Love Beyond Life

I am haunted by humans and yet it seems I am the one haunting them.

The old age knew I am coming when they start losing their senses. The men in wars
knew they're heading to me and I am in form of bombs and gunfire and they always
struggle to win over me. While most of humans just try to eradicate me from always
thinking tomorrow will shine its sun out.
But, one man wants me. He probably might crestfallen, unloved. I don't know but
despite of his darkness, I can see light in him.
One night, he approached me by the sea. I do not know, he shouted there.
Ramon: "I'm never good enough until her and now I have forever lost the chance of
being one." He cried.
The moon, the waves and I are all witnesses of how he wept. As the waves crashed in
and out of the shore again and again, he too, again, and again blamed himself for
everything that's gone.
Ramon: "I'm sorry!" He shouted while crying. "THIS IS ALL MY FAULT! IM SORRY! IM
SO SORRY!" He then exclaimed.
He hated the world for he hated himself but I saw in his eyes, memories of his heart.
There was someone who loved him, much than he loved himself.
As the night went deeper, I swam into his nothingness and there I saw something. A
smile, feeble, pale, and beautiful.
Ramon: " I love you Kara!"
Kara: " I love you too."
Ramon: " I can't imagine my future without you. Please don't leave me. You will look
like a bride waiting for his groom if you'll wear this white dress." He said while pointing
the white dress.
Kara: "Really?
Ramon: " Can't wait you walking at the aisle and become my wife."
She made him laugh, and although her skin was almost as white as a blank paper, she
filled up his life with colors he thought he would never see. They were together a year
ago, in this same place. Behind the rocks that echoed their whispers of vows and
promises of love as he kissed her more passionate than how the stars kiss the sky. The
moon and I witnessed everything. I saw her in his eyes as the tears continue to stream
down on his face.
Ramon: " Love, are you okay?" He paused, breathing heavily.
Kara: " Yes." she said softly.
Ramon: " You look so pale; I know you're not okay. Let's go to the hospital."
Kara: " No, I'm okay."
Ramon: " Come with me Kara!"
" Please, let me be with you today."
"Please, I can't lose you." He added
Now, I remember her. She was the one I chased by sucking up her blood, slowly from
when she was still little until she bloomed colorless and painfully when she met him.
She knows that I am waiting for her to come and roll herself in my cold arms.
I have got her eyes, it was the month where everything falls back to ground until they're
gone and like the leaves of that tree where they carved their names within a heart, she
fell into me as she closed her eyes.
So I was the reason of this man's misery. She had left him and I came to her and
because no matter how hard she wanted to stay in his arms, she couldn't for it was her
time to come to me.
So that night, the moon through its fullness and brightness whispered to me by the
wind, " Tonight’s the time."
It was time for him to come to me, and maybe it was time for him to meet her again. I
watch him still and from that moment there was a pause. I don't want him breathless
tonight.
He was something different that my heart aches for him. I wanted to see him feeling the
rays of the sun, tasting the water of rains, hearing the music of the night and smelling
the flowers during spring. I wanted him to see how majestic life is through my eyes. But
I couldn't, for I am invisible and I only come take them away.
Tonight, I am not the one who waited for him. He wanted me as much as I wanted him
to live, as much as he wanted her again. I couldn't do anything but wrap him with my
most tender arms for he met me as he sank deep into the sea. The waves washed him
away from life.
I'm haunted by humans and yet it seems I am the one haunting them. They never want
me, for they want to spend the rest of their life with the fascinations on Earth.
They wanted the world and wants to be certain with their lives but they hardly realize I
am the only thing certain as they live life. No matter what, I will always come for I must
and when I do they should be ready for me but most of them never were and never will
be.
I am Death and that night someone proved to me that I could be another breath of the
air. That with me comes another life.
 SHE NEEDS HELP

I met my special someone at the age of 18. We went to the same school, till' college.
Same course, same University.
When I saw her for the first time, I knew she was the woman I was waiting for. I can feel
it, my heart was beating differently when I saw her, especially when she smiled at me.
Her alluring beauty captivates the hearts of different men. Siya ay galing sa
respetadong pamilya, she's smart and family-oriented. A complete package, everyone
must say.
Our relationship became official, when she turned 18. It wasn't a secret relationship, in
fact, both of our parents knew that we are together.
We promised ourselves to finish our studies, so we both pursued our dream career and
that is to become a Lawyer. We promised to get rich together, travel together and work
together. So, we never settled too young.
And now, for 18 years, I am happily married to my wife, my first love, and we already
had a daughter. My wife, Jenny, is a Lawyer, so am I.
My wife wants our daughter, Zeresh, to follow us, being a Lawyer, too, someday.

When our daughter was five years old, I heard her singing a song.

“Zeresh? What are you doing?” my wife asked her. Humarap siya sa amin showing her
wide smile.

“Mom, I'm singing. I want to be like Taylor Swift, someday. She's a good singer. I love
her songs, mom!” Mabilis na kumunot ang noo ni Jenny at hinawakan siya sa siko.

“Singing? No, no, I don't want you to be like that!” Galit nitong sabi.

When she turned 11, I saw her writing something on a paper.

“Zeresh, what is that?” I asked her. Mabilis din na lumapit sa akin si Jenny.
“Dad! Look at these! I wrote a song!” she cheerfully uttered kasabay ng pagpapakita sa
amin ng isang papel. I was about to smile at her, too, when my wife started to tear off
the papers.

