chapter one of a new story

LOOKING AT THE STARS


"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde



CHAPTER 1: THE END

No, he can’t be dead! Cynthia Orozco-Acevedo stared at the text message in her cell phone and thought of Jovanie just as the room began to spin. Later, when the initial frenzy had subsided, she couldn’t recall which came first---her tears or the trembling of her hands.

She sat on a chair, stunned. To her right was the bedroom where Lito, her husband, was sleeping with their only child Lancelot by his side. Lito had gone to bed early as he would leave for Cagayan de Oro the next day, but Cynthia now wanted to wake him and tell him about Jovanie. Lito knew Jovanie was her favorite because two years after he joined Tago District, she made him head teacher of Caras-an Elementary School.

The cell phone in her hand lit up, then a message alert tone. Cynthia pressed a button to read the text message. But in the puddle of her tears, the letters collided, and all she could make was that of Jovanie’s body being found in a rocky section of a secluded beach in Cagwait.

The room spun faster. Cynthia clasped the cellfone to keep it from slipping and went to wake Lito.

The yellow clock on the narra wall said 9:35. And somewhere, a dog barked.