To Reach You

Chapter 1: Start

Rina's Point of View

Heavy footsteps. Loud thump. Glasses shattering. Woman screaming heavily. I heard all these sounds while hiding in my room. Almost everyday, I wake up to these kinds of sounds. It is really annoying to hear. There are times that I wish I was deaf so that I cannot hear these sounds.

Father furiously screamed, "You never learn, Sally. How dare you see another man?"

He is always like this. He always accuses my mother of cheating on him. I know that it is not the truth. I know my mom too well. She would never cheat. She is a very committed person. She is the type of person that will never deceive you.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I am not cheating on you? Gosh, Daniel! You have to believe me!" Mom shouted back. She was really mad and based on her tone, she seems like she is tearing up. Poor mom, what has she done to experience all this.

I really want to leave this household. Move to the countryside with my half-brother. It is so much more peaceful there than living a luxurious life in the city while being with my bastard dad. Yes, you heard it right. I hate my dad. He always shouts and abuses my mother. He has some problems managing his emotions, specifically his anger. I also hate my mom because she cannot fight for herself. She also lets out her anger on me.

My dad used to be the sweetest person on Earth and I used to be a daddy's girl. He always smiles, his voice is consoling, he is really caring, he used to be nice to my friends, and he was everyone's favorite. As time goes by, things have changed. My precious dad turned into a monster. Everyone's favorite person turned into everyone's worst nightmare. As for my mom, she was also the sweetest but when dad turned into a monster, she started becoming one too.

"I'll be going to school now, Ate Nana." I said to our housekeeper. She is among the people that I can trust in this household.

(Ate is a way to address an elder sister or a woman that is older than you)

Nana was here even before I was born. She is a really hard working person and a good mother to her kids. I met all of her kids before and they were all really nice. I envy her so much. She has a great family and a successful marriage despite being poor. All I wanted in life was to have a life like hers. I do not believe in reincarnation but in my next life, I want her to be my mother so that I can be happy and content.

"Take care, my girl." Nana responded. Nana always looks after me like her own child. How I wish that I was really her biological child so that I do not get to experience having family issues.

I left the house and hopped inside our car. My parents hired a driver to send me to school everyday. Luckily, they allowed me to go home on my own. It is nice because I can go out with my friends after class finishes. School is my only escape from home.

I was walking inside our school's hallway and I felt a heavy thing in my shoulder. I took a look at it and it was my friend Cali. She was with her twin brother, Calixto but we call him 'Third' derived from his full name Calixto Angelus Carbonell III. He thinks that his name is old school. They were one of my friends in this school. They are really nice and both of them are talented.

I smiled at both of them. "Good morning, twins!"

I am very pleased that I have a lot of friends in this school. I am the only child of my parents so I feel really sad about growing up with no siblings. I always feel alone. I have a half-brother but I only get to meet him when I escape or when I am in school.

I kissed Cali on the cheeks after greeting both of them. This has been our "official greeting" whenever we see each other. As I was about to kiss Third on his cheek, he stopped me.

"No, no. Only Lizzy can kiss me on my cheeks." he said while gesturing no with his fingers. He was not like this before. It was alright for him to kiss him on the cheeks before.

"Will Lizzy kiss you on the cheeks? Come on, Third. She will never like you." I said. Lizzy will never get to like him because she is busy working her ass off to place first in our class and in our school.

"Whatever you say, Sabrina"

The three of us laughed and went together in our classroom.

"The first semester is about to end, what are your plans during the semester break?" Lizzy asked us.

She is Lizzy, our smart friend. She aims to be number one but is always outsmarted by Shiloh, the first rank and the class representative. He is also my friend. He is one of the members of the band named 'Cherub'.

"I don't know. All I want is to run away from home," I answered. They are well-aware that I wanted to run away from home as I told them that I have issues with my family.

"You can stay in our house if you want, after all my family really likes you." Lizzy said. I know that very well but I do not want to be a burden to Lizzy's family.

"No, it is fine. How about the others, what are your plans?" I changed the topic and asked the others regarding their plans for the upcoming semester break.

"Hmmmm. Let's go swimming? My dad works in a resort. I can convince him to get a spot for us," Shiloh said. His family is also rich but he always says that his family works in this company, in this place or such but in fact, his family owns them.

"What a great idea talking about your plans without us, huh?" a voice came from out of nowhere. It was Ross, he went with Uriel. They were from the other class but they always come to our room whenever there is a vacant time.

"Hey, brothers." I greeted both of them and hugged Ross. Ross is my half-brother. He is almost a year older than me. His mom is my dad's first wife but got separated.

