CHAPTER 2: THE NEW LIFE

My dad and I started packing our things. I only have three bags and he got one. I already sell my stuff online to have money because I am zero right now. My watches, rings, clothes, my two laptops and even the cellphones that I have are already gone. We moved to the slum area somewhere in Manila. Where the rent is cheap but the apartment was not in a good condition. It was made of a low material with only one toilet, one bedroom, and a mini living room with a mini sink beside it. I think that is a kitchen. That’s it. No table and chairs or anything. Once you open the door between the two mini windows. It will go directly to the toilet but that is fine instead of nothing. I don’t want to sleep on the street anyway and I don’t want my dad to sleep on the street too. He is too cold for that. He might not take the cold and the pollution. I looked at the ceiling to check if there was any leak but good thing there Was none. There’s water two at the sink and inside the toilet. The drain is not clogged and there are four sockets and four-light bulb sockets, one is outside the house and there is one bright light in the living room. Enough to light the whole apartment since the apartment is small. PERFECT! I will start my new life here with my dad since I don’t have a choice now.

“This is the only apartment for rent left,” The landlady said and she looked at me waiting for my reply.

“Don’t worry it’s safe here… I am locking the gate at night and my husband is a barangay chairman here, so no one dares to mess us up” She said, trying to convince me to rent the tiny apartment.

“Okay, I will take this,” I said and she smile at me and said, “You need to pay one month deposit and two months advance, all in all, it would be P7,500”

“I will give you the payment later, I will just sort my things out,” I said and she nodded.

“Okay, I am just next door if you need me, we are neighbors,” She said and left. 

I am renting the second apartment on the second floor. I don’t know how many tenets were renting right now but I know I need to do a big adjustment in my life. I looked at the three bags that I have and started sorting my things. The good thing is there’s a mini cabinet that was left by the previous renter. I put our bags there and I took a blanket and put it on the floor in the mini bedroom so that my dad can rest and sleep. I know the floor is cold but I have nothing to do about it because we don’t have a bed. My money is not enough to buy a new bed for us and I didn’t even know where to get money or how to start my new life. I am planning to put up a small business with the money that I have now and start to find a new job. I don’t know where to find a job. I have a cell phone but I don’t have internet service to browse online. Maybe tomorrow I will start walking around to familiarize myself with the place, maybe I can find a job by walking around. I took my wallet inside my bag to pay the rent. I count what I got. I know my money is not enough to survive us for the whole year, but I don’t have a choice but to pay the rent or else my dad and I will sleep on the street.

“I will just go to the landlady and pay the rent,” I said to daddy. He didn’t answer but he smiled and nodded.

I went out and closed the door and went to the landlady who is living next door. I think it is only ten steps away from my apartment. I knocked on the door and she immediately opened it. I know she is waiting for my payment because she smiles when she sees me.

“Here’s my advance payment and my deposit,” I said and handed her the money that I am holding.

“Wait,” She said and she immediately took the old notebook and black ballpen. She wrote my name and date then she received the money before she wrote the word ‘paid’ and then she let me sign it.

“Thank you, I hope you enjoy your stay in our place,” She said with a smile. The landlady is an old woman. I guess she is already seventy-eight years old. She looks nice and kind. Living a simple life with her husband and her cats. Her house is the same as ours, the difference is they have a second floor. I guess it’s their bedroom.

“May I know where the nearest store is?” I asked her and she immediately answered me and pointed out where the store was.

“Thank you,” I said and she smiled at me. She went inside and closed her door while I went outside the compound and went to the store that she pointed to.

The place is messy. There’s a lot of people outside. Some are playing cards, while the others are drinking beers under the hot sunny afternoon. The kids are playing with no sleepers on their feet, not wearing shirts,s and not yet taking a bath. I guess they are just around 3 years to 4 years of age, while their mothers are talking while smoking. They are busy chatting to each other while their kids are dirty. People are looking at me when I passed them. Maybe because they know that I am new here, and even though I am just new here. I don’t know if I can stay here for long. The environment is stressing me.

