AMACON 4: SERENDIPITOUS (30-Day Writing Challenge)

Born Again

AMACon 4: Serendipitous
Drabbles Day One: Happy Birthday Alden

The alarm on his phone woke him up with a jolt. Disoriented, he reached for it on his side table to hit snooze, then closed his eyes again. After 5 minutes, the alarm went off again. He opened his eyes and felt the headache coming almost immediately and wondered if it was from the two bottles of beer he now regrets or the tears he cried until God knows when he fell asleep. He closed his eyes again and attempted to go back to unconsciousness with no luck. So he sat up on the bed and briefly prayed, sending a quick thanks to God for another day, and a special intention to lighten the burden of sadness he'd been carrying in his heart. He decided he might as well just face the day and be done with it. It's his birthday after all.

He'd stopped planning his birthdays ever since his mother died. It's always been his belief that his birthday should really be a celebration of his mother because it's the day she endured unending pain to push him out safely, only to be cut up in the end because he was too big of a baby to deliver normally. Now that his mother is gone, he sees no reason to celebrate. But if there's something the past years had taught him, it's that his Lola will not hear any of his complaints about celebrating. So he goes downstairs and as expected, a birthday breakfast had been prepared for him, complete with a banner of "Happy Birthday Alden," hanging just above the Last Supper on their dining room's eggshell colored wall. He gives his Lola a kiss on the forehead when she emerged from the kitchen with a huge plate of tender juicy hotdog.

After breakfast, he went back to his room to wallow some more. It's been like this the past 3 birthdays without his mother. But it seems this year will be different. They all usually spend breakfast together-- his dad, sister, older brother, lolo, and lola. Today, only his lolo and lola joined him for breakfast, which was odd considering it's his birthday. But he ignored and bit his lola's alibi that they all had something to do that early in the day.

He hears a soft knock on his door, just as he's about to bury his face in his pillow to sleep again. He ignores the first couple of knocks, but when the third sounded firmer and more impatient, he opens it. It was his lola.

"RJ, iho, it's your birthday. Are you just going to stay here all day? Why don't you go out? Call your friends and go out." His 70 year old lola insisted.

"La, I'm okay. I had a rough night so I'll just sleep a couple more hours. But I promise, I will go out, okay? Thank you, La." He said and kissed her cheek.

"Okay, iho. Happy birthday." She smiled at him sweetly and left.

He jumped back to bed and just laid there. The headache is gone and his over active body is itching to go to the gym. So he got up, got ready and went to the gym.

He picked the heavy bags for his workout of the day. The area was empty, unusual for the second day of the year, save for someone who sounded like she was ready to kill someone, in the farthest corner of the room. He went about his kickboxing routine he set for himself but kept getting distracted by the grunts of the woman in the corner. Curious, he moved a few heavy bags down to get a closer look at the person who's mercilessly attacking the poor heavy bag in the corner.

She's very petite, compared to his height, wearing an all black workout ensemble of plain shirt, yoga pants, and matching pink and grey boxing gloves and Nike frees. She had her hair up in a ponytail which bounced at every punch she landed on the bag. She threw a roundhouse kick and he was stunned at the strength she seemed to have. He watched her some more but after a few more minutes, the grunting while punching was replaced by painful sobs. The girl's tears streamed down her face along with her sweat.

He thought of just ignoring it and just going about his routine. She didn't seem to notice him yet so he didn't feel responsible to ask yet. But there's something about the woman that pulled him and made him approach her. She immediately stopped punching when she noticed him standing by her heavy bag. He opened his mouth with nothing. He tried again and this time offered his towel to her.

"Uhm... miss... are you okay? Would you like to spar or something?" He asked like the dork that he is and then rubbed his nape in embarrassment.

To his surprise, she smiled and it was the sweetest, most beautiful smile he had ever seen since her late mother.

They spent the rest of the morning sparring and throwing punches at each other, like giving each other a taste of their angst in life.

At around 12:30 pm, they decided to stop and call it a day. They went to their respective showers but ended coming out at the same time.

"Uhm..."

"Alden."

"Alden... thanks for today. I'm sorry if nalakas yung ibang suntok. Alam mo na, sabi ko nga sayo diba I came here para maglabas ng sama ng loob."

"Okay lang... uhmm..."

"Maine"

"Maine... okay lang..Thank you din kasi ako din I was able to let out what I needed to let out today."

"Wala yon. O pano? Una na ko?"

"Uhm... okay... sa uulitin..."

"Yeah, sige."

He watched her walk a few steps away, until his own two feet moved and followed her.

"Uh Maine! Sandali..."

"O..."

"Uhmm... do you want to maybe join me for lunch? Kase ano eh... birthday ko today."

She smiled wildly, clasped her hands together and excitedly responded.

"Of course! Sure, I'd love to! Happy birthday, Alden!"

That was the day he felt that he was born again and started celebrating his birthdays again since.

(Originally published in "Tapunan Ng Feelings" on January 3, 2017.)