Coincidentally, my closest cousin and I found each other sitting in the jeepney full of murmurs of people inside. Still, regardless of the chatters, we were able to share and voice out our sentiments with each other regarding how stressed we were because of overflowing school works. I planned to borrow her laptop to encode my research paper.
I then decided to be in their house later that day. Then the past-paced talk leads me to ask her, how was her life back home. A deafening silence of her followed by a teary-eyed face caught my attention; our grandfather was in a bad state. A priest had already anointed my grandpa and I was so shocked for I knew then that when a priest does anointing, that simply means the person is on the verge of dying.
Upon suddenly knowing this, tears immediately streamed down my face, making me look like a crying baby disregarding the line of people inside the vehicle.
I got off the jeepney, I couldn't contain the pain I was feeling at that time. I was relieved after a friend heard what happened and consoled me. Having someone to share my feelings and problems with is probably one of my life's greatest blessings. Later that day, because of a research paper, I went to my cousin's home to encode, After that, I visited my grandpa.
I saw him lying in bed, so thin and struggling to breathe. It was like almost all of my relatives were there, crying silently looking at the man we all love, struggling to open his eyes. What even triggered us were the words of my uncle telling my grandpa to surrender for he had fought we'll already.
Being left by someone is painful but for them to rest eternally and stop fighting the exhausting battle of life, leaving us is the best choice. My other cousin from Manila then dreamt about our grandma who was dead already, telling her to go home, so she went home within that week. It took me to realize that I dreamt about losing a tooth, many have told me that once you dream about such a thing, it simply means someone's about to leave. I didn't know if it was a premonition or what.
After being at my grandpa's house, I directly went to my cousin's house to start encoding already. I then decided to spend the night there to finish my research paper for it has to be passed the next morning. It was very tiring that I drifted to sleep and was awakened by my aunt to transfer to a bed.
I then set my alarm at two in the morning to continue my research paper. It was already two in the morning and I started to continue typing my research paper. While I was typing, my uncle went inside to the room of my cousins to get clothes.
I was confused why he was getting it abruptly. Still, I continued typing. Minutes later, it was my aunt trying to wake us all up telling us to go to our grandpa's house for he is barely breathing. I stopped typing when involuntarily my tears streamed down. My other cousins went there. It was only my cousin and I that was left, we were both crying silently.
Her older sister rushed into the room where we were staying, telling us the words we did not want to hear. "He was gone" our grandpa had already left us. It was as if my whole world stopped. Suddenly, all of my memories with my grandpa appeared right before my eyes. To the times I always go with him wherever he will go. Listening to his stories and playing guitar.
I remembered all my memories with him. Again, tears pooled down my face. I don't know if it was fate that brought me to my cousin's house to borrow a laptop for my research paper or what. Will I consider it as a blessing for it hadn't happened, I wasn't given the chance to see my grandpa alive or a curse, as I gave my attention to it that I failed to see him as he bade his goodbye.