Chapter 14

Chapter 14: I am the watcher and people’s lives are the movies.

Canned tuna, we’re in a canned tuna. Though the smell that lingers isn’t oily, it’s actually refreshing as it is the scent of oranges coming from the pine tree hanging in front of the small air conditioner. Not really paying that much attention to what’s happening or what people are saying, I have my earphones plugged into my phone as it acts as a barrier from hearing the world, only letting songs of any kinds blast in my ear tugging strings of emotions.

I suddenly frown and ask myself, “What?”

Shock waves take over me as her elbow tugs my side, snapping me out of whatever that was. From looking at the busy cars driving beside ours, my head takes a turn to look beside me. Xystal who is sitting beside me pulls out the earphone from my right ear before asking. “You were saying?”

She asks me and I frown harder. “What do you mean?”

Her head moves forward while she gives it a little yet hard shake as if telling me, “Are you serious?” Oh, she just did.

She continues, “You said ‘what?’ you about to say something aren’t you?”

Realization sparks in me, “Oh! That was nothing!” I signal her with a pout to go back playing with Abe and Rust, “Don’t mind it.”

She only shrugs her shoulders at me before she leans back on the seat, picks her phone like a game console, and starts talking to Abe and Rust that are sitting beside her in this minivan. Inside, I have my whole family and my three best friends. We look like we’re having a vacation but the ride we’re having is one of the biggest sources of my heart punching a huge hole inside me.

The four of us are sitting in the back. I am at the window side trying to enjoy this ride I am having by staring at the cars, buildings, and people we drive by. While Rust is at the other end holding his phone near his lap as he plays Minecraft. The other two, Xystal and Abe are currently immersed on their screens.

Suddenly, Rust makes a small commotion between us at the back. He cautions “Oh, oh!”

Despite being sucked into the world of Minecraft, this small commotion brings even Abe and Xystal’s head-turning to Rust. Abe even reaches on Rust’s lap as if he is about to catch something falling. Rust even dropped his phone but that’s not where we’re all focusing our attention, specifically not on Rust but on the ball of fluff he is adjusting on his lap.

The sight of the small ball of sunshine calms the nerves of the punching inside my chest. I reach out to Rust, “Let me.”

He has Zian in his care, he eyes me asking if I am sure.

I nod as a reply and warmly take Zian in my arms like a newborn child. Trying not to wake the puppy, I lay him on my chest for being my son. Even patting him softly just how a mother does it putting their child to the peaceful paradise of sleeping. He is breathing so softly. His body moves up and down, his eyes are shut in ease, his fur smells like baby powder and he just seems so peaceful. Holding him close to me as this makes me in line with the present, sight-seeing through the window than worrying about the upcoming exams. It just makes this short ride, a bit lengthy and promising.

However, the lengthy ride needs to come to an end. Pa stops the minivan a few hops away from the school gate considering the number of cars already lined up and keeps on lining up in front. Despite only needing me and Xystal to step out of the minivan, the once canned tunas now spread themselves in front of its entrance.

After I hand a ball of sunshine blasting its rays now that it is awake to Rust, Ma steps forward and gives me a wrap of warmth. She hugs me and snuggles her nose on my neck before whispering in my ear some words of what she’ll defend, words of encouragement. “Go get ‘em and slap ‘em in the ass, princess.”

My mouth forms in an ‘o’ with the way she talks and the way her hands slither to my bottom and slap it. Taken aback by my own mother’s goofiness, I first slip away from the hug to run behind my Pa who saw everything and is now laughing with what is always a solemn face.

Looking around me, I see a lot of different scenarios most often I refer to movie-like scenarios. Because I am the watcher and people’s lives are the movies I get to watch. Just like what’s already unfolded in front of me. My family and friends. They have their own world in front of them that I don’t get to see first-hand, only they can. The only thing I get to witness is what’s happening within the atmosphere. Then there, I can enter as a character or remain a distance away as a watcher.

Abe, Xystal, and Rust are having their own world right now. Rust who is holding Zian is laughing at the scene of Xystal head locking Abe, and him trying to please his way out of it. They are surely having a conversation filled with teasing as a form of support coming from Abe and Rust is standing there watching but not as a watcher, he is part of the characters. As if he was told to stay still by a director or something.

Now here comes my family in front of me. Pa has his back facing me. Ma, Pa, Kuya, and Mj are all announcing their support on what I am about to face. “Ace it, panget!” “Remember to not push yourself too hard, okay princess?” “Onii-chan can do it!” “Go kick their asses!” All that words of encouragement but I remain behind my Pa. Despite actually being inside their atmosphere, I still feel like a watcher.

More people, more people I see from my perspective. A guy with wavy walnut-colored hair—I can’t vividly extinguish his facial details because he is a few meters away from me. He catches my attention because on how he stands. He is leaning on his left leg, his right leg in front. He has his hands inside his pockets and he is just standing there. Some kind of character, I’ll say.

Another guy, also a few meters away with curly black hair and blue thick glasses is out there hugging a woman. They both pull away from the hug but the woman pats his head and speaks. Her mouth is moving while it is tugged into a comforting smile, a motherly smile. The thought that she is his mother makes my lip form a small smile because I know what it feels like to have a mother who would smile at you like that. Giving every bit of assurance and warmth inside the most wrecking situations this life holds.

Life is surely interesting with how people have their own kind of story that not everyone is aware of. A story that is to be unfolded soon by them personally, by people who’ve been part of it, the ones who have sit at the chairs below the stage, or even the ones the protagonist shared her story with because those people lend him or her their ears.

“Hey!” a familiar and daring voice envelopes my ears despite its coming from afar. My head snaps at my right to see someone wearing man shorts, a Nike plain t-shirt, and sneakers waving and running towards my friends. He fists bump with Rust, playfully slaps Abe’s arm, and smiles at Xystal before his gaze lands on me—who is standing behind my Pa, standing still, in shock, though I already know why Wardon is here. He is here to take the exam, nothing more, and nothing less.

I lowly lift my hand and wave at him with a shy smile. He on the other hand does the complete opposite. He raises his hand above his head and waves like he is a plant dancing along the wind blowing hard. But, despite having my attention to this person, I can still see my friends’ reaction as well as the way their smiles highlights their thoughts.

All of a sudden, the guy that is only a few feet away from me is now closing the distance. He is walking towards me. He has this smile that has made my heart beat a little bit faster day by day, every time I see him. He is getting close not until Miguel towers himself in front of me.

He greets him with a, “Hey!”