My cellphone's beeping sound woke me up one
night.Used to receiving
important messages only, I grabbed my cell and
sleepily pushed the
keysand read the message.

"Hi there! Care 2 b my txtmate?" Not knowing who the
sender was,I
deleted the message right away and placed the phone
on my bedside
table,I tried to go back to sleep.

I had just closed my eyes when I heard the message
tone again.

"Hi there, again! Care 2 b my txtmate?" again, the
message said.

"Who the hell could this be asking for a txtmate at
the wee hours of
the night?" I asked myself. Again, without bothering
to reply I
deleted the message.

I was never a 'textmaniac' - someone who enjoys
texting anyone and
everyone even at the wee hours of night, not to
mention during the
day. My parents, who were always out of the country
forced me to
own a cellphone. They told me that having one was
more
convenient -
they could monitor me even if they're miles away I
wanted to turn
the unit off, but since my mother was fond of
calling me at night,
just to check if I was safe at home, I decided not
to.

Just as I was to close my eyes and return to my
dreamless sleep, the
phone beeped again.Same number...Such determination!


"Pls reply 2 dis msg & b an angel & save me frm dis
abyss of
emptiness!!!"I never knew why, but the message
struck me. I got up
and pushed the keys...I just realized I was replying
to the message.

"Im not an angel, n f u want som1 2 save u, m not
superman... I'm
just a simple prson who u wake up at dis r of my
nyt!!! Nway, do I
know u?"I typed.

Seconds later came the reply. "Nope. U don't know
dis lonely soul.
Nor does she know u. But I want 2 bur frnd. I'm
Mikaella Cervantes.
U?"

"Just call me Julius. How'd u get my no.?" I sent
back. "Hi Julius,
nice 2 meet u. Just shuffled the last two digits of
mine," she
replied. That was the first and maybe the last time
I met someone
over the cellphone. We exchanged messages and
learned so much about
each other that night. We only said goodbye when my
alarm clock
rang
at 5:00 AM! I had to prepare for school! And that
was also how it
all
started. A day would not pass without it loving and
thoughtful
messages from her. It was only then I had learned to
appreciate text
messages and become eager and excited everytime.

My phone beeped, hoping it would be her.Mikaella
brought out
something about me that I never knew I had; I
realized I could also
be a romantic person... even if it's just through
text messaging.

"Keep me as a frnd & I will keep u in my heart. Lock
it up & throw
away d key so dat no1 can evr tke u away from me..."
One day, she
sent this message to me. I replied: 'In life, we
seldom find a true
prson & f u evr find 1, hold on & nvr let go...
value dat prson coz
it's lyf's gift worth keeping & holdin on..."

I never knew why, but her response sent shivers to
my spine, " Value
d pipol hu hav touched ur life bcoz u will never
know just wen dey
will walk out Of ur lyf & nvr come back again."

I couldn't understand what I felt that moment, but
one thing I was
sure though... I could not go on a day without a
single word from
her. I'd become used to having her, eventhough we
had not met
personally. But truly, she already occupied a space,
a large one, in
fact in my life. I texted her back. "Dont come close
f l8r ull jst
pass by; don't touch me f l8r ull jst let me cry;
dont luv me f l8r
u'll jst leave me and won't stay..." I didn't know
why
I sent her that message, but somehow I felt, every
word came from
my
heart. In the short span of time we were sending
messages to each
other, I knew, I was starting to keep her in my
heart.

I called her once. The voice on the other end was
like an
angel's.Soft, kind, full of love. Yet, there was
something in it I
couldn't define.We only talked for a few minutes.
Before she hung
up,
she told me not to call again. According to her, it
would be better
if we would just text each other. But the voice kept
ringing, not
only in my head, but in myheart, I'dlongto hear it
once more. I
tried
to call her again, but she never answered the phone.
She just kept
on
sending messages and quotations, which I Copied in a
little
notebook.
Hopeless romantic? I didn't know. All I could say
was that all the
messages she sent me were wonderful, they came from
the heart and
cut through the heart.

"Though we r miles apart, u r always n my heart. I
close my eyes&der
u r. Even f I'll see u never, I'll always b hir 2
care 4 u, far
longer dan 4ever..."

One December night, she sent me this message. By
that time we
hadbeen exchanging messages for more than a month.
God knew
how happy I was. She was right. Although we had not
seen each
other,
what we felt was enough to make us both realize what
was keeping us
together.

I sent her another message, "Loving u secretly is a
hard thing 4 me
2
do, hoping, wondring that u will feel d same way 2,
but I can't read
ur mind f u luv me 2. But whatever it is, I'll still
be loving u."

"How I wish I cud really tell u how much u mean 2
me, but m afraid 2
love, scared 2 get hurt... I hope dat u will wait 4
me & pray dat u
will not get tired of loving me...=)" was her reply.


And then I replied again. " The reason y I met u is
bcoz of destiny
but f destiny will suggest dat I'll live w/o u, den,
I'll lie not
by
destiny but of free will."

Whenever I asked her when we would meet personally,
she always
answered, "Soon...soon, love...soon."

Not seeing each other did not lessen, even a bit,
whatI felt for
her...rather, it even grew deeper and stronger each
day. And I was
sure, she felt the same way, too. Love messages
continued to flow
through our lines, between our hearts, which made us
go on each day
with the thought that sooner, we would see each
other, face to face,
heart to heart.

Just a few days before Christmas. She stopped
sending messages. At
first I just though she had ran out of prepaid. but
there was
something that kept bothering me... I
couldn'tunderstand what was
it, but it made me feel nervous. I tried to call her
but she
wouldn't
answer. Nevertheless, I continued sending messages.
Suddenly one night, just three days before our
Lord's birthday. I
heard my phone's message tone again... at last! It
was from her!

