Within the Walls

Chapter 1

~1890 - ???~

The pale moonlight shrouded with thousands of twinkling stars looked upon my white blouse with puffed-up sleeves complemented by a linen scarf that wrapped around my neck and a yellow long skirt that danced with the gentle breeze of the night. I darted my eyes unto the stone house in front of me with a tiled dull red roof that separated the dark sky. Classical music blaring from within the brown Capiz windows along with laughter and chattering that flooded the quiet stone streets littered with black lamp posts that illuminated the entire street. 

I walked towards  the house where men and women flocked the entrance. Women wearing a , the same dress I wore fashioned with intricate bead works that gleamed from the pale orange light from the lamp posts. Some men adorn elegant charcoal black suits with shiny top hats holding black canes as they walk towards the entrance. And some wore elaborate leaf-like patterns that seemed to hide the plain white undershirt, and ordinary black slacks with brown pointed shoes.

As I tread the rocky pavement, a distant voice echoed behind me. I turned to find the source of the sound only to find men and women walking towards the same destination. But, the voice grew louder and it was hard to not notice anymore. Then, a sudden nudge on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

~2019 - Tuesday - Tondo, Manila~

“Josefina! Wake up!” The distant voice became closer as well as the nagging nudge in my shoulder. 

I lifted my head up from my shoulder that rested on the chair’s armrest. My eyes were a bit blurry to which I had to blink for a while to make it less blurry. I scratched my just-woken-up eyes and yawned a bit, stretching my arms on my back. And then the image was clear, a whiteboard filled with black smudges and warped staring faces that I can’t pinpoint who. Suddenly, everything clicked in my mind. 

“Ligaya Josefina! Present!” I stood up quickly and pushed the chair a little bit making a sound.

The once-silent classroom was filled with laughter as I stood there with my head hung high as the teacher pinched me on my shoulder.

“Oww!” I winced in the sudden pain as my stiffness broke. 

“The class just finished and you’re still saying present!” The teacher scolded me as the whole class erupted in laughter.

“I-I’m very sorry ma’am.” I looked down embarrassed and sat back on my seat with my head hung low.

“Stand up, you know I allow students to sleep in my class as long as they can answer my question.” The teacher eyed me with a mocking look on her face. 

My eyes widened from the fact I just slept during the whole discussion. I shifted my gaze to my classmate next to me, he flashed an ‘I-don’t-know’ look on his face along with the gesture. I stood up from my chair and looked at the whiteboard that was no help whatsoever as everything was blurry. Curse my poor vision. I arched my head forward and squinted my eyes trying to make sense of the fuzzy writing on the board. 

“So?” The teacher’s menacing voice erupted, making me jump a little. 

“Ummm…ahh…” I was a stuttering mess, can the Earth just swallow me whole already. This is too much shame to handle in an 18-year-old girl who’s still friendless as the first week passed by in college. 

The teacher scoffed and rolled her eyes at me. She motioned her fan, gesturing for me to sit down. As she walked to the front, I grabbed my brown backpack on the floor and ruffled through its contents to find the case of my eyeglasses. Once I found it, I quickly shoved in on my face and looked at the whiteboard once again. The black smudges were writings about the history of the Philippines, familiar names, dates, and lots of text cluttered the whiteboard. 

“For Ms. Ligaya’s benefit,” the teacher looking at me as I sunk down on my chair trying to help the Earth swallow me whole, “you are tasked to take an original picture of any of the ten historical places I have written here.” She pointed at what she wrote and noticed there were surnames of my classmates written beside it. 

“And provide key historical events that happened,” she looked at me, “since only one remains you are assigned with…”

“Intramuros.” I uttered in unison with her, only mine in a lower volume. 

“Understood?” She displayed a quizzical look on her face, awaiting my answer.

“Ye-yes!” I nodded. 

“Okay, the deadline will be on…” 

“Friday!” The whole class said in unison, well, except me since I slept. 

“That will be all, class dismissed!” 

As soon as the teacher dismissed us, the screeching of chairs reverberated in the small classroom as my classmates grabbed their bags and walked through the door. Some fix their things and do the same. I hurriedly did the same, remembering I had to cover someone’s shift today. I looked at my watch as I stood up and only ten minutes was left. s**t, I gotta hurry. I grabbed the books under my chair and raced to the door, only to be stopped with a tight grip from someone behind me to which I turned around.

“Hey, are you okay? Ever since…,” she hesitated to continue and changed the subject, “the teachers keep on reporting to me that you’ve been sleeping in class too many times.” 

“I’m okay.” I replied flashing an assuring smile. 

“Are you sure?” She had a doubtful look on her face.

I nodded in response and she released her iron grip. I looked at my watch again and only eight minutes were left. I muttered a curse and rushed to the hallway. A playful game ensued as I ran through the crowded hallway of students, dodging the students in my path like obstacles, apologizing if I were to hit someone, trying not to slip and fall that’ll make me much more of an embarrassment. Flashbacks from what happened in the classroom flooded my mind, shaking them away as I headed out the gates of the campus. 

The urban lifestyle of Manila was second nature to me. The loud horns of cars stuck in traffic emitting a dark smoke that made me cough once in a while, the scorching afternoon sun that trickled a bead of sweat from my forehead that I had to wipe as I dashed to the convenience store. 

