Written: Saturday. August 31, 2019.
When the construction working had finished, and when all of the remnants of the once immortal stone bench have been removed, a new coat of cement was added across the familiar dirt covered floor. Toby, Tom, and Drew were still standing there watching, as the workers finished their jobs for the day, and let the cement dry up in the night.
Then, Tom grew an idea at the top of his head. The cement was still freshly coated. It wasn’t too transfixed yet, and the workers went back to their stations behind the school campus. So Tom immediately poked around the newly cemented floor which used to hold their stone bench.
“Come on,” Tom had told the other two boys, while he was etching a capital T on the cement. “It’s still wet enough for us to vandalize, Hollywood-style!”
Toby and Drew looked at each other. Then they looked around them. It had been dismissal time when they went off to sit and hang around the stone bench, only to find out that the area was being renovated. Almost nobody was there anymore. So Drew shrugged at Toby, and proceeded to write his name as well. Shortly after, Toby did the same.
When all three boys had finished writing their names across the cement, they had looked at it, seeming to take the moment in. Even though their names would serve as a preservation of their bond and presence within the now sacred place of friendship, it seemed fitting for the three of them to fall silent, and just look at what they have left.
Toby had written his name exactly where he would have been sitting right at that moment. Tom did the same. And so did Drew.
“Drew. Tom. Toby.” Tom had said, proudly, but with an expression that seemed to speak otherwise.
“I mean, they’ll probably put on a second coat by the morning once they see what we’ve done.” Drew had told them.
“Let them try.” Toby replied. Both Tom and Drew looked down on Toby. They did that as a formality, since Toby was a few inches smaller than them. Not because they were judging him.
“We’ll just have to write our names back again if they do.” Tom said. He looked back at their names. “Seems like its still missing something.”
Then Tom wrote down something else below their names. “There. ‘Drew. Tom. Toby. Was Here.’.”
“Dude,” Toby smiled at Tom, “‘Were Here’! Plural!”
“Well how was I supposed to know?” Tom asked Toby. “You’re the grammar genius here! Not me.”
“Then you should have told me what you were planning to write!”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly — What?”
Drew looked at his two friends arguing. He didn’t feel it necessary to stop their silly bickering. Both Tom and Toby had these little debate sessions about the most little of things, once or twice a week. It was something Drew had gotten used to at this point.
When they noticed the dusk starting to seep in to the sky, the three boys had said their casual goodbyes with one another. These were either variants of “See you guys tomorrow”, “Chat me up later”, or “Later, noobs!”. Sometimes, they’d mix it all together. “Be chatting you noobs up later!” And then they went their separate routes.
There were two main gates around the school they went to. Gate A and Gate B. Tom was the only one who lived near gate B. Toby and Drew walked home together towards Gate A.
“Hey,” Toby had started the conversation, which was absent for about two minutes of walking. “Have you applied to any colleges yet?”
“No, not yet.” Drew had exclaimed. “I’ve been too lazy recently. My dad’s probably gonna arrange that for me, anyway.”
Drew was like Tom when it came to these things, Toby silently reminded himself. They would go about their days worrying about which games they’d like to buy next, or what new cartoons they were going to watch. Toby, as to why he brought up the college applications — which were still due a few months anyway — was the type to worry about those kinds of things by himself. His parents were busy with it as well, trying to find certain contingency plans for the futures of their children. Toby’s brother was already in college. So it was possible that Toby would just follow along the path of his brother, and go to the same college as him. Although Toby was looking at other options. It’s just that, with the requirements and the quality that the universities were looking for in their new batch of students, Toby was hesitant to even try to apply for them. He wasn’t ever really sure of his own capabilities.
Drew noticed that Toby had stopped talking for a while. They were almost at the checkpoint where Toby’s village gate was, so Drew stopped walking. “Hey man,” He looked at Toby, “I can ask my dad if he could apply us to same colleges, if you want. We could review for the entrance exams together tomorrow if you like. It’s no big deal, really.”
Toby hesitated, “Nah, it’s okay, bro.” He leaned on the steel rail placed on the side of the path they were walking on. He fiddled with the straps of his red bag; a body language Drew associated for Toby’s shyness. “My parents are working on that anyway. Plus, I don’t even know if they’re gonna let me in. If they see my background, and look through my portfolios — or the lack of it — they’re just gonna say things I’ve already heard too much of already.”
Drew didn’t know how to reply to that. It’s not that Toby was being too hard on himself, but he could at least try to look at the positive side of things, not just the negatives. “Maybe it’s just the long day we’ve had today.” Drew tried to change the conversation. “Those janitors moving our hangout bench away, that was a bummer.”
