His story begins

He sits on the railings of the cliff as he focused his attention on where the sun is rising. He left Manila as early as his sleepy eye could endure, so as to let no one know of his sudden departure. In search of soltitude, he just got a ride on the first bus that we would come across that morning in EDSA. As a small hint of sunlight touched his face, tears glared from his cheek. This is, indeed, not the best time to be alone for the first time in his entire life.

They say, in the Bible's Old Testament, God resides in high places. Moses made contact with God in Mount Sinai. This is also where he saw the promised land before he faded from this world.

This is, perhaps, the reason why Phil is in Baguio right now. Months ago, he just finished an academic course that he had no intersest on in the first place, thus ending his fifteen straight years of learning nothing but life basics and complex theories. His girl-friend, long-time fling actually, has just left him for another guy, just three days before the big graduation day. His Dad, who basically has predetermined his life for his unico ijo, died of cancer months before the graduation, thus disabling him to pursue any real course that would define a real life ahead of him. Mom's out there somewhere, but he never knew where since he was still very young. He's been alone eversince he stood into college, but never did he feel the real consequences of being alone until now. With just a thousand bucks left in his pockets, and the cloud-capped mountains adorning the scene that is Mines View Park, he is swept away to a place where he could finally find Him to blame for this life that He seems to have forsaken. Here, he asks the question asked by philosophers that he once adored: "Where to from here?"

He felt shivers, but not because it's January, the coldest month of the year. As people come and go, taking pictures of the green mountains and white fog, it's as if time is just passing by for this poor motionless creature. As if to move an inch would just add more reason to believe that he has definitely lost his direction, as it felt like drifting in space with no clue where he's heading. They say it's extremely dark and cold out there in space. This is probably the chill that he sees his future right now. Dark and cold.

People smile as they come and go. But then it started to rain. Like ants immediately sensing impending danger, tourists retreated to the nearby souvenirs market for shelter. But Phil stayed. There's no danger for a man who feels he has nothing to look forward to anymore. Anyway, it's one nice way to conceal his tears.

He shifted his focus to where he is right now: on the edge of a abyssal cliff. Time slows down as he leaned forward and lifted his leg to go beyond the wooden railings. As he see things now, the only message that he has received from God is rain falling to the deepest edges of the cliff. There's no definite direction now but to fall down.

As he closed his eyes upon establishing this disclosure, and as he hangs his body as his final attempt to cling into life and reason, he felt a swift pull coming from the collar of his shirt. His feet slipped, robbing him from his balance and allowing him to fall, not off the cliff but where it's safe once again. Although it's not that entirely safe, as he knocked his head on a rock as he tumbles to the ground.

He taught he died already, as it was a blurred image of an angel as rain continues to douse his eyes, before consciousness totally left him. "Oops," she said, with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Somebody call a doctor!"