"Convict Me, Attorney..."
He smiled at me weakly, tears were falling from his eyes.
"Tyler..." I uttered.
Sinubukan niyang lumapit sa akin pero agad siyang tumumba at hindi na nakatayo. Kahit na anong takip niya sa saksak niya ay tuloy lang ang agos ng dugo mula roon.
I crawled towards him and soon enough, I reached him. Unti-unting nawawalan ng lakas si Tyler at pumipikit na ang mata nito. Ipinatong ko ang ulo niya sa hita ko at marahang umiyak.
"W-Will... Will you convict me...?" he asked, tears in his eyes as he chased his breath.
"Don't think of that now, okay? Y-You have to survive first... hmm? And whatever would be the charge, I will defend you. We will defend you," I said as I tried not to cry hard.
Namuo ang luha sa mata ni Tyler. Halatang unti-unti na itong pinapatay ng sakit at hapdi. Hinawakan ko ang pisngi niya at sinubukang alisin ang mga dugo roon habang tahimik na umiiyak.
"Avery..." he said. "I-I'm tired already... C-Can I... Can I close my eyes?"
"Tyler..." I said, crying as I held his hand. "Please...please hang in there. Please... darating sila, darating ang tulong so please 'wag mo kaming iwan. 'Wag mo 'kong iwan..."
"O-Okay..." he said. "I-I'll hang on..."
Tinitigan niya ako sa mga mata at tuluyang tumulo ang mga luha niya.
"Don't close your eyes, Tyler... please..."
I bit my lower lip as the pain was strong enough to kill me more than my bleeds.
"Tyler, please..." pagmamaka-awa ko.
Ngumiti siya sa akin habang tinititigan ang mga mata ko.
"Ang ganda mo..." mahina niyang bulong at nagsimula na siyang kapusin ng hininga.
"Tyler! Tyler!" pag-iyak ko.
"Avery..." he said. "I-I wasn't late..." he uttered, "I-I came on time. I saved you..."
"You did," I said. "You surely did. So do me a favor, hmm? Don't close your eyes..."
He smiled weakly as another wave of tears eacaped his eyes.
"I have something...to tell..." he said. "I-In the officem.. I knew I wasn't dreaming. I knew....that...that was real... I... I pretended as if... as if I didn't know so I have the bravery to confess to you and to look at your eyes," he then gulped. "Like now..."
"You are worth it," he said. "Always worth the wait..."
His eyes became teary and he was slowly closing them.
"Tyler? Can you hear me?" I asked, panicking. "Tyler! Ano ba!'
He smiled while his body was slowly dying.
"Sorry for... for being late Avery," he said. "If the heaven will allow me to have another life, I'll fall for you twice."
My eyes widened.
He was... closing his eyes.
"I-I feel so sleepy. Can I... rest now?"
"Tyler...No... please... No!"
I cried hard.
He just smiled at me for one last time and with his last remaining breath, before he left and completely ending the pain, he uttered something that tripled my pain.
"Mahal kita..."
And it was the moment that I cried harder than I ever did in my life.
The police came along with Courtney and Traise. They cried.
When Traise checked Tyler with pain on his face, he uttered something my system will never accept.
"TIME OF DEATH: 11:26 PM."
Things after that weren't easy and they will never be. Courtney and Traise were as devastated as I. The news echoed in the whole nation.
Courtney wanted me to go back to Manila. Traise was too emotional to even talk.
Heinz was confirmed as the killer.
Newt was freed.
And Tyler...
I closed my eyes hardly.
After Tyler's death, I can no longer process normally.
How can I accept that he's dead when I can feel him beside me?
How can he be dead if I can still remember how we met in the school during a political forum and we debated?
How can he be gone if I can still reminisce how we became acquaintance knowing our families are political allies?
How will I accept that he's no longer alive if I can still remember how we fought in court during our trials with Traise? During the time that I went to his unit to declare a war against him for charging my dad of graft?
How will I forget his laughs blending with the whole room along with Newt, his Cuppycake song, his unusual way of confessing his feelings by teasing me?
How will I forget his eyes when he was asking me not to go to anyone? The tears in his eyes when he got stabbed by saving me? And when he let me go?
How will I move forward if his every memory was as fresh as yesterday in my mind?
His burial just ended and it felt like my life ended along with his life.
I walked in the rooftop and the sun was setting.
I cried again.
How will I look at the sunset again if all I can remember was his genuine smiles while looking at them?
Damn.
I bit my lower lip and ended up crying again.
Tyler, the son of a fuck boy, how did you make me learn how to love the every detail of you but not how to stop?
Tears escaped my eyes.
Maybe, in the other life, we will have the happy ending that we didn't get.
Maybe, at that time when we meet in the school forum, we won't argue.
Maybe, at that time, we won't face each other in court as rivals but as partners.
And maybe, just maybe, at that time, there will no hindrances.
There will no longer be threats.
No taking risks.
All will be well.
And maybe when the time comes that I will be in danger and seeking for help, like the sun chasing the moon for the most awaited eclipse, you will go to me again, like that magical night, and from that time, we can try again...
AUGUST 1, 11:26 PM. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED.
Rest well, Tyler.
The pain stops now.
THE END.