They Know The End

Russell

2:52 pm

I was thinking that the rain would ruin our little excursion in the park, but luckily, it left us behind. The sun was shining brightly on my face, so I closed my eyes and took it upon myself to sleep. 

But I couldn't sleep, so I just looked at Matt, who was busy talking with someone on the phone. I didn't bother listening to the conversation, but he seemed a bit dissatisfied when he put down the phone. 

"Who are you calling?" I asked him. 

"My dad was checking on me," he replied, giving me an apologetic smile. He looked so youthful when he did that. "But then he got into another argument with Mom while I was on call." He slumped on the seat. "It's like I never left."

I felt awkward. "It just happens. You can deal with it. And if you can't. . .well. . .you are dying today."

That got out a laugh from him, so I considered my work done. 

I was about to return to staring at the window when he asked, "What do you think death is like?"

I turned to him. "You first. Mine is just too pessimistic."

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Fine, whatever." He paused. "I think it's quiet. Like pitch-black darkness. I honestly think that it's just that. No afterlife, no Heaven or Hell. Just that."

"Geez, that's more depressing than mine." I snickered. "Unlike you, I actually believe in a paradise after death. It has everything you could ever hope for, but it's not like Heaven in a sense. It's just. . .the paradise fits to whatever you dream about, y'know?"

"I get it. But I'm still sticking to what I think about it. Besides, what's up with people sugarcoating what death really is?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it's to make us feel better."

"Yeah. Since we can't comprehend death in its entirely, but. . .I still don't get it."

"You can figure that out all you want," I teased. "Whatever the case, we'll find out eventually."

"Right."

Then, there was silence between us. 

"It's strange how nothing has totally affected us yet. It's strange we've survived this long. We must be really lucky or we're setting ourselves up for some terrible death."

I gulped. "Yeah." I looked straight up and visualized the sky past the metal ceiling of the bus. 

"I know there's a sick plot twist somewhere in the story of our lives."

As if on cue, the bus swerved a heavy right, making several people fall to the right side of the bus. I tumbled but I was caught by Matt's body. I found my head right on his stomach. I blushed intensely. 

I looked up at him and saw that he grabbed hold of a handle on the seat behind us to save himself from falling over. 

The bus realigned itself and we settled back to our seats, but there was commotion between the passengers. 

"Hapita ato oi," one mumbled. That was close. 

"Lagi. If we didn't dodge that, we would've crashed," another told his mom. 

"Wa pa ko natawagan, so naka-survive ra ta ato," a third announced proudly with a loud voice. I wasn't called [by Death-Cast], so we survived that one. "Sige, pagsalamat na mo." You can thank me. 

I turned to Matt, who breathed a big sigh. "That was close. And stop jinxing us!"

He gave me a small smile. "Well, I was always known to predict things. Most of my predictions are reasonable enough, even."