Flood
Tumultuous and great, the earth shook. Rocks and stones spewed out of volcanoes. There were fires all over places. People ran to secure locations. There were big floods.
"Dad!" Myca held on tight to the rope that Reymund tied around the fifteen-year-old girl's body She was wading in the flood towards where her dad was. Water just popped up out of nowhere until it rose fast waist-deep, Reymund had to move as fast. He looked for the rope that he had been keeping around the house; fortunately, he found it. Esther was at her office job during that time, but Reymund knew that their circumstance was a priority. In no time, the water subsided and Myca was pacified, relieved that the rising stopped. She and dad had thought of getting inside the car, but then they hesitated at first to give the car a start. They tried to work its engine; it didn't work. It was wet inside and outside as they were. They went out, hurriedly, and began their long trek to where they thought there would probably be a safer place.
Esther hadn't finished her work that day when she saw the news—didn't waste time—left her post, jumped in her car and wheeled it through, sped it up like Wonder Woman. At some point she had to stop because police barricaded the affected areas. They had to be safe, she told herself. She called them. Reymund's phone said he wasn't available. Where did they go? She rang them over and over, but Reymund wasn't picking the call. In her frustration, she pounded the wheel; then, suddenly, her phone rang. "Thank God," she muttered.
Fire
In another place, Maya ran outside the house. She saw the fire becoming wider as it started to eat the houses nearby. She was starting to feel the heat. The fire must be close. She looked around where she could hide and in panic jumped inside the pool. She stayed there for an hour. She would bob her head up from the water once in a while to breathe. When she felt that she was safe, she stood up. soaking wet, and ran until she was out in the main street where people had gathered.
"What happened?" a bystander asked. "It suddenly became hot without warning. There wasn't any announcement or news of what is going on?"
Maya kept looking around for her three kids and her husband. She shoved aside people left and right, taking her chances to find them. She didn't mind that she was drenched all over her body. They might be around, she thought.
A neighbor who was able to bring some goods recognized her.
Maya!" she called. "Oh! You're wet!" She was looking at Maya from head to foot. "I was able to save some clothes in the box. Come with me."
Maya came with Steph.
"Go check from all that stuff." Steph was nodding her head, reassuring Maya that it was all right to get some clothes and things she needed. "You are safe now. We are safe now! We can start looking for them."
"I hope they are safe too. I forgot my cellphone." Maya shook her head. "That was terrible," she said as she recalled everything. "There was no time to think. I jumped in our pool to save myself when I saw the fire was everywhere and was all around me."
Steph was near tears as Maya narrated her story. "I know. We have the same experience. I went out quickly as soon as I felt that the heat wasn't normal. I thought it was way above my tolerance limit."
The two women walked away from their residence. They saw a dining place and went inside.
"Authorities are looking into possible causes of the strange fire that gutted over a hundred houses in the residential district of Polok. It was suggested that it was another wild fire, the origin, however, could not be pointed out. But another hypothesis suggests that the cause might have been an underground radiation spilling over the surface."
Maya and Steph sat. They didn't care about the details of the news. All they thought of that time was their families.
"The good news, is, families of the affected residential district who are looking for members of their families-- the local government of Polok have started to gather them in the city government's hall. We are announcing the names of people who have been found by social welfare and local government authorities."
The news reader went on. When Maya and Steph heard the names of their children and husbands, they were relieved. They cried in each other's arms.
Volcanic eruption
In another place, a volcano, which had been sleeping for seventy-six years, was awaken, spewing ash and magma.
Residents around the lake where sat the volcano were also awaken from their sleep.
"Let's go; there's no time to wait," Liam told Kamala. At their back, they could see Helen opening its mouth and out came brimstones and fires. The husband and wife took cover under the trees as they ran. They were in their sleeping clothes. There was no time to change. Some of the residents who tried to save themselves were in their bare feet; some women, in their negligees; some, naked; and some were lucky to put on proper clothes so that they could run faster. However, there was no one to regulate the emergency situation; it was each one to his own safety, until there was a stampede. They never thought that the next eruption of Helen would fall in their time. They knew it had a history of eruptive behavior and she'd always been like that. But today, Helen's tantrum was without let-up.
The myth; Hector and Achilles
What people thought of as a myth was awaken from a long, deep slumber. At first, his huge eyes hung in the clouds. They saw him but paid no attention. He was studying the inhabitants. He meant the earth to be their playgrounds. But when he sees that they were up to no good, he shakes its foundation, thus, the mighty movements. He stood up—people saw him as he rose and walked in the clouds, then zoomed. Then, he was gone.
The earth was never the same after. There were real physical changes. It moved ten degrees backward in the course of the shaking and rattling. At times, people heard sounds—first, the trumpet, then, the roaring of the seas and oceans.
"What the heck! That was horrible," Achilles got up from bed.
"What is it?" Hector, who slept in another bed beside him, asked.
"You wouldn't believe. I saw eyes in the clouds. It turned into a man. It was transparent; it became a shooting star that zoomed to earth. Other shooting stars followed; then, they were all gone."
