The incessant cries of the neighbor’s cat (which was several times louder than usual as it was probably in heat and is already engaged in “business” w/ the landlady’s tabby) woke him from a rather unsatisfying sleep.

He looked at the small alarm clock on top of the table near the double deck bed (of which he was the only current occupant as his roommate decided to go back to his home province because of family issues) and checked the time. Finding that it was only a little past four in the morning, he got a little annoyed.

Still, he probably couldn’t get to fall asleep again. At least, not while running the risk of oversleeping and being late for work.

And so, with a little shrug, he un-energetically got off the bed and proceeded to do his normal morning rituals. This included partaking in another breakfast consisting of beef flavored instant noodles, drinking his morning instant coffee, brushing his teeth with cheap toothpaste, rinsing his mouth with cheap mouthwash, bathing using a good old [1]tabo and putting on freshly ironed clothes straight from [2]Divisoria.

He was particularly careful with his finances as it wasn’t good to suddenly go short especially since he didn’t have any relatives that lived nearby (the closest one was in [3]Bulacan and he was in [4]Imus) and he disliked the notion of borrowing money with a passion).

Finally, rubbing on some cheap cologne, he decided to come in early for work.

***

Name: Isaac John L. de la Cruz

Age: 25

Height: Average (5’ 1” to be exact but he swears he’s pushing 5’ 2”)

Face: Average (He’s realistic enough face the fact that his looks were “ordinary” and he honestly thinks he isn’t exactly “ugly”.)

Build: Average (He isn’t that well built, isn’t exactly fat nor thin. Hence, “average”.)

A perfectly ordinary “[5]Juan” living a perfectly ordinary life as a call center agent in an Australian telecommunications firm, scraping enough to go by and sometimes saving enough to allow him to send money to his parents back in [6]Pangasinan.

It’s been a little over four years since he first came from the province to look for work and considers himself lucky enough to land an okay job. The fact that he worked in a day shift despite being a call center agent was an unexpected bonus. The pay was relatively good too.

***

He’d arrived at the office at a little past six thirty. Since his shift actually starts at eight, he decided to go over to the lounge first to have a quick smoke and fully wake his still-drowsy self up.

“Morning Ice. You’re quite early today.”

Greeting him with his high school nickname as soon as he arrived was a bespectacled girl with a petite build and a cheerful air which made one feel really at ease.

Melinda R. Marcos, one of his few female friends. He’d known her since high school. And no, she isn’t related to a certain former first lady. Her peers didn’t fail to point out the obvious similarity in names though. She would just laugh it off.

She was a bright, cheerful girl who had the uncanny ability to almost instantly get along with people. Even ones she’s just met for the first time.

Her getting along with him was proof enough as he wasn’t exactly a poster boy for good social interaction. Ice, his all too flashy nickname, was actually coined from his aloof nature during his high school years. Nowadays you’d call him “emo”.

Melinda wasn’t fazed and was always the one to drag him off to attend class activities (she was the class rep) while he was busy acting all sentimental under his favorite mango tree. She’d slowly “integrated” him with the rest of the class and got permission to call him “Ice” since pronouncing Isaac was “a pain” and told him to call her “Lin”.

He didn’t really like the nick as he felt it really sarcastic because of the fact that he wasn’t exactly as “cool” as it suggested. To put it bluntly, he was quite nerdy. He was okay with Lin calling him that though. Maybe because he didn’t really feel she was secretly making fun of him when she used it. It was pretty natural. He liked that.

He’d been stuck with her ever since. At least up until high school graduation.

Her family needed to move to [7]Manila for her father’s work and he hadn’t seen nor heard from her all throughout his college years. Meeting her shortly after coming to Manila himself and actually ending up going to the same company was quite a happy coincidence.

Truth be told, he actually really liked her. But, like all the “[8]dakilang torpes” before him, Ice had difficulty confessing. That was way over his head at that time and it still is even after all these years. Ice thought it was really pathetic of him considering his age but what can’t be helped can’t be helped; at least for now.

“___So much for the cool nickname…” he thought.

He gave Lin a slight nod sporting a stiff, awkward smile which was typical of him. Lin gave a bright smile in return which didn’t fail to cause fatal errors his brain.exe even though he practically gets to see it five days a week.

“…I didn’t know you started smoking too Lin. Did the stress finally get to you?” Ice asked, smiling wryly. He always tried to joke around with her – mainly so he could try and calm his nerves which almost always seemed to get the better of him whenever he was with her despite them knowing each other for so long.

