jkarma

[jkarma]

Don’t Give Up On Me - Andy Grammer

[jkarma]

On My Way

A man wandered around the streets, with his belt on his hand, and a small scar on his neck. The people around him gossiped. "News flash: influencer filed for divorce, the cause is an abusive husband, visible scar on her hand." The man went silent, and revealed more scars on his back, walking in the direction of his ex-wife. 

-Ashley

[jkarma]

Runway 41

It was 1:41AM. I was drinking coffee whilst monitoring the radar and flight paths of nearby planes. My co-worker Drew was beside me, barely awake. After a few minutes, an alarm flashed on my screen. An unknown plane appeared out of nowhere and was initiating an emergency landing.

“This is control tower commander Steve, who am I speaking to?” 

“Help, He-”

“This is control tower commander Steve, Runway 41 is now clear.” 

After exactly 41 seconds, the plane landed. Security officers scrambled to Runway 41, only to find no one on board, and Drew was nowhere to be found.

- Conrad

[jkarma]

First = Last

Once there was a boy named Jeff, he was a smart kid who was really into learning and is fascinated by both the genres of math and science. In his elementary life, he was not a bad student, usually in the top 10 of the class if not in the top 5.  But there was a slight problem. He wasn’t having the best time since he was always being bullied verbally. This never got into him much and he thought that elementary was going to be the hardest thing ever, but this all changed when high school came along.

6-8-2016 

On the first day of class, Jeff felt excited because he knew that elementary was over and this is going to be a new step in life. And so it is. It’s like he was in a new school or something, and everything seemed new. Half of his classmates were either from the other sections or were from other schools, his teachers were all new and even the lessons are new! So the day went on, the English class was over and the Chinese class was coming. He wasn’t really a big fan of Chinese since he isn’t as good at it compared to English, but nonetheless he usually still gets to the top 10 of the class which is decent for him. But the one thing that really changed his life forever was the moment when he met a girl in Chinese class. He thought it was cool at first but eventually learned how “infatuation” works. Her name was Melanie. He found out that two to three other boys liked her too but this wasn’t a big issue for him at that point since he thought that education was still more important than “infatuation”.  A few months passed by, and he’s starting to like this girl even more! But they don’t talk much because they have totally different lives and he couldn’t tell anyone about it since he was scared and because his best friend likes her too. So he kept it for himself.  But not until it came to a point where he told Melanie exactly what he felt about her and nothing much really changed after that. He tried to talk to her a little more and even wrote letters to her, but then again, “We’re still too young, and education must be focused first.” He said. So he started to forget about her and focused on his studies like before.

3-10-2017

The 4th grading periodical examination is just around the corner and one evening, Jeff was studying Filipino. One of his hatest subjects. “Why don’t I check my Facebook for a moment, I’m sure it's not gonna take long,” he said. While scrolling on Facebook, Jeff saw a girl named Sarah who has more than 100 mutual friends. He then asked one of his friends about who this girl was, and his friend said that Sarah is one of their batchmates and had just transferred to their school this year. I sent her a friend request in the hopes of meeting a new friend, and with no surprise, she accepted it. They started talking in messenger and slowly became friends. Summer went on and they talked all day every day and they started to know way more about each other and started to become close friends. 

4-15-2017

It’s the middle of summer and things started to become boring. Fortunately for Jeff, Sarah was there to keep him company. Day and night they would chat and on this exact day, Jeff fell for her. But again, he was too shy to tell anybody so he initially kept it for himself. They kept talking and even became best friends at one point even though they have not met each other in person yet. Could this be it?

6-10-2017 

School is just 3 days away and Jeff is excited to meet his new teachers and maybe even new classmates and friends, but one thing he really was up about was to finally talk and meet Sarah for the first time. He even asked Sarah if they could like to talk sometime or hangout or something. I mean, he does like Sarah so why not become close to her personally? So he kept on encouraging himself to not miss out on this opportunity but...