"How is my lovely sister doing?" He asked as he kissed me on my forehead. He is really sweet and he is not mad at me for being his half-sister. We are often mistaken as lovers and I am extremely disgusted about it.

"As I said a while ago, We want us to go swimming on our break," Shiloh said.

"Are you all up for it?" Shiloh asked us. We all answered yes. Luckily, I have friends that are up for adventures. In every outing, we are always complete.

"Where is Chan, everyone?" Uriel asked.

"Oh! About Chan, he is in the meeting with his organization. According to him, they have plans on having a concert on the final exam day of the first semester." Third responded. Third is Chan's best friend so he knows all Chan's whereabouts.

I was really excited when I heard the news. I really love seeing concerts. I really love to watch bands. In school, there are a lot of bands formed but the Cherub band is the most popular one.

Chan went back to the classroom and talked to Shiloh. Maybe he has something to announce but he passed it to Shiloh since he is our class representative.

Shiloh stood up to the front saying that he had something to announce.

"Okay class! Attention please. On October 29th, we will have a semester-end concert. I would like to know who wants to perform on the day of the concert. Is there anyone from the class?"

Some of our classmates raised their hands and were asked by Shiloh to come to the front.

"Rina, how about you? Do you want to perform?" a voice from behind asked me. It was Chan.

I looked at Chan and said, "As much as I want to, I don't want to perform alone. I will only perform if I have a group that I can be with."

I am still building up my confidence. I can perform in front of the class but I still get overwhelmed in front of many people. Before I graduate, I hope that I will be able to be more confident. How can I be an idol or a musician if I am not confident enough.

"Cherub has four members and I still feel that we are lacking. We are currently looking for a female vocalist. Every band gains more audience if the vocalist is female. Do you want to join us? I thought of you since you like bands."

"Let's give it a try. I want to perform on stage, in front of many people. I wanna see what it is like to be popular." I said as I chuckled.

"We were thinking of performing My Heart and Bring Me To Life but all of us are males. Luckily, we have you, Rina, to back us up."

"Will you sing though?"

"You will be the main vocalist and I will just be the second vocalist. I think the outcome will be great since you have a nice voice anyways."

"I am up for it! Thank you, Chan."

"What are you thankful about?"

"For letting me work with your band."

"That's nothing, the band members want to explore anyway. We will not soar high if we stick to the usual."

Oh my gosh! Aside from being an idol, my dream was to be a vocalist of a band. Thanks to Chan, I got to achieve my dream. I used to think as a child that bands with female fronts are the coolest and right now I will get to try it. I am promising myself that I will give my all for the concert.

"We have practice after school. We can't use the school's studio because it will be used by the Orchestra to practice." Chan reminded me.

"Where will we practice?"

"We will rent a studio nearby to practice."

The classes have finished and I prepared my things because I have to practice with the band. I brought out my phone and texted Nana that I will come home late because I have to practice.

"Nana, can you tell mom and dad that I will be coming home late tonight? I have to practice for the school's concert."

Nana replied,

"Alright. I already told your parents. You see, I always cover you up."

I sighed out of relief. Nana is the reason why my parents do not mind whatever I do after school.

"We came here as well!" Cali shouted happily while approaching me.

"Why did you come here?" I asked.

"Because we're friends? My bestie is going to be Cherub's vocalist. I came here to support you."

"Silly, It will just be temporary. After the concert, Cherub will be back to four. Just take it as a collaboration."

"If you say so."

I helped the four guys in setting up the instruments, amplifier, and microphone. Setting these up is really time-consuming. While we are setting up, Cali and Ross are seated on the couch in front of us. After that, we started practicing.

???

I am finding out that maybe I was wrong

That I've fallen down and I can't do this alone

Stay with me

This is what I need please

Sing us a song

And we'll sing it back to you

We could sing our own

But what would it be without you

???

The bridge of the song came and Chan looked at me while singing his part.

???

This heart, it beats

Beats for only you

My heart is yours (my heart beats for you)

This heart, it beats

Beats for only you

My heart is yours

This heart, it beats (please don't go now)

Beats for only you (please don't go away)

My heart, my heart is yours (please don't go now, please don't go away)

my heart is yours

(Please don't go now, please don't fade away)

My heart is yours (please don't go, please don't fade away)

(Please don't go now, please don't fade away) my heart is

???

We finished practicing the first song and took a little rest before proceeding to the next song. I heard the scream and clapping of Ross and Cali who were watching us practicing.

"Nice shot, Rina." Chan complimented as he patted my head.

"It was hard singing My Heart though."

