I grabbed some bread from the kitchen and stayed on the porch. I chewed the bread as properly as I can and smiled to myself as I have thought of something silly. I was thinking of copying my cousin's facial expression while eating. It felt so silly, but then I still tried to copy it. Actually, no one knows if I have gotten it right. I laughed at the back of my mind and finished the bread on my hand. I stared on the street and thought of what I could do. I could have been wasting my time sitting around here, I thought. Well, I have never tried this on a school day or on a weekend. There! It hit me. I had never had a chance to relax myself and have this little time to myself ever since school started. I have been too busy to experience this simple little thing. Then, I remembered what one of our professors has been keeping on telling us again and again. It is to "commune with nature".
I looked around. There was still that fenced area which used to be an eatery. It was now covered with a lot of trees which cause my misery. Well, their little adorable but pain-in-the-brain-and-hand leaves do. They have me sweeping them until my right hand aches from brushing the broom on the ground every weekend. I shook my head at myself. Laziness is really creepy! Then, I looked farther. There was still that fenced old Mormon church beside the fenced lot of trees. It was still rich with those Bermuda grasses. It looked clean though no one lived there anymore. It still had this little flowering tree and the pink flowers were still blooming. The old bench made of cement and iron was still there, under that little tree. No one was there but I did not ever feel some sadness. It was never lonely nor creepy there. I still wonder why.
I stared at the lawn across the street where we used to play before. It has still that huge mango tree rooted on it. It never died and never stopped bearing mangoes though it was not sprayed with some chemicals nor owned by anyone. The Carabao grasses were still the same. It gave way to passers-by. It made a small trail which seems to be a smooth piece of carpeted land which is not clearly made of loam soil alone but of sand too. It was really beautiful. Nothing has really changed yet it felt so odd. I tried to think about it, but nothing came off. I stood up and locked the front door.
I'll get back, I told myself. I walked to our gate and closed it too. I looked around before crossing the cemented mini-conduit, bridging our gate to the road. I hold on lightly to the short railing. The royal blue paint on it has not yet peeled off. I noticed the canal was clean. Our neighbor's front yard was still rich with those knee-length wild grasses. I looked up to the sky. It was a bit cloudy, making it not too hot for a walk. I still felt some oddity.
I crossed the road and followed the small trail which connects our street to the next street. I did not know why but a part of me really wanted me to go there. It was quite confusing, but I wanted to know why I was to go there. I just walked in a manner like cherishing every step. I kept my head held high and my hands crossed on my back. I happened to see an old man who was dressed a bit strange. He looked like a magician, wearing a black magician's hat. He was dressed formally. Perhaps he's going to a special gathering, one of my thoughts echoed. I smiled at him as I met his gaze. He smiled at me too.
"Good afternoon!" I greeted him as sweetly as I can. Okay, I know that you do not talk to strangers, but he is an elder. Besides, he looked harmless.
"Hello Alice!" he greeted me back. I was taken aback. Perhaps he was not a stranger at all. I know that a lot of people know me in the town because of my father, but in contrary, I only know a few in the town. I usually experience this, so I just went on smiling at him. "Where are you heading to?"
I did not know what to tell him, but my mind quickly worked on some valid reason. "I'm going to my uncle's house," I replied.
"Oh," he stopped and searched for something from his pocket. He pulled it out from his pocket, but it fell. I quickly helped him and looked for it. It might have actually fallen on the grass. It took me a little time until I saw a small hour glass and got it.
"Is this the piece, Sir?" I stood upright to face him and hand it to him, but I was talking to no one anymore. I looked around. The old man was nowhere to be seen. I must be on high. I felt the hairs on my arms stood.
It can't be, I shook my head, it's broad daylight, I reasoned out.
I looked at the hour glass on my hand. It was neither broken nor cracked. I stared at it and looked at the red powder. It was flowing half-way. I tried to invert it and shook it. I watched the powder flow into where it was from. I was really amazed that I did not notice how it got too noisy around the place.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" I heard someone ask. The voice sounded so familiar that it made me want to look at the source of the voice. I saw Will.
"Don't go there Alice!" I heard another one. It was Anne. She came running to me. I smiled and was about to ask Anne why, but someone spoke behind me.
"Why?" a girl's voice asked. "I'm going to hide there." I looked at her and was completely knocked for six when I saw the little girl behind me.
Wait! I was speechless. I looked at them. There was the sixth-grader Will, there was the fourth-grader Anne, and there was me, the fourth-grader me. They were talking but I cannot hear them clearly. I was so stunned. What happened? the question was raised. I stared at them. Anne grabbed my hand and dragged me to where we were going to hide. I felt deaf, but I was not blind to see my childhood friends and myself playing hide-and-seek.
Then, I heard someone. "I'm coming!" That voice. Lily! I immediately remembered everything and turned around to look at that deep hole to my left.
"Lily!" I called out, but she did not hear me. She was walking nearer that hole. I know what was going to happen. I swiftly ran to her but it was too late. The little adorable smile on her face was gone when she realized she was falling onto that deep hole where our neighbor thought there would be some gold. "Lily!" I screamed. So did the little me. She came running with the little Anne to the hole.
"What happened?" I heard Will.
I shook my head. "Lily fell on the hole", I and the little me both replied. We were both crying but there was a difference. I was crying silently while she was not.
There was panic on both Will's and Anne's faces. Will was sweating.
"Please don't, Will!" I pleaded and knelt before him, but he did not notice me.
"Lily!" The little Will, the little Anne, and the little me called out simultaneously into the hole.
"What are we going to do?" The little Anne asked the little Will, being the eldest among the three, and I noticed her sweating while the little me was shaking.
"We have to go," Will told us. Anne got that worried look on her face.
"Don't leave Lily, Anne!" I shouted at her.
"Alice, let's go. The people might think we pushed her there. We might go to prison," Anne told the little me who was finding it very hard to breathe as she was crying so hard.
"No!" I and the little me protested, but Anne and Will were dragging the little me out of there.
They left Lily. We left Lily...
I did not want to be there anymore. I could not stop crying. I was about to rub off the tears on my cheeks when I noticed the hour glass on my hand. I looked at it. Perhaps it made me come back to the past. I did not want to be there anymore. I inverted it immediately and shook it so fast so that I may escape everything.
I looked at the hole one last time and whispered her name. By the time I whispered her name, I found myself in a court room.
"Alicia Demetria Bonifacio found not guilty..." someone proclaimed.
I looked around and everyone stood up, making rounds of applause and cheers. Two people were immediately caught by my eyes. I could not have recognized them, but I always knew them. They looked so old, but I can always tell who my parents are. I saw a woman approaching them. She hugged them tightly. I went closer to them.
"Oh Alice, darling, we knew you wouldn't do that to your sister," my mother cried out in glee but tears were visible on her cheeks too.
"We have always had believed in you, Alicia," my father said.
So that woman was me. My parents have always had believed in me. I should not have hidden the real story behind Lily's death. I felt my cheeks dampened. I was too desperate before. I thought they would not believe me, so I followed Anne and Will. I thought they had always favored Lily, but they loved us both equally. I was too selfish. I had always thought about how people were comparing me to my twin ever since before.
"If I could turn back time," I muttered but stopped when suddenly the hour glass slipped off my hand. It bounced and rolled. What now? I looked at my parents and the woman that I am.
"I'm so sorry." I closed my eyes.
That was the last thing I heard before I opened my eyes and found myself awake on our porch. I was not holding an hour glass anymore. I was holding bread.