I reached the store that the landlady pointed to me. I don’t know what to buy while standing at the front of the store. The man in the store is looking at me waiting for me to buy. I remember my life before this and the food that I am eating. Probably now I am already having my lunch at the fancy restaurant, but things change so fast, and shit things happen unexpectedly.

“Are you going to buy or what?” The man asked while looking at me. I looked at him and answered, “Yes”

“I want to—” and then I stopped. I am about to say that I want to buy a ham but I remember that I don’t have a stove and pan to cook it. I don’t have anything with me.

“Yes?” He asked again while still looking at me, and waiting to complete what I am going to say.

“Do you have a cafeteria here?” I asked. I plan to buy ready-to-eat food instead. A cooked meal even though I don’t know what to buy because I don’t have an idea what to eat, but I know I am hungry and I want to eat. It is just my movement is limited now because aside from there’s nothing left on me. I need to budget my money until I find a job.

I reached the cafeteria where the man pointed to me. I didn’t expect that the food on the platter was just placed at the table outside of the house and under the hot sun with a glass cover. Enough to see what is inside. I checked the food on the platter and I saw some dishes that I knew. Such as adobo, fried fish, picadillo, and fried egg with sausage. They have hot rice too.

“How much is the rice with adobo?” I asked the woman who is guarding the food that they are selling. She is holding a swatter to avoid the fly or any other insect to go to the food.

“It is P65.00” She answered. She took a plastic where she will put the adobo that I will order and another plastic for the rice. When I suddenly remember that I don’t have utensils. So how can I eat? I sigh and scratched my head. I am already hungry but I don’t know how I can eat.

“How many orders?” The woman asked while waiting for my response.

I took a deep breath and scratched my head.

“I forgot that we don’t have utensils, I am new here and I am not yet settled,” I said and clear my throat. This is too hard. I want to eat but I don’t have a pan to cook my food. I want to buy cooked food but I don’t have utensils that I can use to eat. Haist!

“Do you have cup noodles instead?” I asked and she nodded and answered, “How many are you going to buy?”

“Just two” I answered.

“And if you can put hot water please?” I asked. Asking her a favor to put hot water to cook the noodles because I am already starving and my daddy too. I don’t have a kettle to boil water.

“Okay,” She said. She went inside the house and left me.

After a moment she comes back with a cup of noodles. She is holding it with her two hands. The noodle is hot and the aroma of it makes me want to eat it right away, but I need to go back to my apartment because my dad is waiting for me and I know he is hungry too.

“How much?” I asked her

“P30.00 for two” She answered and I gave her my payment.

I took the hot noodles and slowly walked back to my apartment. When a commotion happened. A man is running because a police officer is running after him. I guess he is a snatcher because I saw him throw the bag that he was holding. When he bumped me that made me drop my cup noodles and it spilled on my clothes, and then it fell to the ground. My noodles are now gone. It is all now on the ground.

“Fuck!” I shouted in frustration. The cup noodles were my only hope for me and my dad to eat, but now it was spilled on the ground that burned me, and then I heard a gunshot. I saw a man lying on the ground with his blood coming out from him. The police shoot him and now he is dead because he is no longer moving. I know in an instant that he is already dead.

I saw black smoke coming from somewhere passed in front of me, and went to the dead man and I heard him shout, because the black smoke grabbed him and dragged him to nowhere, and he was gone as well as the black smoke but his body was still on the ground. I shook my head and scratched my eyes because I didn’t know what I saw. I am not even sure if it is real because I am already hungry. My last meal was last night. I might just hallucinating. I heard the woman screaming and crying while the police stopped her to go near the dead body lying on the ground. She must be the wife or the sister. I don’t know. The crowd is now surrounded by the woman and the dead man. They are just whispering and some are taking photos or videos about what happened. I know for sure they will post what happened on their social media account.

