the past and the present

ch.18 Tea

Ch.18 tea

 
The family formed a circle in their room. Kati sat on the floor, Perla sat on the bed, Martial sat on top of a desk, and Del sprawled all over the floor.
 
The family finished crying at least an hour ago, and we're now sitting in complete silence, awkwardly trying to process what happened. All of this would have continued for who knows how long if Perla wasn't starting to get tired of the silence.
 
She grabbed the nearest object, a pillow, and threw it in her husband's face.
 
"Hey!" Kati yelled in surprise. What was that for?! " He crossed his arms with a pout. The sudden noise snapped Martial back to reality, and he looked up from the floor and looked over at his parents.
 
Martial smiled. What was he doing? It has been so long since he last saw his family complete—well, almost complete. He got up from his seat on the desk and walked over to his brother as he made his way to his mother.
 
"Martial...anak ko." Perla spoke softly, and she extended her arms to him. Martial sat next to her and hugged her.
 
Kati sighed happily as he watched the ordeal; it wasn't everyday that he would see his stubborn son longing for a hug. He looked over to his eldest son, who lay face flat on the floor like a dead person.
 
He sighed. Del," he called; no response. Del," he repeated, this time much louder. Perla and Martial broke the hug; they looked over to them, wondering what was happening.
 
"DEL!" Kati yelled, but still there was no response.
 
At this point, it was starting to worry Perla; she remembered that Del was usually very easy to wake, and she worried that something might have happened.
 
Martial sighs, leaving his mother's embrace. "I guess the revival didn't fix everything," he said, kneeling down next to his brother. he pinched 
his back and yelled into his right ear. "WAKE UP!"
 
Kati and Perla flinched. "Martial!" She yelled, a frown on her face.
 
Del slowly woke up, seemingly unfazed by the fact that someone had just yelled into his ear.
He groaned, What?...
 
"You weren't waking up, Martial said in a loud voice. "Seems like what you're hearing wasn't revived along with you, he scoffed.
 
Del sat up; confusion filled his mind. "What?"
 
Perla called out to Del with a soft voice, "Del...anak..." Del was unresponsive; his attention was fixated on his brother. A sweat dropped from Perla's forehead; there seemed to be something wrong. She could feel it; there was no way her son would just ignore her.
 
"Ma." said martial. "You're going to have to speak louder than that," he pointed to his left ear. "He lost most of his hearing in the war," he pointed out.
 
Kati's heart sank; the war didn't end when he died. Was he even any help at all? He fought so hard so that his children wouldn't have to live in a war-crazed world, but was it all in vain? Did getting himself involved in the war force his children to go to war too? He sat there, head low, thinking that everything was his fault. His train of thought was saved from going deeper when
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
 
He looked up, seeing that Perla had her hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze. He gave a pained smile, deciding to just focus on his family and their current situation rather than the past.
 
Perla moved past him and walked over to Del. She kneeled down beside him on the floor. Del," she said loudly, and she tapped his shoulder.
 
Del looked over in surprise. "Ma!" He yelled and wrapped her in his arms.
 
Perla chuckled, wrapped her arms around him, and gave his back a little pat. She looked over to Martial and pointed to Del's ear as if asking which one was deaf.
 
Martial shook his head and pointed to Del's left ear. "That one"
 
Perla smiled and broke the hug, moving over to Del's right side so she could hear him better. "So!" She started enthusiastically, "Let's talk" She looked over to Kati and said, "I'm sure there have been some stories we've missed while we were six feet below the ground.
 
Seeing the boys tense up plastered a grin on her face.
 
Ohhhh, this better be good, she thought mischievously.
 
She sat up straight with a grin on her face, hands on her lap. Well, boys," she smirked. "Let's get on with it, shall we?
 
The tea shall be spilled.