Wonderwall (JeDean)

Dos

D E A N N A

The first decade

Katulad ni Pierre na ipinangalan pa sa kaibigang dayuhan ng kanyang Lolo, ay lumaki rin ako sa isang buena familia. Ingles ang pangunahing salitang natutunan ko mula sa aking mga magulang. Na syang kinasanayan naming gamiting madalas ni Pierre

"Izabella, I am noticing something strange about you."

As the youngest child, I was marked as my Mother's favorite.

I just laughed.

"Ano naman iyon, Ina?"

"Sabihin mo. Bakit hindi nagbabago ang iyong itsura?"

Ngumiti lang ako

Her features suddenly hardened

"Ibinenta mo ba ang iyong kaluluwa kapalit ng kabataan, Izabella?!"

Nagulat ako at napatayo.

"Hindi, Ina!"

"Thirty years old, Izabella! That's how you should look like right now! Thirty years old! Tell me! What happened?!"

"Ina, ayos lang ito, mas mahahawakan ko nang maayos ang negosyo dahil hindi ako nagkakasakit o tumatanda."

"Mali, Izabella! Mali! Kailangan nating ipatingin ka sa albularyo!"

A woman of science, that's how I always viewed my mother. The doctor is always where we went to but now, 10 years after receiving the curse... I am about to meet a quack doctor.

Napasinghap na agad ang albularyong si Mang Pio noong makita n'ya ako.

"Isang sumpa."

He hurriedly came near me and snatched my left hand and looked at my ring finger

"Bakit ka nakialam, hija?!"

"Iyon ang tama noong mga oras na iyon."

I said calmly.

I looked at my mother who started to quietly sob in a corner.

"Hindi pa ipinapanganak, hija."

My forehead creased

how did he--?

"Ang pulang sinulid ng tadhana ay nakatali lamang saiyo. Wala itong karugtong. At nararamdaman kong hindi pa isisilang sa panahong ito ang taong nakatadhanang maikabit sa kabilang dulo ng sinulid."

My mother fainted.

I was shocked at how much knowledge the old man had. And for the first time, after the curse. I am petrified.

-----

I dated men and women.

But none of them seemed to break the curse

"Itatali ko ang pulang sinulid ng tadhana sa taong hindi pa nakatakdang ipanganak sa panahong ito! "

Gabriella's voice echoed in my head again.

I moved to countless places to hide my identity and my deepest secret.

A few days after my encounter with Mang Pio my father died. Everyone around me is growing old. Except for me.

I was introduced as my eldest sibling's youngest child at my father's wake. Which people believed for he and his family are living in Cebu. People said I looked like my missing Aunt. I don't have a missing Aunt and my parents don't have a missing child. But they do have me. A cursed child who changes identity every now and then. And now, I am my brother's youngest child.

I came with them to Cebu. And had to return to Manila a few years later when our mother died.

It is painful... seeing everyone fall into oblivion while I stayed and watched them leave.

Year in and year out I was a different person, a different family member. A cousin, a niece, a grandchild but never their sister.

Until my last living sibling died.

I will never get used to death around me. But I got used to changing Identity and my elder brother's descendants are the ones who handle my identity now and my constant address changing.

Death. I have tried to succumb to it a hundred times before, but nothing ever happens. I am still here, I am still alive and I am still as young as I was decades ago.

How many years has it been? I have already lost count.  I can't even remember how old I already am.
I've been to countless provinces and cities then it turned to states and countries and everything in between.

I could only last in a place for a limited time, and I hated it. I am a drifter and I would never find a home unless I meet the one who will break the curse.

I fell in love with a woman whom I thought would be the cure.

we were together for 3 years and I have noticed that I haven't grown old yet nor caught a fever, not even a simple cold. It was cruel, to leave someone you love because you know that you cannot stay.

It happened countless times, meeting someone but nothing ever happens. Nothing ever changes. I am still stuck.

-----

CEBU,  late 1990's

After traveling around. I am back in Cebu, again.

I still have the ring and I still have no clue why it became a ring. Does this mean that I will stay forever immortal?

The thought made my stomach turn.  Or is that person already born?

Everything is changing around me, I saw the first handheld phone it the 80's that looked like a brick with buttons. And now this cellphone. I am growing tired of living and seeing this place fall from destruction and rise again. It always happens, and their downfalls are almost always the same reason but these people never learn from history.

"Izabella."

I turned around and I saw Dean. And I guess it's time.

"This is your next identity. You would be my third born child. Ma. Deanna Izabella A. Wong"

I just smiled and nodded.

"I am your great ancestor, but I have become your Aunt, your cousin and now I am your child. When I come back I'll make sure to start calling you my father."

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WLR