Realización de la Esperanza

One sunny morning as the birds sing and the plants dance along with the smooth rhythm of the wind, there came two young girls whose lives are clearly contrary to one another. Little did they know that their environmental differences and their personal struggles will play an important role to meet two ends of their fate and strengthen the knot of their friendship.

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In a nipa house surrounded by vegetable crops and farm animals lives a sixteen-year-old lady named Rosanna.

Living alongside her is her mother, together with her three siblings. As the sun shines, the sunlight kisses Rose’s face causing her to wake up.

“Hmm,” she moans and rubs her eyes. Seeing the /current time, five-thirty in the morning, she rises on her bed slapping her face to wake herself up.

“Oh, shoot. There’s no water left,” frustration in her face is visible seeing that their bucket of water is empty. With the sad reality, she takes two empty buckets and soon goes to the deep well to get their water supply for the day.

Living outside the city generates the fact that they don’t have a water source of their own.

“Auntie Bellya, good morning,” she utters upon seeing a middle-aged woman inside their neighborhood.

“Good morning, Sanna!” she replied energetically. “You’re too early. What’s the matter?” she added.

“I’ll go to the deep well, Auntie. We don’t have water for bathing. I’ll go ahead. I don’t have plenty of time.” Waving her hand to bid her goodbye to the woman, she started walking to go to her destination.

“Be careful and stay safe,” Bellya advises her with a wave and a smile visible on her face.

Numerous minutes have passed, and she finally arrives at their house. She washes her face and brushes her teeth to freshen herself. After that, she goes out to harvest the ingredients for their breakfast.

After doing the morning chores, she wakes her siblings to prepare them for school. While her siblings are taking a bath, she wakes her paralyzed mother to bathe her and also feeds her saying, “Wait for a little more, mama and you won’t need to suffer anymore.”

Rosanna escorted her siblings to school while leaving their mother with Bellya.

As she walks along the corridor of her school, someone envelopes a pair of arms around hers.

A girl that has a lovely smile, silky long hair, bright colored skin, and a well-toned body describes her friend named Ysha Locson. She is from a wealthy and well-known family in this city.

“Good morning, Rose,” she cutely says.

“Take your arms off of me, Ysha. You’re so heavy. You look like a tarsier with what you are doing,” Rosanna’s tease made Ysha pout causing Rose to chuckle with her cuteness.

After a few minutes of walking, Ysha and Rose entered their room and sat on their designated seats.

“How was your weekend?” Ysha asked her.

She was supposed to answer her friend when a guy with semi-formal attire went inside their classroom.

“Good morning, class. Let's do an attendance check,” He announced making the class go silent. “Alejandro, Rosanna”

“Present, sir,” Rose said.

“Algrabyador, Nicole Ann” he calls out and everything goes with it.

That is how their day in school started. Now, it’s their lunch break and both of them are eating while doing some other things on their own. Ysha is using her phone, probably chatting with her boyfriend while Rose is writing in her diary.

Dear Diary,

Today is September 10, 2012. It is the fifth year anniversary of Papa in jail. I can’t understand this. It wasn’t his gun. He doesn’t have a gun of his own. I hope we will get the justice we deserve. I hope he can be free from those bars because I’m so tired already. I want to give up. I really do but I can’t. My mother is paralyzed. She is sick. No one will take good care of her. No one will do the chores. Most importantly, no one will earn for the family. Even though I want to rest, I can’t. I still have my siblings and I am their last hope. Even though it’s already tiring and painful, I will never give up. I know I can do it. I know that God is always on my side ready to listen, help, and guide me.

After she was done journaling, the school bell rang indicating that their lunch break is almost over. Because of this, they have no other choice but to proceed to their next class which is Reading and Literature.

They did some discussions as a review from their previous lessons as a sign of preparation for their assessment at the end of the class.

After the said subject comes their last subject - History. Some people may think that history is boring but for Rose, it’s interesting. This class went well for her since she enjoys listening to World War II.

Succeeding today's class, all of the students fixed their things and suddenly a guy appeared near the door looking for someone.

“Ysha, your boyfriend is there outside,” Rose tells Ysha and she responds. “You can go ahead if you want, Rose. We have something to talk about.”

“Okay, Ysh. Take care and have fun,”

Ysha goes with her boyfriend to the school garden and Rose goes to her whereabouts.

“What are we going to talk about, James?” Ysha asks out of curiosity seeing her boyfriend emotionless.

“Let’s end this. Let’s end our relationship,” Ysha is stunned by the statements of James that are not sinking in her mind.

“Wait, what? You’re breaking up with me? But, why? Did I do something that hurt you?”

“No, Ysha. Nothing is wrong with you. It’s me. I fell out of love with you.”

“Am I not enough?” Ysha says while her tears are falling.

James’ last words before he left caused Ysha’s knees to buckle and lips to sob. “It’s not that. It’s just that I don't want it. I don’t love you anymore.”

