CHAPTER 2 - You Don't See It?

February 21, 2006

Christine was in her preschool years when she started showing signs of change. Today was the first day Nick was able to know clearly what exactly changed her. He was driving down the road along Singalong St. with his youngest sitting on the front passenger seat and his eldest, Mira, sitting at the back. It's almost 6AM in the morning but the bad traffic of Manila just won't let up.

During that time, Little Tintin would sometimes take a peek at the backseat then go back to sitting straight with her eyes on the road. She looked pretty nervous. This school year was nearing its end, he thought. The awkward relationship of the sisters probably made her feel that way. Once vacation starts, she would be left alone with this cold teenage older sister who doesn't share her age group. They didn't even have neighbors of the same age whom she can play with.

"Papa," Tintin called to her father in voice so soft that it was almost like a whisper.

Nick didn't hear it due to the honking of cars in front of his own. It took half a minute before she called "Papa" again, this time, with more conviction and sense of urgency. He faced his little girl her with teary eyes and pouting lips. He almost released a guffaw at the sight. He happily had a thought at that moment.

"My daughter sure is the cutest! She looked just like her mom."

Recalling his deceased wife, Nick felt a bittersweet feeling as he look at his little girl. Contrary to innocent teary eyes of a child wanting to be spoiled by their daddies, she has one pair of jewel-like eyes drenched in hesitation and fear. Maybe, she's conflicted if she should say something or not was what he thought. He was interested to know what was on his child's mind. He straightened himself before looking back at the road where the red light has turned into green.

"Yes, my dear, Papa is listening. What is it?" he replied he in a gentle voice.

From the way he was seated, despite his gentle response, Tintin knew her father was listening seriously and that made her relax a little.

"Papa, if Ate (1) did something bad to me, Mama will surely protect me, right?"

Nick was taken aback by that. Those words were whispered to him so that Mira at the back doesn't hear. Is their relationship really that sour to the point where she suspects her own sister will hurt her? Maybe he should pay more attention to his daughters than work overtime almost every single day. He couldn't help but stared at his little girl. She was wearing a white dress. He remembered today was Ash Wednesday and there will be a Mass held inside their Catholic school.

He placed his hand over her head, rubbing it gently as if reassuring her. He felt the tension in his child slightly disappear though her little hands were almost white due to how tight her fist was. Nick started to worry for these daughters of his. The sudden loss of a mother could be very hard for his little girls to take. Although he got them a maid to personally attend to their needs, he felt more reassured to be the one to watch out for them. So upon sending his children with a kiss and a wave of goodbye by the school gate, he phoned his boss, telling he would only be reporting to work for half a day.

After his office duties were done for the day, he left Makati City in a jiffy. The kids' school was just near the border between Manila and Makati but the traffic could be terrible so he left as early as possible. Since he still got time, he decided to stop by Jolibee (2) to buy Tintin's favorite Kiddie Meal with a toy to complete her collection at home. He knew Mira would be joining them later than her sister so he also thought of buying them snacks to eat while waiting. He didn't forget to give Manang Lucy (3) a call on the home phone to tell her that he will be the one to pick the kids up.

After buying the take-out order from the counter, he went into his car, a Chevrolet Captiva. He had been reflecting the entire drive if he had been doing a good job as a father after his wife passed away in an accident last Christmas. He felt partially responsible for Sandy's passing, perhaps Mira too share the same thought that's why she was cold to him. Meanwhile, Christine was still so young and depended upon him, the only parent left. But she rarely smiled to him since then. They all haven't moved on and they might never be able to. Time heals all wounds, but they will always carry on with the fact that Sandy will no longer be with them.

He made a quick work on driving through the best routes to avoid traffic. Manila sure is harsh to its everyday motorist, and it gets worse by the time. He looked for a good parking spot nearby the gate where a large number of fetchers (4) were crowding it. As this was his first time to personally get the kids from school after classes, he was a bit at loss by the crowding women at the gate. He sure looked overdressed with a suit and tie while the rest of them were wearing casual clothes, some even too casual to be worn outdoors.

"Ay ampogi! Celebrity? Kamukha ni Gabby (5)!" (Wow, so handsome! Is he a celebrity? He looks like Gabby!) One of the women noticed him and began talking in a mix of Bisaya and Tagalog (6) with one of her friends.

"Gi-atay ka man 'day (7). Kay baka may asawa na 'yan…" (Oh shut up, girl. He must be married already…) One who appeared to be the eldest of the group reprimanded the younger ones.

"Ay kagwapo, malaglag na ang panty ko." (Oh so handsome, my panties might start falling.)

"Totoo ka ba, 'day?" (Are you for real, girl?)

And the women started laughing while the eldest was hitting them each with a long umbrella.

"Kaluoy kamo ng Dios, kay haharot nimo!" (May the Lord have mercy on you women, all of you're so naughty!)

As Nick approached the gate, he felt their stares and started to shudder. He might be widowed but his heart is still for Sandy. He could feel the heat spreading through his face, tinting it with red out of embarrassment. The afternoon heat was a good excuse to explain his sudden redness. He couldn't bring himself to show them how embarrassed he was because he knew what they were talking about. The bell rang from inside the school. This is what people call "saved by the bell", he thought to himself.

