Heaven Knows

25: Dominic

Heaven Knows OST:

♫ Love Song Requiem by Trading Yesterday ♫ 

♫ Astronaut by Simple Plan ♫

♫ The Memory by Mayday Parade♫

Chapter 25: Dominic

How can a girl named after Heaven be stripped away from life? It’s a sad thing to say. Maybe Heaven’s running short of angels.

When love leaves, it slaps everything back to you, making you realize that there’s nothing left of you.

I was left lying in bed, looking up at Anna’s 3D painting. The one that was ironically disturbing because of its theme. Funeral. She sure does know how to make an impact in anyone’s life. She just knew what buttons to press to leave a mark.

Her painting was sarcastically comforting me in a way it made me feel it was my own funeral. I was in my coffin, I was ten feet below the ground in my grave, and I was looking up at the people who cared about me. I saw Anna among them, she reached her hand down to me, I reached up…

…and she’s gone.

I was all alone again.

I let my hand fall to my side like a curtain drawing.

There’s a knock at the door. I am dumb.

“Dom, it’s time to go.”

Anna’s funeral. I sighed. The tears won’t fall because their purpose was over. I think I got dehydrated. I think I forgot how to cry when I felt the pain. But no matter what I do, I could not forget about her.

I am a robot.

I twisted the key to put myself to life. So I could move.

Anna’s funeral. I stood up and I left.

***

My head was blank and my heart was full of madness. It was making me blind.

People started to come for her eulogy. I was tasked to give her one but what’s the use when she won’t hear me anymore? I refused to give her one, so instead, I offered a requiem.

I watched and listened to people who knew Anna. I haven’t seen or recognized most them but they spoke of her with such beauty it was impossible for her to wilt.

Even our school director was there. He sat beside Anna’s mom. His hand rested on her shoulder, comforting her. But that was when I realized—it was him. He was her father. The one who kept her a secret.

As the service stretched on, my little flirtation with the dark side deepened. Realizations launched in my head and a dark veil casted its covers upon my heart. I listened more to the meaningless speeches they have prepared for my girl. They were still useless. She wouldn’t hear them anyway. She’s somewhere she wouldn’t hear them, somewhere she wouldn’t see us, somewhere I couldn’t reach her.

So, what’s the use?

I think I’ve been entirely wrong with people. They don’t really understand what it’s like to live. They talk and write like they knew all about it but they don’t. They’re charlatans who pretend to be connoisseurs on life. But they fail to recognize the essence of living it. Sometimes, we live too much that we forget about the things that are most important. To stop. To wonder. And to breathe.

One spoiler in life: people will recognize you when you’re dead. People will remember you when you’re dead. Now that’s just two things. But isn’t it ironic that when you’re alive people barely see you. You feel dead among them. And when you die, people know you. You are suddenly as popular as Shakespeare. People bring you back to life with shapeless words.