6-13-2017

It’s the first day of class. Oh man was he excited for this day. “Time to be who I really am!” said Jeff. The first few subjects were great for Jeff, lunch was coming and he wanted to somehow talk and meet Sarah in person but it came to a point where he was too shy to even approach her. So this rendezvous of theirs didn’t push through and remained like that until around the third grading. But this didn’t affect him as much because school was still pretty busy. So when he started to gain some confidence, he asked Sarah if they could meet up somewhere and he thought that the library was the best place since they both liked books, and so they did meet the following day. It was kind of awkward as expected but it wasn’t the end of the world for Jeff, in fact, it was just the beginning.

12-10-2017

At this point, Jeff and Sarah were best friends but still don't really talk much in person. And a great opportunity was up ahead! It’s gonna be Christmas soon and of course, there was an upcoming Christmas party in school. Jeff wanted to give something to Sarah as an appreciation gift for always being there for him. He asked her what gift she would want, and she obviously denied that she wanted something and said that anything would be fine. At first, Jeff had no idea what to give to Sarah. He asked for help from friends and all, but he had no luck. After a few days, he thought of something that she might like and use, a watch.

12-15-2017 

The Christmas party went on, and Jeff had so much fun. Afterward, Sarah and her friends went out to hang out with one another. Jeff thought of this as another opportunity to get closer to Sarah in person, and so he went with them. Jeff’s best friend was also there so it wasn’t really a problem for Jeff to fit in. They went to a mall and did all these crazy things such as karaoke singing in Timezone. Before the day ended, Jeff noticed that Sarah wasn’t going with the others and instead will be going home with her family, Jeff then took that opportunity to at least try to get a picture with Sarah whilst it’s still possible. So they did take a picture and Jeff was as happy as he can be, but he almost forgot one thing.

1-4-2018

Christmas break was done and a lot of things happened the past 2 weeks. Well, in messenger, Jeff and Sarah still talked pretty much every day and all that stuff but they were starting to lose touch. “But why tho?”, asked Jeff and he did some investigation. After a while, he found out about this dude named Charles who likes Sarah too! Charles and Jeff were decent friends because they went to the same tutor the year before. “What a coincidence?” said Jeff. So he decided to give this Charles a chance to prove himself to Sarah because she promised Jeff that she would never like Charles back and that they would not end up being together. Days passed by and both of them became closer and closer, which scared Jeff a little bit. He had very supportive friends who stood by his side when he needed it, and this helped him a lot especially when he feels like a loser because of what is happening around him.

1-15-18

It’s Sarah’s birthday, and Jeff wouldn’t want to miss the chance of proving to her that he cares about her. He not only planned to make her a video, and give her a gift, but he also planned on giving her letters from the entire batch. As he was about to give the gift to Sarah, something tragic happened. He lost the P1,000 gift card from H&M that he was supposed to give Sarah, and it was nowhere to be found. He explained everything to Sarah and she said that it was okay.

1-31-18

At this point, Jeff and Sarah were still friends. But one day, Charles had authority over Sarah’s Facebook account and used it to keep her away from Jeff. How? By blocking Jeff in her account. Pretty smart, but it definitely was not good news for Jeff. Even though he knew that Sarah would never want him to be her boyfriend, he still wanted her to be his friend, his best friend.  Because of this, he was devastated. But after a while, he thought that maybe she might still unblock him sooner or later. Day after day, week after week, month after month, and still nothing. He started to forget about her because of this, and so blocking Jeff from her life might not actually be that bad after all.

5-14-18

Remember Melanie? Well, she was one of the main people who helped Jeff forget about Sarah and move on. Even though she knew that he once liked him, he still treated him as one of her best friends. At this point, Jeff has fully moved on from Sarah and just went on with life, but there was something missing. Jeff and Melanie continued to talk in messenger and got closer and closer. Eventually, he thought “This was the girl whom I liked before, why don’t I pursue this and maybe, just maybe, even get her heart?” He then thought “But Melanie isn’t allowed to have a boyfriend yet. Oh gosh, what am I thinking?! This will just hurt me, and I’ll be the one who’s going to be disappointed again.” He then stopped thinking about this and focused on his studies once again.

