Last Night in NYC

Almost past midnight. The night is quiet. The only sound you will hear is a faint ensemble of songs from random Broadway musicals on my laptop. I decide to take a nice hot shower to ease the cold and then I continue packing my stuff.



Twelve hours from now, I'll be on the airport ready for a plane ride back to the Philippines. Five years ago, I decided to leave our country out of the blue to live and study here in New York. At first, it was really hard to fit in. If I'm a loser in the Philippines, on the streets of NYC, I'm nothing compared to an American beggar on Avenue B. I refused to live with my mom and dad so I worked part time and rented a room along the apartments in Manhattan. Trying not to make them upset, I let my parents pay for my school. But only for my school, nothing more and nothing less.

That arrangement remained for years until the day that I graduated from college. That’s one week ago.

I step out of the shower. "I'll Cover You" from "Rent" is playing on the background. I check my phone and realize that there are ten missed calls. So I immediately return the call.

"Hey Ma", I greeted while drying my hair with a towel.

"Bakit di mo sinasagot?" she said with a little annoyance.

"Ma, I'm in the shower", I replied as I lower the volume of my laptop and comb my hair.

"Baka naman uuwi ka na lang sa Pilipinas di ka pa dumaan dito bukas."

"You mean later, it is almost past midnight."

"Kita mo 'tong pilosopong to," she changed the pitch of her voice. She could have hit me with a newspaper with me talking to her like that. Believe me.

"Basta dumaan ka muna dito. Para makuha mo mga pasalubong para sa tito mo".

“Ok, ok. I will be there at exactly 10 am," I answered while yawning on the mouth piece.

"Sige na, matulog ka na. Baka tanghaliin ka pa ng gising."

"Good night Ma. See you later. Love you", I said and ended the call.

Running out of time, I didn't get the chance to put some clothes on. Only in my underwear, I continue packing my books, my action figure collections, clothes and a lot more. I finished packing everything at exactly 3 am. I’m so exhausted that I dropped straight to my bed. I guess the shower needs a round 2 as I smell my own sweat. But rather than hitting the shower, I stayed on the bed.

I’m about to close my heavy eyes when suddenly the door opens and a blurry image of a girl comes in.

"You know what, Franco?” she said. “Not only that you are so talented, I really find you charming in your underwear.”