A Short Story: The Cure

(Published Version)
Sun Star Davao |  Sunday, September 20th, 2009

All her life, Caridee had been brought up inside the huge walls of their garden. Her father never took care of her; he hired nurses and servants to look after Caridee and yet he never let these servants have conversations with his child. He never allowed Caridee to play beyond the walls of their garden; in fact, she never had the chance to see what kind of life existed beyond that wall. He never showed love and care for his only child. He spent all his time in the basement, immersed in woodcraft.

Caridee’s father said that her mother died in childbirth. The flowers inside the garden were the only friends that Caridee had. She felt alone inside the walls of their garden.

One sunny afternoon, Caridee was in the garden playing alone when suddenly, she heard a crash near the fountain. It was an angel. Its grey wings radiated feathers with tiny crystals on their edges; the crystals seem to be the reason why the angel seems to glow, despite the lack of majesty in the color of its wings. Filled with wonder, Caridee approached the angel.

She walked towards the angel and reached out.

“You’ve touched my wings,” the angel said. “Do you know what that means?”

“No. Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all, child; but now it means that you have to help me.”

“But I am only a child. I cannot do much,” protested Caridee.

“I understand. I need you to help me find the cure for my wings. My master told me that the cure for my dying wings can only be found in your world,” replied the angel. “I am afraid that one day my master will no longer want my service when he sees that an angel with no wings is useless.”

“I don’t think I can help you, as much as I want to. You see I am not allowed to go outside the walls of this garden. My father is afraid that the outside world will be too much for me to handle,” Caridee explained.

“All right then,” the angel sighed. “But you have to understand that I can no longer last for more than a day, I badly need your help.”

Caridee was overcome with fear for her newfound friend.

“I will try, but I need you to help me climb the walls of our gardens. We’ll wait after my father locks all the doors of the house,” whispered Caridee. “Only after that can we leave.”

At night, Caridee and the angel managed to climb the walls of her father’s garden. Caridee was amazed with all the things that she saw beyond the walls of their gardens. She saw many street lamps, children who rode bicycles and with their mothers running after them.

“I never thought how beautiful it is, to be free,” said Caridee while grasping the hand of the angel. “And to be able to share it with a friend.”

The angel glittered after feeling the touch of the blissful child but they did not waste time and began searching for the cure for his wings which is starting to shed off. The tiny crystals on the edges of its wings had almost gone. The color of the wings was slowly fading away. Caridee was deeply agitated at this sight. A tear fell on her cheek.

“Don’t worry my child. I may not have known you for so long but I want you to remember that whatever happens I will always think of you. You did all you could to help me, and I’ll always be thankful for that,” said the angel while wiping the tears away. “You are my friend.”

Caridee felt very hopeless since they had already spent five hours looking for the cure. She was about to give up all hope when she looked around and saw a beautiful flower at the other end of the road. She hurried ran to the flower, thinking that this could be the cure for her friend’s dying wings. The angel ran after Caridee for he saw that there was a bus swiftly approaching.

“Caridee, wait for me! Please stop! Please!” called the angel.

But Caridee, so eager to get to the flower on the other side of the road, didn’t hear.

The angel felt on his knees and placed Caridee’s motionless body on his lap. He kissed the child’s forehead and cried.

“Did you know that this is going to happen?!” shouted the angel towards the sky. “She was just a child! I should have known, you fooled me.”

There was a flash of light in the sky. Heavy rain began to pour. The angel, still holding on to the motionless body of Caridee, held his face towards the sky and felt the rain touch his face.

“I’ll bring you home my child,” whispered the angel to Caridee.

The angel stood up and did not dare to look behind him but he felt power return. He stretched his white wings with the radiating feathers and the tiny crystals on their edges; the crystals made the angel glow.

Caridee’s father enjoyed the heavy rain with a glass of wine. He was staring out the window when he saw this magnificent creature ascending. He squinted to see better, and was dumbfounded when he saw Caridee being carried towards to sky by this glowing angel.

“My child,” whispered her father. A tear rolled down his cheek. “Haven’t I protected you enough?”

With special thanks to our Literature professor, Mr. Dominique Gerald Cimafranca, for helping me get my short story published on the local newspaper.

Dagmay 

Literary Journal of the Davao Writers Guild

http://dagmay.kom.ph/2009/09/20/the-cure/

Time Machine

Well, it had been 16 years since I have last seen my mother. And the thought of not having her in our lives still lingers.

I would still think of the wonderful times we spent together. I love talking to her. Having her is incomparable to many other things I have now in my life. It felt like she was always interested to everything I say, whether it was all about the “watusi”, or the new structure I was able to build with my legos – things like that. Things that most matter to me as a child. Well, maybe it was all because I am her daughter. Maybe this is the reason why all that matters to me, are as important to her.

I look up to her. She was the best person in the world. Sometimes, I wonder what would be life with her by now, if she happens to be alive. Would she be still interested on the things that matter to me now?

I could even remember the time, 2 months after she passed away, when I was beginning to feel abandoned. I did not cry at the time when the news of her death was brought to us, it was only my sister who was crying at that particular time. I found no reason to cry. I lived on her promise.