"Did you make a wish? They say you can wish on a shooting star."
"No."
"That wasn't horrible."
"I don't know. Am I on the wrong side of the bed?"
"What time did you sleep? Hector asked.
"Around three in the morning."
Hector chortled. "That explains why your head cranks. Go back to bed. I'll wake you up when it's your time."
The two yuppies were call center agents.
The shooting star had been jumping here and there. There was a three-year old boy that fell by the hillside. The parents were cooking their meal when they overlooked the little tot. Then, they looked all around for him, but he couldn't be found. A star saw the boy in the act of falling; it zoomed down the ridge, caught him and carried him up like Superman; then, it dropped the little boy at home. His parents did not notice that a miraculous thing had taken place.
There was another boy who would have fallen down a creek side. Another star caught the boy by his body; his head would have hit a rock. In that creek was said to have lurked a hideous beast.
The two stars had been smiling because they had saved lives.
As for Reymund, Myca and Esther, they found each other in a friend's place in another town not affected by flood. They, too, cried tears of joy.
Lobo and Andrea are alive
In an earlier timeline, a star circled and twirled then zoomed to another place. It assumed the form of a human being. Andrea's quick reflex caught the human form that landed on her grounds—she was doing her rounds of gymnastics workout. It went closer to her and snapped a kiss. Andrea shook her head in disbelief as she felt something invisible did just that—kissed her on her cheeks. She was trying to figure out who it was although there was only one name that occurred to her all the time. Andrea was ruminating. It had been years since the war. She had moved on without Hugh by her side, hiding the pain of losing him by keeping herself busy all the time. She knew that the loss had changed her and that she had to learn to get used to the fact. Then, the light transparent figure drifted gracefully away in a curve line, replaced by a beautiful green and yellow butterfly that slowly floated towards her direction-- her attention was diverted from the invisible figure. It was gone as she looked back.
Was it her mood or was it real? She shook her head. I have to wake up, she thought. They were no ordinary human beings and their kinds had entertained the belief that their souls were immortal once they had fulfilled their destiny—the path of truth, justice, and mercy. She went inside her house after patting her face, shoulders, and arms from sweat. She looked for the telephone. She would call Lobo. Lobo was already married to one Jenina and they had a cute pretty girl they named Andrea in honor of his friend Hugh. It would have been Hugh if it were a boy.
The phone rang on the other side of the line and the older Andrea said she's coming. The couples Lobo and Jenina were lingering in bed during that beautiful, damp, gentle morning—there were marks of soft drizzles on the glass windows as thick clouds cast on the sky; the gray atmosphere, contrasted by the gentle cooing of birds.
You're on your way?" Lobo asked, his voice low.
"Yes," Andrea said.
"Okay," he hung up the receiver.
"Who is it?" asked Jenina.
"Andrea."
"My godmother!" exclaimed the little Andrea—she was sandwiched between dad and mom in the bed.
The little Andrea was excited because she would have her gymnastics session with her godmother. She had always looked forward to those moments. Lobo, the gifted guitarist and music artist had wondered why the little Andrea did not get the inclination that was passed on to him by his mom, the once flamboyant, the activist and the musical artist, Julia.
Jenina, on the other hand, was a very confident woman, a beauty and a brain, Lobo was thankful as his wife didn't have to be jealous of Andrea. He had told her the beautiful love story of his best friend Hugh and Andrea. Jenina was thankful because somebody who knew gymnastics, according to her, possessed a rare gift.
In the woods, close to the family's house, was where they worked out. Jenina was surprised to see how the two Andrea's flew like birds using clean white cloth fabrics that they turned into ropes. They had the visible material neatly but safely tied to the trees. There was in the middle level from the ground up an extensively wide net that Lobo and friends had set up and was used to catch them whenever they fell. There were, scattered on the ground, too, a huge foam that provided support.
"Up!" The older Andrea threw little Andrea in the air; she aimed for the high horizontal bar with what looked fragile but, no less, strong right and left arm. She hanged on it, then pushed herself forward, backward, forward again, and up-down, up-down. Then, she pushed forward and reached for the cloth that hung in front of her. She caught it and clung on it with her left and right arm like a monkey. She was carried backward, but then she pushed forward, backward, forward and backward, until she got the momentum to push forward towards the tree across. Then, she found herself sitting on the tree's branch.
She stood up, surveyed the surroundings with her eyes, smiling, feeling satisfied. Her two bright big eyes sparkled. After a few minutes resting, she stood up again, took a deep breath as she aimed for another rope and hung forward and backward; the rope swayed to and from the tree.
"Whoa!" The little Andrea enjoyed playing like Tarzan. Then, she allowed her arms to slip down from the rope little by little and the rope continued to sway until she was down on the ground.
Lobo and Jenina were happy looking at the two enjoy what they were doing as they endlessly clapped their hands. They cautioned them nonetheless to take extra care as they engaged with such dangerous sport.
Lobo played his guitar and sang to entertain the three after their workouts.
