1 That Nightmare

"Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs." (Proverbs 10:12)

"Time of death: 7:45 AM .."

"Time of death: 7:45 AM .. "

"Time of death 7:45 AM.. "

Those statements echoed all over the place and it made my heart stops to beat for a while. I wanted to shout out loud and cry his name but I'm out of words to say. He is Dead! That man lying in the hospital bed wearing that white hospital gown is dead... He is dead... The line on that monitor being connected to him turns straight.. He is dead....

Tears run out of my eyes, as I woke up with that dream. Who's dead? Who is that man from my dreams? Why do I always have to dream that kind of nightmare? I probably know him but why I can't even recognized his face? His body built? It was the 3rd time since last year that I had that nightmare again. It bothers me and I always ended up with a lot of thoughts and questions on my mind.

"Cheen! Cheen! Hey cheen! You're upset again! Are you still thinking about that nightmare?" James asked as he noticed my silence after telling him the reason why I have called him and asked him to go here immediately.

"How can I ignore that nightmare James? You know that I am very eager to know every details of that nightmare but still I can't figure it out. It was still a blur picture in my mind." I replied.

"It is very strange that you keep on having that nightmare again. Maybe we should tell it to your mom" he added.

"No James! Please do not let Mommy know about this. You know mom, I'm sure she will just be paranoid about it and convince me to come home and live with them again ." , I exclaimed.

"Okay. Okay. But promise me that you will tell me everything, especially if you have that nightmare again. I'll go ahead now, remember to chat me later after your last class and please take Good care of yourself and do not over think. "

"Yeah James. Thank you."

It's me, Cheen Catherine Del Rosario Marquez. A college student in a university somewhere here in the Philippines. I grow up having a very supportive yet very protective family but I could not blame them to be like that since they only have me, Yes! I am the only child in the family. My mom is a teacher while my dad is a farmer. They both belong to an average type of family. I love them both,

but I wanted to escape from them and try living a life without having them 24/7. Living like having a chain in my feet caused me to study far from them. It is like having the freedom that I wanted. It is my second year in the university and all is being well except the fact that I always have a nightmare whenever I sleep. James is my friend and my blockmate since first year. He is gay though he is very casual and formal. He is my stress absorber, we became friends when we had our group activity and turned out to be partners in most of all subjects. He is loud, bossy and snob to others that is why he do not have a lot of friends. But we clicked! I have found his soft spot and have discovered a lot of knowledge about him. He is an orphaned now. His father died when he is still in 4th grade while his mother died after giving birth to his youngest sibbling Mara. It was him I always confine my thoughts, worries, sadness, and feeling of discomfort. He knows almost everything about my stayed here. He became a big brother to me, a reason why my family was confident enough to still trust me to stay here alone. I have loved my life away from my Mom and Dad though I always missed them but life is so much fun and exciting. Eighteen years of existence and yet I still don't have much experience about having love affairs or flings. It is not that I am afraid to fall in love but I am not yet ready to give my one hundred percent commitments. I still want to enjoy life as it is. No pressure, no heartaches, no worries about men. I want to explore and experience everything both happy and bad things that life could offer.

I am living independently in a dorm together with other girls from the far regions in the country. My family visits me once every month. I am famous at the university since I became the President of the Clubs and Organizations. Many students hate me because of my rules and my strict attitude but some of them wants to be my friends ofcourse for them to become famous as well and to be exempted on every punishments that I impose. Whenever I am not busy with my studies and obligations in the university I usually hang out with friends, having sideline jobs, or just staying at the dorm whenever I feel to do so. I love to multitask. I love to do things with pressured time. I always keep myself busy with everything. But one thing I hate is when I have no choice at night but to sleep and rest for a while. I hate to sleep! Ever since that day I started dreaming and having nightmares about someones death. I am scared and unable to go back to sleep whenever I have that nightmare. It makes me feel like it was going to happen. I always wanted to figure out things. I hate myself for being not able to recognize the face of that person. I wanted to know who is that man from my dreams and why do he keeps on appearing on my dreams? Do I know that person? Is he a man from the past or in the future?

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