5 Months later part 3: Flaring tensions....

Thursday
11:25 pm

Continuation....

My sister had finally summoned up all the courage she had and what received. I'm not entirely sure of what went through her mind, but if it were me, it must have felt like a once-in-a-lifetime moment that decided the course of one's life. Something that not only would affect one's universe, but for the whole world as well. That's exactly how I would have felt if I were in my sister's shoes that day. I remember it vividly. The skies outside the apartment were light-grey. It was still cold, and filled with depression and sadness. It was quiet in the apartment, only to be broken by mom's usual speech about how we shouldn't get into relationships while trying to pose as a big, strong Christian by quoting scriptures she'd memorized. I wasn't sure if she really had read the whole Bible as she claimed. She might have but it was just that she bragged about it. Bragged about how spiritual she is and how much she felt on fire with the Holy Spirit by moving from a different church in which she had a grudge against the pastor there. I should be glad over the fact that she feels more spiritually grown in the other church but spiritual growth is actually personal and has nothing to do with being in a church. Well, as I mentioned, my sister had gathered all her courage to finally say what's what. She had waited for an opportunity to come in and tell the truth. I still remember it clearly. "Mom, there's something I need to tell you" where the words that I suddenly heard as I watched on. "Edwin and I are getting married". I watched quietly from the kitchen access and waited for mom's reaction. It was eerie. Mom had that calm-looking face, as if she was really listening and understanding what my sister wanted. As if she was gonna accept what was being said. By the time my sister had said all she needed to, there was a short silence that was quickly interrupted by mom's surpisingly calm, yet tense, response. Though it didn't last long before the shouting had started. My sister must have todl herself that it is now that we show what we are capable, but her emotions got the better of her. To retaliate against mom's lashes, she screamed to the top of her lungs. Like flyleaf's singer in the song "Cassie". Mom's face turned into disappointment from my sister's reaction and more shouts from both parties were exchanged. I stood in the dark kitchen with a camera in hand...but still indecisive whether I should record or not. Tried to get an angle where everything could be seen but hidden. I chose not to because I wanted to help my sister against our mom but my emotions tend to flare up as well. I too have shouted at mom as if I was the lead singer of a death metal band. It was the time mom had decided to leave our family church and take us with her. We told her that we would not go of course. Anyways, during the fight, my sister told our mom that Edwin was downstairs and wanted to talk face to face as mature adults. Mom said no so they resorted to talking over the phone. Now I don't really know what Edwin said, but he said he talked calmly to mom about how much he loves my sister. Mom kept shouting "no!" and other stuff I couldn't remember. But I do recall mom in her, ahem, "spiritual state". She would shout to Edwin about how nasty he is, and shouted "LEAVE US ALONE...IN GOD's NAME, LEAVE US ALONE! LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE! IN JESUS NAME I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE US ALONE!". Being taught how calling upon the name of Jesus is powerful and not to toy with, I wouldn't get weirded out like non-christians would be whenever my pastor or anyone else used that phrase, but I just felt like a non-christian being weirded out by my mom's use of God's name in vain. Well, that's what i believe it was....using God's name in vain. Oh, and did I mention swearing? She would swear when she got angry at us, she would swear at occasions when she's in a conversation with people, and she swore at Edwin then. She hung up the phone and called my stepdad about the whole thing. When she was done, she noticed that it was nearing 2 o'clock, 30 minutes before my brother finished school and needed a pick-up. Mom looked at my sister with full hatred along with her angry tone, "This is not over". She told us to get ready so we could get our brother from school, but my sister saw this as an opportunity to get away...again! The night before, she and I had prepared to go back to Toronto. Well, she had permanent plans while I was just supposed to be there for a visit, then come back. Well that day, plans were changed. Our mom needs time to get ready to leave whereas it barely took 2 minutes for us to get ready. My sister grabbed her usual bag she took with her when going out but not all her stuff. I was totally unprepared when she decided that we gotta book it outta there. So I had my feet halfway in my boots while I grabbed my bag, ran through the door, sprinted 7 stories down the stairs with my coat and heavy bag hanging at my arm and my boots untied, as fast as possible. I thought she must have had a last-minute plan. When we reached the entrance, Edwin was waiting for us with open doors. I dived in and off we went. It was good to see my brother-in-law (back then, he was still my sister's boyfriend) for the first time in 6 months, but I still couldn't help but feel sorry for what I was doing at the moment. Leaving mom behind in the cloud of confusion and not to mention my brother who'd feel lost again like the time when he was still sleeping when my sister and I ran away from home in Cebu for the first time. I looked out on the clouds that were breaking up, allowing some light-orange sunset colours, scattered upon the remainder of the heavy cloud cover. Staring at it.....wondering what the repercussions of our actions would become. To be continued.....