Lin’s smile brightened and answered in an amused tone.

“No silly. I was just talking to Erica about Tim’s birthday this Sunday. You’ll come too won’t you? You get along with him really well after all.”

Timotheo “Tim” Marcos was Lin’s impressionable younger brother. He was quite tall, good at sports, stellar in academics and fairly good looking with a [9]moreno complexion. In other words, he was Ices’ complete opposite. Strangely enough, he and Ice got along quite well because of one common denominator: video games.

They were both avid gamers and eventually got Lin into it too (She was nigh invincible in rhythm/music and dance games.) Their antics camping outside their favorite net cafe during the heyday of [10]Ragnarok Online (Especially during the [11]simbang gabi period.) and occasionally pitting their skills in quick bouts of [12]Tekken was a pleasant memory for him.

“Course I’ll come; wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

“Great! Um, about that… I actually have a favor to ask if you don’t mind…”

“Ask away!!!” he answered in a slightly high pitched voice. Not good. He was getting overly excited again. She always had that effect on him. And he fell for it every time.

“Oh!… Uuuh, okay.” Lin giggled cutely. “See, I was planning to get Tim a gift but I’m not overly familiar with his preferences. I was thinking, since you got along with him so well, you’d probably know best.”

Ice paused to think a bit and gave an appropriate reply.

“He was talking about wanting to upgrade his gaming rig a while back so maybe some new hardware for his PC.”

“PC upgrades then. Okay.” Lin paused for a bit, still looking troubled.

“Is there something else?” Ice asked.

Lin slightly averted her eyes from his gaze and replied with a hesitant and slightly embarrassed voice. “Umm… well… you see, I’m not really familiar with those kinds of things so I was thinking… if you would want to come with me to pick something out…” Then she looked at him again with expectant eyes. It was instant K.O. There was no way Ice was going to refuse. More like, he’d come no matter what else came up.

“I’ll come!!! When?!” he replied; not bothering to disguise the anticipation in his voice.

Lin smiled sweetly and giggled at Ices’ reaction. “How bout 10 o’clock tomorrow at [13]Greenhills. I’ll wait for you in front of [14]Booksale.”

“Booksale Greenhills at 10. Got it.” Ice nodded slightly in affirmation.

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Okay. See you.”

Lin parted with him with that dazzling smile of hers still burned in his consciousness and Ice was left dumbfounded until one of his co-workers reminded him it was nearly time for their shift.

***

After a particularly nerve wracking, sleepless night, Ice proceeded to get ready for his appointment with Lin with evident gusto. He didn’t even know why he was so excited himself since they often went out together anyway… with their respective [15]barkadas in tow that is.

That’s it! They’ll be alone together. Just the two of them! This hasn’t happened since high school. Something good is going to happen today. Ice could feel it in his bones. No, he’ll make it happen! Today is the day he says goodbye to his torpe self!

And so, after bathing using a newly opened bath soap that boasted about being able to give you good looking skin due to having moisturizing cream infused with it, bringing out his treasured, slightly pricey body spray from the depths of the closet and wearing fashionable(?) clothes, Ice finally went on his merry way for a date with destiny(?!…)

***

After braving the usual long lines to board the [16]MRT, Ice, barely making it, hustled for a place near the coach door and was now on his way to [17]Santolan station. He was already used to how cramped the MRT gets sometimes and was praying he never gets caught up in one of those ‘incidents’ happening lately. Since he was practically sandwiched between the other passengers and the automatic door it wouldn’t even be funny if, say, the door opened by accident while the train was still running.

Finding his thoughts silly, Ice proceeded to try to make himself as comfortable as possible, crammed in an MRT coach filled with sweaty guys while standing – as difficult as that may sound.

And then ‘it’ happened.

Before he knew it, a situation which seemed to have been plucked straight from a B grade horror flick unfolded. The surrounding people froze, as if time was suddenly stopped, and an unnatural mist started to seep from the cracks on the automatic doors.

“The heck is this?! [18]Wow Mali?! Stop kidding around [19]Mr. Joey de Leon! I don’t have time for pranks!”

He received no reaction of course. And the people around him really seemed to be ‘frozen’. They weren’t even breathing. He tried to get their arms or heads to move to confirm whether or not they were just highly trained stuntmen who do crazy amounts of Yoga. He couldn’t make them budge in the slightest. He couldn’t even smoothen the creases on their clothes.

“The heck!? What the hell is this?! This isn’t possible!… I’m not dreaming am I?!”