My mother, after her surgery, usually cannot sleep immediately at night. I sleep beside her, even before she got sick. As the days passed, after she was diagnosed with brain cancer, she found it hard to fall asleep; it may be due to dozens of medicines she was taking. I remembered how paranoid I was, even as young as I was back then. I would try my best not to fall asleep because from time to time I would hug her and feel her heart beat. I would check for her breath every now and then. I am so afraid that she might just die in her sleep – I am so afraid of losing her.

I remembered one night when we just talked. We talked about anything under the heat of the sun. I told her every little thing I had in mind and she just listened and gave comments from time to time. Then, I do not know how I arrived at that particular question; it just popped immediately in my head - I asked her how she felt when she first saw me.

The reaction she gave me is still fresh in my mind, even up to now. She paused after I asked her that question. Then unnoticeably, a tear fell from her eyes. She said that the moment she laid her eyes on me, she felt so blessed and so happy. She told me that what she felt can never be described in words, but she tried her best to explain in a way that I, as a young child, would understand. She told me that after seeing me for the very first time, she felt all the love one can imagine. She said that I was the best thing that ever happened to her. She then ceased narrating her feelings, and just continued crying. At that moment, I was puzzled.

After a moment of silence, she then told me how afraid she was. She told me that she was not afraid of death at all, she was afraid of not being with us. She was afraid that we would eventually forget her and the times we spent together. At that time, I did not understand what she meant. Then as the years passed, I began to understand what she told me. I and my sister had been the best thing that ever happened to her, and she had given us with so much love. And it isn’t dying that feared her; it is the thought of not being with us.

I realized how much she loves me and my sister. And that love had made us strong and mature. Her love was enough to make her children grow wonderfully, as what she had planned it to be. I realized how great her love was that even with her absence she was able to make us grow uprightly and become better persons.

If there is one thing I want to happen, it would be to go back at the moment when she told me how afraid she was of not being with us. I would want to hug her and tell her that she shouldn’t be afraid because her great love for us was enough to make us feel that she had never left us. Her love and our memories together would always and forever be locked deep within our hearts. We love you Mommy!

The Four of Us

A few days from now, we will be celebrating your birthday. Kamil and I are planning to get you a yellow dress since yellow is your favorite color. Daddy will go home early from the office and prepare his own surprise for you, a huge bouquet of white roses.

At 5pm, the three of us – Me, Daddy and Kamil will be waiting for you at home. At 5:30pm, we will hear the sound of the two bells dangling from your keychain as you turn the doorknob open. You find your way in and turn on the lights. Then a tear falls from your eyes. You are overwhelmed to see the three of us happily smiling and singing our own version of the Happy Birthday Song for you. You’ll come closer to us, the four of us holding on to each other tightly, the four of us TOGETHER.

That is how your 50th birthday ought to be celebrated, the four of us together, inseparable, filled with so much joy and so much love. But He took you away from us when you were 37.

I know that day will come when I can feel your loving arms once again, when I can stare at your gentle eyes and get lost as you whisper my name and tell me how much I mean to you.

I just want to let you know that you were never forgotten. You will always and forever be in our hearts. I miss you. Happy Birthday Mommy!

Blank Spaces

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

At first, I thought I was just lost and so I was trying to find my way but I ended up walking along the path of doubt and uncertainty.

At first, I thought I was in search of something to fill in the blank spaces in my life. In the long run, I ended up hurting the one whom, in the first place, I was trying to protect.

At first, I was filled with doubts for I do not know what is it that I am really looking for. But the times we spent together made me realize one thing. That I wasn't really looking for something. I was longing for someone.

I was longing for someone who will be there whenever the sun doesn't show,
someone who will tuck me in the night especially when it's cold outside,
someone who will understand my weaknesses and appreciate my strengths,
someone who will laugh at my silly jokes even if it isn't funny at all,
someone who will stay by my side when there's a thousand other better places to be,
someone who will not mind being with me despite what others might think,
someone who will trust me though everyone around do not agree,
someone who will take me as I am, for who I am, and for what I may become.

And time had made me realized that I was wrong for believing that there is still something lacking in my life. Time had taught me that the blank spaces I was trying to fill, had long been filled in – the moment you let me love you.

Farewell

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

And now, that is the only thing I can do – to reminisce about those times when we were together, your laugh echoes in my mind, your smile as the last beautiful thing I’ve seen since we left Zamboanga City. I am glad that we were able to be with you and Tito Nap after 10 years of being apart, and happier that at least somehow we were able to show you how much we love you.

I can still recall those nights when we were still young, and you would bring us near the seashore and allow us to play as much as we want. You made us feel free since no one else was as lax and loose as you are. You did not scold us when we stumble and get hurt you just simply tell us that it’s alright to get hurt. You did not tell us what to do and what not to do. I won’t forget those times when you would sleep beside us and let us play with your right arm, which you would sometimes use to get us to sleep (since you know that we get scared at times with your “snake” arm).

And we spent our vacation in Zamboanga last year; you were the one who fetch me from the port. When we were about to go back, you brought me and Kamil back to the pier, and didn’t leave until the ferry left. It hurts whenever I remember that exact moment, leaving Zamboanga – leaving the people we love.

You taught us how to live life to the fullest, to think of our every experience as an opportunity to grow up. You taught us how to live life in simplicity and to love unconditionally. And those lessons will never be forgotten along with the memories we had together. We love you so much Tito Nonoy!

Wherever you are, I know that you are happier – to be with the One who gave you to us, along with Lolo Johnny, Lola Gloria, Tito Gener and Mommy. Please send our love to heaven.