As the first episode of the Philippines Graphic Literary Workshop (PGLW) slowly came to its conclusion on February 28, we knew that we had one more thing that we can offer our bright young fellows: a starting platform for their creative endeavors. Here, we present one of their final outputs from the workshop. We also asked them to provide an artwork that they think best represents their stories. Read on.
It was April, and we were at the beach, our hands fumbling for the hem of each other’s shirts as we played chase. The world was seared white with sunlight, so I kept my gaze fixed on the pink of your feet while you kept yours to the distance, to the bouquet of parasails sprouting from the cloudless sky. Seasons ago, we would spend the summer of our youth here, tracing the swirls of seashells with flip-flops two sizes too small. Whenever you insisted on swimming, tourists would gawk at the sight of us, the crowns of our heads knocking against the bellies of their kayaks—and you, despite my asthma, would trail the cut of their paddles, diving ever deeper while my body flailed for the surface.
“Tag,” you said now, a smile blooming on your face.
With a small push against my shoulder, you took off running. I stumbled to keep up with you. The ground sank to sea foam underneath me, and my lungs, ever traitorous, grew tight and tighter with every lick of the surf against my shoes. I was grateful for your footprints, the damp dips leading me as everything blurred into sand and salt.
“Wait—”
My voice was lost in the wind, too weak, too breathless. My right shoe surrendered to the stick of a dune’s slope—then, my left. I kept running. Through sand-flaked lashes, I looked on as you tipped your head back to the sun, drunk with joy. Your laughter reverberated in the afternoon, the caw of the seagulls and the crash of the waves joining you in cacophonous melody.
You were beautiful, and I lost you as I fell, unable to breathe.
Margarita Beatrice E. Raynera is an undergraduate student from the BFA Creative Writing program of the Ateneo de Manila University. She holds a soft spot for gothic novels, psychological thrillers, and historical fiction, but ultimately credits her love for writing to her parents, who were also avid writers in their youth.
