"Hoy!" Rinig kong sigaw ng isa sa mga bago kong kaklase sa'kin. Alam ko na kung ano ang kaniyang sasabibin. Paulit-ulit, nakakasawa. Kaya nama'y nanatili na lamang akong nakayuko.
"Why are you still here?" Tanong niya na mahihimigan mo ng purong pag-aakusa sa kaniyang boses.
"Alam mo Emilio", nagtawanan naman ang iba ko pang mga kaklase sa sambit niya, kaya mas lalo nalang akong yumuko. Nangingilid na yung luha ko pero pilit ko pa ring pinapatatag ang aking sarili para hindi maiyak.
Tangina, wala silang alam sa nangyare. Walang nakakaalam kun'di ako lang.
"Hindi ko alam kung kasing kapal ng glasses mo 'yang mukha mo." She said, then slightly chuckled. "Your whole section is completely missing—no, it is nowhere to be found in this school's map. But you, you are alive," putol niya sa kaniyang dapat sasabihin, sabay lapit ng kaniyang mga labi sa aking tenga at ibinulong ito na para bang gusto niyang ipadama sa'kin ang kaniyang labis na pagkadisgusto.
"You are alive, because maybe, you killed them, right?" Doon na'ko napa-angat ng tingin. Tuluyan na ring tumulo yung mga luhang pilit kong pinigilan.
Noong bumalik ako mula sa insidenteng 'yon, agarang kumalat ang balita na para bang isang apoy na tumutupok sa isang gubat.
Gubat. I mentally simpered, because of that thought. Tangina, doon, nagsimula lahat.
Akala ko noong una, panaginip, 'yon pala, isang bangungot. Nakakatawa, bangungot pero hindi ako tulog.
"You don't know a thing." Dipensa ko sa aking sarili habang patuloy pa rin sa pag-agos ang aking mga luha. Walang pigil. Walang katapusan.
Napatingin ako sa aking paligid. Hoping that they are not thinking the same thing about me the way this girl talked with pure malice.
That I am innocent, and my hands were never dirtied.
But they are murmuring things enough for me to hear. Things that I never imagined to listen to, not before the catastrophe happened.
"Sheez. He's looking at me. I can't even stand to be looked at, by him."
"Same goes for me. Ayaw ko nang isipin kung ano man ang nakita ng mga matang yan."
Believe me, I've seen hell.
"Siguro puro dugo."
They cringed, but I couldn't agree more. But it was wrong, it was worse than that.
"I can't believe that he's living normally na para bang wala s'yang masamang ginawa."
Trust me, this ain't normal to me.
"How did he even survive without food? Maybe he ate them."
Fuck, no.
I know that they are thinking of me as a demon that survived hell. And maybe they are right.
The moment the mass media came to know about the Clairmont University School Bus Incident, and that I was the sole survivor, in the blink of an eye, the whole world is feasting about the moment that I considered as a nightmare.
And it instantly gathered twisted ideas.
'They don't know.'
'They have no idea on what happened.'
'It will be okay. You're okay.'
'Nothing's wrong.'
And though I'd nod to myself as if I believe those words, I know that it's just self-consolation.
Eleven years ago.
November 1st.
On the way to a beach resort for a class team-building event.
Their bus, carrying twenty-six students, including him...
Disappeared.
The Bus Catastrophe.
And, I was their classmate.
The Emilio Javier Dela Cruz of Clairmont University, a.k.a. the demon who survived hell.
The "him", in the midst of those twenty-six students.
The sole survivor.
And this, this is what truly happened when we disappeared eleven years ago, on November 1st, of the year 2009.
