A Slap of Reality

By: Eyre Angelique Passion

It was around 12:05 in the afternoon when I decided to close my laptop and focus on the food served beside my bed. I was not yet ready to get up, but I had to. No one wants to be late for our English class.

I gathered everything that was served and walked towards the small table in my room. As I was trying to set everything up, I felt the need to pause upon seeing the empty seats surrounding the small table that I have. The sudden hit takes me back to the days when seats beside me were never empty, where the room was not quiet but rather lively.

“Where will we guys eat?” my friend asked.

“Could be anywhere as long as—”

One of my friends disrupted me even before I could finish my sentence. “There we go again with that “anywhere.” Give me something specific, guys,” one of my friends said as if she was already annoyed.

Everyone in the group just laughed it off. It was not that long when we started walking towards our favorite café around our school.

I remember us being so excited about the food that we would order that we often talked about it while we were on our way.

The cold but welcoming breeze of the café welcomed us as my friend opened the door. It did not even take a second for two of my friends to start rushing towards our favorite spot, the one near the windows, where we could see and talk about the random strangers walking and whatnot.

“Hey, that's my spot!”

“But I got here first.”

My friends' voices started to fill the empty spaces of the place. Those were just some of the usual words that come out from my friends’ mouths whenever we go outside to eat or to just hang out.

It took us a few minutes to settle and come up with our orders. As usual, I went with my go-to cookies and cream flavored milk tea drink, while the rest of the group chose theirs, with some extra snacks that we like.

Time went on so fast while we were enjoying our meal. Perhaps an hour had passed when I took my last bite.

We settled for a few moments before we started talking again, without limits. The chikas were always about what happened in class. From the quizzes to the people that we hated; everything has always been included. I remember us spending an hour or so just talking about the most mundane things that we have encountered in school.

Moments passed, and we finally decided to go home. It was also starting to get dark. I was just about to stand up from my seat when I realized that everything was nothing but a mere memory—fragments of the past that I did not even think of becoming something so rare today.

At that very moment, I realized how I had taken those moments for granted. I instantly felt the regret of not spending or enjoying more of my time with them. Instead of scrolling through my phone, I should have talked and laughed more often.

It is as if I was the embodiment of the saying, "You never know what you have until it's gone.”—that instead of thinking I could spend every day with the people that make my day matter, I should have told myself that one day this could all shatter.

Indeed, there is not a day when I did not miss seeing them. After-class shenanigans just hit differently when it is spent with the people that make my days more manageable. Although virtual calls and meetings are a thing, I must say that nothing compares to the bond that we have shared physically.

At the very same moment, I have come to realize that gone are the days when I can unwind after a draining class—that gone are the days when I was excited to go out to see them and ask the words, “Where do you guys want to eat?”

Reality slapped hard when I found myself alone, for the second time around, facing the food that was prepared for me. On a small table inside my room, right after I finished closing my laptop after my first-morning class.