A Tale of Life and Death
Life is not just about the rainbows and sunshine. I didn't realize it until this February when I lost one of my dearest cousins. She was 10 years older than me and she was a special one. The moment is fleeting but I can still vaguely remember the day when she started her first day of work. It was an office job to some influential person in the city and luckily due to some connections she managed to get in. Well, some might say that it's a bad thing to do. You know using personal connections, as these are the ways how dirty politicians do their business. I couldn't care less as I'm just transitioning to high school during those times. She quit after a month or two. I overheard that there were some really shady business going on there and as a fresh graduate she was afraid of things that might happen if she stayed for a longer time.
I used to be a nomad back in my pre teen days. Sleeping in houses of my relatives seemed to be an addiction during those times. Being in the middle of the pack I'm close to almost all my cousins. I'm also a solo child till I was 15 so they were the ones that I look up to in my childhood. This particular cousin of my mine was really close to our heart because she belong to the kindest and sincerest type of person one could imagine. I was there in her first pay check. I remember wolfing down lots of sweets and delicacies she bought. Time passed and she got pregnant. She was about to get married but she and his fiancé was caught up in a deadly motor cycle accident. The fiancé died and was in ICU for almost half a year. She was never normal after that. The adults said that it was the effect of the high dosage drugs she took. The baby luckily was still alive and well. He is even bigger than me now.
Like the pages of a book we flipped in the time when she married another guy. She was still normal and my relatives was against it. I was a full pledge adult at this point in time and I can see, she was happy. They got a baby girl and I am one of the many godparents they chose. Her life was like a plot of some drama series but the end was not that well. During the covid surge here in the Philippines her husband got sick and have to be admitted in a hospital some 70 miles away. Traveling was almost impossible at that time as there are many permits to be presented so she got no choice but to bear it alone. Her husband again passed away shortly after.
Her brothers and sisters was there for her. We thought that it would be fresh start for the mother and child. She worked her as off during pandemic making sure that her youngest would not starve. If you're curious about the eldest child. He's now in her grandmas place provided with lots of financial and emotional stability. After a visit one of her brothers notice that she seems to be unwell. Her feet were swelling so they rushed her to the hospital. She died a day after. It was heartbreaking she hide it from us. Maybe she did not want to trouble anyone. It was the saddest day in the moment of my life. It was an early passing as she was not even 40. Just two months after here we are in the same situation. One my of nieces died at the tender age of 17 yesterday. It was devastating. I hope with all my heart that they are in good hands now.
