The Writer and The Photographer: Passion

Chapter 2: Way back

Details assaulted her as they walked out through the hotel lobby but none as hard as the fact that she was back in Philippines. Back in the small seaside town of Manila, Phils. A place to which she had once vowed never to return.

But here she was, stepping into a taxi that would drive them to the Community College, a place where most of the misery she remembered had occurred.

Bea was Fil-Spanish and had always been proud of the fact but when she was 13 years old recession had forced her parents' home to Philippines. What Bea now knew to be culture shock had hit hard and had lasted longer than most people think it could.

Suddenly the familiar world of Junior High School, her friends, her teachers, even the syllabus were gone, replaced by a strange, unfriendly nightmare. Where her school had once been a large modern building with clean, wide hallways now it was several buildings scattered around with many of the buildings in need of repair.

The teasing had started almost immediately and had lasted until she left school at 18. One of the worst episodes had stayed with her, feeding a sense of determination and stubbornness. She had been with her English class waiting for the teacher to arrive when two girls began to fire jabs at her. As usual, Bea had ignored them but that day it had been the wrong way to react. Slowly, one by one most of the other kids had joined in the 'game' throwing insults, threats and hatred.

None of Bea's friends had done or said anything in her defence, leaving Bea to stand there alone. She had not cried. Nor had she shied away when, in frustration, the bullies threatened to become physical. Secretly she had wished one of them would hit her, to give her a valid reason to vent her anger and pain. But they never did.

They had come close, but they had never crossed the line into physical abuse. The verbal assaults had never stopped though. Not until she left school.

Bea was not a victim. She had been bullied but she had survived it. She had been stronger than any of the others kids because she could stand alone and not crack. That knowledge of being stronger, of being different had only fed her determination to prove that she could be a writer and make it in the literary world. Not even Bea herself could have predicted her success.

"You doing okay, baby?" Louisse asked, reaching for and squeezing her hand.

"Yeah, I am. Just remembering." Outside the taxi, a world trapped in a timeless void drifted by. Some things had grown larger, a few buildings had been replaced but mostly everything looked just as it had when she had left four years previously. "It all looks the same," she thought aloud. "All of it."

"Just remember that you aren't that outcast kid anymore," Louisse whispered, leaning in to catch Bea lips in a warm kiss.

"What was that for?" Bea asked, smiling in happy confusion.

"Do I need a reason?" Louisse replied.

Leaning in for another kiss, Bea shook her head. "Never." The taxi bouncing over a speed bump caused the women to look outside and for a brief second, Bea felt her blood run cold. "We're here," she said, watching the stone pillars of the front gate slip passed. She shuddered and closed her eyes at a wave of nausea.