So, may sunog sa kabilang kalye...

I was Facebooking and Tumblring peacefully tonight when suddenly, biglang sabi ni Tita from the outside: "Hala, may sunog!" When I pulled the curtain back (the computer was near a window facing the street), sure enough, the sky was swirling with a thick column of glowing smoke, with bits of flaming scrap raining down from the sky. Forgive me for being insensitive, but my very first thought was: it's so beautiful.

Being a typical usyuserang Pinay, siyempre I dashed outside the house ng nakasando lang and wow, I've never seen hell before but it looked stupefying right there and then. That was when bigla kong naisip that some of my friends could be burning there in that stupefying hell right now, and sure enough, a few minutes later, I see my childhood best friend come down the street sobbing. I immediately rushed to hug her and ayun, lahat daw ng ipinundar nila, lahat ng possessions nila, andun, going up in flames. Ang sabi ko na lang, at least ligtas sila ng mama and little sister niya. Nasusunog na kasi yung bubong nila, tulog pa sila. Kung wala lang sumigaw ng sunog, siguro tostado na rin sila roon. Nasusunog na yung bubong nila, tulog pa sila. I never thought something so tragic could be happening so near, and almost claimed someone so dear...

I lent her my slippers since naka-paa lang siya, so I instead had to go barefoot as my brother and I got as close to the scene as possible (of course :D). I missed strolling barefoot, lalo na because the road got slimier as we went nearer (siyempre, tubig from the fire trucks). As we walked back up naman, the dusty ground dried my feet off. Siguro, more than just the nostalgia of going around on foot, I did it to commiserate with the people? I don't think may classes tomorrow sa school sa tapat ng bahay namin, since it looks like an evacuation center already.

Between 9:30 and 10 PM, around two hours after the fire started, naapula na yung apoy, but now there are throngs of homeless people out in the streets. Mommy thought of adopting a family for a night, but Tita spoke against it. Hindi raw naman kasi namin sila kilala, and you can never tell if they'd be decent, grateful guests, thieves, or long-time freeloaders. Over-all, we're just thankful the fire didn't reach us (the wind was blowing in our direction nung malakas pa yung apoy O_O), but still, being so near such a disaster, seeing everybody crying and ambling away carrying what they could save, ALMOST LOSING MY BEST FRIEND, brought a sort of catharsis to me. I'm not kidding, only a freak accident or a lobotomy could make me forget this night.


PS: Inuwi-uwi ko pa yung English book and notebook ko, di rin naman pala ako makakagawa ng assignment. Oh well.