1 The News

It is a cold chilly night. The papers pile up everywhere, and I am here editing a news article about the murder of a famed politician. For two years, I have been working and striving for the best. I am determined to do whatever I can to change my life. As I type the article on my computer, I heard a ring from my phone. I can barely keep my face up. I have worked all night, and the caffeine does not help me get to my senses. I read the contact and it is only my friend, Emma.

I answered the call and all I can hear are silent cries that are trying to be suppressed. I cannot help but wonder what made her upset. She always had a fragile heart.

"Emma, what happened?" I manage to say when I felt the pain that Emma is going through when I heard her cry.

She is my dear friend Emma. She had always been there in my life whenever we need each other. It pains me whenever I hear her silent cries.

"Rose, I don't know what to do. My father betrothed me to get married to a guy I do not love. He says it is the best decision that would keep me safe. I . . . cannot bear it. It was meant to . . . sell me like a bride to some son of a CEO! How could he? Why did he never even care about what I would feel?"

I cannot find the proper words to say to her. This is not the medieval ages. How could he betroth his child for business reasons? This is not the period of history where parents marry off their children for those reasons. Even so, I find it hard to think about her situation. I cannot get her out of an arranged marriage. She will have to do that on her own.

Being a daughter of a business magnate is not an easy life. She has everything at her disposal. How could her father be so cruel to her? She has the rights to decide for herself. After all, she will inherit his company soon. She is the heir to her father's company, RSC. It stands for the name of her father – Raphael S. Concepcion.

"Worry not. Everything will be alright. Have you talked with your father about how you disagree with the arranged marriage?"

I cannot be certain about things turning out well. I am an ordinary person. Even if I try to do something to help her, her father would disagree with me. He is obsessed with all his fortunes. Now, he went too far by arranging her daughter to be married for business reasons. She may not say it, but I can see through what she means. Sometimes, I wonder how their personalities differ. Emma does not care that I am a girl from an impoverished family, while her father keeps me away from her. He discriminates my social status. For years of being her friend, I never said a word against her father. I know my words will distraught her once it came out of my mouth. He is her father after all.

She cannot stop releasing all of those tears. I sense that there is a larger reason for her sadness at the moment. She was always too mysterious. Her heart is a box filled with mysteries that only she has the key to it. Eloisa and I never managed to open it. We, her friends, are always in the dark when it came to her feelings. She hid it too well. I know it.

Suddenly, her sobs died down. It was as if a wind came over to stop her cries. But all of a sudden, she had to ask me a question. "Rose, how would you feel if your loved one left you? I mean, it is not the case, but I just want to know. If your father told your beloved that he should stay away from you, how would you feel? I am just curious."

After she said that, I put a lot thought about what she said. It is as if she is trying to send me a message about it. She is an ambiguous person that is why her words can mean more than one. What is she trying to say?

"I do not know the answer for that. I am sorry. Why did you ask?"

To be honest, I have not enough time to love. I was always so determined to help my family, but now that I reached my goal, I cannot help but feel lonely. Eventually, I will have to marry soon. How can I marry when I have not even tasted love?

"It only came to me. Anyway, thank you for listening. I hope I did not disturb you while you are on your overtime. I think all I have to do is face the engagement. Thank you, Rose."

She managed to collect herself. She stopped crying about her engagement. I was relieved when she finally managed to smile. I cannot stand whenever she cries. It is not that I hate people when they cry, but it is not often that you hear or see Emma cry. She is always a happy-go-lucky person, but a silent one though. I am suspicious about how Emma is always acting. She harbors many secrets. I may know her on the outside, but I do not know the inside.

"Alright, you are welcome," I say before I hang up.

I went back to work. My eyes are straining. I cannot help but feel that water is already building up and my eyes are beginning to drop. I just need to finish one last paragraph. When I managed to finish it, I felt a sense of joy. I can finally go home.

I rode the bus home. There were only a few people on board because it is already 10 pm. I sat on the window seat so I can lean on it and sleep. Just when I can finally take a rest, I received another call. This time it is from Eloisa. Oh no, what has she done now? Do I have to bail her out again? I answered the call hesitantly fearing about what kind of trouble she has gotten herself into this time.