“Ahhh!” The woman screamed in pain of losing someone she loved in just an instant.

I noticed that my shirt was wet and I smelled like noodle flavored seafood. That is why I walk back to my apartment while they are having a commotion. This was my first day and yet I saw a commotion and I witnessed a shooting that killed a man. I went back home with nothing but a wet shirt and an empty stomach. It is hard to eat today and good luck for me because I don’t know what to do now because of my hunger. I heard my stomach rumbling that is why  I decided to buy bread and cheese instead after I will just change my shirt. I opened the door and found my dad having his coffee. He is already awake and it’s a good thing that he provides coffee for himself to ease the hunger even for a moment because I don’t have something to give him. I smiled when I saw him still using the magic mug that I gave him. My first gift to him was when I received my first salary in my first job. I called it a magic mug because once you pour hot water in it. The photo will suddenly appear and that is our photo. When he was hugging me when I was a teenager. Until now he still has the cup and he is still using it. I guess it was his favorite and I am so touched. Seeing my father enjoying his coffee with the mug that I gave him as a present. Even I didn’t know how did he manage to go out to buy coffee. Didn’t he know about the commotion? Well anyway. That is not important because the important is he is having his coffee now. 

Knock! knock!!

Knock! Knock!!

Someone is knocking on the door. I wonder who it is because I didn’t expect any visitors. That is why I stood up to check who it was. I opened the door and found no one. I closed the door again, and when I turned around I saw the man who was shot sitting beside my father.

“Help,” He said with his blood dripping from his chest. I looked at him closely because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He looks alive and real except for the blood dripping.

“Help,” He said again.

“Can you see me?” He asked me but I still looked back. Maybe he is talking to someone else even though I know that he is talking to me because there’s no one but me and my father. I couldn’t believe that there is a dead man inside my apartment.

“I can see you but you’re already dead,” I said and then my dad laughed. I looked at my dad and looked back at the dead man.

“Stay away from my dad, don’t hurt him,” I said and my dad laughed more.

“Of course not, I am not harmful,” The man said with the blood still dripping from his chest that distracted me.

“My name is Simon” He introduced his name but I am not interested because I know he is not real and I am just hungry and hallucinating.

“And I need your help,” He said and I pretended that I didn’t hear him. I looked at dad again and asked him,

“Can you see him?”

My dad nodded. Well, I guess we are both hungry because we didn’t eat breakfast and we haven’t eaten our lunch yet. I looked at both of them and decided to go out to buy something to eat to ease our hunger. I know I am already hallucinating, and even  I haven’t changed my shirt yet. I opened the door and was surprised when I saw a woman standing at the door. I guess her age is 26 years old. She is smiling at me while holding a bowl and I can smell the aroma that makes me more hungry. I looked at her touched on her forehead and asked,

“Are you real?”

She looked at me and answered, “Of course, I am”

She looked at me like a weirdo. No! I am not weird. I am just hungry. Hungry like a wolf and I think she is just right on time.

“How can I help you?” I asked him nicely even though I wanted to grab the bowl of food that she was holding.

“My mom wants to give you this porridge, she knows that you are not yet eating,” She said with a smile. Her dimple is showing off, which makes her cuter.

“Oh,” I said, pretending to be surprised, and took the bowl of porridge that she was holding.

“Here’s the spoon,” She said and gave me the spoon.

“Thank you,” I said. Finally, there’s an angel who came down from heaven to feed the hopeless and hungry me.

“What is your mother’s name?” I asked before she turned around and left.

“Divina” She answered

“And your name?” I asked again to her. I want to know her name for nothing. I just want to know.

“Tania”

“Okay, thanks Tania and please tell your mom thanks as well,” I said to her and she nodded and left.

