CJ's Creations - Rising Phoenix Ch.7

“Unh…” Marco uttered as he woke up. He blinked a few times before opening his eyes. He found himself lying in a hospital bed surrounded by blue curtains. After taking in his surroundings for a while, he finally recognized where he was. He was in Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

“Hello…?” he called out, to which a nurse pulled back the curtain a few seconds later.
“Okay ka na ba? Wala namang sumasakit…?” she asked, with Marco reassuring her that he was fine. He wasn’t experiencing any pain aside from the light headache you get sometimes after waking up from a nap. He was still a bit weak, however, from the beating he took earlier.

“What time is it…?” Marco asked the nurse as he rubbed his eyes.
“5:23 po,” she replied, reading the time from her watch as she performed one last checkup.
“Salamat na lang at wala kang masyadong na-injure…meron ka lang mga pasa dito, siguro dahil sa pagkahulog mo. Ayan o…” she said as she pointed at a fairly big bruise on Marco’s back.
“Magpahinga ka muna tapos pwede ka nang lumabas,” she told Marco, to which he nodded.
“Tsaka…may naghihintay sa iyo sa labas.”

Marco’s curiosity piqued when he heard this. As the nurse left, he wondered who could be waiting for him. “It must be Darren or Brianna,” he thought. He laid in the hospital bed for half an hour, after which he felt strong enough to get up and leave. Just before he was about to leave, a doctor came in and checked up on him, coming to the same conclusion the nurse did. The doctor also allowed Marco to return to school tomorrow, much to his surprise. He sat up and put on his shoes before opening the curtain.
“Ay, magaling ka na? Sige…ingat!” the nurse told Marco as he left the room. As soon as he got outside, however, he was greeted with a concerning sight. The head of the Discipline Office, Sir Ernest, was sitting outside with a tablet in his hand. He was in the audience of the 3rd floor Audi when he fell through, which warranted his presence there.

“Hello Mark. Umupo ka dito,” he told Marco, who cautiously walked up to him.
“Marco po ako, Sir…” he corrected, which elicited no response from Sir Ernest. Marco made sure to sit down on the seat beside Sir as properly as he could.
“Marco, nandito ako kasi…gusto ko lang malaman kung anong iniisip mo,” he explained in a calm but intimidating manner.
“Bakit mo inakyat yung 3rd floor Audi ng walang permission, at habang may nag-peperform pa?” he asked. Marco tensed up. He had no idea how he was going to explain it all to Sir.

“Sir…mayroon kasing…sorry. I was being chased there. These students, they beat me up…that’s why I have these bruises. Check the cameras, please, you’ll see them…!” he desperately tried to explain. Sir stared at him sternly for a few seconds.
“...bakit ka nagsisinungaling sa akin, Marco?” Sir asked.
“Alam mong hindi nangyari iyan. Chineck namin yung CCTV. Tingnan mo…” Sir Ernest turned on the tablet and opened the gallery app. He opened the first video on it, showing the footage the cameras captured from a few hours ago. It showed Marco running to the back entrance of the 3rd floor auditorium, all by himself with no one else in sight.

“No…”, Marco said under his breath, realizing that the Rising Phoenix had struck again. He considered telling Sir Ernest that the footage had been manipulated by them, but he quickly realized that he would just look crazy and dig himself a deeper hole.
“Anong ginagawa mo sa electrical room? Diba hindi pinapayagan ang mga estudyante diyan? Delikado yan…makukuryente ka!” Sir explained sternly.

Marco said nothing, choosing to stare blankly at the floor and contemplate his life. “Alam ko na…na-s-stress ka, no?” Sir theorized, which confused Marco.
“Importante yung mental health…kapag kailangan mo ng tulong, sabihin mo, ha? Eto…” Sir reached into his pocket, pulled out a brochure, and gave it to Marco.
“Three Cheers for Mental Health! Tips and Tricks on Caring for the Mind” it said on the front. All Marco could do was stare at it with a feeling of disdain and secondhand embarrassment.