“Yeah,” Toby suddenly remembered. “I guess so.” He started to head off to his village gate.
“I’ll chat you later, yeah?” Drew called out.
“I’ll see if my brother’s not using the computer.” Toby replied.
Just as they waved each other goodbye, a strong burst of light appeared across the sky. A meteor shower.
Tom had stopped for a cold soda at a sari-sari store near Gate B. He popped a cellular phone out of his pocket — a Blackberry — and started to text a girl that was gonna hang out in his house tonight and play video games with him, and other things.
“Hey, what time are you gonna be there at the house? I’m still walking from school, btw.” Tom texted the girl, as he sipped his Mountain Dew, sitting on a plastic stool placed outside of the sari-sari store.
“Now, now, Tommy.”, the girl had replied to him playfully. “Do you miss me already? 😉.”
“Just get there already, haha. I don’t wanna have to explain to my nanny why a friend — especially a cute girl — is coming over to play in my room so late at night. I’m running out of excuses to give. Remember the last time?”
“No 😄. But do you wanna know what I do remember from last time? hihi 😉❤️.”
“Oh, I remember that completely.” Tom had a smile on his face. He really liked this girl. There was just something different about her. She wasn’t like the other girls he’s been with. She was —
Just as he was about to finish that thought, Tom saw a streak of light coming from the dark purple and orange sky. He closed his phone, not knowing or seeming to care if the girl he was texting was going to send another message to him. The streak of light was moving fast at the pin of its trail. It’s a meteor, alright. Tom had thought to himself, as he finished the last drops of his Dew, and walked as fast as he can towards the light.
It seemed to move faster and faster, closer and closer, almost as if it was gonna land somewhere just near where Tom was. It was only seconds when Tom realized that the meteor was heading straight towards him. It would’ve seemed odd to him that the meteor shifted its course, but now wasn’t the time to be analyzing complex physics questions. Tom had to run for his life.
Not knowing which direction to run towards, Tom ran as fast as he can towards an abandoned lot near his house. Yet, to no improvement, the meteor was still heading towards him at an immense amount of speed.
Shit. Just my luck.
And then, there was just light.
When the construction working had finished, and when all of the remnants of the once immortal stone bench have been removed, a new coat of cement was added across the familiar dirt covered floor. Toby, Tom, and Drew were still standing there watching, as the workers finished their jobs for the day, and let the cement dry up in the night.
Then, Tom grew an idea at the top of his head. The cement was still freshly coated. It wasn’t too transfixed yet, and the workers went back to their stations behind the school campus. So Tom immediately poked around the newly cemented floor which used to hold their stone bench.
“Come on,” Tom had told the other two boys, while he was etching a capital T on the cement. “It’s still wet enough for us to vandalize, Hollywood-style!”
Toby and Drew looked at each other. Then they looked around them. It had been dismissal time when they went off to sit and hang around the stone bench, only to find out that the area was being renovated. Almost nobody was there anymore. So Drew shrugged at Toby, and proceeded to write his name as well. Shortly after, Toby did the same.
When all three boys had finished writing their names across the cement, they had looked at it, seeming to take the moment in. Even though their names would serve as a preservation of their bond and presence within the now sacred place of friendship, it seemed fitting for the three of them to fall silent, and just look at what they have left.
Toby had written his name exactly where he would have been sitting right at that moment. Tom did the same. And so did Drew.
“Drew. Tom. Toby.” Tom had said, proudly, but with an expression that seemed to speak otherwise.
“I mean, they’ll probably put on a second coat by the morning once they see what we’ve done.” Drew had told them.
“Let them try.” Toby replied. Both Tom and Drew looked down on Toby. They did that as a formality, since Toby was a few inches smaller than them. Not because they were judging him.
“We’ll just have to write our names back again if they do.” Tom said. He looked back at their names. “Seems like its still missing something.”
Then Tom wrote down something else below their names. “There. ‘Drew. Tom. Toby. Was Here.’.”
“Dude,” Toby smiled at Tom, “‘Were Here’! Plural!”
“Well how was I supposed to know?” Tom asked Toby. “You’re the grammar genius here! Not me.”
“Then you should have told me what you were planning to write!”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly — What?”
Drew looked at his two friends arguing. He didn’t feel it necessary to stop their silly bickering. Both Tom and Toby had these little debate sessions about the most little of things, once or twice a week. It was something Drew had gotten used to at this point.
