Ink and Prints

Chapter 1: The Moonlit Maiden

I'm drowning in the night despite my light
I'm lonely without the stars by my side
For the void of the abyss fills my heart
And the hollow depths can never be reached

_

I believe that emotions are merely notions to distract society from advancing into an objective and quantitative state of enlightenment. All things that embody emotions are only hindrances to human judgement. The things I think about when I have nothing to do, damn, they really are fascinating. As I gaze into the night, the moon caught my eye, its luminescence is simply serene and beautiful. Maybe I was wrong about emotions, but only to a certain extent, I can accept that some emotions may be beneficial and essential for improvement, fascination, curiosity, and many more. The moon, called Luna and Selena in some literature, so my parents decided to take their fascination for it and crank it up to eleven and they aptly named me Luna Selena. Gee, that sounds a bit redundant.

"Lunie, pasok ka nga dito, may sasabihin ako, dali," my twin brother said. I really hate how he calls me Lunie, but I can't stay mad at him, can I? Well, if my mom went overboard with Luna Selena, I can tell you that they also went overboard with my twin's name, Sol Helios. That's essentially saying Sun Sun, which is a bit too redundant for my taste. I heeded his call and went inside.

"Lunie, midterms na bukas, hindi ba?"

I seem to know where this is going.

"So, nagbar ka na naman? Hel naman, e, masyado ka nang nagpapabaya sa pag-aaral mo, you should be ashamed of yourself, nagreview ka na ba, ha? Nagreview ka na? Nako, Sol Helios Del Pilar, sinasabi ko sa'yo, kapag naging tres na naman GWA mo, 'yang alaga mo ang iti-three inches ko, sumosobra ka na," I said furiously, honestly, nakakainis na talaga itong kambal kong ito, I work my ass off everyday in order to succeed tapos wala siyang gagawin kung hindi magbar?

"So sinisilipan ako ng kambal ko? Ew, that's pretty creepy, Lunie. Anyways, yeah, nagbar ako, but on the way out, I saw you with your friend, ano ba name kasi niya? Nakalimutan ko, e. I saw you going out from the theatre though, so does it seem that my bitchy twin is finally joining society in feeling emotions?"

That's not the point here, Sol, what were we even talking about to begin with?

"It's rare to see you going out before midterms, Lunie, what got you interested?"

I don't even wanna talk about this so I went up to my room to clear my cluttered mind. The room was chilly because of the night's wind. My dimwitted brother simply followed me there. I really wanna shun him out, he is kinda bothering me to talk.

"Hoy, sagutin mo ako," he said. I sharply looked at him, but he just smiled at me. My twin brother is really testing my patience everyday, well we spent our 18 years together, add some few months with me sharing the womb with him, so I can actually tolerate him despite his annoying tendencies.

"Nanood ako ng play, Hel," I answered him, his face was actually a bit confused, knowing that my actions were out of my character.

"Wait, wait, wait, so sinasabi mo sa aking nanood ng theatre play si Luna Selena Del Pilar, 'yung babaeng araw-araw na lang puro 'logic is all that matters, everything else is irrelevant.' Ang weird mo rin minsan," he ranted while mimicking my mannerisms as if he's mocking me.

"Pinilit lang ako ni Carmela," I said furiously, my patience has its limits, I can't keep this act up with him, there are times na sumosobra talaga siya. Might as well be over with it.

"So anong balak mo niyan, Lunie?"

"Umalis ka na nga, Hel, magbabasa na lang ako," I said to him while I slammed the door. I really need to read, bukas na nga ang midterms and I spent my afternoon watching that play. I really need to catch up.