3-8-22

It’s their Senior High School graduation and all the effort that he had done all paid off. Jeff was the valedictorian of their batch and received numerous medals and awards all throughout. “If there was one award that I had missed, it would definitely be the award for love. But I guess it’s one of the reasons why I’m here right now so I might as well miss it and try again next time. This is just the first few steps in life, and there’s a lot more to go.” He said. After graduation, he approached Melanie and said something to her. This is how their conversation went.

Jeff: “Hey, Melanie. I can’t believe it’s graduation already ahhhhh!”

Melanie: “Yep, haha. Time really passes by so quickly.”

Jeff: “What are your plans after this graduation?”

Melanie: “Hmm, I dunno... Probably go to college? Hahaha.”

Jeff: “True. Haha. Remember the time when you said that because of a promise, you weren’t allowed to have a boyfriend until you graduate Senior High School?”

Melanie: “Yeah why?”

Jeff: “Well uhm, since we have already graduated, would you like to go out with me?”

Melanie: “Wait, what?”

Jeff: “Yeah ‘cause why not? Haha. You’re a very special girl and I just want you to be the girl whom I spend the rest of my life with.”

Melanie: “Thanks, but I don’t know.”

Jeff: “Come on Mel, we have known each other for probably 6 plus years now, haha, and I wouldn’t want to miss this chance because I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to ever meet you again. I like you.”

Melanie: “Uhm... I’m sorry Jeff, but I don’t think this is going to work out because I don’t really want to mess with your already “great” life. I’m just an ordinary girl, and I believe you deserve someone better than me. I’m not saying no but I’m doing this for you.”

Jeff: “Mel, don’t say that. You’re a wonderful and amazing girl. I don’t care what others think about you. All I know is that I like you because you’re you and nothing can change that.”

Jeff hugged Melanie for the first time and Melanie quietly said: “You’re the coolest person I’ve ever met and I would be more than willing to be with you.”

- Conrad

[jkarma]

Stolen Innocence

Together with his partner Blake, Joe spent all of his time being a detective trying to solve the murder of his wife, Allison. He vowed to avenge his wife and put the killer behind bars. It was a normal day when Joe suddenly found the murder weapon in Blake’s belongings and with sufficient evidence, Blake got arrested. The case is closed and everything is back to normal. He went home. No one is around. He stood in front of the fireplace. A woman appears behind him. Joe whispered, “We did it, Allison. We got our revenge”. 

 -Kyle

[jkarma]

Lavender

A spring field of blooming flowers,

Shouts the name of my dearest.

With the warming sun upon my cheek,

I lean to the nearest tree,

And had fallen asleep.

The scent of lavender had grasped my arms,

That resulted in my sweet dream.

As I wake, you disappear.

There was no more force holding me,

Yet the feel of the lavenders is just too strong to ignore.

You’ve hidden yourself professionally,

But why? You’re my sign of relief.

And my presence kept you alive,

That I may have misunderstood.

You’re just yet another hallucination,

Of the girl I used to be with.

-Ashley

[jkarma]

The Perfect Husband

     I hit the jackpot on my husband. He is literally perfect. My husband and I married abruptly as I fell for him the moment I saw him. We will celebrate our third anniversary today. He booked a cozy cottage for us in the woods to celebrate. As I prepare for our celebration, I notice a trap door just beneath our bed. I open it to find something disturbing. Documents stating insurances from the deaths of women I have never heard before. Women who all have the same surname as my husband and I. I get it now; I’m next. - Aisha

[jkarma]

No One Wants to be Alone

  When faced with troubles, how would you respond? Everything happens for a reason; something fruitful may come out of matters negatively perceived. How you regard these circumstances would determine whether you acquire a loss or a gain. One seed of doubt caused the banishment of Alunsina and the utter desolation of Tungkung Langit. In the Visayan creation story, Tungkung Langit and Alunsina, the author utilized Tungkung Langit’s loneliness for him to create godly wonders. His regret and desperation for Alunsina to come back enabled him to bring upon creation.

    Loneliness won’t be felt without experiencing companionship beforehand. You won’t feel loss without getting hold of something first. “Then from the depth of this formless void, there appeared the god Tungkung Langit and the goddess Alunsina.” The author deliberately made Tungkung Langit and Alunsina appear at the same time in order for Tungkung Langit to experience companionship. With the exile of Alunsina, Tungkung Langit felt a great sense of loneliness. His sorrow empowered him to construct the world as we know today.

