If You Ever Come Back

Chapter 1

I was walking down the stairs of our church when I saw my classmates seated inside a room. Due to my curiosity, I was lured into the room and was motioned to sit at the last row. It seemed like everyone knew what was going on except me, but they gave me a hint that it has something to do with church activities, and because of that, I decided to stay. I may not have known what it was, but, somehow, I felt like it’s going to get me somewhere.

After what I thought was an hour of waiting, two people came into the room. It was a guy wearing a black polo with white stripes in the middle with faded jeans and black leather shoes, and a girl wearing a red suit on top of a white blouse with a red pencil skirt and red two-inched heels. The woman was holding a huge stack of papers with ease, while the guy stood there looking at us, cross-armed.

His glance was intense as he scanned our eyes one by one, and when it landed on mine, I felt a spark of recognition towards the look in his eyes. For some peculiar reason, he was familiar to me even though I knew I haven’t met him before. I shook off the weird thought and concentrated on his actions as he began walking to us one by one.

It was weird how my eyes couldn’t let go of his presence as I watched him talking and asking the woman beside him to distribute the papers only to the ones he was talking to, which would be every one of us.  Since I was seated at the last row alone, it took him quite a while before he got to talk to me, and when he reached me, everyone I knew was long gone. It wasn’t a bit later that I realized it was six in the evening and I was the only one left inside the room with the guy and woman walking towards me in slow motion.

The woman handed me the last of the papers while I took it from her hands and made a quick scan over it. When I was done scanning, I looked at the guy and waited for his “talk” moments.

“Hello, I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting any longer, so let’s get to the point. Can you sing?” he asked me straightforwardly.

I simply nodded my head slowly as if my reactions would be the cause of my redemption.

“Well, that’s very pleasant. Let us hear it.” He said with a voice that seemed uninterested in what he’s doing and at the same time curious to what I’m about to do.

My voice felt lost at the moment and the more I stared into his eyes, the more my voice faded like the air, which seemed very thin at this time. I didn’t---I couldn’t---sing. I tried opening my mouth and tried to feel a vibration in my vocal chords, but it seemed to stop working the moment I saw his eyes.

“Well? We don’t have all day, Miss.” He said quite impatiently.

I tried (and when I say “tried” I really did) to sing, but still nothing came out, almost as if I’ve gone mute. Just as soon as my attempt to sing failed, he turned his back and walked further away from me. Disappointment grew in my heart. Why couldn’t I sing? I’ve sang in the church. I’ve sang in the shower every morning. I’ve sang my heart out every single day of my life, but when someone I felt like I knew, asked me to sing, I couldn’t.

What was wrong with me?

“Nice talking to you, Miss. This meeting is over. You may leave now.” His voice echoed throughout the room while his shadow continued fading as he left the room and closed the lights.

The darkness overwhelmed me and left me speechless as I sat there alone. I forced myself to hide my fears as I closed my eyes and imagined that I was at a better place, and after a while, I began humming a tune.

“I try to find the words when you walk by…” I began singing.

“Words just can’t explain the way I feel, inside…