160 Lost In The Dark

"What happened then, dad? " Jim finally got the courage to ask.

"I sent her many letters but only got one reply after three years. And in that letter she told me that she had already remarried. I could no longer recall how I managed to endure the pain. Back then, she was my childhood friend, my high school sweetheart until we got married after college."

"I was waiting for her to follow me. I held on to that promise. By then, we could we be free. But to be struck by the news that she had remarried was more than I could bear..."

"Then, dad?" Jim was getting more curious and interested to hear his love story.

"I met your mother in Catherine Fields. I was working there, first as a clerk , then as an accountant until I got promoted as the hospital's accounting head. To sum it up, she helped me forget . And eventually, we got married."

___

Three years after Mr. Wayne got married to Jim's mother, the sole heiress of Catherine Fields Medical Center, this was how the story

went...

"Laura, take a look at this." Phyllis handed her the telegram he had just received.

Laura read it and her eyes widened.

"Your parents are both ill? " She exclaimed.

"I need to go home or I may not be able to see them again. My relatives wouldn't send me this if this is not something urgent."

"I agree but I cannot go with you, dear. Casey is only two years old and I am heavy with six-month-pregnancy. "

"Just stay here. There may be dangers that lie ahead."

" Will you be coming back? " She started to cry.

" Why not? You are my family. " He assured her.

But Laura was not convinced. After her marriage with him, she knew exactly just where was her only place in his heart. She was only a mask to conceal his pain, a gauze to cover his wound.

To avoid hurting her, he made his new appointment as an assistant to the CEO an excuse to keep his distance from her but Laura could not be fooled. Her heart bled in seeing him leaving early and going home late at night. She may be sleeping beside him every night but she knew very well that he only did it as an act of respect. But she patiently waited.

"What if along the way you will met her again? " She couldn't hold her fears anymore.

"Laura, she's a thing of the past. You know the story very well. "

"I love you, Phyllis. I and your children will be waiting for you."

She already broke into tears. She may had tried to hold it back but it fell like a deluge after many years of drought.

Phyllis was suddenly haunted with guilt. He knew that his true feelings showed off and that she understood it. He came forward to hug her for a long while before he stepped out of the door.

His going home was like an act of farewell to her heart who was all the while yearning for his love and attention. But how could she force herself to someone whose heart was owned by someone else?

___

Soon, the plane hovered high above the Philippine archipelago until it descended into the soil of his beloved homeplace. His barren heart which had long dried up suddenly moistened out until it showed some signs of life. He was finally going home!

Yet, the news of his father being burried many hours before he landed broke his excitement. Her mother was neither able to endure her grief due to a failing heart. After three days, she followed him into his grave.

During her burial when the mortuary fund was turned over to him as the only son, he saw a white envelope. Inside it were paper bills and a piece of paper. Scribbled in it was a woman's calligraphy, "Meet me in your mother's grave tomorrow night."

It was her! All of a sudden, he could no longer spell out his mixed emotion. He was lamenting for his parents but a deeper sense of loneliness and pain crept in. He knew he missed her. He knew it was his longing to see her again that brought back this pain. He could no longer wait!

In the following day, he made an excuse to bring flowers into his parents' grave. Nobody questioned this. To grieve for a parent's loss was expected of him.

Night came until the eerie sounds of the dark crept into his bones. He was not scared of the powers of the dark but of his mortal enemies.

Soon, footsteps were coming towards him. He dared not look behind. He was afraid that he would meet a dagger's sharp edge. But his hope to see her again outweighed his fears. What if it was really her? Come what may, either he would live or die after this, at least he believed.

"Pepe! "

A woman's voice broke into the eerie silence of the night. A voice he had longed so much to hear again. He turned towards the sound and saw her, indeed!

"Sylvia! " He ran and hugged her tight, not wanting to lose her anymore.

" Pepe, I won't take long. I ran away from home three years ago. I came to live with a friend in a place called Sitio Dakit, somewhere in an outskirt of El Nido. I heard the news of your father's death and I am expecting that you will come home. That's why I sneaked up here."

"I'll go with you ."

"No, somebody may see us together. Here's the complete direction... "

After their lips entwined to fill the empty spaces left out by loneliness, Sylvia ran away from him. He ran after her after a while and caught her hand again but it slipped away until she was lost in the dark.

___

A pang of pain hit everyone's heart in hearing him but no one dared to speak except Jim. They felt so sorry for him.

Anthon's brows knitted when he heard the name, "Sylvia". Perhaps, she was the reason why Mr. Wayne happened to know her parents. Because, she was her mom's bestfriend.

"What happened then, dad? "

Mr. Wayne looked at him. " I'm sorry, son. Your mother was pregnant with you at that time but I still followed after her in El Nido. I spent my remaining days with her until it was time for me to go back."

"She knew your mom was pregnant and there was already your sister. One morning, I woke up only to find her gone again. She left me a note that she was going home to give me freedom."

"I thought about you and your sister, then, and my conscience haunted me. So, I returned. "