Dying is the Easiest Part

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A Sunset and Two Pairs of Lonely Eyes

Dinner's at 6 PM and it's currently 5 PM at nandito ako ngayon sa may boardwalk. My arms are on top of the wooden railing and I'm leaning my chin on top of my arms.

Sinabihan ko si Gabriel na sabihin kay Dad na hindi ko siya masasabayan mag dinner mamaya. Of course, it's written all over Gabriel's face that he wants to protest but he just said okay instead of protesting.

I sigh, staring at the sun that's about to set. I let the sea breeze dance with the strands of my hair as I look at the islet that has forms the image of a side profile of a lion. There's a small hole on the left part of that lions head that looks like a round swimming pool. The water is clear and safe to drink.

Yes. I know.

I know because I created it... from my imagination. Just like how I created this place.

Los Cielos.

It's still feel odd how I suddenly woke up from the fiction world I used to create when I was still drunk in writing. There are some parts that I remembered writing, but some parts that I don't.

The houses and the people for example... but Stacey, I remember her. I don't remember using a name Stacey before, but her personality is always the same that I used with the personalities of the mothers of my heroines.

The best mother personality.

Something that my mom is lacking.

I still don't have the concrete explanation in mind, but I'm convinced I woke up in the own world that I created... Hindi ko alam. Ayaw ko munang isipin.

Click.

The clicking sound coming from a camera suddenly pulled me out of my trance. When I tilt my head to look at the person who snatched me from my own thoughts, I saw Garett Verona with a DSLR camera hanging on his neck.

The blue shirt that he's wearing amused me... well, it supposed to surprised me but it seems like I got immune to surprises causing me to feel amused when find out that the shirt that he's wearing was also mentioned to the stories that I've wrote before.

Thalassic.

It was a shirt from a small clothing brand that a friend of mine owns. We are not that close, but I see how much he struggles when it comes to promoting his clothes since his business was still small.

And because I know exactly how it felt to see your girl friends supporting other big authors as they neglect my own works, I've decided to use his clothing brand as something that my fictional character would wear... I was being nice, maybe... but there's no use. No one is even paying attention to my own works.

Okay, maybe there are some reading them... but people will never support you unless you're popular. They read, but the support is always silent. So while my intention is good, it didn't bring any profit to his small business. I felt sick after that.

Click

"Hey!" Para akong muling nagising nang tumunog ulit ang camera ni Garett.

He grins and takes the camera away from his face. He lowers it down, holding it using his two hands and then he stares down at the screen.

And because I felt conscious of how I look at the picture he took (without my consent), I stomped towards him and tiptoed to peek at the screen of his camera.

I pause as I slowly take the image in.

Behind me was the sun that's about to set, it was placed in the gap between two clouds. And then there was me, standing. Some strands of my hair are covering some part of my cheeks, but my eyes... they were what caught my attention the most.