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Saturday, March 11, 2017

"The Unforeseeable" by Ernesto P


It seemed as though it was not real. The idea of never seeing you again was overwhelming and appeared to be impossible to accept. You were my best friend and were always there for me through the best of times and the worst of times. The day when I received the horrific news about my cousin, it left a hole in my heart and a void in my life.
I had just finished elementary school in early June and was eager to start my summer. I would spend a lot of my time at my cousin's house who lived just down the street from me. He was just a couple of years older than me but I viewed him as an older brother and someone who I can look up to. We would play basketball and video games and often talk about any issues or problems that's going on in our lives. This daily routine would continue for about two weeks until one day. It was just like any other day, I went over to his house because I left my PSP over there and wanted to retrieve it back. I knocked on the door several times but no one answered. As I was leaving, I noticed a curtain move from the window out of the corner of my eye. I called out his name multiple times until he finally came out. I noticed he was holding something peculiar behind his back. I asked him what it was, in which he then reluctantly revealed my PSP broken in pieces in a Ziploc bag. I could remember the sense of disbelief and anger I perceived that day. Unwillingly to hear him out, I left after several spiteful and now regretful remarks. A couple of days passed and I still refused to attempt to make amends out of pure stubbornness. The next day I was returning home from a baseball game, and I was informed my cousin was in the hospital. My initial thought was he probably injured himself from skating as he did previous times. However, this was not the case. On the way to the hospital, it seemed as if time itself grew slower and slower. The stoplights managed to turn red as we approached them, and felt as though the universe itself was preventing us from arriving there. However once we arrived after hitting every red light, an ominous sensation emerged.
The hospital had an unwelcoming feel as we approached the entrance. Walking through the hallways, you can see the plain grey floor and walls and the grid-like ceiling composed of those polystyrene squares that do not provide any solace or comfort. The sheer bright light seemed to contrast with the darkening gloom I felt on the inside. As we grew closer to the waiting room, I saw my uncle exit the room and come towards us. The expression on his face emitted a negative feeling that I never experienced before. Words began to spill from his mouth and I could feel my heart sink into my chest. He told us he was in a critical condition from sudden heart complications. We sat in the waiting room which seemed like an eternity. The doctor came out of the room to give us the most dreadful news I have ever heard. A person whom I created many lasting memories with, lies in the room down the hall deceased. I immediately began to think of my last and final encounter with him and how I should have treated the situation. The lesson that I learned from this unfortunate experience is to appreciate the time with your loved ones while you still can. Time is limited and you should treat every second to the fullest.

14 comments:

  1. Ernesto, I am so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine how it must feel like to lose someone that close to you. Thank you for sharing such a personal story as well as a valuable lesson to all of us that we should cherish our family because time and life are precious.

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  2. Thank you for have the courage and strength to write about such a tough ordeal. Regret is something we all feel, just at different degrees of intensity and your story makes me realize that you can't change the past, but you can change the future to prevent the feeling from reoccurring. I cannot imagine how taxing this is on you, but it is important to remember the pleasant experiences with your cousin and put those at the forefront of your mind in spite of all else.

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  3. I am sorry for your loss. We never know when something bad is going to happen to someone and when it does happen we feel regret. Even though you had a fight, you still have many happy memories together and it is clear that your cousin was a very important person in your life. I think everyone should try to remember the good times with someone important in your life.

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  4. This is a really tough situation and thank you for sharing. It felt like I was there with you and felt every emotion you felt. You did an amazing job at explaining your emotions and your surroundings, especially how you felt that time was slowing down going to the hospital. But you should not feel regret, of course you learned to appreciate the people in your life around you much more which is very important but you should not feel regret. You didn't know that this would happen so you acted like yourself. We cannot act as if we can lose a person at any moment because even though its true, you have to love them of course but its also okay to feel upset or disappointed or frustrated towards someone because all those feelings are important too. An no matter what feelings you and your cousin last encountered it doesn't matter. Feelings are feelings whether they were good or bad, at least they were there. Im so sorry for your loss and thank you again for sharing.

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  5. I cant even begin to imagine this situation. I have never personally lost someone that was this close to me. You story really proves to be another example of the lesson that you should treat everyone like they can be gone tommorow. You truly never know when you time with someone you love will be up. Not only was you writing really well put, but the story was a good one and i can honestly say it made me feel as if I was in that situation. Your descriptive words, personal input, and overall emotion affects the audience in a great way.

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  6. This heartbreaking piece teaches us to cherish the people around us. Our loved ones could disappear any moment which is why we should spend time with them as much as we can. Your story has opened the eyes of many people regarding the fragility of life. - Jerico Dizon

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  7. This is a very eye opening piece for me because I have never experienced a loss like this, and you made me feel for you. I am very sorry about this, but you did an amazing job at describing the way you felt and allowing me to understand not all of your emotions because that is not possible, but I am able to sympathize and imagine how I would feel. You did a beautiful job.

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  8. I am sorry for your loss. This taught me to treat everyday like my last because you never know when you will talk to your loved ones. this is a truly tragic story and i will make sure that i always leave on a good note when it comes to my friends and family.

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  9. It was very courageous of you to share this story and I am truly inspired after reading it. It was incredibly strong of you to be able to reflect on this time in your life and use it in order to positively impact others. After reading this I look at my time with my loved ones in a new perspective, thank you for providing this incredible message.

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  10. I'd first like to apoligize and say that i'm sorry for your loss, but i'm really glad that you opened up and shared this message, because it teaches a great lessson, that we should never take any moment in our lives for granted. The story was so emotional, that i feel like everyone should be treated with an extensive amount of respect.

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  11. This is honestly an extremely heartbreaking story, and I would like to thank you for having the courage to share it on this blog. I can only imagine how hard this must have been for you, and I would only like to give my condolences to you and your family. This just proves that we must all cherish the time we have with each other, as we never know when our time may come to an end. Thank you

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  12. I'm sorry you had to grow through this, it's not something easy to talk about, I appreciate your honesty on the subject and I hope God can help you to move on. Knowing myself I'm not sure how I'd handle this as I haven't experienced a major loss in life yet, thank you for putting us in your shoes and helping to understand what you went through. Great job and I offer my condolences to you and your family.

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  13. Thank you for sharing this story, I know it's hard to write something like this and I respect you for writing this to help us value everyone in our lives. Now, I'll try to value my friends and family in my life everyday before anything happens. Again, thank you for sharing your story.

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  14. First, I want to say I'm sorry for your loss. This experience must have been truly heartbreaking, so thank you for sharing it with this story. You implemented the experience into the story so well. I could really feel the emotion when reading your story. It was obvious that you were trying to create a dark tone and it was very effective. Overall a great read, it made me appreciate the ones that are close to me. Wow Ernie, great moves! Keep it up. Proud of you.
    - Cody Tetelepta

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