I didn’t know that Divine has a daughter. I thought she is with her husband and cats only. Well anyway, that is not important. Divina gave me food and at last. I can eat now. I went inside the apartment and I remember that we don’t have chairs and tables. So we just sat on the floor and started eating with my dad. The hot porridge tasted good. I can taste the ginger and the garlic which makes it more tasteful aside from the tenderness of the chicken. I know it doesn’t even match the hot weather this afternoon and it makes me sweaty but I am thankful that finally, I am eating now after the long night last night, and this is better than nothing.

“Can you help me?” Simon asked while looking at me. Eating.

I didn’t mind him because I know he is not real but he keeps on asking me repeatedly. If I can help him, it annoys me. I know he will be gone soon once I am full and not hallucinating anymore but I am wrong because he is still here and keeps on asking me which irritates me.

“How can I help you, you’re already dead?” I asked him irritably and yes, I am talking to the dead. I couldn’t believe it.

“Help me cross to the other side” He answered and I looked at him, like seriously? Help you cross to the other side? Like I know how to do that? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!

“It is your job… I guess” He whispered

“Look, Simon,” I said

“I didn’t know why those cops shot you and I know it is not my business to know but please… spare me… what you are asking me is very impossible”

And I paused because I noticed that I was really talking to the dead man. Like seriously? There’s a dead man inside my apartment who asked me to help him cross the other line. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME?

“Please,” He begged and I shook my head.

“I never stole anything… I am just a water delivery boy who witnessed a stealing happening inside the water station and the one who did it is the son of the owner… and he framed me up that is why I got shot” He said and he looked down. I know how he wanted to cry by losing his life in an unacceptable situation.

“My life was stolen” He sadly said. I looked at him and I felt pity. I know he is not real but I feel pity for him. He seems to be telling the truth.

“Why are you holding the bag?” I asked him like he was real.

“It is a part of the frameup” He answered and he can’t look at me.

“Please?” He begged and I shook my head and sigh.

“Because you need to remember who you are,” My dad said

“Soon, God will call you to reconcile” He added but I didn’t mind him because I started to become confused. I know I am no longer hungry but I am still hallucinating.

“I will just buy water first and let me think about it,” I told him, giving a spark to his eye that gives him hope.

Drinking water will help you circulate your blood and that is what I need to do right now. I need to drink water so that my blood can circulate well. Maybe this is the reason why I am hallucinating. It is because I need water. I went out and I went to the store to buy water. I will know later when I come back. Simon is no longer there because he is already dead. While walking I heard two mothers talking. One is holding his infant while smoking. While the other one keeps on scratching his nose. I don’t know why but she looks high. I heard them talking about what happened a while ago and Simon is the talk of the town. Hot and sizzling. I confirmed that he is Simon because he told me his name and I heard it from the buzzing women.

“Poor, Simon,” The woman said and she threw her cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, while still carrying her infant thin and dirty and who’s about to cry.

I went back to the apartment and I saw Simon inside. He didn’t disappear. He didn’t go and the way he sat before I went to the store to buy water. That is how he sat when I came back from the store to buy water. I gave the other bottle to my dad because I know he is thirsty too. I open the water bottle and drink it until I finish the water. I am so thirsty and the cold water refreshes me.

“Can you help me now?” He asked but I didn’t answer because I am trying to convince myself that he is not real. He is dead but he is not in my apartment asking me to help him. 

“I know you believe that we are real,” He said, trying to convince me to help him. I remain silent and think for seconds because I don’t want to go crazy, which is what I think I am now. He is looking at me and waiting for my reply. His cold eyes give pity on me. I know he is a good man and the bad ones are those who framed him.

“Or can you just tell my wife I am sorry and I love him so much?” He said and now asking me a favor. I shook my head and didn’t reply.

“Please,” He begged. I looked into his cold and begging eyes  and said, “Okay… okay” 

“What’s the name of your wife and where can I find her?” I asked.

“Jackie, and we are living in the next barangay” He answered.