After chit chatting, we went back to practice and proceeded to our next song. This time it is just a chill song by a Filipino band. My Heart was too heavy for me so Uriel decided to just sing "Migraine" by Moonstar88. He said that if I keep on singing heavy songs, my voice will get damaged.

We practiced four songs today and I was really exhausted. After that, we took a rest inside the studio. I decided to play with the guitar while the group is chilling. It's been a while since I played a guitar since I am always with my piano.

"Let's go guys. Let's grab something to eat." Uriel said.

We cleaned things up and went outside to get something to eat. We decided to eat chicken wings.

"Oh, I want the spicy one." I said to Uriel, since he was the one who was taking our orders.

"You don't need to choose flavors, Rina. It is unlimited. Eat what flavor you want."

Silly me.

The food came and we ate. My friends are thin but they are big eaters. They ate more than five plates of wings. We talked about some stuff while eating.

While we were chatting, my phone rang and I saw on the screen that Nana was calling me. I went outside and answered the phone.

"Hello, Nana?"

"Rina, you need to go home right now."

"Why Nana? I am still eating outside."

"Just go home. It is hard to talk about it over the phone."

"Okay Nana, I'll be going home now."

Upon going back inside, Cali asked me about the call, "What is it, Rina?"

"Excuse me guys, sorry. I need to go home now." I said

Ross stood up and said, "I'll send you home, Rina"

"Something came up and I needed to go home. I am really sorry."

Ross and I bid goodbye to our friends. I said that they must enjoy and eat more even without us. I plan on telling them what is the reason why I went home immediately on the next day.

"Do you really have to go with me, Ross?"

"I just want to make sure that you're safe."

"My mom and our dad don't want to see us together."

"That's okay, but I still don't understand why they don't want to let us meet. We're technically siblings from the same dad."

Ross and I are half-siblings. Despite being close to each other, my parents do not want to see me together with Ross. My mother and father think that Ross will steal me and call the police because Ross knows about my situation. I don't understand them. I just want to spend time with my brother. My dad introduced Ross to me when I was a kid. It was the time when my dad used to be a nice person.

"I think it's time to say goodbye," Ross said as we are now in front of our house.

"Take care, Ross"

I went inside our house and greeted Nana, "Nana, I'm home"

Yes, I never forget to greet Nana everytime I go home. As I've said before, I consider Nana as my mother rather than my biological mom. She raised me better than my mom did.

"Rina, there is an emergency," Nana worriedly said. It is written on her face that something wrong is happening.

"What is it, Nana? Is it really bad news?"

"Rina, your parents got into a car accident."

Upon hearing the news, I was so shocked and I have mixed feelings about it. I am nervous because even if I hate them, I don't know what I will do without them. Even if they don't see me as their child now, I am still hoping that things will get back the way they used to be.

"What happened to them now, Nana?" As I asked Nana, my voice broke and tears started coming out from my eyes.

"The police said that your dad was drunk. He drove while he was drunk."

"They really give me headaches, gosh." I said as I sighed heavily.

"We need to go to the hospital now."

We hopped inside our other car. This is actually my car. It was a gift from my parents when I was 10. I don't use it but now I have to due to an emergency.

"How is Mr. and Mrs. Telesforo doing, Doctor?" Nana immediately asked the doctor upon arriving at the hospital.

The doctor responded with a worried look, "Not doing well, Ma'am. They are both in critical condition since the accident was really bad."

I was really sad upon hearing my parents' condition. I wanted to give them the chance to change on their own but I think that they will change because of an accident. Change should come from one's willingness not forced.

I just sat in the lobby because I know that I cannot afford to see people lying in the bed, breathing heavily and fighting for their lives. Besides, I cannot enter where they are because they are in critical condition.

A doctor approached and asked me, "Are you Sally Telesforo's child?"

"Yes, Doctor. How's my mom?"

"I am sorry to say, your mom didn't make it. Your mom has passed away."

No, that can't be!

Tears started rolling down in my cheeks as I sat on the floor, feeling sad upon hearing the news. Mom is gone now. This is Dad's fault. If he didn't drink and drive, mom is still probably with me. I'm crying helplessly and Nana came to hug me. We were both crying non-stop. What am I gonna do now, mom? Now that you're gone?

I am still crying and a doctor approached me. He said that minutes later my mom died, my dad also passed away. He did not make it. My world has shattered into pieces. I do not know what I will do now. Both of my parents have passed away. Gone too soon. I cried and cried. I cried like there is no tomorrow.

I was happy before I went home but why? Why do I get to experience all these? What have I done to have a tragic life? I don't understand. Do I really deserve these? I don't think so, I have been a good person. I know that. How come my life is like this? I don't know anymore.

I was weak after crying and little did I know, my sight went black.