Harris just sits there listening to my story. He doesn’t even bulge; he doesn’t even judge; he does not give me an exaggerated reaction, too. He just sits there with a cigarette in his hands and he is staring at the sky full of stars as I do. I like it, this way, the way he listens with no judgment and bias, I have known I needed this. This might be the reason why I can’t open this up to my mom, or to anyone else. I might have known beforehand that I needed a Harris to open up to. “I couldn’t believe it at first,” I continued. “She’s the last person who I have known who can do that to me.” I notice that right now, I really want to cry but my body might have dried out of tears, I can only breathe out heavy sighs. I gulp more of my words. “You see, Harris, that issue has been a big deal with my company for weeks now. It all started when one of my critiques stumbled upon a less-read novel with a different title but the same content as mine. The Author’s notes of it have been di

What was that about?I feel a sudden churn in my stomach. That was weird. The elevator dings and I immediately enter it while trying to calm my nerves. I am still shaking. What was that about?The door closes.It was nothing, right?I look at the numbers on the elevator and hug myself. I have decided to focus on the changing numbers while massaging my arms to ground myself down. I breathe in.3...I breathe out.2...

Shards of broken glass start flying everywhere and people run around in panic. I hear people shouting, screaming for help. Some are crying and are begging for their lives to be saved. Ting~ I wince at the ringing in my ears as I look around after the incident. I figure out that I am down, with my back on the floor. I sit down and meters in front of me lies a crying Stacey where Yohanne is reaching out to her to woo her. My first instinct tells me to stand up and go to the fallen chandelier. Harris. I take a step. Mom. People are in panic, some are crying, some are grieving. It is such a mess that people are actually running around and they do not know what they should do. Harris might be there. My vision adjusts to the mess. As my view of the chandelier gets clearer, I see the unknowing bodies of dead people lying under it. Imagine, an almost 7 foot tall and around 10 meters wide in d

The glow of the rooftop lights reflects on the shard of glass Sid is holding in her right hand. It is a 6 inches long and 3 inches wide diamond-shaped glass that sparkles in this dark night like a crystal so beautiful we can forget that it can take our lives away. Silence has enveloped us as we hear the car honking from meters away in the real world. But it might be true. That the easiest way out of here... is to die. But why do we strive to live even if we know that we all lead in that same direction? “But what if we don’t?” the unnamed girl gently reaches out to Sid with her voice cracking. She holds Sid in both of her arms and tries to take the shard of glass away from her. “Let’s go to our rooms, okay? We’ll wake up that way.” She looks at me. “Let’s trust her,” she pertains to me, “then we can leave this place safely.” 

It turns out that Stacey’s room is on 3059, Yohanne’s is on 3060, Steven’s is on 3068 and Melvin’s is on 3067. Harris is now carrying Stacey on his back as Steven and I walk beside them. She is the one who told the Harris about what had happened as I walk on their right with my head bowed. I feel like I don’t deserve to be with this group of radiant people. I look at them and feel a soft pang in my heart. Why am I reacting like this? Stacey is hugging Harris on a piggyback ride and she rests her chin on Harris's left shoulder. She is beautiful. She is also kind, and quite bubbly. I know that she would even win the Miss Universe Pageant if she joins it. Her body is great. Her attitude is great. She is everything I am not. I look at Harris, he maintains his straight face that I can’t seem to read