Glimpse

I

He's all alone in this dark, lonely place.

The man looks around, and as he feels the surrounding area, the bars feel cold against his touch.

The smell of metal, the clanging of locks, and then, all of a sudden, the sound of keys and footsteps from a lady's heels — it leaves the man frozen in shock.

As the footsteps stop, she screams.

Happy. Smiling. Euphoric.

"Halika, mag-aral tayo, anak!"

"Dito ka mag-aaral, anak!"

"Dito ka mag-ha-highschool, anak!"

"Huwag kang makikipagkaibigan, anak, ha?!"

"Dito ka mag-ka-college, at magiging teacher ka, ha?!"

"MAG-AASAWA KA!"

"MAGKAKAPAMILYA KA!"

The voices are overlapping with each other, but they're coming from the same person. The woman is faceless, with only a mouth smiling widely at him. In her hands, the keys dangle, but as he tries to reach for them, he feels his hands held by two other people.

He raises his eyes to his left and sees another faceless woman smiling at him gently. And on his right is another hand holding him - a little faceless boy.

Then, suddenly… everything changes around him.

There is a distant voice.

“Sir!” It yells.

He offers no response as everything turns chaotic.

It is getting harder and harder for him to breathe. But, then…

He feels someone shaking him strongly, "Sir! Sir! Okay ka lang, sir?"

Sweat forms on his temple, and his brows furrowed deeper than before. He breathes heavily, clutching his bag while tossing and turning his head in all directions.

"Sir!!!" The voice loudly calls.

He wakes up with a gasp, and as he looks around, he sees multiple people now looking at him with great worry.

He tries to ignore them out of embarrassment, as he lowers his gaze, breathing shakily.

He inhales deeply for a few seconds before releasing the air outside. He remembers — he is inside a van, sitting on the farthest corner beside the window.

He boarded this van not long ago. He must have dozed off while waiting for the passengers.

"Sakay!"

"Sakay na! Lucena!"

The dispatcher calls from the outside. The teacher looks up and sees the gloomy skies of Lucban, and the rain that falls with it.

He looks around the van once more, and when no one is looking, he stares down his own hands that are still shaking.

A nightmare... It was just a nightmare...

Tears form on the side of his eyes, even as he tries to hold them back. His lips quiver from the shock, but also from the fear of it ever occurring again.

But as he stares down, a yellow handkerchief meets his eyes. His vision follows the hand where it came from, and he saw a guy beside him, gently looking at him with concern.

"T-Thank you..." The teacher says weakly as he takes the handkerchief to dry his eyes and face with it. "Ikaw rin ba yung... gumising sa'kin kanina?" He recalled.

"Ah, opo, sir!" The guy politely said. "Okay na po ba kayo?" He asked.

This guy, from the moment the teacher woke up, only stared at him with worry. The moment he saw the tears form, he reached for his handkerchief inside his pocket.

"Medjo okay naman na ako... Salamat ha? And sorry kung naistorbo ko yung tulog mo..." The teacher bows slightly.

"You're welcome, sir! Mabuti nga po't nagising ako, eh! Baka kung ano na nangyari sa inyo kung hindi." The guy says.

Then there was silence, and they both shifted back to their positions. However, the teacher can't help but stare at the stranger beside him.

He almost questioned why the guy keeps calling him "sir", but then he looks at himself wearing the uniform of a college instructor. It's a bit creased now, since it's the afternoon, but it's still a formal attire you won't expect from anyone but a teacher.

The guy's small face, as he observed, was nearly swallowed by his enormous yellow hoodie. His small pale face was dotted by tiny moles that trailed down to his neck. It was strange to the teacher how someone can still look so fresh amidst the rain and the afternoon, but the guy definitely did - like the sun amidst the storm.

After a moment of silence, the van's engine starts. It slowly accelerates away from the terminal, quietly pushing through the rains of Lucban, which is the norm of the town.

With the nightmare still on his mind, the teacher looks outside the window, where he can see how the droplets touch the road and everything that comes into contact with the rain.

"Mukhang nagagandahan ka sa ulan, sir, ah?" The guy beside him comments. This makes him blink and turn to the guy. He's smiling at him.

The teacher's face blush from the comment, but he smiles back - though awkwardly. His memories flashed back to the time when he was a kid - the very first time he admired the rain. He sighs deeply and turns to the guy beside him.

"A-Ahh... Hindi ko rin alam kung bakit, pero pampakalma ko lagi yan." The teacher answers and looks outside again. The rain is falling steadily, it's almost just a drizzle. The guy nods in response.

"Gets kita, sir. Kahit ako, simula pa nung bata, favorite ko din talaga pag umuulan." The guy smiled and looked outside.

"Really?" He turns back at him, eyes beaming with interest.

"Oo, sir. Nanjan kase lagi ang ulan para sa 'kin, eh! Nung bata ako, lagi akong naglalaro sa ulan. Sobrang saya! Nung naging binata ako, maraming nagbago, at dumami din ang rason para maging malungkot, pero nandyan pa rin ang ulan para ipaalala sakin yung pagiging masaya ko nung bata ako." Their eyes meet, and the guy beams at the teacher.

"Honestly, you look more like a 'sunshine person' than a 'rain person'." The teacher comments, which earns a chuckle from the guy.

"Hindi porket mataas ang energy ko, sunshine person na agad, sir!" The guy motions as the teacher looks at him with a smile.

After a moment, the teacher looks another way with a heavy sigh. There is an unexplained longing in his eyes.

"I consider the rain as my friend." He says as he looks outside. He hears nothing from the guy. "It's like the friend I always asked for all my life." He smiles, although sadness was evident in those eyes, and the guy can see that clearly.

The teacher's eyes widen as he realizes that he's oversharing his thoughts, and turns to the guy who is looking at him patiently.

"Sige lang, sir. Magkwento ka lang. Mahaba pa ang biyahe." The guy smiles.

The teacher checks outside, and they're just moving in front of Southern Luzon State University. There's not much traffic, but due to the rain, the driver has to drive slowly for their safety.

For a moment, he hesitates to open up. He did not want to dump his burdens on a guy he had just met. He did not want to open up a dramatic conversation and be judged for being too "sentimental" and "soft". But then, he also fails to see a reason why he must not share his thoughts with this stranger.

After all, they do not know each other.