The Brotherly Love

Before I recount this experience of mine, Let me say thanks to Mitotakatori for appreciating the stories that I post here and for the moderators in YSG who never get tired choosing my tales of horror amidst the fact that a lot of contributors are sending their write-ups.

Anyways, this story that I am going to tell happened to me almost 7 years ago when my younger brother died of internal hemorrhage. The only sibling that I had and one of those people who loved me unconditionally. He's Jayson but you could call him "Jaja". Yes, I am proud to say he's gay. He's a unique person who unfortunately was never able to enjoy his youth but even beyond the grave he never got tired loving us.

I was 20 years old and working as a theatre performer (a junior apprentice) that time. I used to perform in SM North (a shopping mall situated in North Avenue, Quezon City Philippines) where a legitimate theatre is found. Well, to cut to the chase, my brother was supportive of me though my whole family was really against it. Eventually, my mom and my brother got used to my schedule (there were times that we would perform in some provinces like Pampanga and Subic).

One day the tragedy happened while I was away from them. As we were having our TDR (Technical Dress Rehearsal), my director's phone rang. He was really surprised to see my name flashing on his screen. He asked me, "Why are you calling me, J_ _ _ _ _?" He was annoyed and surprised because he really thought I was playing a prank on him. Then after 5 minutes of placing us and marking our blockings, the improvised terrace on the stage collapsed that injured 2 people (that was exactly after my scene).

I knew that time that I survived an accident but I was clueless that my brother was already rushed to the ICU because he lost consciousness after hitting a wall on his way home. That caused the hemorrhage. Later did I know that they were already calling my director using my brother's phone (I did not have my own phone yet because I could not afford it so I used to borrow from him) but they could not say it to me yet because they knew I would get hysterical.

After we packed up, they told me to go home straight because there was an emergency. I was too rattled and puzzled that I forgot that they asked a co-member to accompany me to the hospital. When I went home I knew that he was already in a state of coma. The next day, I went straight to the hospital and what I saw gave me goosebumps. I saw him in white hospital gown, smiling and walking towards me and in an instance, he's gone. I knew that time he would say goodbye. At 12 in the midnight, the doctor told my mom that they would pull off the plug because his body was no longer responding to the medicines injected in the tube. My mom had no choice but to say yes. We were devastated but we felt that he was just there telling us that everything would be fine.

During the wake, we experienced a lot of odd things. Like a cold breeze would kiss our cheeks, or a silhouette would enter his room. My mom even asked help from a psychic. As we gathered in his room, the psychic summoned his name and after that he said that my brother was standing between me and my mom, embracing us and saying, "Mama, ate okay na po ako, mahal na mahal ko kayo" (Mom, ate, I am okay now... I love you so much). That somehow lessened the burden but I still know up to now it could not erase the scar. We are longing for Jaja. We miss our butterfly...