Cosmix Academy: Beyond the Cosmos

1 - The Shooting Star

Aurelia

I was watching and looking around as darkness takes over. I saw the city lights from afar even if the wall that surrounds the city is tall, the skyscrapers are higher. The lights seems like a bunch of stars from a far. A bunch of lights surrounded by darkness for the place around those beautiful lights is a place filled with chaos. Dim lights illuminate the streets, smokes, the sound of the dog chasing the cat and some drunk men trying to lure ladies to join them drink and take advantage of them.

It was a mess. It was chaos. But in this chaos, the people most feared are the silence. The deadly silence. For silence means death.

You won't notice that you've been shot or stabbed. You won't notice that you will die. You will only see blood gushing out your body and sooner or later you will collapse and die.

People here are what they call the bad people, the rebellious people, the killer, the murderer and other infamous terms that those rich and well-off people inside those high walls would call.

But not all are bad, some are just poor. Exiled and robbed of the rights to live peacefully. Robbed of the rights to have fair treatment and justice.

Pero wala naman silang magawa. Subukan man nilang lumapit at magreklamo sa hindi pantay na pamamahala ay hindi nila magagawa, dahil bago pa man sila makalapit sa gates or even just go near the wall, they will be shot dead.

They have snipers in every tower of the wall ready to shoot and kill people who dares go near. Minsan nga kahit hindi lumalapit basta may makita sila na abot ng bala nila ay papatayin nila.

And I ask, who is really the killer?

Dito sa lugar namin or what they call Grimlack is a not a very good place to live compared to Nethilor, the city surrounded by high walls.

Grimlack is the place for the poor and bad, where they throw people who violated the laws or people who have no use for them. Even if you are a middle class, they will throw you in Grimlack. It is also where the few good people live for they once try and expose those rich people of their dirty business and manipulative works.

While Nethilor is a place for the rich and people with influence. A place where the real devils work. They are manipulative and manipulated people. Nethilor may have laws but its in the hands of the rich. If you fight someone richer than you then you lose.

Beautiful on the outside, ugly on inside.

However, people still admire those big and high buildings. Hoping one day they could finally get inside and live peacefully.

But I don't.

Para sa akin ay mas malaya ang nandito sa Grimlack, unlike in Nethilor  where people are controlled and manipulated. Its all about the money.

Pero dito people still dream, people still have a choice, people have hope here. Kulang man sa pagkain, hindi man maganda ang bahay, at palagi mo kailangan bantayan ang likod mo dahil sa mga gustong pumatay sayo ay maayos parin dito.

Because those people who got killed by the people in our city, and not by those snipers, are people who did something wrong. Hindi tinupad ang pinag usapan o may ginawang mali.

Wag ka lang gumawa ng mali at ikagagalit ng iba ay mabubuhay kana. People don't steal here, well minsan meron pero those are desperate people who badly needs food or in the verge of death due to starvation.

That's why I like it here.

Nagtatanim lang ako to supply my needs and others, alagaan at pakainin ang mga alagang hayop ko, make something that is creative and by the end of the day I'll stare at the night sky and admire the stars.

Hindi man ako nakapag-aral pero nakabasa ako ng ilang libro tungkol sa mga bituin. I can recognize constellations and the name of the stars.

Pero ang pinagtataka ko lang ay bakit wala ang constellation ng Leo, Cancer, Capricorn and Libra. Nakikita ko naman yun dati pero this past few days ay wala na yung mga constellations na yun. Pati na rin yung constellation ng Ophiuchus.

Well recently ko lang naman nakita yung constellation ng Ophiuchus pero nawala din agad kasabay ng pagkawala ng ibang constellation.

I don't know the reason kung bakit minsan nawawala ang ibang constellation or stars but maybe dahil yun sa pag-ikot ng mundo. Not like I know anything since I didn't study.

Pero ang pinakagusto ko talagang makita ay ang shooting stars. Ang kwento sa akin ni lola sa kabilang bahay na 15 years ago daw ay maraming shooting stars sa loob ng tatlong araw. Stars won't stop falling even if its morning. Napansin kasi nila na kahit hindi pa sobrang dilim ay makikita mo na may shooting stars parin. That's why they concluded that even if its morning, the stars keep falling.

I keep searching and looking at the stars hoping to find a shooting star.

Pero ilang oras na rin akong nakahiga dito sa bubong ng bahay ko at wala parin akong makitang shooting star.

Malapit nang mag ala una nang naisipan kong pumasok na dahil wala talaga akong makikita.

Pero pagkaupo ko palang ay napansin ko na may isang bituin na nahuhulog.

May shooting star!!

I need to make a wish!

I closed my eyes and wished for love.

Hindi ko agad binuksan ang aking mata at paulit ulit na binabanggit ang salitang love, hoping na marinig iyon ng bituin.

Pero napamulat na lamang ako ng biglang lumindol at sa parte ng gubat ay lumiwanag ngunit nawala rin ito agad.

Hindi gaano malakas ang lindol kaya hindi nagising ang mga tao, at kung naramdaman man nila ay babaliwalain nila ito.

Mabilis akong bumaba ng bubong at tumakbo papunta sa gubat. Tabing gubat lamang ang bahay ko dahil na rin sa nagtatanim at nag aalaga ako ng mga hayop, in short farmer. Convenient din na malapit sa gubat dahil may mga medical herbs akong maaaring makuha doon at sa gubat at may ilog na kinukuhanan ko ng tubig.

Hinanap ko kung nasaan yung lumiwanag kanina kahit madilim. Dirediretcho lamang ako hanggang sa mapunta ako sa naliit na clearing sa loob ng gubat. At nagulat ako sa aking nakita.

May mga kaunting apoy sa paligid at sa gitna ay isang babae at isang maliit na bato na kasing laki ng kamay.

Nilapitan ko yung babae at nakita ko na maganda siya. Pero bakit naman siya napunta sa gubat? Naligaw ba siya tapos naabutan ng pagbagsak ng bato kaya nawalan ng malay?

Buti na lamang at hindi siya naapektuhan ng apoy at walang sunog o galos sa katawan.

Binuhat ko yung babae kahit medyo nahirapan ay kinaya naman, dahil araw araw din akong nagbububat ng ilang balde ng tubig.

Idadala ko na lamang siya sa bahay ko at delikado dito sa gubat.

At idadala ko na rin itong bato.

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