..An end..

The Final Chronicle
Ryan Magtibay


“One!” Erik shouted.



I remembered running in the fields, with the wind blowing past me while the sun is setting down on a mountain in the west. I loved chasing dragonflies, then. I would almost always catch them. I never did, though. I tried so hard, yet it never seemed enough. And every time, I would run back home and cry. I once asked my mom why I couldn’t catch any of the pesky flying insects. Well, she frowned at me. Then, she told me that the dragonflies are also exerting a lot of effort to run away from me. And every time I gave up chasing them, I let them win.



My mom sent me to a high school in Manila immediately after elementary graduation. I never wanted to go, but my mom insisted. She even used my late dad’s dreams for me so that I would yield to what she wants. I wasn’t able to do anything about it. The day after graduation, I found myself riding a bus, all alone, to Manila.



For the first time ever, I was all-alone in my first day of school. Mom said it was a good school and that I was very lucky to be chosen as one of its scholars. We can’t afford a school that is this good, so I have to maintain my scholarship. I doubt it though. Without friends, I won’t live a day here.



“Two!” he continued.



I met Elmer after two weeks of agony on that school. Elmer helped me adjust on a lot of things, especially on living alone. My mom still visited once or twice every month. And for the rest of the days that I won’t find her excitedly knocking at my door just to see me, I had Elmer as company. Elmer was also from the province, but he stayed in Manila long enough to know everything you have to do to adjust your way of life here. He was a jewel to me during those times. If it weren’t for him, I would have never survived a month in the suburbs of this city.



My grades could not go any higher. It is my fourth year in this school already and I am still the greatest of them all. My grades are at the peak. And I am proud of them. I can already see a promising future for me. This is the start of my success. And I am not letting go.



I was accepted as a scholar on one of the greatest universities in the Philippines. It was unbelievable. But, just like Elmer said, nothing is impossible if you would put your mind and soul in achieving it. Elmer got accepted, too. And, after high school graduation, wherein I graduated as the valedictorian by the way, both of us went to Quezon City to finally finish the stepping stone of our success.



College life. And there could be nothing easier to adjust to. Here, you have freedom, freedom to do anything you want, freedom to party, to joke around, to express yourself, to enjoy the final stages of your life before you indulge yourself into the real world, before everything turns from a bloody joke to a serious and confusing reality. This is it. College.



“Three!” he screeched.



My first two years were incredible. My standing was that of a magna cum laude. Elmer, on the other hand, was on a cum laude standing. I had never been so confident and proud. And I had never been so careless and innocent.



I met Erik the day after that big party at the oblation. He invited me to hang out with his friends. They taught me a lot of things. Things that I doubt were even right. I, stupidly, indulged myself to these things. I was blinded by too much freedom that I wasn’t able to see what is right anymore.



I went from having a straight 1.0 to a straight 5.0. Elmer, my great friend, tried to redeem me, but I resisted. I prevented myself to listen to what is right. But, Elmer never gave up. He did everything he could to have me back to the good side, even if it means messing up with Erik.



It was a night just like any other. A loud bang was heard from the door. Elmer was standing there and found us spoiling ourselves in the ecstasy that shabu can give. He demanded that I come with him. He started talking some sense. He used to do that to me when I go astray. Erik got mad and instructed his friends to hold Elmer. Erik, then, handed me a shotgun, which I had no idea where the heck he got, and instructed me to blow my friend’s head off. I stood up and looked at him, while I took the gun from Erik. He was looking at me, sweat was running down on his face to his neck. He looked at me with a confused, asking-for-mercy face. I pointed the gun at him and pitileslly ended our friendship, once and for all.



I joined the syndicate Erik belonged to. And from that day on, I lived a life of killing, bombing, and stealing. The so-called success I dreamed for was nowhere to be found. And I tried to do something about it, but that became a reason for them to end my life.



I can feel now what Elmer felt years ago when a gun is pointed at your head by a man you sorely trusted.



“BANG!”