"Have you ever wonder why until now, pinag-aaralan pa rin natin ang Greek Mythology?" I asked my students and clasped my two hands.
"These great men, Aristotle and Sophocles to name a few, were not mere story-tellers; they didn't spend their days weaving tales just because they wanted to, and had nothing to do. Greek Myths aren't just there for nothing. Just like any other stories, these taught us lessons. That is why most of the stories are not written the way you guys want it, to end on a happily-ever-after.
They are not there for entertainment only, but rather for a higher purpose, to teach us what's right and wrong, the way of life, death and many more," I added and looked at them. "I hope you all keep that in mind. Thank you for this semester," I said and bade goodbye to them, as it is our last meeting.
I expected them to gather their things and leave the room immediately but silence kissed our classroom rather and they look at each other, with their eyes talking to each other.
"Oh! Himala! Bakit di pa rin kayo umaalis? On a normal day atat na atat kayong umalis ah," I joked and they give a small laugh.
I looked at the wall clock at the back of the room, we still have 45 minutes left.
"Sir! May utang ka pa sa amin," one of my students said.
"Oo nga, sir! Ang sabi niyo at the end of our semester, you will tell your own love story."
I chuckled. They still remembered what I've told them during our discussion on Greek's greatest love story.
"Sabi mo sir, walang happy ending sa greek myth. Ganun din ba sa'yo, sir?"
I sat on my chair and looked around the room, everyone's eager to hear my story. Our story.
The flashback started.
I was twenty-two on the scene I was seeing. I was twenty-two then, and it was twenty-five years ago.
---
It has been a year. I sat on the bench near their graves and just stared down on their names, written on the marble stones.
Stitches and scars from the accident is still visible on my skin. They were engraved on my skin like a remembrance of that one tragic night when everything were taken from me in an instant.
And there she was. Sitting on the grass with her portable cassette radio, playing that same song on loop.
She might have felt that someone was looking at her when she looked my way and gave me a small smile. I always see her here regularly whenever I visit their graves.
The park is quiet and the only thing that creates a sound is her music.
"I always hear that song whenever you are here. Favorite song mo?" I asked, trying to be friendly as I am, even though the sound is getting on my nerves.
"No," she said and shook her head, "but this is the last song she sang to me before she left," she answered and look back on the marble stone grave, and caress it.
"Feeling ko, everytime I listen to it nandito pa siya. I want to relive the good times," she told me, as if she knew me well enough.
We share the same song, but we don't share the same story. She listens to the music to relive and feel good, but for me, the song brings back that damned sad memory. It was the same song we were listening to when we were on the car. The last song that played when they were still alive.
We were singing the same song in different tunes. We were speaking the same words in different languages. We were something, until we weren't.
"Lea nga pala. You are?"
"Aga," I answered shortly.
"Sinong binibisita mo?" she asked, and before I could answer, I saw her peeking from my back.
"Amanda Muhlach
Ramon Muhlach
Irish Muhlach."
She read the names out loud and she paused. "I--I'm sorry for your loss," she whispered, almost inaudible.
I just smiled back and we were both silent for a moment.
We always see each other there. It seemed like the graveyard was our secret meeting place.
"Uy! Edith Hamilton. Fan ka rin ng Greek Myths?" she asked one day, when she saw the book beside me.
I nodded, and she tried to reach for the book. "What's your favorite story here?" she asked once more. "Mine is Orpheus and Eurydice."
What's good with loving and then leaving after," I asked her as I look at her. She pressed her hands on the book and looked at the blue skies.
"When Eurydice died, Orpheus mourned for her. His true love is now gone, but the power of death was not as strong as the power of his love. He bends the will of Hades, and he goes down into the underworld to get her. The power of love; love is stronger than death itself."
"Sana totoo, 'no? Sana we can bend the rules of death. " She said, her voice full of sorrow.
He looked at her and was somehow mesmerized with her eyes. They speak of sadness, yet they are captivating.
"Would you take the risk?" he asked. "If you have the chance to bend the rules of death, would you take the risk?"
She looked at him straight to his eyes and nod. "Kahit naman ikaw gagawin mo, di ba?"
"Para sa pamilya ko, oo. Ikaw, para kanino? Para sa kanya? You love too much, ano?" she was taken aback with what she heard from him. But then he said something else.
"I hope that won't drag you to the death of your soul the next time."
" What is death if not the ending of all of our sufferings? More people should look forward to it, 'no? " she answered. It was his turn to be taken aback. Then she added, " And also, loving too much ain't a thing. You either love too much, or you don't love, at all. "
And it is at that moment that they begin to realize, they have more similarities than mourning over dead people.
And since all good things come to an end, he was cut short by the ringing of the school bell, a reminder that his students have to be somewhere else.
" Ang daya naman, sir! " they wailed in chorus. He chuckled slightly, and promised that he would continue after their final exams. He was met with replies of " Promise sir, ha? " and " Excited na ako mag-exam! ", which earned laughs from the class.
All good things must come to an end. They were not just good, they were great, but still, they ended.