Isabella and family
Isabella had become a little older, but since Time had moved back, no one noticed that she was older as she looked almost half her age. She was in the mood to play with her gifts. Her eyes moved and lit up like laser beams. The plants swayed. Her hanging variegated plants had eyes so bright they sparkled. The other plants danced with the soft music she played.
"You have become beautiful, indeed," she told her red rose flowers. The rose flowers snapped left and right, then, bloomed bigger… and bigger, then went back to its original size. It was their way of saying thank you for the compliment.
She uttered the same compliment to her tulips, which, in turn, made the same gesture as the rose flowers. Isabella nodded her head in recognition of the tulips' appreciation of her good words.
"You, you have now become a crouching tiger," she told her aerial plants. "And you, you have become plump." She was talking to her aloe vera.
She waved her right hand and all the plants and trees around her obeyed; they danced. "You are all adorable." Suddenly, there was a voice from behind.
"Mom!"
The plants stopped moving.
Suzy was with Yuri and a baby whom they named Ella, a derivative of Isabella.
"What a surprise visit," Isabella said.
"Where is dad?" Suzy had missed both of them, but now that she was married, she also could not leave without her family by her side.
"What a lovely morning you have, pretty baby!" Isabella opened up her arms to give her granddaughter a big embrace.
"Beautiful dress. Whodunnit?" She jokingly asked.
Ella pointed to Suzy.
"And you Yuri, how is married life?" Isabella was surprised to notice that Yuri's face had become plump, too, like her aloe vera. She couldn't help but chortle. "You two must be very happy."
"Obviously, I am enjoying that little doll we've got."
"Only the little doll?" Suzy kidded.
"Ha ha ha…" Yuri pulled Suzy to him and gave her a hug.
"Hmm… I could smell another baby coming after you Princess Ella," said Isabella.
Ella's eyes twinkled as her granny called her princess.
"Let's go see your granddaddy." Isabella walked towards the garden at the side of the house where Aaron loved to do his morning warm up.
"Dad!" Ella called his grandfather. She was in the arms of Isabella.
Aaron's eyes lit up seeing his granddaughter; Yuri was following. He dropped his dumbbell and reached for his towel then patted his forehead and his arms. "Whoa! It feels good to sweat out."
"There will be a celebration," he suggested as he looked at his visitors.
"Who is the celebrant?" Isabella asked.
"Who else but the new baby of this house," Aaron was excited.
But Suzy complained:
"Dad?"
"Of course, you are all my babies," he was trying to console Suzy who he thought never overcame the pampering and attention that had been accorded to her as an only daughter of the Lee's.
"I'm kidding!" Suzy snapped back. Everyone was laughing.
"Where are the rest? Michael and Josh?" Yuri butted in.
"It is the brothers' bonding time. Josh is like a father to Michael."
"Ever since dad," said Suzy.
"Don't worry. They'll be around come dinner time," said Isabella.
Josh and Michael
It was a sunny day. Ice cream day for Michael as Josh had promised. Michael was almost twelve. He had expected Josh as he was told by Isabella that Josh would fetch him. Josh wasn't late unlike mom, Michael thought as he looked at his older brother walked towards him as he stood in front of the gate of the school. There were school-children waiting for their moms, dads, or nannies. The two walked to an ice cream parlor.
"I like the cookies and cream flavor."
Josh enjoyed doting on his younger brother who was fast growing up.
"Okay." He dipped inside the right pocket at the back of his pants, pulled his wallet and paid the cashier. Michael smiled. My brother is big, he thought. He loved using the word "big" giving it his own various meanings and interpretations as he pleased.
"How's work?" he asked Michael as they sat over a table.
"Why do you ask?"
"None. I want to be like you," his eyes were fixed on Josh as he spoke the words.
"Why?" Josh kidded.
"Because you're good."
"What do you mean I'm good?" Josh was in a bantering mood, but Michael knew.
"Because you are treating me ice cream today…" he licked his ice cream "and more ice cream tomorrow."
Josh was a witness to the past and he had promised himself to be more protective of his parents and his siblings.
"Where do you plan to go after this?" he asked Michael.
"You mean you can take me to the mall if I want to?"
"Sure. It is my day-off."
"Yehey! That Super Mall has many virtual inter-active playgrounds. We can play!"
"We are playing whole ball games, Michael. We have inter-active games at home. Whole games are more healthful. They make you sweat out. Those sweats are the toxins released by your body."
Michael listened, looked at him; he didn't complain. He trusted Josh like their father. He believed whatever he told him because Josh had been spending time with him, even more time than Aaron had. He was the substitute daddy. Aaron liked seeing and knowing that Josh was responsible for his younger brother because at times, he's swamped with jobs and had to spend nights at the workplace. He never entertained the idea of retirement.
When they reached the mall, Michael was running around, looking at games and toys. First, the two of them tried the claw machine which had toys for prizes. Michael liked the toy-catching contraption that they almost lost time for the real ball game. They played basketball for a few hours then went home.
The whole family and some friends were present. Josh was surprised to find that Jan and Fr. Robert dropped by. Amalia was there—and Talia.