“Yun ba…?” Sir asked, waiting for Marco’s confirmation.
“Yeah…that’s why,” Marco said reluctantly in order to play along.
“Maganda yan pakinggan…kasi, alam mo na yung ginawa mo ay pwedeng Level 3 offense, diba…?” Marco’s eyes widened when he heard this. He forgot that he technically damaged school property when he fell through the roof.
“Pero, dahil may awa kami, kailangan mo lang mag-community service ng 10 hours,” Sir explained further.
“Alangan namang pigilan ka namin dahil lang sa nangyari dito. Yung pag-aayos ng audi, isang libo lang naman iyon.”

“...thank you,” Marco said, surprised that Sir was even doing this.
“Also, before you go…were Darren and Brianna waiting here…?” Marco asked Sir.
“Darren ba siya? May nakita akong lalaking gustong sumama dito…pero, hindi ko siya pinayagan,” he replied. Sir then stood up and started to leave.
“Good luck sa perio retake mo…sana mataas ulit ang score mo. Nandyan na yung mama mo,” he said as he pointed twice to the direction of the entrance of the hospital, leaving Marco shortly after.

Marco sat down for a while before heading to the entrance. He sighed as he adjusted his uniform and removed his pins from his ID lace before getting in his mom’s car, where they began to drive home. Marco’s mom said nothing as he got in the backseat, and he could feel the tension in the air as they left the premises.
“Son...this is not how I expect you to act,” Marco’s mom chimed in. “What has gotten into you…?” A deafening silence filled the car as Marco racked his brain thinking of an appropriate response.
“Sorry, Mama. I just…I won’t do it again,” Marco replied sheepishly. More agonizing seconds passed as they continued to drive, which made Marco even more uncomfortable.
“I sure hope you don’t,” Marco’s mom replied sternly as she looked at him through the rearview mirror. They made their way back home as Marco sat silently in the back, feeling absolutely terrible about everything.

The very next day, Marco came into Pisay already in a terrible mood. Today, he would have to retake the Math and Physics perios, both of which he didn’t have as much confidence in acing as before. When he went into Block E’s assigned testing room, he was surprised to find a Chromebook on every table in the room.

Several of his blockmates were already seated, with the proctor, Ma'am Lareigh, sitting at her desk at the front of the room. “Good morning po, Ma’am…” he greeted her.
“...what’s with all these Chromebooks?” he asked.
“Ah, dito niyo sasagutan yung perio. Lumilipat sila sa digital dahil sa nangyari sa mga papel,” she explained.
“Papaliwanagin natin naman yan bago tayong magsimula.” Marco understood the reasoning, but was still perplexed that they had so many tablets available. Nonetheless, he sat in a chair right in the middle and waited for the perios to start. After a few minutes, Ma’am told everyone to place their bags at the front and explained how to input their answers on the tablets, adding that scratch work can be done on any paper. With that, the perios finally started.

As he answered the Math perio, a feeling of dread slowly began to set in. He was able to answer some of the questions, but he was drawing blanks in many of them. He tried to retrieve what he learned from the deepest crevices of his mind, but much of that information had been lost to time. The same thing happened in the Physics perio, where he struggled to remember the specifics of the laws and formulas he’d been taught. Both times he had to click submit on the Chromebook, he was incredibly unconfident with his answers. When it was all over, everyone got up and began discussing the perios with their friends while Marco stayed in his seat.

Soon, everyone began to leave the room, wanting to leave behind the experience of the perio retake forever. Marco, however, remained glued to his seat. After ten minutes, the only people left in the room were himself and Ma’am Lareigh, who was just about to leave. “Mananatili ka ba diyan…?” she asked, to which Marco nodded quickly.
“Sige…patayin mo na lang yung mga ilaw,” she said as she carried her stuff and left the room. As soon as Ma’am was out of sight, Marco sunk his head downwards onto the tabletop. He concealed his face with both of his arms…

…as he wept,

and wept,

and wept.