Ang Huling El Bimbo

My roommate is so annoying tonight. I was sleeping when he woke me up… It was only 8:19pm. The problem is… it’s the weekend. It gets so boring because there’s nothing to do. No friends calling. Seems like everyone just want to laze around, sleep and do nothing today. I’ve never been a party go-er myself anyway. My life has been pretty boring, so there’s really not much to complain about.

Especially at this season. When there’s just a lot of bad things happening around. And I for one, is greatly affected by this bad omen spreading. Last month, I just received termination papers from my company. I worked my last day today. I still don’t have a job. And I only have one month to stay in this god-forsaken place, otherwise I’m going home to my country with a big letter “L” on my head.

A few hours back, I was just hearing my roommate having a fight with her girlfriend. I was annoyed, yes. But that has already become a part of my weekly roommate-relationship-update. I can't help but hear my friend's endless, stupid, nonsense and inconsistent excuses and denials to his girlfriend. Tragically for me, I have to also bear the stresses that my friend has to go through... and after each and every fight, the last words he'd say... "Argh! girls!"

“Buddy, I hear something strange, come!” he suddenly grabbed my arm and practically dragged me to the balcony. He did not even bother waiting to get my feet on to my slippers.

“What the hell is your problem?” I was genuinely annoyed this time, although it should take more than that for me to be.

He shushed me. He said, “Listen.”

There’s a girl playing the guitar and singing at the top of her voice somewhere in the balcony. This, of course is unusual for us. We never get to hear this kind of singing at a time like this.

This girl has a serious problem. That’s the first thing that came to my mind. And she is really lonely plus I sense like she is so drunk.

“So what now?” I said to my friend.

“Don’t you just love it?” He was a bit dreamy. This is my friend. Sometimes he gets a little flirty with weird girls.

“I’m going back.” I said to him. Showing my disinterest about his amusement.

“No, no, stay and listen, the best part is coming” Again, he clutched my arm, stopping me from leaving our spot at the balcony.

And then the girl started sobbing while singing to her song. She was singing an English song a little while back but this next song she is sobbing with, I’m pretty sure is in Tagalog. Yes, I have a strong feeling she’s a Filipina, judging from her accent and from the lyrics of the song she’s singing that are quite familiar to me. Like, “kamay”, “wala” and other stuff. I’ve heard a lot of these words from my Filipino officemates.

We are staying at the 10th floor. This girl is on top of our apartment.

“She’s always like that. When she sings that song, she cries. I don’t know if that’s how that song is supposed to be sung, but honestly, I get disturbed when she does that. You know, sobbing while singing?”

“Can we just leave the girl be?” I said to my friend. And this time, I was the one who dragged him along with back to our room.

The place I am in at this strange moment is covered with green fogs and it’s so cold. I can see smoke everywhere. I’m not quite sure where I am right now but I know I’m trying to find my way out from this vast place. But it seems like it’s going to be an unending walk. There’s no edge to this place. There’s just nowhere to go, nothing to see and maybe, even if I shout, no one’s ever gonna hear it.

And then there was something. From this nothingness, I was feeling something different. I hear a strange sound. I went on walking, trying to follow where the sound is coming from. I know I am not this much of an observant and keen to these strangeness, but at this desperate hour of emptiness, I know, somehow I had to do something.

And then I heard the sobs. I heard the weeps. It’s from a girl. These are cries that I’ve heard before. As I draw closer to the sound, the cries were starting to give me the creeps and for some reason, it gave me the spine-chills. The crying girl is just within my reach, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, someone is shaking my shoulder.

“Hey, buddy, are you alright?”

I was dreaming. It seemed so real. I saw my friend shaking me. It was almost half past three in the morning. I told my friend I was just dreaming after he told me I was mumbling while asleep. Then I went back to sleep.

My whole week had passed normally. Well, apart from me not going to the office anymore like what I used to do. This time, I’m connecting with friends who might be able to help me get a new job. I was going out for interviews, so it was a pretty busy week for a regular Syrian like me. In situations like this, I’ve always been pushed to the limit. And I know that I should not be wasting any of my time.

I have not seen my fellow Syrian roommate-friend for the week. He might also be running around with a lot of things. By the time he comes home, I’m already sleeping. We share a room together, and he has been my buddy for quite e few years now.

But the bizarre thing is, this dream had crept in my subconscious system every night. It’s always the same dream and always the same girl and I always hear the same melody from that dream. Strange, but I’ve been to more odd situations so I never bothered giving meaning to it.

It’s the weekend again. My friend, whom I have not seen for the week had brought home some wine to drink. We were chatting at the balcony while sharing the wine when I thought of mentioning to her the girl we heard singing and playing the guitar the week before.

“Haven’t you heard? “ He said with a bit of surprise based from the expression on his face.

“What?” I answered.

“She tried to kill herself that same night when we heard her singing. She jumped out of their balcony. She’s not dead yet, though, but I heard she’s in coma right now.”

The melody lingered in my head. I can't take it off. And then I began wondering if I'm gonna have the same dream again tonight. So I decided to drink a lot.