A Past with an Alien

CHAPTER 43

IRIS

"And the best student of the year!" I stood in front of the crowd, and it was graduation day. "San Francisco Elementary School batch 1998, school valedictorian Melvin Ibanez," a loud applause echoed throughout the public.

I already have a baby bump, which will be due in two months. Last night, Albert and I argued. I shouldn't be here at the graduation ceremony. We debated whether I should decline this job, but I told him I could still manage. Besides, I volunteered to help Ma'am Batongbakal with this.

I felt an overwhelming emotion while standing in front of the crowd. On graduation day, I'm always like this. I had an impulsive attachment to every student I handled. I will miss this batch a lot, especially Melvin.

Speaking of Melvin, he climbed onto the stage with his teary-eyed father beside him. A pair of binoculars dangled from his father's neck. I heard he skipped his day job to attend his son's graduation ceremony. His father worked at Philvocs, and they were the team that monitored Mt. Pinatubo. I'm proud of Melvin. His father raised him all by himself. They said that when his parents parted ways, it affected most of his childhood. Yet his father never neglected him because he always picked him up after school.

His father grasped the medal from my best friend Miranda, who helped me with the ceremony. And put it on Melvin's neck, then Ma'am Batongbakal and our female mayor gave them a handshake.

Melvin approached me and curled his arms around my big belly. "Congratulations, Melvin,"

"Thank you, ma'am." I gave his father a handshake too.

Melvin paced forward but stopped suddenly. I noticed his face shift. There was a hint of shock and fear. His hands inspected his toga, and I thought something was wrong with him.

"What's the matter, Melvin?" I asked him. I got worried.

"No, ma'am," he said, forcing a smile. Then he walked away while dragging his father down from the stage.

I took a deep breath and shrugged. I remember saving Melvin from a monster, and he recognized me inside a costume. Does he know about it? I tried to cast that thought away. I believe the Alien Convention has already erased the memories of everyone here. And confident enough that Melvin doesn't even know anything about it.

Sometimes, these memories haunt me, even the moments with Hector. I tried to learn to put them out of my mind because I was pregnant. If I think about them too much, it only stresses me out. Until now, I have kept this a secret from everyone, even Albert.

As for Albert, he decided to work abroad again after our baby boy was born. That became the subject of our argument every night. I wouldn't say I liked his idea because we already had a baby and needed him in times like this. I ran away and returned to our home in Poblacion. He persuaded me for weeks and gave all the explanations he could provide. And because I love him so much, I surrendered and forgave him. I knew he was doing it for our family's future. But the truth is, I'm still scared of losing him again. Whenever he said "leave," I recalled the day he committed suicide in the unknown future. Even though it won't happen anymore, I'm still paranoid about it. I let him leave for the job rather than leave me because I always argued with him.

I thought that after my experiences with the Alien Convention, everything in my life would be okay now. But I realized that battles will always be here to stay. First, Nanay suffered kidney failure, and we struggled immensely with her medication and dialysis. We often traveled to Manila and then back to San Francisco, which wasn't easy at all.

I named my son Hector, and when we went to Manila for Nanay's treatment, I had to leave him under the care of Becky, my brother's wife. I always took a leave of absence from my work too, and thank goodness; Ma'am Batongbakal understood my situation. But my salary became insufficient.