Sa pagdating ng araw, ang liwanag ang mismong gumising kay Winter. Walang panaginip, o kahit ano. Basta’t nakatulog siya nang mahimbing, mabuti pagkatapos ng ilang nakakapagod na araw. O taon.

“Mommy! Daddy!” A baby girl who’s been running all around on top of her head. Making her realize that, natulog nga pala siya sa labas. 

With Karina.

But where is that woman, by the way?

Winter quickly got up, not seeing Karina, nor any of the girl’s cousins. She checked if her phone and wallet was with her as well, wala ang cellphone niya.

Goddamnit, don’t tell me she’s a magnanakaw?! Her thoughts fumed.

Winter quickly stood up, at nag lakad lakad paikot-ikot sa mga kubo sa tabing dagat. Yet even after minutes of searching, walang mukha ni Karina ang bumungad sa kaniya. 

“Oh, hell…” She whispered, at patuloy na nagtatakbo. “That can’t be... Not my phone... I need it!” Bulong niya at nagtatakbong muli. 

She ran back and forth, whilst her shoes were being filled with sand inside, she looked around the place— seeing just a bunch of happy families, so many people having fun that she started envying them.

More like, it’s suffocating her. So, she ran away from it and found a corner for her to stay in, at least.  

Winter ran away from the beach, and ran for as long as she could, losing her breath by each second she spent running. After tons of seconds of doing so, she finally found a safe space. She sat down on the corner, and hugged her knees as the place added up to her deep emotions.

It was calm and silent, yet it made it heavier for her.

“Goodness gracious…” She breathed heavily, before closing her eyes forcefully. Her car is not in sight yet, her cellphone’s lost, no ATM machine or anything. For Winter, she’s really doomed. Tiringly doomed.

She stayed in her position for quite long, enough for the heavy atmosphere to eat her wholly. Sa sobrang bigat ng nararamdaman niya, she would definitely call it worse than carrying the whole world behind her back. It makes her want to give up. She knows that some people would’ve called her OA whenever she reacts like this kapag may small inconvenience sa buhay niya. But what more can she do? 

She gave up on everything a long time ago. 

The sight of those perfect families haunted her. Nawala sa isip niya ang cellphone niyang nawawala nang tumingin siya sa malayo. Not realizing that, her eyes started to release her tears once again. Because maybe, maybe she knows herself that she would live her life wishing to have something that’s on her sight as of now. 

“Winter?” Someone called, which woke her up from her senses forthwith. The smaller quickly looked up— seeing someone, someone which gave her a relief, at least. 

It was Karina.

“K-kanina pa kita hinahanap, ito,” Karina then, handed her her phone. “nag hanap ako ng kuryente sa kabilang bayan, doon pa sa pinsan kong si Ningning.” The taller chuckled, habang si Winter nama’y naiwang naka-titig sa kaniya. 

All of a sudden, she felt lighter. 

No one knows if it’s because of getting her phone back, or it’s because of someone in particular.

Heaven knows who it was.

“Itong cellphone mo, nilagyan ko ng kuryente. Gumagana na,” Karina handed Winter the phone, before holding her hand to guide her to stand up. It felt… soft. 

“Y-you… You charged my phone?” 

Silence.

“I… I mean, kaya ka ba nawala sa tabi ko? It’s because nilagyan mo ng charge ang cellphone ko?” Karina nodded cheerfully, before sighing. 

“Sinabi kasi ni Lia at Minju, mas makakatulong daw sa iyo ‘yan, kaya’t naki-kuryente muna ako.” 

Winter gave her a small smile, before looking at her phone. She checked it quickly, at nakita ang missed calls ng parents, at friends niyang hindi niya sinagot mula kagabi. 

Right, I did not answer them. Her thoughts voiced.

“Thank you, Karina.” Winter smiled bitterly, before earning another silent nod from the taller. 

“Nga pala, may masasakyan na papuntang mall ngayong umaga, gusto mo na bang pumunta?”

She was about to say yes, not until she realized that… She was wearing the same clothes since yesterday.  A very not Winter