who might be with you, and other things like that’

‘but you found out that I was alone’   Feb answered in his thoughts, turning away and staring blankly into space.

Margaret continued:

‘We found out that your name was February and so we went and asked where you lived, when we got there, that was it, there’s no one. When we asked your neighbors they said that you were alone so we took you in’

Feb turned his blank stare into her again, thinking about the past two months that blew like a swift breeze without him even noticing, that even its most tangible remnants which was the physical pain he now suffered from was starting to go away. The suffering that now accompanied all sensation was slowly being replaced by an encompassing numb.

‘That day, two months ago, there were many people whom were either stranded or who simply floated on their backs on the water, most of us didn’t know if they were alive or dead, but…’    Margaret trailed off again.

‘I guess I was the one who slept too long’    Feb replied flatly, his voice ringing like a tuning fork in the room. Margaret had a look of surprise as she heard Feb spoke, as though she was just talking to herself a while ago and never really expected any answer.

‘No, you were the only one we brought here with us’    Margaret half whispered distantly.

‘We didn’t know why, at first we thought that it must be because there were only two of us back then, but we both knew that our sisters would be returning three days from then from a medical mission in Manila. That was at first but we realized later that we could’ve brought more with us and waited for them to return…’    she paused, tucking back into her hood a stray strand of hair that fell on her face.

‘I- I already knew your name I said before but I felt it wrong to address you with it even before you knew that I already know about it.’

‘Feb’    she spoke his name in a discordant croak, she appeared to be in deep thought.

‘Feb, many things have changed since then, since the waters rose and occupied all the first stories of the buildings and houses everywhere’

‘What do you mean?’ he asked her from puzzlement, never fully comprehending the things that Margaret just told him, he felt as though he just listened to someone’s disorganized train of thoughts that spluttered endless words without really forming sentences.

‘The water never came down Feb’    He heard Margaret say vacantly.

The words hung in the air like a ghost that was completely visible; invading his head like it saw it as an empty home that was wanting of an occupant. Feb did not comprehend this, feeling his legs mindlessly stir from the bed with a shudder, almost hitting Margaret’s side as his feet landed with a slap on the floor. The floor was colder than he expected, the lines on its tiles scraping his soles. He felt Margaret’s hands hold unto his arms as he stood up and wobbly walked towards the window.

‘No’ Feb whispered numbly to himself.

‘No’

He felt a warm tingling pain run like water in his legs with every step; it was disparate from Margaret’s unexpected and suddenly cold fingers. Feb reached the window and gripped its frame with both his hands, smelling the salty wind as it cut across his face like blades.

‘No’