"Death is an inevitable thing. It comes to you no matter how you try to avoid it with medicine and precaution. You cannot escape death."
A woman wearing a blue dress and a brown sweater was sitting on a banig. Her tired eyes looked at Jane. It was Jane's sick mother. Jane's eyes began to water. "Jane," a hand held hers, with a warm and comforting feeling. "You know, Jane, anak, I'm starting to think you're more scared than I am!" she chuckled like death was nothing to her. Somehow, Jane grinned because her mother's laugh, even though she had a lot of reasons not to. "Ma, I'm just so scared." Jane sighed, "If I only had a job!" Her mother sensed her frustration. She reahed out for her panyo and wiped her daughter's tears. Jane held her mother's hand, "Do you need anything, ma?" she stood up determined to do something. Her mother grinned, "Make me some milk, Jane anak." She looked at Jane and gave her a smile. "O-okay!" she hurriedly ran to the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came back with a mug of hot milk. "Here, Ma." Jane handed it over to her mom. "Thanks, anak." She took a sip and stared out the window. There was a long silence in the room. "Ma, promise me, you'll guide me even when you're gone." She clutched her mother's hand, "I always will, anak." She wrapped her arms around Jane which became a long hug between mother and daughter.
Jane, who was very young, decided to just rely on the power of prayer. She goes to church alone, dressed in rags, since they have no money to buy decent clothes. Ever since her mother fell ill she has been going to church every day, from the countryside walking to the city. And she stopped going to school. Shortly after the exhausting walk, she felt desperate and frustrated. Her mother's condition just seemed to get worse.
One day, she went home from church, tired and frustrated. She heard her mom coughing. She went to her room. "Jane, your back!" she smiled as she saw her daughter. "Jane, I need a glass of water, anak." "Ma, I'm tired of always looking out for you! I pray every day to Sto. Nino, but your condition just gets worse! If only you weren't sick! You're so annoying! My effort on walking from here to there and back again just gets wasted! Why?! Why do we have no money? I should have been going to school a long time ago. Why won't you go away?! JUST DISAPPEAR!" Jane was crying and angry at the same time. Realizing what she has done, Jane ran out of the house crying. Her mother was so shocked, she wasn't able to say anything.
Jane ran to a nearby river to be alone. She looked at t he sapa as it's water shone like a huge wave of crystals. She decided to go home and apologize to her mother. She ran back home, filled with guilt, but she knew her conscience would be cleared afterwards.
As she arrived back from the sapa, she rushed to her mother's room. "Ma!" she was surprised to find her mother missing. "Ma?" she called out. She noticed a small note on her banig. She opened it anxiously.
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Jane, anak, I'm sorry if I have troubled you. I was a burden to you. I shouldn't have put so much weight on your shoulders. Since I haven't attended a misa in a while, I will go to the city and pray. Don't worry, this is my way of thanking you. You won't be seeing me anymore. Just remember that, I'll always love you even though I'm gone. I'll never break our promise. Goodbye.
Your Mama,
Floresita
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Jane cried after reading the note. She ran outside. She heard lots of noises and shouts, "What's going on?". A man was talking to a police officer and there were lots of people nearby. "Didto Sir ay! I saw a woman who was run over by a car." The man pointed to the road going to the church. "Ah, Manong, unsa iyang gisuot? the police asked. "She was wearing a white dress with a black jacket." the man answered. She was shocked because this was what her mother was wearing that morning. She ran to the direction the man was pointing at. Up ahead, Jane saw a car with a figure of a woman lying on the road. There was no one in the car, so she went over to the woman. It was her mother. "Ma! Mama!" she tried shaking her mother. Jane checked on her pulse, but there was nothing. The rain poured down as death has caught the
soul of her mother.
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