Category: first

Someone asked me about you

Someone asked me about you a few days ago. They asked me who was the girl that made me grin like a lunatic. It made me stop and think how to tell them about you. I looked up the sky in hope to find inspiration.

I could have said “She looks like Aphrodite.”

But then that wouldn’t do you justice. So I searched again for the right words, trying to think about you. I thought about your hair, the way it curled at the end. I thought about your lips, how they perfectly melted into mine. I thought about your eyes. Damn your eyes. They would entrance me every time I saw it, and I never wanted to look away.

My friends looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. I searched for words again. They laughed at me and told me I was whipped, and I never denied it. The breeze coming from the trees stirred my hair, as we walked back to our office. Then after awhile, I turned to them and said:

“Have you ever been to the beach?”

They all nodded looking curiously at me, and I continued:

“Well she’s like that. Close. When you’re around her you feel a certain breeze float through. You feel relaxed, and the deeper you dig into the sand, the more happier and carefree you would feel. You feel like you could just run all the way to the other side of an island.

Like water she reflects. She can reflect someone’s happiness as if it were her own. At night when everything’s dark, she glows. Every indent a person makes in the sand she takes and she keeps it in her memory. Every wave gentle and she washes up treasures from her own self.

She can make you listen to everything she says, just like how you’d want to listen to the sounds of the ocean. Sure she sometimes turns into storms and wreaks havoc, but she does everything she could to make it up to you. You know what I mean?”

I looked at the three of them, each had a different expression. After awhile they smiled at me, and patted my back. We each went in the building’s elevator, and we pressed our different floors.

“We hope to meet her soon okay man?” One of them said when he reached his floor.

 After a while I was alone as the elevator continued to make my stomach drop. As I heard a familiar ding I walked out and proceeded to walk towards my cubicle. My neighbor smiled at me, her gaze kind. I then sit down on my computer and log in. I smile as I see you face, smiling brightly into the camera. You were showing off your engagement ring, a blush on your cheeks. My eyes then look further below the picture, with the text:

My beloved angel,
1988-2010

A writer’s first: Interview

Last June 14, my mom dropped a bombshell. I was going to interview Tacloban’s beloved mayor, Alfred Romualdez. As she instructed me about what I should do, my hand was literally shaking. I just couldn’t believe it. For those who don’t know, I am currently a Junior Writer for Espejo Magazine, a lifestyle magazine here in region eight. I started just before the school ended, checking off something in my bucket list that said “Work for a magazine.” I was ecstatic to say the least, knowing I could be a part of something new.

And even though I have been writing for almost 5 years, this has been my first interview ever. And lucky me, I scored an interview with Tacloban’s Mayor! As you could imagine I was all jittery and nervous as I read the set of questions that my mom prepared for me. I imagined how’d I’d act, and surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous anymore as the Espejo team reached his home.

When I entered his house, I imagined a huge staircase and porcelain walls like in the movies, but I was surprised to see just a humble house, filled with everything they need. When the Mayor graced us with his presence, he certainly wasn’t intimidating as I imagined. He was hospitable and got right to the point. When Sir Michael (one of Espejo’s prestiged editors) and I sat down with the mayor, all my fear ceased and confidence was my new bestfriend. I pipped in whenever necessary, and the interview went well. I surprised to know so much about Tacloban in the span of two hours than I ever did my whole life.

You could tell by the way he spoke that he was passionate about what he did, and he was truly wise. He was down to earth, and he really didn’t leave anything out. he believes in transparency, that the people should be aware about the things happening to their beloved city. He wants Tacloban to grow into a more productive city, because he believes it has so much potential. He was just a mediator for all of the good things to happen to Tacloban.

After the interview, we ate with the mayor who told us jokes and more stories. I am proud to say that at seventeen years old, I got to talk with a visionary who loved Tacloban more than anyone else could. I loved my first interview, and if you want to know what the “Man at Helm” told us, you have to grab the latest issue of Espejo Magazine! 🙂