SATURDAY NIGHT (BACKSTORY)
"Sir, out na po ako."
A tall teenage man can be seen in the counter, smiling.
The manager smiled back. "Bakit kasi pumasok ka pa? Day off mo 'di ba?"
"Wala po magawa sa bahay," he said,
grinning. "Okay na rin po siguro, extra income. Una na po ako ah?"
"Sige, ingat ka!"
"Kayo mag-ingat dito," he said, looking at his co-employee.
"Ano nanaman 'yun Traise?" the guy said, laughing. "Ikaw mag-ingat, dumarami na customer dahil sa'yo."
He laughed. "Baliw!"
With a smile on his face, he went out of the store where he works as a part-timer. He looked at the sky, it's cloudy; as if the rain will soon pour hard.
He shrugged.
He was walking, observing things around him when his phone beeped. He took it out of his pockets and soon as he saw whom the text was from, his excited eyes were replaced by disappointment. The text was from her professor, whom he called Snorlax. She was asking when will he go back to school.
"I miss you, darling. When will you go back?" the text reads.
He cringed.
Related messages were from his block mates and schoolmates, whom he didn’t even know. His popularity in school was insane, yet he didn't care.
He only had his eyes for one person. Seven billion people yet he got his eyes fixated on only one girl he can't afford to lose.
He scanned his phone and frowned when he found no message from her.
"Tignan mo 'tong taong 'to, ang sama ng ugali," he mumbled. "'Di man lang ako kumustahin. Tagal naming 'di nagkikita wala manlang text. Wala manlang kahit ano."
Frowning still, he slid his phone back to his pocket, and soon enough, he took it again.
"Aaaaah, 'Di ako mapakali," he murmured to himself.
"Kita tayo. Punta ako sa inyo mamaya."
After sending it to the woman he's only interested in, he turned his phone off again. He didn’t wanna receive excuses such as she's busy, she's doing something, or what. He missed her and nothing can suffice it aside from her presence.
Minutes later, he found himself opening their gate, and soon as he went inside, he smelled something; as if someone was cooking in the kitchen.
"Naka-uwi na si mama?" he asked himself, confused.
His mom worked as a housemaid in a nearby city and only went home every 3 days or every weekend. It's fine with him so that she won't receive beatings from his dad, because giving bruises to his mom and him were his dad's most favorite hobbies.
He went to the kitchen excitedly and was caught utterly speechless when he saw who it was; it was his dad.
His dad, who usually lays down all day, doing nothing at all. His dad, who usually goes home drunk, violent, and abusive, was in the kitchen, cooking and even humming.
"Oh, naka-uwi ka na?" he asked, smiling. "Hintayin mo na 'to, sabay na tayo kumain. Pagod ka ba?"
He can't open his mouth. His roots were about to disown him.
"Kumain na po ako sa store," he said, his voice cracked.
His dad looked at him. "Ah ganun ba? Gusto sana kita...makasalo..."
He felt tears forming in his eyes.
"Mamaya nalang po siguro, pagdating ni mama?"
His dad smiled "Mas maganda nga 'yun, init ko nalang uli 'to."
"Sige po," he turned his back, mixed emotions in his chest.
He was about to walk but then he got petrified when his dad called him...by his name.
"Traise!" he said.
He got often called, 'inutil, walang silbi, salot, walang kwenta' but this time, he got called by his name... and for him, it felt so good that he almost burst out crying.
"P-Po?" he asked, his voice cracked.
"Pahinga ka ha."
He didn't turn his back. He walked faster and went to his room with tears on his cheeks.
What...was that? Did his dad change? Realizing all the abuse he did?
A mixture of anger and hope aroused inside him. He cried, and later fell asleep.
It was 10 in the evening when he woke up. Confused about what planet he was on, he checked his phone. He smiled soon as he saw the message he got. There were still messages from his school mates but this time, the most flooded came from someone he's been anticipating. She kept asking 'what time, anong pag-uusapan, anong meron, busy s'ya, matutulog s'ya' and so on.
Smiling, he replied, "Malalaman mo mamaya. 'Di mo ba 'ko na-mimiss?"
Soon enough, he got a reply.
"YUCK?"
He laughed because he can hear her voice and can actually imagine her face.
"Basta mamaya. May iku-kuwento rin ako."
He turned his phone off again and stared at the ceiling of his room, thinking of his dad.
Maybe, people really do change.
Until he heard a noise. A laughing noise. It came from the room beside him.
"Yes, yes," a man said. "Few days will do," and he recognized it as his dad.
"Wait for me for JUST FEW MORE DAYS OKAY?" his dad said, losing his temper. "I JUST HAVE TO POISON THAT USELESS BITCH."
Beat.
His eyes grew bigger.
"Napakalaki pala ng pera n'yan sa insurance. Her dead parents left her bucks of money yet she didn't tell me!"
WHAT THE HELL?
"Oo, my child?" he said. "I didn't think of that. Kung s'ya ang beneficiary few actings will do. Paniwalang paniwala naman na ang loko. At hindi mukhang pera 'yun, baka nga ilipat pa sa 'kin 'yun. One step at a time, the bitch has to die first and we can be together. Sige na, nasa ibaba 'yun kanina pa naghihintay."
A few seconds later. He heard footsteps.
Disturbed by the things he heard, he sat up, his hand on his chest.
HIS DAD IS JUST ACTING OUT, AND WANTS TO KILL HIS MOM!
He hurriedly went down and what he saw caused a bang in his chest. There was a violet flower on the stairs. He picked it up and recognized it soon enough.
