The moment I stepped inside the campus, I regretted it. The halls felt too loud, too crowded, and too bright. Each pair of eyes that turned toward me felt like needles.
“Uy, si Elara ‘yon diba? Akala ko may dengue.”
“Hindi. Nawalan daw ng malay sa bahay.”
“Look at her wrist. Hala! Ang laki ng mga pasa.”
I pulled my sleeve down immediately, tightening my grip on my bag until my knuckles hurt. Lahat ng hakbang ko ay pakiramdam ko minamatyagan. I tried to walk normally, chin up, while pretending I didn’t hear anything.
Pero ramdam ko ang pagbilis ng t***k ng puso ko. Ramdam ko ang pawis sa palad ko.
They don’t know.
They shouldn’t know.
I repeated that in my head until it lost meaning.
Pagdating ko sa locker area, a group of girls suddenly stopped talking. Their eyes flicked to my ar
