A Tragedy I Fear

It's twice amount of grief because 2 brothers died in an accident. While I am saddened by the news and even more upset when I saw the mother's reaction upon the accident site, it made me reflect. What was I doing then when a tragedy, just a street down, happened? I remember telling my friend that I would pray for the boy, but I ended up watching Desperate Housewives. When the news came that both were confirmed dead, I was stressing out on my report. To be honest, I was sad for only a mere second before slamming my fingers down onto my keyboard, typing out my report. 

It's funny how it happened a street down, 2 young lives were taken, and I was more worried about my grades. My life was intact at that moment, I nod, sympathise, offer a prayer up to God, but then I'll just move on with my life. It won't even take a minute actually for all the above mention to take place. But on the other side of the street, a grieving mother and father lives had shattered. Fractured. Unprepared. Fragmented. Searching for the hidden meaning in every little thing. Replaying the events of that day a hundred thousand times, looking for clues. An alternate ending. 

This would stay with them for the rest of their lives. The boys' room would be a reminder of what could have been and what had been. Every year would be a living nightmare, relieving the last memory they have of their sons. Grief is not a linear. It is a slow, a very slow progression to healing. It's a terrible zig zag back and forth from devastated to okay and then back to devastated. No one should experience such grief, but unfortunately, death is part of life. 

I think we waste our words, we waste our moments, and we don't truly say the things on our minds until it's too late. And when I say "too late", it meant saying it at the eulogy. It's not enough. Grab your moments, grab your words, and as the cliche goes, say it as it is. Raw, unprepared, incoherent, but from your heart. 

I take solace and comfort that the boys are in a better place called heaven, where reckless drivers do not exist. 

Darkness Has A Name

The worst feeling is coming out of denial into reality, and realizing that all these while, you've lost yourself. Have you ever take a double take on your values, your moral standings, words and actions, and think to yourself, "Hmm, maybe because I've been conditioned that way all my life"? Growing up, I've taken everything on face value, place a veil over my eyes and refuse point blank to remove it and see the world as it is. It's denial at best, but I felt safe, built a haven from the chaos, bloodshed and mess from the world. I don't want to grow up and have responsibilities. I want to be protected forever, loved and babyed. I guess when you wake up from all these, the epiphany hits you squarely in the face and the pain envelops you, overwhelms, lull you into surrender.

Sitting there, it was dark and quiet, but still, the lights outside casted a silhouette, my silhouette. However, the darkness inside me, is thick and overbearing. Quiet but threatening. Something scared me  and it was not the darkness. It was the fact that I was not scared of what was out there in the dark, I didn't care what would happen to me. I didn't care. It was as if I had became one with the darkness. Thick and overbearing, lost in the throes of my despair, the inner grottos of my thoughts; gloomy and morbid.

Even then, there was a light, so small you would have missed it if you weren't searching for it. Flickering, yet fighting valiantly to shine bright. And I think to myself, the times during a horror movie and the heroine's torch goes out. And no matter how many times she hits it, it won't turn back on. I wonder why was it so different for that small light I see. Why does it struggle when it is going to go off anyways? What for fight the darkness? I mean, if you can't beat it, join it right.

Then I lost my emotional footing and stumbled back into the past. I saw a little girl, traumatised by the beheading of a hostage by the Taliban. She slept with her parents that night, and while having nightmares she sleep talked. "Mom, you need to give brother money." And the mother, curious, asked her, "For what, darling?" "You need to give brother money to buy the head." And then the image dissolved into a scene inside a bus. This time, two teenage girls sitting side by side, decked in school uniforms. The first girl pulled down her collar and pointed at red marks that looked like rashes. "What's that man?" The second girl asked. The first girl replied, "Hickeys. He gave me hickeys that day dude. I've been wearing collar shirts and scarves to avoid my mom's questions." The other girl sighed and looked out of the window, wondering how was she going to stop her best friend from getting her and let her down easy. It wasn't the first time she became an emotional wreck. She replied, "What the hell. What were you thinking? But you know, if he makes you happy, I support you two." It ended with the first girl choosing the boyfriend that abuses her over her best friend. The friendship ended with a shouting match.

The next scene was a slightly older girl curled up in a sofa sobbing silently into her shirt, a phone in her hand. "She wants to talk to you" The receiver whispered. "Its been 4 years." She whispered back, "Why now?"

Why now? As I flip the memories over in my mind, I see a girl, despite being hurt over and over again, despite being scared from an inch of her life, she wanted to help. Why now? Why when I want to give up and give in to depression the damn light just won't go out? It flickers, letting me glance at my smiling memories briefly before it goes back into darkness. It flickers again, letting me see the smiles I've placed on people's faces before going dim. It flickers yet one more time, showing me the fractured pieces of my life.

Okay

I don't know why I come back to the blog. It's obvious that I have conditioned it poorly and only come to it when I need to rant or prove that my English is still up to par. No one reads it I think. If you're reading it, well, I don't know how you stumble across this poor excuse of a blog, but welcome anyways.

Life has been tumultuous. To some people, it probably is a good thing. But to me, it's hell. I like to laze around and I really value sleep. It's crazy running up and then, rushing work, worrying about internship and the never ending interviews. It's like a myriad of people and things nudging me off my sanity string. I just want to lull myself into a state of catatonia, I'm becoming neurotic and anxious. And I don't do well with stress.

I'm telling you, if you're having insomnia, the best narcotic is work.