“Not everyone gets the same version of me. One person might tell you I'm an amazing beautiful soul. Another person will say I'm a cold-hearted asshole. Believe them both, I act accordingly.”
It's the first day of my second semester and
life has been okay so far. The first of everything in my life has always been
the hardest especially when I have to say goodbye to something (in this case,
my 3 weeks break). Holidays seem short when there's something worth spending
with. I miss everything and going back here is a question I need to ask myself
if it's for the best or not. My past 3 weeks were filled with all the feelings
I can't describe myself. The first, of course, relaxed me to my core that I
spent quite a lot of it on my own. I've been to my village, and that's where
the horror begins.
Earthquake is actually a common thing already
here now that I've encountered with it for a few times in my life. Reminiscing
back, I was lucky to wake up so early (due to the nightmare haunted me that
night). The shock begun when I was reading messages from my friends. At first
it started as if someone was racing in the house. "This is going to end
real quick" I said to myself thinking that my experiences with the tremors
happened in my life before never actually leave a trace. When all of the sudden
the quakes evolved until the house seemed like collapsing, I followed my family
rushed outside. Realizing that my younger brother wasn't around, I quickly went
into the house but fact is he left earlier to school that morning. When we
entered the house a few minutes after, one of my book shelves was lying on my
bed. I knew it would have hit me if I was still in the house.
The incident traumatized not just only me but
to all people around the district (living on the epicenter of the earthquake
itself!). My uncle is one of the survivors stranded at the peak of the Kinabalu
Mountain. I salute him and his 32 other guide friends for their courage guiding
the other 137 hikers back down safely. Thank God he's still alive. 18 life was
sacrificed by the tremor (I know some of the victims) and 72 after-quakes were
recorded to stabilize the plates. Of course mass media helps a lot in spreading
gruesome news making the incident looks worse than it already has but only God
know how it affected a lot to Sabahan especially those who live right below the
mountain growing up everyday seeing how its structures changed and consume the
lives of its people by the tumbling of the stones. 05 June 2015 marks the
darkest history for all Sabahan.
I'm homesick. Hoping that the last 5.1M aftershock
was the finale to end it all, I pray the people of Ranau for their safety
especially for my families and friends back there.
