The Terminal (July 9, 2021)
“Papa, why is it that when I’m playing Dragon Tales, it feels like an hour of game time in my logger is only 5 minutes?”, the daughter asked nonchalantly.
“It’s because even though time is constant, to each, experience time differently. And it also depends on the situation one is in at the moment.”, he replied.
Time, when you’re having fun seems faster. It is the opposite when you are in duress. There are instances that it brings you back to the past. But looking into the future… No one knows…
It’s amazing how he saw for the very first time his mother’s smile. She was making strange faces. It was funny distorted and it made him laugh uncontrollably. He was in an ambiguous state and a bit confused. He saw her lips and cheeks bulging like a balloon. Her eyes dilating and constricting. Her hair smells of coconuts on a warm morning at the beaches of Boracay. These subtle details from memory feels like how one would be influenced to love their mothers unconditionally. And he felt like he took it for granted. He felt regret for a minute.
He then woke up to a clear night sky, a bit drunk but his wits are still with him. Beside him was a friend whom he’s had the biggest crush on since the beginning of primaries. She had long amber hair with minute freckles on her cheeks, wide kissable lips, she smelled like peonies in voluptuous bloom. He couldn’t believe that there she was sitting beside him at the base of an old balete tree, happy but wasted. Her eyes opened. She was glad to see him. Eyes staring deep into his soul. As if she was asking herself, “Is he the one?”.
He moved closer, she returned the compliment. And then, for the very first time, he kissed her. For a brief moment, she hesitated to kiss back, afraid of something he couldn’t quite grasp until she finally gave in. Time slowed down to what seems an eternity and both didn’t want it to end.
He was tossing his daughter playfully in the air while she replied with contagious giggles. She had beautiful brown eyes and the softest cheeks. When his arms finally got tired, he then gave her the biggest hug. He rested on the couch with her lying on his tummy. She tugged his nose and then put her tiny fingers in his mouth trying to pry it open. Those were the subtle details of each moment he savored with her. She was the most beautiful thing on Earth. He promised himself that he would never leave her and take care of her for the rest of his life.
“Defibrillating! ONE I’M CLEAR, TWO YOU’RE CLEAR, AND THREE EVERYONE CLEAR!”
An alarm blasted through the air and then he felt a heavy blow on his chest which prompted him to open his eyes and was surprised to see a paramedic drone on top of him. It was a spherical robot with four rotors. It was made of some polymer and was colored in orange and white. A white cross painted in its face. Its sensors looming over him from head to toe. It prepped IV lines through both his brachial veins.
“What’s happening?”, he asked.
“Papa!”, his daughter wailed in distraught. For her, it was going to be the longest 3 minutes of her life.
“Please remain calm, I detected a possible fatal arrhythmia in your logger and immediately performed resuscitation protocols. The emergency cardiac unit has been deployed and we shall perform percutaneous coronary intervention in 2 minutes. Please remain calm.”, the drone then supplied an anesthetic into him.
He then went back to a dreamy state, looking forward to experiencing the past once more.
END
This is the second log for The Terminal. It is an experiment for a “rolling” story. The “rolling” concept was inspired by my experience with Arch Linux. It is a Linux operating system with a rolling distribution where there is continuous development of its existence. Just like you and me!
I thought that this was an idea that I can implement in my writing. I will write this rolling story as far as I go, and post a new one as often as I can. I will limit it to 500-ish words per distribution. In effect, I hope that enthused readers will keep on checking my Medium account to look for new content.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my first title for this rolling story idea — The Terminal.