A Voyage Towards the Horizon

Epilogue

Char char HAHAHAHA eto totoo nato ;>

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AMALIA

18 years later.....

I'm now standing in front of Marco's tomb. Dito siya sa Lemery inilibing and I visit him only on special occasions dahil sa Manila ako nakadestino.

Once na nga akong naabutan ng mga kamag-anak niya na humahagulgol sa tapat ng kaniyang puntod nung birthday niya last last year. Napagkamalan akong baliw dahil hindi naman nila ako kilala.

But I'm here even though nothing's special for today. Tomorrow is Lolo Riguel's 88th birthday at doon kami mag-oovernight sa Angkla. Nag-uprade na ang kainan na iyon. Hindi na siya restaurant lang, isa na siyang resort at dinadayo pa ng ibang mga taong galing sa ibang mga lugar.

I am a licensed lawyer now. Ang unang kasong hinawakan ko ay ang ambush na nangyari sa pamilya namin 69 years ago.

I wish I could say it was easy. It wasn't, especially that it happened a long time ago at nakalimutan na nga ata ng mga tao but it wasn't hard either. Because if you have a strong reason or purpose, anything in life will not be hard.

I have served justice for them five years ago. I closed the case and I am proud for myself. I know they are too.

That Trillanes guy was the mastermind, Mayor Alejandrino's buddy, running for Vice Governor. Balak niyang kumandidato bilang Gobernador but he knew that he can't win against Dominador Alejandrino kaya nilumpo niya ito.

Kill the fire before it spreads and pluck out the weed before it grows ika nga. Nang malaman niyang may balak kumandito si Mayor Alejandrino bilang Gobernador ay kinaibigan niya ito. He wanted to know his weaknesses at ano pa nga ba? Siyempre, his family.

And just like what Trillanes planned, Mayor Alejandrino forfeited because of what happened to his family and the great Trillanes took over the leadership of their partylist. Akala ko noon natalo si Mayor Alejandrino sa karera niya but he actually backed out.

Hindi man nakulong si Trillanes because he's already dead----alang namang ipaako ko sa mga apo niya ang kasalanan niya?---at least, the people already knew the story behind that fateful day.

Matatahimik na ang kaluluwa ni Lola. Maybe that was the real reason why I was brought to 1969.

To fight for the forgotten tragedy.

"Sabi mo hihintayin mo ako. Sana gawin mo talaga yun." I whispered against Marco's tomb. I brought him fresh white roses. They were the first flowers I accepted from a man----from him---kaya it really became an important flower for me. Nagpatayo nga ako ng garden sa bahay ko sa Manila na puno lang ng white roses kaya namukhang sementeryo ang harap ng bahay ko.

I turned around para umalis na dahil magdadrive pa ako papuntang Angkla. Nauna na sila roon kanina. I just got from Manila at bumisita muna ako sa puntod nila Lola Milagros, Ising at Marco.

Agad akong dumiretso sa kwartong nakalaan para sakin dahil sa pagod and hours later, I was woken up by the noises coming from the living room of this cottage.

Bumungad sa akin ang purong matatandang kaibigan ni Lolo Riguel. I saw Roberta with her girls. Eugenia and Daniella, Leon with his barkada. Parang nagreunion sila rito. It felt like I was back at 1969 again being with them. Sayang at wala si Thelma. I don't know about her whereabouts. My Dad is here too and also Amilo.

We laughed and talked with them. Nakakagaan ng pakiramdam. "Amalia ilang taon ka na iha?" tanong sa akin ni Lola Ysa.

"36 po."