GLOOMY DAY

Days flew by after the concert. Three weeks had passed without any noteworthy events taking place in Red's life.

At school, Red evaded every close encounter with Andrew the few days after the concert. She could not meet his eyes nor could she take on his sad glances.

Even if she wasn't looking at him, though, she never missed any update about him. Maureen had constantly supplied her with the details even if she did not ask for it.

"Girl, he's looking at you again with puppy eyes…" She whispered while pouting.

"Hey, Maureen, leave him alone."

Sometimes, she thought if Maureen was playing as Andrew's insider-spy and accomplice whose goal was to convince her to mellow a bit to him.

In those three weeks of stress, she had failed to notice Nana's waning health. It wasn't apparent at first, but as days progressed, Nana became more beaten by fatigue.

Red had told her, again and again, to take it easy, reminded her to take her medicine for hypertension, and even urged Nana to visit the hospital for a check-up.

But Nana always said no.

Red felt so disheartened but she could not drag Nana if she did not want to. What she could do was to pray every night for her Nana to regain good health.

Until one day, when she's all prepped up and about to go to school, her Nana faltered while standing in the kitchen, in the middle of preparing their breakfast.

"Nana, what's wrong?"

Red scurried over to the kitchen near the sink where Nana stood. She appeared like she's going to fall down.

"Are you feeling dizzy, Nana?" She supported Nana by the elbow towards the nearest chair around the dining table. "Sit here first, Nana. I will get you a cold glass of water."

*Clink*

"Here." She seated herself on the adjacent seat around the table.

Nana took a few sips from the glass. "Ahh, thank you so much, Meredith."

Face scrunched with worry, Red suggested, "Should we go to the hospital, Nana? Let's get you checked. I'm really worried."

"I'm probably just tired. I'll rest for a bit." She propped the ball of her hands against the tabletop and attempted to stand up. "I'll lie down for a bit. I'm sure that's all I need."

"I'll help you, Nana." Just like before, she supported her grandmother on the elbows.

Her grandmother almost pushed her away, "Go, go to school, Meredith. I'll be alright soon enough. Go or you'll be late."

"How can I leave you in your condition, Nana?" She's already in the brink of tears.

Tenacious as she was, she still insisted that Red should go to school, in spite of. If Red was nearing tears, Nana who was typically gentle was on the verge of getting furious at Red.

"Meredith!"

"But, Nana!" Her tears fell down against her control.

"Go, go, dear." She smiled at her grandchild sweetly and tenderly. "Don't worry, dear. I will go visit the hospital myself if I think it's more than just pain of the joints. Don't cry. Just go to class."

Against her will, she departed, once in a while looking back to her Nana who lied down on her bed for a while before she exited her room.

Nana nudged her to go on patiently with a sweet reassuring smile on her face.

When Red reached school, she couldn't concentrate on her lessons at all. She kept on sighing and kept on sending Nana some text messages to make sure she's really fine.

Relief flooded from her crown down to her toes whenever her Nana responded to her messages.

Nothing much had changed between her and Andrew. She continued to be elusive. As for him, he did not press too much on her.

At lunch, Red and Maureen shared a table when Andrew passed by with his tray of food. Maureen raised her hand and called, "Hey, Andrew! Our table has empty chairs! Here, here. Sit here!" She pointed at the empty seat beside Red.

Andrew stared hesitatingly at Red. Perhaps he was waiting for her go signal of some sort.

"Did you guys fight?" Maureen inquired, alternately glancing at him and her.

"No." They answered in unison. The synchrony made them stare at each other and tugged a hint of a smile on their lips, which faded too quickly as well.

"Sit there if you want. It's empty." Red nodded on the empty chair.

"Okay." Andrew placed his tray on the table and seated himself. "You look gloomy all day."

"It's Nana. She's been feeling unwell lately."

"Have you gone to the hospital?"

"You know her. She doesn't want to. She said she'll go there herself if she thinks it's more than just pain of the joints."

"I'll tell Mom to check on her." Andrew volunteered.

"Thanks."

Nana and Red were not living a prosperous life. They were just getting by each day by sustaining a minimum lifestyle that Nana's pension could cater to. Red did some online jobs as a virtual assistant on the side to augment her allowance. She couldn't wait to reach eighteen because it meant more job opportunities for her. For the same reason, she wanted to finish school soon and find a job so that she could shoulder the living expenses for them both and Nana could enjoy her pension for herself.

Nana was most probably worried about additional expenses in the form of hospital bills.

In the afternoon, Red hurried to finish her cleaning chores to get home as fast as she could. She's assigned as the day's cleaner so she had to stay behind for a bit longer. It's part of the extracurricular activities. Her school promoted cleaning and gardening as a way for the students to develop their sense of discipline, cleanliness, and responsibility at a young age and incorporate it into their daily lives.

At around half-past five in the afternoon, the bright sky dimmed as pellets of hail rained so suddenly on all the buildings' roofs, and on the heads of a few loitering students on the school grounds. They frantically ran for shelter wherever they could seek.

Before the scurrying students could find cover, the falling of hail stopped as immediately as it arrived.

Confused and bewildered students stopped short and turned their heads in scrutiny of the moody weather.

"It rains and it stops! And it's hail, not rain!"

"Hailstorms are becoming more frequent. Is it the effect of global warming?"

"Who knows? It stopped, so let's move on."

The sudden weather change brought a brief commotion among the students. It died down soon after, though, as public interest dwindled. Higher frequency of unbelievable things happening technically extinguished the mystery that was usually brought with it.

Red, who was in the middle of arranging the chairs in one of the classrooms saw the commotion unfold through the room's clear window. Her lips curved into a huge excited grin. She knew what – and who – would be coming next, especially when the sky shifted into the amazing greenish, purplish, pinkish curtain of lights she once set eyes on a month ago.