As Ice was getting increasingly panicked by the second; another unexpected event happened.

The MRT doors behind him suddenly opened. Feeling an unnatural chill permeating his back; Ice slowly turned around to find himself facing a dark, seemingly bottomless void.

The frazzled nerves he was trying to control suddenly snapped and, as he was about to let loose an uncharacteristic scream, a gentle and strangely calming voice whispered near his ear…

“I finally found you… Counterpoint.”

Next thing he knew, he found himself hurtling further into the void, bellowing a soundless scream that was swallowed up by the surrounding darkness along with him.

-And End to the Ordinary End-

*Notes

[1]Tabo – also known as the dipper (commonly made of plastic nowadays) used to scoop water out of a pail; it is an essential part of Philippine bathrooms. It’s also used in a wide variety of other non-conventional ways i.e. improvised watering can, garden plant vase, a weapon used by pissed off wives to hurl at their womanizing husbands etc.

[2]Divisoria – large marketplace situated within the heart of Metro Manila. Known for having a lot of products you can buy at very cheap prices. A haven for bargain hunters and retailers. It also houses several shopping malls and arcades.

[3]Bulacan – a province located in Central Luzon, in the northern part of the Philippines. Known for its fireworks industry and delicious chicharon (fried pork skins, bad for the heart but highly addictive snack)

[4]Imus – municipality belonging to the province of Cavite which is located a bit south of Metro Manila.

[5]Juan/a or Juan/a de la Cruz – generic term used to denote an ordinary Filipino citizen.

[6]Pangasinan – Province located along the western area of the island of Luzon. Its name can be roughly translated as “place for salt” or “place for salt making” and does have salt making as one of its primary industries. It’s also known for its milk fish, indigenous rice cakes and beaches.

[7]Manila – Can either refer to Manila (the capital and second largest city of the Philippines) or Metro Manila (also known as National Capital Region; consists of a total of 16 cities including Manila and is the central hub for economic activity in the country).

[8]Torpe – dense, slow witted regarding affairs with the opposite sex

[9]Moreno – In this case, it refers to a particular type of skin tone among Filipinos. It’s of a darker shade than the popular mestizo/mestiza skin tone (light/fair skin more common with those with foreign ancestry such as Half or Quarter Spanish Filipinos) that is currently prevalent in Philippine show business. You can think of it as “natural tan”. It’s, more often than not, used as a compliment however and is usually devoid of any negative connotations associated with the term. But as they say – “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence”.

[10]Ragnarok Online – Is also known as RO. A Korean MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) created by GRAVITY Co. Ltd that is considered by some to be THE one game that started the MMO boom in the Philippines. It was wildly popular back in the day and numerous private servers still exist at present.

[11]Simbang Gabi – (Filipino for “Night Mass”) is a devotional nine-day series of Masses practiced by Roman Catholics and some other Christian sects in the Philippines in anticipation of Christmas and to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary.

[12]Tekken – Tekken (Japanese: 鉄拳?, “Iron Fist”) is a fighting game franchise created, developed and published by Namco (later Bandai Namco Games). Beginning with the original Tekken in 1994, the series has received several sequels as well as updates and spin-off titles. It was well received in the Philippines and an arcade with a Tekken game is a common sight in a lot of malls and shopping centers nationwide.

[13]Greenhills – A shopping centre in the city of San Juan in the Philippines. It has over 2,000 stores, and espouses an ‘indoor-outdoor’ theme, with the Shopping Center having the appearance of several distinct buildings (some separated by a main road) that are all interconnected through pathways and bridges. It hosts a Roman Catholic chapel and a Muslim prayer room.

[14]Booksale – It’s a popular retailer of low-priced unused, as well as previously owned books and bargain publications from the U.S., Canada, Australia and the UK. It also hosts several local publications and magazines.

[15]Barkada – peers, a group of friends that often hang out together

[16]MRT – Manila Metro Rail Transit System, a rapid transit system running across the Metro.

[17]Santolan station – It’s a station on the Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 2 (MRT-2). Santolan Station is one of the many elevated stations that can be found on the line.

[18]Wow Mali – The longest running gag-show on Philippine TV. Think along the lines of Candid Camera and you’ve pretty much gotten it.

[19]Joey de Leon – José María Ramos de León, better known as Joey de Leon (born October 14, 1946) is a Filipino comedian, actor, and television presenter. He hosts the noontime variety show Eat Bulaga! and is a member of the comedian trio Tito, Vic and Joey.