11.4 Bahay
Mario (1.2) has been living alone for the past five years, not being able to stay in a job for more than 3 months. Although, he was a nice man. Trustworthy, kind and reliable. It was his hard luck that gets him fired - wrong timing. This large house was his ancestral home (4.6), although he only stayed in one of the rooms. He had one mattress on the floor, where he slept and beside it was his phone. All the time, ready for him to pick it up whenever there was a call of: “You’re hired, you start tomorrow” or “You’re not what we’re looking for”.
He was getting ready for work, wearing his white long sleeves and leather shoes. He received a call on his way out. Although they didn’t come from any of his job application or HR departments. It wasn’t what he was expecting. It came from an old frat he was part of back in college. They needed a favor. It was that time of the year. He simply nodded to himself and said: “Ready naman lagi para sa inyo”. After the call, he moved his stuff around and made some space. He stayed at home that day and absented from his daytime job at a fast food chain, he reasoned out it was important - a family matter. He downloaded some Mozart and Beethoven on his phone. He bought some cups, and beverages. The visitors came at 8pm: men, guys and boys.
They proceeded inside, he guided them into a big room - the sala - were the old furniture was pushed aside. The wooden rocking chair was where “Miguel” sat, their head, their “kuya”. He goes into his room, and leaves them to their work. He sits and wears his earphones and plays the music. He begins to get parched, he stands and proceeds to the kitchen. He passes by the sala, blood splatters a bit on the white rubber shoes of Miguel. (6.6) He hears them laughing amongst themselves: “I wore the wrong shoes today.” (5.4)