“I said, 'Quit this shít, Zeresh!' I want you to manage our Law Firm, okay?” Tahimik lang
itong tumango at bumalik na sa kaniyang kuwarto.

And when my daughter was in her 11th grade, she took Arts and Design Track. My wife
was very angry and wanted her to choose, take Humanities and Social Sciences strand,
or she'll stop studying.

“Why did you take Arts? I told you to take HUMSS strand! Wala kang mapapala sa
pagkanta-kanta mo! Quit this shít, Zeresh! Matigas na talaga ang ulo mo! Why can't you
just listen to us? We are a family of Lawyers, nakakahiya kung ikaw lang ang hindi!”

And she chose the latter. She stopped studying.

As the days passed, my daughter started to stay in her room. I don't want to force her to
manage our Law Firm, but my wife keeps on pushing her.

She would not talk to us and will only respond when we have questions. Hindi siya
lumalabas sa kwarto niya, mas pinili niyang magmukmok.

She barely eats and it made me worried. I can't afford to lose her for she is my only
child.

I talked to my wife and convinced her to let our daughter do what she wanted to do and
just support her, after all, she has the rights to do what she loved, but she did not listen
to me.

And this is what I hate about my wife, because she keeps pushing Zeresh to take Law.
Day by day, my daughter's condition got worsen. I always heard her crying in her room.
And then I noticed, my daughter, she was really depressed.

Four months had passed, I called a psychiatrist. I really want to help her. I'm really
devastated of what happened four months ago.

A rang of our doorbell cutted me off with my thoughts. Mabilis akong pumunta sa may
gate at binuksan ang pinto.

A psychiatrist welcomed me.

“Good morning, Mr. Avila. Where's the patient?—I mean, your daughter?”

Ngumiti lang ako at umakyat na sa pangalawang palapag ng bahay. But instead to go to

my daughter's room, we went to my wife.

She's sitting on a rocking chair but when she saw me, her eyes twinkled. Tears molded
in my eyes.

Mabilis siyang lumapit sa akin at hinawakan ako sa mag-kabilang kamay.

“Marco, is he is the man that will help our daughter?” masayang sambit niya pagkatapos
ay tumingin sa psychiatrist na kasama ko.

I caressed her face and smiled at her. Pagkatapos ay tumingin siya sa Doctor at
hinawakan ang dalawang kamay nito.

“D-Doc? Can you help my daughter, right? Para gumaling na siya, at makahingi na ako
ng tawad. Please, Doc, help my daughter. She's in her room. J-just wait here, I'll call
her.”
Mangiyak-ngiyak na sabi ng aking asawa. Bago pa siya nakaalis ay hinawakan ko nang
mahigpit ang kaniyang kamay.

“So, where is your daughter?” The psychiatrist looked at me and I shook my head.

A tear escape from my eye. As I try to remember everything, it returned all the pain, all
my remorse from the past months and years. Wala man lang akong nagawa.

“It's not my daughter,” I started.

“My wife— she's forcing herself. My wife forcing herself that our daughter is still alive...”

“My daughter, Zeresh, is lying on her bed and up until now, her body is still in her room.
Not breathing, lifeless, and alone. My daughter died four months ago.”
Jeen
Jeen Rueles
I married the woman I always dreamed to be my wife. People says she is a curse, a
demon and a witch. A lot of folks dislike her because many peope died because of her.

Before I married her, she told me a story. She said, whoever she fell into, he might end
up dead.

My wife have everything, money, beauty and brain.

" But why you didn't die?" One of my colleagues asked me.

So I started to tell them our story. Memories flashed in my mind as I try remember what
my wife had told me.

" Lyndon is her first love, she met him when she was still in college. He was her first
boyfriend, first hug, and first kiss. Lyndon died the day before their wedding. There was
no evidence who was the killer but they found out that he was stabbed 14 times in his
chest in his house. My wife got depressed and it took her years to move on."

" Hades was the second man she met. They met in a hotel on her friend's birthday
celebration. He courted her for about 7 months but before she could say yes, they found
out that Hades is already dead. They found his body on the pool lifeless. And again she
got depressed."

Then again, she met a man and the next day or in just a month, the boy will found
lifeless. And so on. That's why people dislike her because she is a cursed woman.

"Because of everything that was happened, she choose to distance herself from
anyone. But one day, her parents forced her to marry a rich man for she will be the one
who will run their business. She didn't want the marriage so she ran away, leaving
everything, leaving her mom and dad. And the next day, she heard the news that her
parents died in a car accident." I took a deep breath.

"She couldn't accept what happened, she wanted to kill herself and started to believe
that she was really a curse. And that was time when I finally met her. She is feeble but
still beautiful. I approached her and it happened that one my cousins is her friend. I've
known him for a long time, actually. Since elementary, she has been my classmate. I
was the man whom her parents wanted her to marry. I didn't believe what they've said.
She was afraid to fall in love again and the thought about his ex boyfriends death scares
her for she don't want that to to happen again or what might happen to me. But I took all
the chance, I don’t care what will happen to me. I married her." I smiled as I said the last
three words.

" Do you have a child?" I looked at them and the smile from my lips slowly disappeared.

"Like what I did to her fiancee, boyfriends and to her parents, I also killed her after our
wedding. I killed her because I know she can't love me back."