Birthday, Worst day
We all have stories from our past that we prefer to keep hidden and buried. Even if we wish to forget the past, we are compelled to live with it. Some of these made us feel utterly powerless at some point in our lives, and no matter how hard we tried to ask for help, our voices were not heard.
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Since grade school, I've been a member of various clubs and competed in a variety of events, whether it was a division meet or a regional competition. I'm pretty involved in school-related activities, but I found it intriguing because it helps me discover my potential in terms of what I want to do. I was a TLE representative, a campus officer, an honor student, a theater arts performer, an athlete, and a photojournalist. As much as possible, I don't want to boast about the activities in which I participated in school. That's because I didn't excel in all of the fields in which I participated. Some of them, like sports, I realized weren't really for me. I enjoy playing volleyball, but I'm not particularly interested in it. I simply enjoy spending time with my friends while doing so.
When I first competed in the division meet, I was in third grade; it was a tiring but rewarding experience. Soon after, I enjoyed each competition's challenge, so I always entered multiple events, despite my weakness that I would not be successful in that field. It was volleyball that I first experienced fighting in the regional category when I was in sixth grade. We gathered the school's representative in our city division through STCAA. I'm very happy because I was able to meet people from all over the world, and I'm even happier because I was able to visit different schools from afar. When it came to competitions, I became more competitive here, and I was eager to have the same experience that so many people applauded and that someone cheered you on. When I was in seventh grade, I was introduced to the world of journalism. My friends told me I had potential but needed more practice, so I went into photojournalism and was fortunate enough to win first place in the field during the division. I was allowed to fight regionally as a representative of our city.
Those times when I felt I was living a life that one wished for didn't happen until I was in eighth grade when I had a terrifying experience. My stuff happened, and it was for a regional competition; we were in Cavite, and I'm from Quezon province, so it was too far to travel. We always compete in the last week of January, and I considered each of my competitions to be a treasured experience because my commitments are often true on my birthday.
On the 26th of January, it was during the first day of the competition and my category was assigned to compete during that day. I woke up three in the morning and I was also jolted awake by a phone call from my mother, "happy 15th birthday, good luck on your competition, be careful there." she said, these words were enough to make my day complete, after we spoke over the phone, I prepared my belongings. We did a Zumba session early in the morning together with the other journalist from the same division. Of course, as one of the first competitors on the first day of the competition, the mentor instructed us to take a bath one by one to save time. As I know how long it takes me to take a bath, I volunteer to take it first, and since everyone else is busy dancing in the covered court area, I hurriedly went on our quarter with my friend Nicole. Our quarter was originally an elementary classroom, and each has its comfort room. The one that was assigned to us had no light bulb, so we had to rely on a flashlight from our cellphones while taking a bath, and the worst part was that the bathroom window was too big and it also didn't have a lock so we had to cover it with a towel. I was hesitant to take a bath there at first, but I didn't have a choice because all of the bathrooms were located in each classroom was occupied. While taking a bath, I keep talking to Nicole, who was guarding the bathroom door and keeping me accompanied to help me lessen the tension that I have been feeling during that time. Nicole excused herself for a moment because she had a stomach and said she would first ask our mentor for medicine, the entire area fell into silence, so I began to hum while taking my time in the bathroom. Because of the cold air that enters the entire bathroom, I stared out the window for a moment as I rinsed. That's when I realized someone was looking at me; I can't tell you what he looks like because it was so dark, but I did notice he was wearing a cap. I was startled to the point where I couldn't move from where I was standing. "Gelay you there? Hurry up," said our senior, Jericho, as he spoke, the footsteps of the man who had been watching me hurriedly walk away. There was a commotion in our quarters after a while because I had been in the bathroom for too long, they were irritated I had spent too much time in the bathroom and forced me to hurry up. When I emerged from the bathroom, my fellow journalists and our mentor were waiting for me right outside the door; they were about to question me when they noticed that I was crying. They were puzzled by the worry of what was happening to me, they keep on asking repeatedly,
"Are you okay?", "What happened?", "Tell us what's wrong.."
The only thing that I could mumble was "somebody's watching me"
Jericho immediately got the picture of what I was saying, and he also stated that he also notice footsteps from the outside of our quarters. I cannot recall the whole detail of how my competition went that day, all I know is that I wanted to leave that place as soon as possible. My family didn't know what happened that time, I also came to have feared public restrooms for a long time. I do not what to remember those horrible experiences of mine, but little by little I know I can conquer those fears. I'm well aware that I still have a long way to go and that I must be more courageous. Those moments cannot overwhelm me with who I am, all I know is to keep on standing and be brave to face that past, so I can let go of all of the hatred that I had in my heart.
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Disclaimer: I am neither a psychologist nor a financial advisor, and all of my pieces were done for entertainment purposes only. What I've written here is merely my personal opinion, and any statements made are based on my personal views and should not be taken as fact. Always do your due diligence.
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