"Rose!"

I suddenly felt nervous when she said that. Did she beat someone up again? Is she the one who has been beaten up? I do not know. This worries me. She is the one that usually gets in trouble that is why I and Emma have to find a way to get her out of it. She usually gets involved in doing illegal stuff, doing drugs and as such. We are trying to remove her bad habits. She was not like this before, but because her parents had an annulment, she is not getting enough guidance from them.

"What have you done this time?"

"Nothing!"

I felt a bit better when she said that. I am finally assured that she has not done anything that could possibly put her in jail again. But, something struck me. If she is not the one with the trouble, why is she in a hospital? Did she overdose on drugs again?

"Then what happened? Why are you at a hospital?"

"Look, Emma is here in the hospital. She is confined here because she felt an extreme abdominal pain. Her mother called me to come here. Please, you have to be here. I am worried about our girl. She is at St. Patrick's Medical Center. Please, you have to hurry."

What in the name of earth is going on? Earlier, she called me about her engagement, and now, she is taken to a hospital? What is going on with her? Due to what I heard from Eloisa, I almost dropped my phone when I heard the news. I went down the bus I was in to ride another bus that has a route that goes to St. Patrick's Medical Center. As the agonizing minutes pass, I am silently praying the rosary for the health of my friend. God help her. She is too young to be taken away from us.

After the five decades of the rosary I prayed, the bus arrived just in time at the hospital. Did she never tell us that she is terminally ill? How could she lie to us then if my suspicions are true? I can feel my vision dimming just thinking about the idea. As I enter the hospital, nobody seems to be frantic. Rather, everyone is calm and collected. I asked the nurse about my friend and she gave me her room number.

Her room was on the sixth floor. As I walk the silent halls of the hospital, I could feel the sound of my heels echoing through the halls of this grand hospital. As I knock on the door, my heart trembles out of fear for the worst. Eloisa opened the door for me, and I saw my dear friend lying on a bed. Her health has dropped so much. I have not seen her for months for I had been busy doing what I can to survive.

When I saw her parents crying a pool of tears, I feel like something bigger has happened. Eloisa is too unstable to talk to right now because the amount of tears that she is crying right now is bigger than the number of tears her parents are crying combined. I approached the doctor inside the room. He looks like he gave a bad news. He looks like he is a veteran doctor because of his white hair and eyeglasses. On his nametag, it reads as "Dr. Orlando Sebastian."

I resisted my tears. I had to. I am no woman for sentiments. Maybe, it is because of my dragging eyes that I cannot bear to shed a tear, but I do know that whatever the doctor has to say, the news has to be grave.

"Doctor, what is the state of condition of my friend?" I ask hesitantly because I fear for the worst.

"My dear, your friend has reached the end of her line." The doctor says while trying to avoid making an eye contact.

The doctor cannot even look straight into my eyes. That was the point where I felt that there are already tears coming from my eyes. I understood what the doctor meant, but I cannot believe the reality.

She was only smiling through a summertime, but now that autumn has come, her happiness and life faded away as the sun has done.

With my teary eyes, I had to ask him the question. "Doctor, what do you mean? I hope it is not serious as I think it is. Please, answer me with your direct and honest statement."

I can see that this doctor tries his best to sympathize with me, but it proves to be difficult. He sighs and hesitates before he speaks.

"My dear, your friend has Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. I would say she only has a month to live. I know I am not the powerful Lord above us, and I have no rights to say when an individual will cross the great divide, but I have to give my deepest apologies. She lived a great life."

All I can see is darkness. He gave the honest statement I asked of him. I never thought it would be this way. Five decades of the rosary is not enough to save her. I trust that the Lord is always with her. She served as a church pianist for six years. She was sixteen back then when she first started. She was a little prodigy in everything she does. My dear friend is fast asleep on her bed unaware of all the agony we feel for her fate. The doctor gave us space to mourn for her. I resisted every single tear that drops, but when Eloisa embraced me, all I could do is break down.

Alas, poor friend. Her father despises my presence here, but he cannot ever send me out. Eloisa and I are her daughter's closest friend. And right now, we could do nothing to help her.