I was there..

"The earth is shaking, the screams are deafening, scrambling people are everywhere; APOCALYPSE had dawned man-kind." - Those were the thoughts playing in my mind last friday.

Last October 19 (Friday), an unfortunate tragedy striken and scared the wits out of all the shoppers and mall-hoppers of Glorietta (and also the whole Philippines). And if you were actually there, you would be thinking the very same thoughts that were running on my mind that day.

Super tagal na since my 'bestest' best friends and I went out. One reason is the twins (Lance and Axel) are out of the country for more than 2 years already; then with the others, we just simply have conflicting schedules. We are all now studying in different colleges and universities taking different courses, so it is hard for us to meet and go out as often as we want.

So, last Friday, Axel suggested that we go out, eat lunch and watch movies together, just like the old times. At sa dinami-dami ng mall, ewan ko ba why Axel suggested Glorietta. But still we push through that plan.

We were suppose to go together to Glorietta, Lance would be driving, peo hinde ako nagpaalam, and my mom wont let me go. So as an alibi, I told my mom that I have to go to school for completion of some sort and so as to support my alibi, instead of going with Axel and the rest of the guys, sumabay ako kay Mommy paluwas. From my mom's office, sumunod na lang ako ng G2 at around 11am. I got there at around 1230pm, everyone have eaten their lunch already everyone except for me. The next stop is greenbelt. Everyone went to greenbelt while Lance volunteered to accompany me while eating.

And that is when it all begun.

Around 1pm - Lance and I decided to just have a take-out, but Lance convinced me to have a quick bite, anyway the guys wont mind waiting for us.

1:15pm - We ended up eating in Subway because food is good and also their service is fast.

Around 130pm in Lance's watch (150pm in my watch) - there was a loud bang, tremors, then there is smoke, ringing of fire alarms everywhere, people scrambling and screaming.

Lance was the quick thinker between the both of us, while I was busy getting over my shock he was already pulling me out of my chair and literally dragging me out of the mall.

When I slightly got over my shock, we were already outside, people covered in dust and blood were everywhere, someone is asking me what happened, people were screaming for the names of their companions, everyone was in shock, crying and scared. And all the while, Lance's hand is holding mine in a tight grip and his other hand was holding his phone he was talking to someone, our friends I think. We met up somewhere I dont know, I can't help it, I'm still in mild shock.

Since we can't get the car, we just took a cab to Lance and Axel's place, thank God their parents are not there to fuss over us, especially when my parents do not know where I was.

It took them (my friends) almost two hours to talk me out of my mild shock. And when I was already completely conscious, it all dawned upon me. How lucky I was, how someone up there loves me so much, how blessed I was.

At least 11 died and a hundred were hurt but fortunately we were not one of them. I am happy, but not completely.

I feel sorry and sad for all those who were not fortunate like us. To all those who lost their lives, I pray that their souls may find eternal peace, then for those who they left behind, I pray that God will grant them strength to be able to acccept what happened and move on with their lives, and to those who got hurt, I pray that they will be out of danger's way and get better, finally to everyone who was there but, like me, fortunate enough to get out of it unharmed, I pray that we value this second life given to us. Not everyone is blessed enough to survive but we did. We are VERY BLESSED because we survived the tragedy without a scratch, err, nasugatan pala ako ng konti.

And becuase we experienced the tragedy first-hand, I think its a bomb. Well, the impact was so so, (its indescribable) to think that it is because of diesel explosion. I guess we were just REALLY lucky enough to survive.

Hay naku, I just pray for everyone's safety from now til forever na lang. Life's so unpredictable, you wont know what would happen next. i guess we just have to be prepared no matter what.