On the other side of the story, Rose is currently working as a waitress in a steak-bar restaurant “Rosanna, give this to table four,” the manager orders her and she nods in response.

“Good afternoon, Ma’am. Here are your orders; a medium rare buttered steak with a roasted potato and asparagus, and a bottle of red wine,” Rose reads the receipt.

“Thank you,” the customer says with a smile plastered on her face.

Walking her way back to the counter, Rose suddenly feels dizzy. It seems like the world is spinning and her vision blurred as she struggles for a walk. With that, she loses consciousness causing the customers to gasp.

“Rosanna, are you okay? Can you see me? Alex, call an ambulance,” the restaurant’s manager panicked while the other crew of the restaurant called 112.

Going back to Ysha, she is now at the rooftop of a bar thinking about ending her life when suddenly someone called her.

“Is this a friend of Rosanna Alejandro?” said the voice on the other line.

“Who is this? Why is Rose’s phone with you?”

“Can you go to Crisent Hospital?” due to the bad feeling her instinct gives her, she lost the idea of having a suicide and immediately escorts herself to the hospital.

Room 104 is the room number of Rose. She is peacefully sleeping with her pale body.

Ysha has no recollection of Rose's relatives so she decides to take care of her best friend herself. Having a glance at the whole room, there is this one thing that she can’t get her eyes off. The Diary of Rose. Realización de la Esperanza is what the cover page is showing. So, out of curiosity, she opened the diary and she was shocked at what was happening in the life of Rosanna.

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Dear Diary,

Is it okay for me to express my deepest sentiments on this rough-textured paper? From the moment I saw you inside my mother's drawer, I felt the urge to write my bottled-up feelings in this little notebook. Maybe, just for a while, I could ease the heavy burden in my chest. Maybe, as I write across these pages, I may be able to forget my problems and let go of the pain that's consuming my soul. Maybe, for a little while, someone can finally understand me even if my only companion is a diary.

Someone took my father three weeks ago. Based on their arrogant faces and their royal blue uniforms, they came from the police station. They presented their IDs and immediately handcuffed my dad. Out of shock, my dear mother fell on the floor and bawled her tears out. I was confused. What were they doing with Papa? Where were they taking him? He's a good person. I know that he is. He said that he'll provide everything for us because we're his family. But is this his way of supporting us? Accepting a crime he did not do to earn a huge sum of money?

____________________________

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Dear Diary,

Today is the first of December. Meaning, the Christmas Season is near. Yet Papa is still behind bars, while, I’m here alone at the hospital taking care of my mother, Diary. Mama was rushed by her coworkers to the hospital. The doctor said she has a stroke. In the meantime, my siblings are with Auntie Bellya. I will not deny the fact that I am afraid. I am just Thirteen years old. How can I take care of my siblings? How can I attend to them? Can I do it by myself? By the way, I already applied for different jobs. Thank God; I got hired. So after class, I’ll work in a restaurant near our school as a waiter. After that, I’ll be a laundry-woman in our neighborhood and then, I’ll be a crew in a fast-food chain. I’m so thankful for being blessed despite the challenges in life.

_____________________________

‘After all the advice she gave me, after all the rants I told her about my life; with all the laughs and the jokes, she’s expressing, I didn’t have a single hint that she’s going through a lot this whole time,’ Ysha thought after

reading the diary.

She didn’t even notice that she was already crying until someone wiped her tears.

“I’ll call the doctor,” Ysha says and is about to go but she went back to her seat because Rose disagreed.

“You read my diary?” Ysha nodded in answer. “I’m sorry,” she added.

“No, it’s okay, Rose replied with a smile on her face.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I can help you, Rose. I’m your friend,”

“I just, I don’t want to add burden to you, Ysha. I hope you can understand.”

Ysha sighed as a sign of defeat and hugged Rose.

Seven years after…

Dear Diary,

It’s been a long time since I wrote in this antique notebook. I’m so thankful to have Ysha as my friend, or should I say my best friend. She told me that at one point in her life, she almost ended her life but because of the call from Ms. Bautista, my former boss, she wasn’t able to continue that idea. I got mad at her. I snubbed her for weeks but she didn’t stop taking care of me and my family. She bailed my father out of the bars and she helped me pay my hospital expenses and my mama’s. Sadly, my mama didn’t survive. Ysha was also there mourning with me. She has already become part of my family. Today, we are now the founder of a ‘self-love and healing charity program’. My youngest sibling is now a graduating student while my other two siblings have their own lives. I'm a registered Psychologist and Ysha is a registered Psychiatrist. I wasn’t expecting that I will be achieving these many blessings today. I will never forget and regret my struggles in life for they made me a stronger and a better person. Lastly, I would like to thank the Lord for not leaving my side. Thank you dear diary for always listening to me and comforting me.

Yours Truly,

Rosanna