    People’s minds think and create the greatest things when faced with adversities and hurdles. “He decided to do something to forget his sorrows. He would make the sea and the earth, and the earth and the sea suddenly appeared.” Him wanting to forget his sorrows brought upon by loneliness led to Tungkung Langit creating the world. “He took his wife’s treasured jewels and scattered them in the sky, hoping that when Alunsina would see them she might be induced to return home. The goddess’s necklace became the stars, her comb the moon, and her crown the sun.” When Tungkung Langit was troubled by loneliness, he wanted to forget his sorrows and entice his wife to come back to him. Due to these desires, he was able to bring upon the creation of the world. Despite the low odds of Alunsina ever coming back, Tungkung Langit remains hopeful that someday, somehow, she will come back home to him. Tungkung Langit’s hope for Alunsina to come back regardless of the odds enabled him to create heavenly bodies and sensational wonders.

    Our greatest creation usually comes from our greatest sorrow. 

    Tungkung Langit created the world to forget his loneliness and sorrows. He used creation as an instrument to forget about his sorrows. He created a world of beauty and wonder, hoping this would entice Alunsina to come back home to him. The literary text presents the idea that loneliness and other negative matters can enable us to do things that we didn’t think of before. Tungkung Langit became truly desolate with Alunsina’s banishment. Due to Tungkung Langit’s hope of his wife coming back, he was able to create the world. He does not want to be alone.  No one wants to be alone. - Aisha

[jkarma]

All For The Name of Love

    How would Maria feel and act knowing that she will be meeting her partner’s family who lives in a completely different place, with totally different cultures and beliefs, undergoes different lifestyles, and have different perspectives about things? A girl named Maria was depicted in the short story “How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife” by Manuel E. Arguilla who experienced this specific situation. A character analysis of Maria reveals that she is willing to take the risk of knowing Noel’s family even though she knows that there is a possibility of her not being accepted and being different from everyone else. She took that risk because of her love for Noel, nothing more and nothing less.

     In today’s society, we tend to believe that parents are more overprotective to their daughters compared to their sons when it comes to certain standards. This standard includes academic life, love life, personal life, ethical life, and so on. However, this is not always true and there are also overprotective parents when it comes to their sons. In the story, Leon’s father wanted Leon to have a wife that cares about not only Leon but also their family and their life in the village. This is why he set up a test on Maria through Baldo and their entire journey to their house in La Union. Based on these, I can say that Leon’s dad cares about him and that she wants him to have a wife who accepts him as who he is, and as to where he’s from. This also proves that the parents of men are also overprotective at times and because of this “overprotection”, parents can ensure the best for their children. Our parents love us in a way that we can’t even come close to imagining, and we should be grateful for all the things, even if they are strict with certain things sometimes.

     True love isn’t about being perfect, but it is about being there for one another and not giving up. When troubles, hardships, and worries come your way, anything can be conquered by both of you as long as you have faith and determination. In the story, Maria was really worried about how Leon’s father would see and treat him, and whether or not she will be accepted by him. Afterward, he was comforted by Leon and said that she was a great woman and that she will surely be accepted by his scary but gentle father. Noel did his best to stay by Maria’s side and to comfort her with the worries that she’s thinking about his father. This is exactly what men should do when their partner is feeling such doubts and insecurities, they should still be open and optimistic about these. Never give up, even if things aren’t looking that great, and even if it seems that you’re feeling alone. Because the day will come that you will feel happiness deep within that is strong enough to just make you forget, move on, and do what’s right.

     Maria loves Noel and also their lifestyle in the province. Even though Maria has doubts and worries about things such as acceptance by Leon’s father, she still stayed determined with the help of Leon. Because of this, Noel’s father was already sure and certain that she is the right one. This is a great story that I can relate to and be proud of because it vividly discusses and represents the different lifestyles, perspectives, and cultures of provinces in the Philippines. Remember, the greatest stories aren’t always the most dramatic ones, but these are the stories that touch us from within.

- Conrad