silent movie

Earphones plugged into my ears, with sounds resonating in my head while shutting out every noise around me, the world through my eyes looked like a silent movie in a giant screen.

I can hear neither the voices of people nor the noise of the streets. It seemed like a fast-paced surreal scene, where people everywhere move about, exchanging glances with strangers who disappear just as they came.

I saw a young pedicab driver adoringly holding the hands of a lady his age, sitting comfortably in the pedicab. The boy wore a knee-length shorts and a white shirt turned dull by the dust. The girl wore skimpy shorts and a colorful tight sando. They must have been teasing each other, for such grins on their faces only appear to those young at heart.

Then there was this long-haired teenaged girl wearing the white uniform of what could only be a science profession. She had that arching eyebrows of a supladita I so wanted to have and a distant face indifferent to the world around her. She walked fast but with grace; she walked with grace, but she walked alone.

Waiting to cross the streets, I looked at the approaching vehicles of different colors and makes, all devoid of sound. I imagined myself crossing as they approach and wondered how it feels to be hit by one of them. Curiosity. Without sound, they are not as scary.

As I went inside the school, the lack of people was unmistakable. The loud sounds continue to thump on and on. Without words spoken, the gloomy mood abound, the inescapable result of the rather incomprehensible violence that injured innocent students---that seriously injured female students. The air was filled with cries for justice, but the smell of terror of what had happened was distinct in the air.

Inside the jeepney, the music was inconsiderately loud. So loud I could no longer hear the loud music from my earphones. It shattered the silence around me; it destroyed my thoughts, just like that.

Some people, or some things, are just bound to destroy one's silent life.