A New Beginning

Monday, 10 May 2021

I've always thought of The Pilgrim as a small town. But when Justin and I walked around, it took more than a day to check every street for any vacant apartment. With my bike parked in his place, we searched the entire town during the weekends. The long tidy streets of my town felt like an endless walk. Every vacant apartment put my hopes up, but the minute I entered the place, I would instantly feel uncomfortable either because of the color of the room, the structure, or the bathroom area, which became my decision basis, so I ended up not having any favorable response to any of the apartments that we inspected.

In walking around, I realized that if I were a drone and would look down at the entire town, it would be shaped like a crucifix. Imagine a humongous diamond shape with all the edges extended. To describe it using cardinal directions, the north, west, and east parts of the town have the same length, while south has twice its length. All the edges of that diamond that are extended to a certain distance served as The Pilgrim streets: Azure Street (North), Indigo Street (South), Crimson Street (West), and Amaranth Street (East).

Justin's place and my family's place are on the opposite sides. His place is the second house situated on the right side of Crimson Street, which is near the convenience store. The convenience store is the first business establishment on the left when you exit Crimson Street. My family and I are on the second house, situated on the right side of Amaranth Street. Most of the town's business establishments other than the convenience store such as the mall, café, cinema, supermarket, handicraft factory, my family's bookstore, as well as the small restaurants, all form a diamond because they are situated on the side areas outside of each street. My family's bookstore is the first establishment on the left side once you exit Indigo Street. There's a horse carriage or 'kalesa' on each street entrance, so that anyone going outside could easily ride it if they're going somewhere far, though most people just walk because if there's one thing that's really convenient about the Pilgrim Town, it would be its accessibility to the community's commercial establishments.

I think I'm seeing The Pilgrim Town for the first time because I never really had to explore it before. But now that I did, I am suddenly recognizing some things that I never thought about before. I don't know why I never thought about them before, considering that I've lived here all my life, but now, I realized that all the street names are derived from shades of blue and red colors. I also realized that when you combine blue and red, they would produce a purple color, so that reminded me of the Purple Sea. I guess, I'm probably thinking about these things because I've grown fond of my mystical experience in the Underworld. Despite the short duration of my stay there, I kind of miss it.

Fortunately, my strenuous apartment hunting with Justin came to an end during the weekend, because I found the perfect place. It turned out that there's a new apartment building in Indigo Street. It's a three-story building on the left side called The Pilgrim Residence, the second establishment from the street's entrance. I can't believe I hadn't noticed it before when I would always pass by it on my way to the church.

The town's church, school, and hospital, are all located in Indigo Street. The biggest homes of the rich ones are also located there, so I never thought that there would be an apartment building right near the entrance. I guess I never looked at it before when I was riding my bike. Walking made a lot of things more visible because of the slower pace.

Justin and I stopped our strides the minute we saw the new apartment building. When we went inside to inquire and take a look around, Justin bumped into one of his schoolmates from his elementary years. He introduced him as Gerald and we shook hands even if I didn't want to. For some reason, I didn't like him because he has this arrogant aura that I hate the most in people. I hated the way he spoke.

Justin explained that he's a Filipino-American, and that his family migrated to the United States after finishing his elementary years in school. Gerald said that he left the states for good, and decided to come back here just a week ago. When Justin asked what brought him back to the Pilgrim town, he said in a haughty tone, "I like this town better than anywhere else. I had this apartment building built while I was in the states, then came back to run it." My eyes rolled and I instantly wanted to get out of the building upon realizing that he was the owner, but then Justin told him that I needed an apartment, so I couldn't back out when he invited us to check the fully-furnished studio type rooms on each floor. At first, I wasn't interested because I didn't like the idea of bumping into Gerald more often, knowing that he owns the place. But then, when we went inside unit 203, I completely fell in love with it.

My eyes glowed as I meticulously looked around in amazement. I loved the blush paint interior, the polished tile flooring, the full glass windows that enhanced the unit, the window-type air conditioning, the chocolate brown wooden queen size bed with a headboard, the rectangular framed mirror mounted above the headboard, the small dark wood bedside table perched with a table lamp, the silver refrigerator beside it with a black microwave oven on top, the single-walled granite kitchen counter cabinet with electric cook-top above it, and the mounted cup boards above the kitchen counter. Facing the bed and the windows was a long fabric sofa with one end close to the kitchen counter. There was a beige-colored two-panel wardrobe cabinet across the bed at the corner by the window, a two-seater dining table with chairs near the wardrobe cabinet, and the perfect bathroom for a bachelor like me. All these great pieces of new beginning screamed for my attention. 'THIS IS THE ONE!'

Without further ado, I told Gerald that I'll take the apartment. Even if I didn't want to see his face again, I couldn't let that hinder an opportunity to live in a perfect studio type apartment like that. It was the best amongst every single apartment that Justin and I have ever seen.

Justin and I went out for a while to withdraw money from the ATM downtown, then immediately headed back to give the two months advance and deposit to Gerald's assistant. I felt glad that I didn't have to transact with him further and instead, Justin and I were greeted at the entrance by his girl assistant the minute we came back. She gave back half of the money I handed over, saying that Gerald gave me a 50% discount because I'm his very first tenant. I couldn't quite pinpoint whether I'd be happy about that or not, but I just nodded then read and signed the papers she gave me and voila, I finally have my own place!

After giving Papa the good news, I spent the rest of the day with my siblings. We just mostly fooled around by re-enacting some iconic Demon Slayer moments. During dinner time, I explained that I'd always be available for them any time they need my help, and would even come by if they simply miss me. Marie didn't look sad about it and in fact, she was too excited to occupy my room. I gave it to her because she needed her own room and I promised to help her rearrange it. Hailey and Robin looked confused and sad at first, but eventually accepted my farewell when I told them that they could have all my figurine toys. Only Marie and I share the same interest in reading, so she was ecstatic to know that I'd be leaving all my books to her. She was particularly happy about my Harry Potter series.

Though I love my books, I didn't want to bombard my new place with all the books that I've read. I never read a book twice because there are way too many beautiful books to read, so I intend to buy new books once I'm all settled at my new place. There wouldn't be too much things to do because the place is fully furnished, so I just needed to pack all my clothes, shoes, caps, and some other personal stuff. That was it. I was determined to have a new beginning at The Pilgrim Residence as an independent bachelor.