A bell chimed as I opened the double glass-pane doors and the afternoon heat dissipated from the cool air conditioning. Reynante, my manager who was manning the till, turned his gaze at me as he just finished checking out the customer’s items. I waved my hand and he motioned me to come.

“You’re supposed to be later at night.”

“Felix asked me to swap schedules, he had something important to do right now.” 

Reynante nodded and pointed at the staff room door. He asked me to change and I nodded in response, walking to the door as I clutched my bag. I went to my assigned locker and placed my bag inside, grabbing the work clothes as I closed the locker door with a clang. I headed to the bathroom and changed, tying my long brown hair into a ponytail. I held on to the sink and stared at myself in the mirror with my dark brown eyes. 

I felt my chest tighten and my eyes start to water. I looked down into the sink and removed my eyeglasses. I sniffed, and a tear streamed down my face. My breathing hitched as I clutched my chest. Dad, why did you leave? Where did you go? I clenched my fist as I muttered those words again and again. Tears falling down my face as it dripped down the sink, small sniffles from my runny nose.

“Hey,” a faint knock quickly made me wipe away my tears, “you okay there?” 

“Ye-yeah.” I tried my best to mask my just-cried voice only to earn a sigh from the other side. 

“If you can’t, I’ll find someone who will, it’s fine.” Reynaldo had a comforting voice, even though I only worked here for three weeks, he was really thoughtful. When it was my first time here, he taught me the ropes and took me out of sticky situations when he saw me panicking. 

“N-no, I can do it.” Wiping away my tears and snot, I head out the door. Reynaldo stood next to me, his face had a look of concern. He raised his hand and patted it on my shoulder. He walked out the door and I soon followed. I proceeded to the till and waved goodbye to the leaving Reynaldo as he waved his hand back at me. 

This shift was busier than the graveyard. I can’t deny the strange happenings during the graveyard but a lot of people stormed in during this time. I managed my way up until the end but I was a big mess, and I was dead tired like I will literally sleep right here at the cash register. My hair looked like it pulled in different directions, and my eyelids were getting heavy. I just had to wait for Felix to arrive so we could switch. 

Finally, a bell chimed and in walked Felix with a plastered smile on his face as he waved his hand at me. Felix and I walk into the staff room. 

“Hey, what was so important that you had to switch schedules?” I asked while opening the locker door. 

“My mom got sick and no one can take care of her,” he opened his locker and placed his belongings inside then closing it with a loud clang, “my dad has been working two jobs just to make ends meet but with mom’s condition, I had to help him out.” 

I looked at Felix and wrapped my arms around him. He stared blankly on to the locker. 

“I hate this place, everything’s pointless, you just work and work, and that’s just to get through the day!” He punched the locker door and the silence within the staff room was broken. Making me jump a little from the sudden sound, and I think Felix felt my jumping.

“Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” he looked at me and smiled, “thank you.”

“I’m always here, okay?” I retracted my hug and looked at him. I held his knuckles and caressed them. I may not have friends in school, but I certainly have a friend here, well two if you count my manager. 

He nodded in reply. I said my goodbyes to him and I headed out. The scalding heat from the morning vanished and replaced with a cool breeze that was no different to the air conditioning. I walked through the empty pavement along the quiet street where traffic once ensued. I looked above the night sky, admiring the stars that twinkled and the moon that filled the dark streets with light. My dad always had a fascination with the moon and the stars. Every night, we would lie down on our cheap apartment’s rooftop and gaze at the sky. He traced the constellations and would always tell a story how it came to be. I smiled at the thought as I walked home to my now fatherless and budget apartment. 

I opened the door to see my mother, sitting down on the couch watching TV and holding something in her hand. I locked the door behind me and threw the keys at a basket near the door. She noticed from the jingle of keys as she placed the object at the table, and stood up to hug me.

“You’re early today.” 

“Had to switch schedules with Felix, ‘cuz he had a family emergency.” I explained.

She withdrew her arms and looked at me, uttering a small sigh.

“The police came a while ago and found these near the place your father went missing.” She walks to the table and grabs the mysterious object. I placed my bag on the floor as she handed me the object. 

“It’s a Polaroid camera, your father must’ve been taking pictures of the sky again.” 

I fiddle with the camera on my hand, examining its features. It was a sleek black color with a red button on one side, the light where the flash appears sits above the lens. A sardonic look appeared on my face as I looked into the camera. It was like one of those that prints out the photo already. I never knew father had something like this,  he didn’t take pictures when we were together at the rooftop. Why only now? Different questions raised my mind only to be trumped by the reminder that I had an assignment about taking photographs.

“Mom, is it okay if I use this?” 

“It is your father’s, I’m pretty sure he’ll let you use it,” she continued, “I think it has a lot of film left.”

I nodded in response. Then, a creeping wave of tiredness hit me to the point my body started to ache. My eyelids try to stay only to no avail. I felt sluggish. All of a sudden I need to sleep real bad. 

“Mom, I’m gonna go to the bedroom now, I feel tired.” I said with lethargic tone as I walked past her still holding the camera.

“Aren’t you gonna eat?” She called.

“Tomorrow.” I yawned and my mother nodded as I went to my room, camera in hand.

The room was merely a wooden floor and locally made dressers, floral curtains decorate the jalousie window underneath my mattress. I placed the camera on top of the dresser, and fell on the bed face first. Slowly, my eyes start to fall and I drift off to sleep.