A Happily Ever After

Chapter Nine

"The ending," ulit ko at halos matumba sa panghihina. "The characters died in the story because the villain won the war. 'Yun 'yung ending namin? Paano kami makakabalik sa mundo namin?"

Hindi ako sinagot ng matanda at patuloy lang akong pinagmasdan. I want to curse at him for not giving me answers, but his eyes remained gentle as ever, the way it was when I first saw him. And I just knew that he's waiting for me to process everything, he's waiting for me to find solutions.

"We must make it to the end alive. Technically, we must alter the plot in order to survive until the ending," ang sabi ko at tumingin sa matanda. "We have to change the ending, right?"

Hindi na ako sinagot ng matanda. I closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I was not in the bookshop anymore.

I was standing in the middle of a field. Lazy clouds floated around me, concealing the zigzagging mountains over the horizons. The sky remained colorless, and there came the sound of what appeared to be two massive beasts bellowing from afar.

In front of me, were five different bodies laying on the cold flat ground.

And when I looked closer, there I saw the familiar face of Allvais. Dull. Cold. Lifeless.

"No!" I screamed, loud enough to hurt my throat, shrill enough to cut through the loudness of the roaring beasts. Wala akong ideya kung sino ang mga katabi ni Allvais, pero alam ko na ito ang mga katawan ng iba ko 'pang mga kasama.

Tears bursted out of my eyes, my throat ached from the angry sobs I did, my hands were shaking, my legs were weak. There was no strength left in my body. I feel so weak, so defeated, and so in pain.

Multiple footsteps were behind me, and I turned.

Two men stood, one with a sword on his hand, while the other had his arms crossed. Both eyes looked at me from the ground, and there I sensed something evil, something dark, something strong.

I know that any moment from now, I'll be joining Allvais and the rest on the ground.

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

Pagbukas ko ng aking mga mata ay tumambad agad sa akin ang mukha ni Allvais— ni Stefan.

His hand is still holding my wrist, and there's a worried look painted on his face. Tsaka ko naramdaman ang mabilis na tibok ng puso ko at ang ilang butil ng pawis na tumatakbo na mula sa noo ko hanggang leeg. Mabilis din ang paghinga ko.

"Hey, Jessa. Breathe, breathe."

Halos dumilim ang paningin ko nang sinubukan kong habulin ang paghinga ko. I grab Stefan in the shoulder, to attempt myself to find an anchor to my reality. Hindi na ito panaginip. I say in my mind. This is reality, and no one has died.

Stefan watches me with worried eyes, waiting for me to calm down. After seconds of breathing, my vision finally stablizes and all my senses came back.

"You're yelling and crying in your sleep," Stefan says.

"I.." I started. My throat feels dry, and then realized na tila ba sobrang tagal na nung huli akong naka-inom ng tubig. "I.. I had a dream.."

Hindi agad sumagot si Stefan at hinintay muna akong makakuha ulit ng malalim na hininga. "I think I had a dream too.. Something that felt so real na medyo nag-aalala din ako pagkagising ko," he says. But he looks at me again and tries to let out a charming smile. "But I'm fine now. How's your dream?"

Isang malakas na kaluskos nang halaman ang biglang narinig mula sa labas ng kweba namin. Malapit ag tunog nito, kaya kahit na maliwanag na dito sa pwesto namin ay hindi ko maiwasang kabahan muli.