Bottoms Up

“Let him go.”

I took a sip from the bottle of San Miguel flavored beer, tasting the sweet and familiar taste of apple then the bitter tang of alcohol. I grimaced as soon as the after taste settled in my palate. “Why should I?”

Berna looked at me as if she tasted something sour that her facial features collected themselves to the center of her face. I wasn’t sure if it was me or the vodka cocktail that made her look like that. She guzzled her second glass of vodka, leaving the cucumber at the bottom of the glass as she set it down the countertop. Her cheeks became flushed like she was down with a fever, groaning a bit, probably from the burning feeling of the drink running down her throat. “Because I told you so.”

Snorting at her, I averted my eyes to my drink. Compared to Berna’s vodka, it was far from being empty as I only drank down to the neck of the bottle. The bubbles rose up from the bottom of the bottle up to the surface then pops. I jumped at the feeling of Berna shaking my arm. Her eyes looked at me mischievously and a sly smile plastered on her face, jerking her head a bit towards our side and pointing at something. Shifting in my seat, I turned my gaze towards two tall silhouettes. With a touch of my arm, Berna slipped off her chair and clung onto the arm of one of the silhouettes, choosing the one who made a bigger shadow than the other. She tiptoed as she whispered to the bigger silhouette’s ear.

The bigger silhouette looked at Berna before looking at his friend. He pushed him towards me, gesturing for his friend to take a seat on where Berna was supposed to be sitting. He would lower himself to sit then raises himself up before he finally sits beside me. He stretched out a hand. “Hi, I’m Eric.”

Smiling sheepishly, I took his hand and shook it slowly. My eyes glanced on where Berna and Eric’s friend were supposed to be then looking at Eric again. “Julee.”

Eric lifted his pointer to catch the attention of the bartender and orders a bottle of Red Horse for himself, then looked at me, asking if I wanted another bottle of San Miguel as he pointed at it. I shook my head and my hands that were in front of me. He chuckled, resting his temple on his knuckles as he kept on looking at me.

Leaning in a bit, he pulled his chair close to mine that our knees brush against each other. He asked where I was from, what I did for a living, and I answered him briefly, limiting every answer from two to three short sentences while shifting constantly in my seat to have some space in between us.

Guzzling down my drink, I felt my phone quiver inside my tote. I fumbled for the zipper and zipped it open, rummaging for my phone. At the sight of my phone’s screen, I bit my upper lip, stopping myself from grinning in front of a stranger. I slid off the chair, still staring at the screen. Not minding Eric at all, I said nonchalantly, “I have to go.”

I made a path in between the closest of people that only had a bottle cap width separating their bodies so that I could slip out of the exit.

Waving my hand, I caught the attention of a taxi driver. I yanked the car door open and slipped inside before closing it. I mumbled out my destination as I looked at my phone again. I opened the text message and read:

Hey, baby. How’s work today? I hope you didn’t get stressed out. I’ll be home in a while. See you soon, princess.

My thumbs fumbled along the screen as I typed a reply to tell him that work had me quite stressed out and I had an unpleasant encounter with a flirt while I was out drinking with my best friend, Berna. I was about to press SEND when another message came in from him.

Wrong send. Sorry.

I felt my heart drop like how the cucumber in Berna’s vodka cocktail at the bottom of her glass. I bit my lower lip as I cleared out what I was about to say and replied:

It’s OK.

I should have accepted Eric’s offer.

A poem for “Autumn Rhythm”

A whisk of white;

The light of mid-day.

A splatter of black;

The shadow on the ground.

A dash of orange-brown;

The leaves falling from the trees.

Rhythm they make,

Rhythm you see,

For every lash and whip

On the brown canvas sea.

A Thank You

You were there when I was breaking

For you knew that my heart was aching

When I thought I was alone

You became my home

I know I owe you a lot

For there was a time that you were all I’ve got

Not a Fairy Tale

LOVE isn’t always a fairy tale where the prince is always right on time to rescue the damsel-in-distress. LOVE can be as terrifying as a fall from a skyscraper, you’ll never know if someone will run to catch you or you’ll just fall flat to the ground and die in agonizing pain.

Ghosts

Ghosts,

Ghosts everywhere.

Ghosts everywhere and she can see them.

 

They never touch her,

They never harm her,

But they were always there

And she can see them.

 

She can hear their whispers,

She can hear their cackles,

But she can never hear their cries and sobs.

 

They talk to her,

She talks to them.

 

They ask her how does it feel to be alive but dead,

She asks them how does it feel to be dead but alive.

 

They answer, “warm.”

She answers, “cold.”

 

By their answer, she felt envious.

By her answer, they felt pity.

 

She had always watched them

Floating about in the air,

But as time passes by,

Their shapeless forms turn to solid flesh and liquid blood.

 

They always know that she is there

Watching them with her lonely eyes,

But as the clock ticks,

Her flesh and blood turn to whirling smoke and shapeless air.

 

She floats.

They stand.

 

Ghosts,

Ghosts nowhere.

Ghosts nowhere but only her.

A Child’s Mind

A child’s mind is like a puzzle,

One answer is an expanding ripple.

A child’s mind will not stop questioning,

Until you say what he is asking.

 

But what if no one can fill the child’s mind,

And just telling that it is known by all mankind.

Adults will never know that the child is deprived,

Of the food needed by a child’s mind.