ANGELA

 

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Pasay City, Metro Manila 5:30am, March 29, 2011

 

I hold on to my plane ticket tightly as I sit on one of the steel, cold chair in the waiting area. Everything feels so bizarre right now. I can’t believe I managed to actually really run away from home. It was a bit tricky of course. Luckily, my door was not the creaking type so I managed to get out of my room without waking anyone up. I carried my luggage with both hands as I cautiously stepped down the stairs, making the most inaudible sound as possible.   I had a duplicate of the keys to our house gates with me so there was no problem with that. Once I had completely stepped out of our house, I took one last glance at it before walking away. Luck seemed to be on my side. As if it was really meant for me to run away, I spotted a taxi that just emerged from one corner of the street. It’s very rare to find a taxi inside our subdivision especially during the wee hours of the morning.    Because of that, I am here at the airport right now and not even a single person in our house has any idea of my whereabouts. They’ll be surprised to see a bunch of pillows lying down on my bed, covered with a blanket.   I look at my watch and see that I still have 10 minutes before the gates open. I take a look at my tickets again and stare at my destination for a moment.   Seoul, Korea.   Of all the places that I could go to within the Metro, my recklessness has pushed me to blurt out some foreign place where I don’t have any relatives nor do I have any interest in. All I know is, it’s a place where I know no one can trace me. Well, maybe at least have a hard time tracing me.    A vision of Kei suddenly crosses my mind. I know how much she liked to go to Seoul but then… I can’t let anyone--- not even my closest friends--- know where I’m headed to. I wish I could tell her what’s going on but then I’d rather not burden her with my rants, considering that she’ll be busy preparing for her board exam.   Maybe when things get better, I’ll tell her everything. I just don’t know when though. I haven’t really thought about for how long I’ll be gone. Apparently, my Korean visa is valid for a maximum of 3 months. I’ll have a lot of time to think it over by then or…maybe using up those 3 months will be very useful?   I shake my head sideways at the thought. The truth is, I’m scared. I’m not even sure if I could last for 24 hours there on my own but then at the same time, that strong sense of recklessness I was feeling earlier is starting to overpower me again.   “All passengers of Korean Air Flight PR159 heading to Seoul, Korea is now starting to board passengers. Gate will close at exactly 5 minutes before departure.”   Well, that’s my cue. I drink the remaining content of my coffee cup and threw it in the trash bin afterwards.   With a racing heart, I head to the line of people at the gate. As I wait for my turn to hand over my boarding pass, my thoughts give a rundown of the unpleasant incidents that happened to me in this place. The nervousness I was feeling earlier is starting to dissolve as I feel strongly driven by these thoughts to prove all of them wrong.   I’ll really show them.   It is finally my turn. I hand my boarding pass to the attendant and after she has torn the necessary part, without having any more hesitation, I make my way inside the plane.   Well, this is it. There’s no turning back for me now.