* * *
When they noticed the dusk starting to seep in to the sky, the three boys had said their casual goodbyes with one another. These were either variants of “See you guys tomorrow”, “Chat me up later”, or “Later, noobs!”. Sometimes, they’d mix it all together. “Be chatting you noobs up later!” And then they went their separate routes.
There were two main gates around the school they went to. Gate A and Gate B. Tom was the only one who lived near gate B. Toby and Drew walked home together towards Gate A.
“Hey,” Toby had started the conversation, which was absent for about two minutes of walking. “Have you applied to any colleges yet?”
“No, not yet.” Drew had exclaimed. “I’ve been too lazy recently. My dad’s probably gonna arrange that for me, anyway.”
Drew was like Tom when it came to these things, Toby silently reminded himself. They would go about their days worrying about which games they’d like to buy next, or what new cartoons they were going to watch. Toby, as to why he brought up the college applications — which were still due a few months anyway — was the type to worry about those kinds of things by himself. His parents were busy with it as well, trying to find certain contingency plans for the futures of their children. Toby’s brother was already in college. So it was possible that Toby would just follow along the path of his brother, and go to the same college as him. Although Toby was looking at other options. It’s just that, with the requirements and the quality that the universities were looking for in their new batch of students, Toby was hesitant to even try to apply for them. He wasn’t ever really sure of his own capabilities.
Drew noticed that Toby had stopped talking for a while. They were almost at the checkpoint where Toby’s village gate was, so Drew stopped walking. “Hey man,” He looked at Toby, “I can ask my dad if he could apply us to same colleges, if you want. We could review for the entrance exams together tomorrow if you like. It’s no big deal, really.”
Toby hesitated, “Nah, it’s okay, bro.” He leaned on the steel rail placed on the side of the path they were walking on. He fiddled with the straps of his red bag; a body language Drew associated for Toby’s shyness. “My parents are working on that anyway. Plus, I don’t even know if they’re gonna let me in. If they see my background, and look through my portfolios — or the lack of it — they’re just gonna say things I’ve already heard too much of already.”
Drew didn’t know how to reply to that. It’s not that Toby was being too hard on himself, but he could at least try to look at the positive side of things, not just the negatives. “Maybe it’s just the long day we’ve had today.” Drew tried to change the conversation. “Those janitors moving our hangout bench away, that was a bummer.”
“Yeah,” Toby suddenly remembered. “I guess so.” He started to head off to his village gate.
“I’ll chat you later, yeah?” Drew called out.
“I’ll see if my brother’s not using the computer.” Toby replied.
Just as they waved each other goodbye, a strong burst of light appeared across the sky. A meteor shower.
* * *
Tom had stopped for a cold soda at a sari-sari store near Gate B. He popped a cellular phone out of his pocket — a Blackberry — and started to text a girl that was gonna hang out in his house tonight and play video games with him, and other things.
“Hey, what time are you gonna be there at the house? I’m still walking from school, btw.” Tom texted the girl, as he sipped his Mountain Dew, sitting on a plastic stool placed outside of the sari-sari store.
“Now, now, Tommy.”, the girl had replied to him playfully. “Do you miss me already? 😉.”
“Just get there already, haha. I don’t wanna have to explain to my nanny why a friend — especially a cute girl — is coming over to play in my room so late at night. I’m running out of excuses to give. Remember the last time?”
“No 😄. But do you wanna know what I do remember from last time? hihi 😉❤️.”
“Oh, I remember that completely.” Tom had a smile on his face. He really liked this girl. There was just something different about her. She wasn’t like the other girls he’s been with. She was —
Just as he was about to finish that thought, Tom saw a streak of light coming from the dark purple and orange sky. He closed his phone, not knowing or seeming to care if the girl he was texting was going to send another message to him. The streak of light was moving fast at the pin of its trail. It’s a meteor, alright. Tom had thought to himself, as he finished the last drops of his Dew, and walked as fast as he can towards the light.
It seemed to move faster and faster, closer and closer, almost as if it was gonna land somewhere just near where Tom was. It was only seconds when Tom realized that the meteor was heading straight towards him. It would’ve seemed odd to him that the meteor shifted its course, but now wasn’t the time to be analyzing complex physics questions. Tom had to run for his life.
Not knowing which direction to run towards, Tom ran as fast as he can towards an abandoned lot near his house. Yet, to no improvement, the meteor was still heading towards him at an immense amount of speed.
Shit. Just my luck.
And then, there was just light.
End of Chapter.
* * *
* * *
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