A crowd of rowdy kids filled the gateway, each finding their respective fetchers on the other side of the gate. A teacher can be heard on the other side trying to make all of them fall in line in an orderly fashion so as not to overlook kids trying to escape the gates without any guardian. Then, one by one, each kid was sent outside after confirming that their fetcher was there. It was very noisy with all the kids shouting, talking amongst each other, playing with each other, and some saying their goodbye to the other kids.

Nick patiently waited until Christine's turn to exit. She's got company holding her hand – a young boy from the same class. Nick wished he could rip that boy's hand off her kid. Good thing, he let her go after she seeing her dad outside the gate and said goodbye to him. Ah, he almost gave the poor kid a frightening stare. "Calm down, Nick… It's just an innocent boy."

They waved at each other and then Christine went off to hug her dad upon arriving in front of him. Trying his best to hold back the curiosity to ask about the boy, he brought little Tintin inside the car and turned on the engine so that the air-conditioner could keep her from the afternoon heat. He took the towel from the bag at the backseat and wiped off her sweat. He was careful not to smear off the cross-shaped ash drawn on her forehead. The intense afternoon heat made him perspire so much that he almost erased his own cross, actually.

After a few minutes, they started to eat their snacks. The girl was curious as to why her dad was here instead of Manang Lucy. She knew how busy her daddy was. Nick started give her a simplified version of the explanation as to why he came to pick the girls up from school. They kept chatting while eating their meals about school until Mira came out of the school gates.

Mira saw the car from outside the gate as she walked towards exit at 4:37PM. Her face was pale, as if she was completely drained of energy. She's currently in her third grade where she's free to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities in school like clubs and other school activities. Nick didn't know any club which Mira was recently part of for her to look so exhausted. After personally picking up his eldest, he brought her into the car while carrying her large school bag filled with books. This is so damn heavy! Maybe this was the reason she looked so dead tired all the time.

His oldest kid just remained seated at the back quietly while staring off into the distance during the entire trip back home. Actually, during the entire trip, the number of times he had small talks with his children was outnumbered by the number of times dead air prevailed between them. It made him sigh. He wished to be sure they were having no health issues whatsoever so he immediately scheduled them to see their pediatrician on Saturday.

It was the least he could do at the moment for them.

At night, he went to visit the girls' room which was left open. He only found Christine there lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling with her eyebrows wrinkled. The door left widely open reminded him of something he kept forgetting to ask because of the fear of getting a creepy answer. So he started off by throwing her an easier question.

"Why do you keep leaving the door open whenever you're inside the room?"

His daughter was silent for 5 seconds still staring at the ceiling. She looked a little hesitant.

"Papa, will stay here with me? I always leave the door open because being alone with the room closed is scary."

His little daughter pouted as she answered back while briefly taking a glimpse of her dad standing at the door before staring back at the ceiling again. It made Nick look into the empty ceiling too. He didn't know his daughter was a claustrophobic. He chuckled at himself before proceeding with his questions in a joking manner.

"Really, my dear? Is that why you would sometimes close the door so loudly while giggling– "

Christine's stern reply almost stopped him from breathing.

"It wasn't me."

He was so nervous that he decided to lie down beside her on bed staring at the same ceiling in his attempts to divert himself from scaring himself. His actions made her look at him in shock. After staring at the ceiling for a second, he stared back at her.

"What are you staring at?" Nick asked his daughter with a gentle smile, only to be taken aback by the next parts of their conversation.

"You don't see it?"

Hearing her ask, Nick made a questioning look as a response.

"The baby… you said you hear her laughing…"

Each sentence of hers was making him wheeze.

"Papa, you don't see it? The baby is crawling on the ceiling," she continued explaining while looking into his eyes, never breaking eye contact. He steadied his heart then continued asking as if nothing's wrong.

"What is it doing there, baby?"

"I don't know, Papa…

"It's just staring at us."

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(1) Ate – A Filipino/Tagalog word used to address an older sister, equivalent to the Japanese "onee-chan", the Korean "unnie/noona" and the Chinese "jie jie"

(2) Jolibee – a Philippine based fast food chain of the same popularity as McDonald's

(3) Manang – A Filipino term used to address older women

(4) Fetchers – a term used mostly in private schools in the Philippines which both pertains to the parent/guardian who's picking up the child from school and the child who's being picked up. Other kids are categorized under "Service Riders" if their parents pay for a service ride (such as a school bus) to pick up kids from their respective residences to school and vice versa upon dismissal. Another category is called "Commuters", which is meant for children who can commute on their own when going to school and going back home. But it's only available upon reaching a certain age allowable for them to independently commute on their own.

(5) Gabby refers here to Gabby Concepcion, a Filipino actor and model known for starring in some of the most popular romance movies and dramas during the 80s.

(6) Bisaya refers to both the people and the language mostly spoken by these people a large ethnic group from Visayas and some parts of Mindanao. Their accent and intonation is different from the Tagalog whose language is spoken by the Filipino citizens residing in the metropolis and some of its other adjacent provinces.

(7) Gi-atay is actually a curse word used by the Bisaya which originated from the idea of a chicken disease that weakens the liver, which is atay in Filipino.