I was with my honey. We went to some building were there was supposed to be a telephone operator needed at one area. This operator, I believe was to talk to those who were going to the building for parking or something relating to drive thru orders. But there was no one there. Instinctively, I took the slot. The phone suddenly rang and I picked it up. There was a lady at the end of the line. She was giving a sermon about reporting to work promptly, etc. She then bothered to ask who I was. I told her I’m a new member of “Now” and that JP recommended me there. I said we just arrived and found that no one was in that slot.
A few minutes later in that barren room corner.. (the room was made of wood and its two sides were open at that time). JP was sitting in the open side of the room, while I was holding the phone at the far right corner. There were four telephones in that room. 2 or 3 of them were wired phones, while the other one was handsfree. Two guys came in and wanted to use the phonelines. I gave way, and assisted them in using the phone. I distinctly remember hearing the dial tone several times.
After being busy with these, I looked over the window (of the one side of the room that used to be open–now walled with one door and one window). I saw that there was some gathering outside. I distinctly feel that it was of a political essence. Something more like a public speaker was atop a platform and there were listeners outside. It was an open area. There were monobloc chairs–white ones. Towards the back, JP was there, just standing. I didn’t really see him standing there–more like I just knew he was standing there. I don’t remember his clothes, but it felt like there was another guy wearing another familiar shirt of his.
Moments later, it felt like there was an extremely heavy storm coming. First, I saw the sky was turning black. Not grey, but black. You really won’t see anything beyond the black sky. That’s what made it very creepy. Next, the steel made infrastructure that was just behind the platform was shaky. It gave me a bad feeling that it would collapse. I stared at it very hard and felt worry, panic and fear surge through me. I don’t remember how long I saw it swaying dangerously because of the very strong wind that was approaching along with the heavy storm; when suddenly, it collapsed infront of my eyes. Funny that the room where I was didn’t seem to have felt its impact when it hit the ground. I didn’t hear a loud smash, nor did I feel the ground shake when it did fall. Its like the feeling in the movies when suddenly everything goes dead silent and there’s only one thing you’d do.
I opened the door to go to JP. The fallen infrastructure blocked the door, but I didn’t stop. I instinctively jumped through an opening to find my way out into the place where JP was supposedly standing. All of a sudden, I knew I didn’t think of it earlier. The infrastructure could really have been a high tower of electricity conducting purposes. I jumped in and felt a shock surge through my body and I got scared. It felt more like, “Oh, no!!! Did I die?” I looked at my body and found me still standing there and knowing that I can still move. It made no difference that I thought I was stupid enough to do that without thinking.
I looked up and saw a man wearing a familiar shirt of JP and thought it was him. I was hoping it was him, but it felt like it wasn’t. I was in a hurry to get to where he is. I really can’t see much because of my poor eyesight. I can’t find him and it made me feel frustrated, in agony and in great, great fear at that time. I got an idea and I moved around a more open space. I mustered all my strength, and speed and ran like hell towards the back… and then I stopped. I opened my eyes and I found that I was alone. Nobody there, except a guy that looked like he was a cop. He was still in uniform, though one that I couldn’t recognize. He was looking over a poor man’s cart. The wooden type that you see a scavenger uses to find old bottles, newspapers, etc to sell for a living. But he was looking over at the cart as if it was a crib! He was swaying some toy over and smiling as if there was a child in it.
The storm was coming. I know so. It looked like the storm was not a rain that could only wet you physically. It looked more like a disaster coming. It felt like one too. The darkness was not only from the sky. The darkness was moving closer and faster than I could run. But the cop, he didn’t move. He didn’t care. I didn’t bother to shake him up. He was at peace with it. I am not.
Everywhere I looked, the ground was made of red bricks. Towards the place where the darkness was creeping up was a curve of the ground. It looked more like sands of the desert but in red bricks! The ground was wavy and it was dusty. There was no fallen infrastructure anywhere, no injured people, no crowd whatsoever. There was only a sight of one white monobloc chair about to be gulped by the moving darkness. I felt ultimately helpless and frustrated. I was in worry, panic and fear. I dropped to the ground and cried. I remember crying and shouting at the same time: “I can’t find it!!!!” At that very moment, I felt my heartbeat. It was going wild, and mad. I don’t understand if it beated 3x every second or even more than that. My heart felt like it was also confused and berserk that time. It seemed like it wanted to go out of my body and leave me to die. I was holding my chest and it felt like the end of the world.. but more like just my own end. I was leaving the darkness to have me at my point of despair. I clasp my chest and be in tune with my heartbeat. The beating seemed to be following the ground shakes, but my own beating felt so much stronger. It felt like I would die. The moment I dropped to the ground and screamed, I saw a stone. The only stone in the brick red ground. I thought in my dream.. why would there be a stone there? why would it be alone? it looked shiny, clean but it was just one stone. What is that stone all about?
I don’t remember that I stopped crying while musing shortly about the stone. Deep inside I knew the stone intrigued me more than the cop and the baby. The stone. It seemed to have mattered to me, but why? And should it really matter?
At that moment I was down, I heard JP’s voice. I wasn’t able to look because my face was on the ground. I felt him say, “halika na”. He lifted me from my elbows. But when I looked up to find him, he wasn’t there. I feel him, I hear him. But I can’t see him! I can’t see him, yet it didn’t bother me? Why??
We ran away from the darkness as it came fast approaching. By then, I forgot about the cop and the ‘baby’, as well as the stone.