"Oftentyms we say gudbye 2 d 1 we luv w/o wanting 2.
Though dat
doesn't mean dat we stopped loving dem or we stopped
2 care.
Sometyms, GOODBYE is a painful way 2 say I LOVE
YOU."

I was dumfounded. I didn't know what to think of.
What did she mean?
I texted her back, searching for answers, but found
nothing. I
called
her but she would not answer. For the first time in
my life, I felt
so miserable...desperate...empty. I didn't know what
to do. I
didn't
want to lose her. I had learned to love her. And
Iwanted to be with
her forever.

The following days I felt nothing but emptiness. It
seemed that
Mikaella took the life out of me. I missed her so
much...her
messages...The tones that would tell me she'd sent
another loving message. Nothing around me could feel
the emptiness
felt.

Tut...tut...tut...tut...tut...just a day before
Christmas, my cell
beeped again. It was her! "Meet me at d cafe, 10 AM
2day," I read
aloud, making sure the message was true, then I
jumped with joy upon
hearing from her again. Hurriedly, I got myself
ready and I went to
the mall. I knew it was still early, but I wanted to
be there before
she arrived.

I arrived at the meeting place ten minutes earlier.
I was surprised
to see her already there, smiling at me. She was
very beautiful,
Black, deep-set eyes that spoke a thousand words;
small, kissable
lips; a nose Perfectly chiseled and long black hair
- everything in
her was beautiful. And yes, her eyes radiated
kindness and love...
but there was a flicker of something in
them...sadness?

"Hi, Julius," said the angelic voice I had been
dreaming of each
night.The voice that I had waited to hear for so
long. "Please sit
down."

"I am very pleased to meet you, Mikaella," I said,
as I took my seat
and gave the roses I brought for her.

"Thanks, Julius," she smiled, obviously pleased with
the roses. I
knew she loved pink roses.

"You are always welcome, Love"

"Julius, I can't stay," she said, sadness in her
voice, or was it
tears? "I really must go."

"But we just met, Mikaella. Can't we talk a little
longer?" I asked,
pleadingly. "I can't really. I just came here to see
you and thank
you for the time you shared with me. Thank you for
everything,
Julius. I will never forget you...you will always be
here in my
heart."

She was looking at me straight into the eyes, and I
could really
feel
the sadness in her voice and I swear, there was
something in her
voice and I swear, there was something in those
lovely yet lonely
eyes...

She got up and smiled at me, lovingly. "Tomorrow
morning, please
come
and visit me," he said and gave me a piece of white
linen paper.

I read what was written and when I looked up, she
was gone.

The following day, Christmas, I woke up early and
excitedly readied
myself, thinking of her. I hurriedly went to a
flower shop and
bought
a dozen pink roses - for Mikaella.

They lived in an exclusive subdivision. Upon
reaching their house, I
told the guard who I was and that I was looking for
Mikaella. The
guard stared at me, sadness and amazement in his
eyes and told me to
wait as he called the owner of the house. As I
looked at him while
he
was going inside the house, only then I noticed that
the house was
brightly lit.

A woman went out and walked towards me, smiling
sadly. "Hi, I'm
Maria, Mikaella's mother. Please come inside,
Julius." While we were
walking towards the mansion, she explained to me why
she knew me
very
well - Mikaella had always been talking about her
riend, Julius. I
hardly understood what she was saying. I was busy
thinking why
Mikaella's mother was crying while talking to me

As we came near the great hall of the house, it
dawned on me that
there was a wake inside, Maybe, a relative passed
away, I thought.
But deep in my heart, I was trembling and afraid.

As we entered the hall where so many people were
silently mourning
while others were praying, shaking, I asked her
mother. "Where is
Mikaella?"

She held my hand and silently, led me to the coffin
which was
surrounded by flowers - pink roses, nothing but pink
roses.No words
could explain how I felt when I gazed at the coffin
and saw who was lying there. The same beautiful girl
I met...

A man came beside me, I knew he was Mika's father.
"We are so glad
you came, Julius. Mika talked of you all the time.
She even asked
that her phone be buried with her. She said that in
that way, you
could still send her messages and you would always
be with her."

I couldn't believe everything...My mind was in
limbo.

"But how can this be? We just saw each other
yesterday."

"That can't possibly be. She passed away three days
ago. She had
been
suffering from a heart disease since she was a
child," said her
father.

"But..." I couldn't find the words to say.

"She told us not to bother reaching you, "her mother
said, still in
tears,"she said you will come, and here you are.
Pain and bitterness
overwhelmed me. I cried silently beside her, staring
at her lovely
face, memorizing every line of my friend's face, a
face I knew I
would never forget while I was still alive.

After the internment that afternoon, I went to the
chapel she had
told me she went everyday.

Sitting there praying and crying to God, I held my
phone and typed:

"U taught me how 2 care; u taught me how 2 b kind; u
shwd me how 2
lyk som1;u shwd me how 2 luv; but ders 1 thing u
didnt teach me & it
hurts mor -u didnt teach me how 2 let go. I LOVE
YOU"

I sent the message, and though I knew she wouldn't
be able to hold
her CP again, I knew in my heart she ould get my
message. I never
expected a reply, yet as my phone beeped again, I
felt a shiver down
my spine. The sender's number did not appear on the
screen, and
tears
rolled down my cheeks as I read the message.

"Let go of d hand of d prson u love, but dnt let go
of God's hand. 4
if u hold 2 his hand. He may b holding d prson u
love n d ader hand
2
let u hold each other again."

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