Normal people will think it was just a flower, but as a biology major, he knew it was not. His eyes grew bigger when he recognized what it was; aconite, a poisonous flower than when intake, it can hardly be detected and may cause paralysis or cardiac arrest to the victim.
With his heart pounding, he went to the kitchen and his mom was there, looking so joyful, smiling so genuine. She greeted him but he didn't smile.
"Where's dad?" he asked, tears in his eyes.
"Sa CR," she said. "Kumusta anak ko? 'Di mo ba namiss si mama? Anong mayroon sa daddy mo ngayon? Ang maalaga."
His tears fell. His mom had the smile he never saw before. A smile of genuineness, a smile of love, a smile of someone who seemed like not enduring any pain at all. She had been assaulted and abused yet, she never left his dad. She only wanted him to treat them right and now he did; with a plot of killing her.
"Have you started eating anything?" his voice cracked.
His mom smiled. "Hindi pa. Sabay-sabay na tayo."
He closed his eyes. He can endure everything, but seeing his mom being abused this much, he can't take it. He had enough.
"Ma…." he said. "Can you... cook me an egg? The usual one you'll give me. I...missed it."
His mom smiled. "You miss me that much? Okay."
His mom stood up, and when he started cooking, he looked at the foods. There was plenty of food on the table until he saw the pinakbet.
He closed his eyes hardly, barely crying.
Minutes later, he saw himself dining with them. His mom kept on giggling because of his dad's romantic acts. Suddenly he felt himself being brought back to the days they weren't as chaotic as this.
"How do my dishes taste?" his dad asked.
"Great. Parang dati lang," his mom said, smiling from ear to ear.
He shook his head, smiling bitterly.
"Anak, kumusta lasa?" his dad asked.
He smirked.
"I think I have to ask you that question," and he looked at his dad sharply. "How does it taste?"
"It's good because it's my cooking," he said, laughingly.
But he didn't dodge eye contact.
He smirked bitterly.
"Oh," he said. "So that's how your poison taste..."
His dad stopped eating, his mom left dumbstruck.
He looked at his dad. "Masarap ba?"
"What....are you saying?" his dad asked. "What...what..."
"The poison will occur minutes from now. It will shut your respiratory down and will make you either paralyzed or death caused by cardiac arrest," he said hardly, tears once again forming in his eyes, anger in his cold yet calm voice.
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" his mom, now confused.
"Ma," his voice cracked, tears now flowing. "Dad tried to poison you...for your insurance..." and he looked at his dad, anger in his eyes. "...and to join his mistress after..."
He placed on the table the flower he saw.
"It's aconite. Dad tried poisoning you through aconite. I heard him said he only wanted to kill you and not me. So he cooked pinakbet...even though he knows it gives me allergy so surely I won't eat it."
He looked at his mom.
"But you, mom, you will..."
He then smirked.
"Pero pinagpalit ko ang pagkain n’yo," he said and he looked at his dad. "You ate your own poison. How does it taste?"
His dad turned red, his mom cried, panicking.
"ANO BANG SINASABI MO? BAWIIN MO ‘YUNG SINASABI MO..."
"Ma... can't you see it?!" he exclaimed. "He tried to poison you! HE TRIED TO KILL YOU BECAUSE HE THOUGHT... HE THOUGHT..."
"Because you're useless," finally, his dad showed off his true color.
"KASI WALA KAYONG LAHAT KWENTA, MGA INUTIL!"
In a matter of seconds, he saw his dad attacking his mom. She received really loud and hard slaps. He rescued her and in return, he was beaten up. He tried to punch his dad but it went the other way, his right hand punched the floor and he felt like it got fractured, he moaned in pain. His dad saw the opportunity, and he punched him up to death. Punches on the face, on the stomach, on his body. He's numb of it.
Until a loud screaming voice will be heard. His dad looked back and in his surprise, a sudden stab on his chest happened; once, twice, and hard on the third. With blood flowing like a river, he fell on the floor, with a knife stuck still on his chest, hopeless.
And then he saw his mom crying, with blood on her gloves.
"Ma..." he muttered.
With a traumatic commotion happened, his mom started to lose consciousness, she then fell.
With the remaining strength in him, he stood up, his right hand injured. He walked towards his dad and in the blink of an eye, using his left hand which still hurts because of a last year's fracture, he lifted the knife on his dad's chest.
That's when the door opened and in his horror, it was his aunt, seeing his mom unconscious and his dad lying on the floor, with a stab on his chest, and the knife in his hand.
In no time, he saw himself running away. No, he had no intention of running away. He just... had to make things clear. He needed strength before finally surrendering himself.
While on the run, he texted her.
"Nasa kanto ako."
And then he saw her coming out from the gate. They talked, and during the whole duration he just kept on looking at her, gaining strength by just the presence of her.
Until he confessed. He initially wanted to confess tonight and ask for her heart. He had always been so in love with her but was just afraid of ruining their friendship. However, after reading accidentally an entry in her diary which said she loved him as well, hope aroused inside him.
But this time, it's different. He confessed not to ask for her heart, but to let her go and say goodbye.
“Why fate has to be this cruel to us?” he thought.
He walked away, leaving her standing there still, with tears flowing from her eyes. He wanted to be selfish and hug her and just run away with her but with the filth on his hands, he can't afford to drag her into his mess.
"She's too precious for that," he thought.
Until he heard loud noises and suddenly, he got surrounded by police cars.
He was caught.
Yet,
He smiled.
He had nothing to fear.
He saved his mom.
He fulfilled the promise to see her.
He confessed his love.
He was being handcuffed when he saw her coming to him. Their eyes met and she was crying. With pain inside him and life now going nowhere, he smiled, and he mouthed,
"I love you..."