She rubbed her right eye with her thumb before blinking rapidly. Her eyes were starting to hurt from staring at her computer all day.
It was a familiar photo of a girl that caught her attention. Squinting, she leaned closer to the computer’s blinding screen.
The girl in the photo was smiling toothily and waving with glee. At first examination, she thought it was her younger sister wearing the AB uniform in front of St. Raymund’s building.
Recognizing the girl’s neatly-done half-updo, she realized how wrong she was. It was her in the photo, back from freshman year. The caption of the image file read, ‘Future lawyer over here!’
A weak laugh escaped her mouth as a memory tickled her mind. Her parents did not have to persuade her to mark her first day in college— she posed for the camera willfully.
A lot has happened the moment she turned her back from her parents’ camera. She remembered every race she had down St. Raymund’s stairs just to catch the photocopying station lineless. She tallied every yawn she stifled to avoid the leering eye of her professor. She knew by heart the Friday nights she spent staring at the bare ceiling while holding a pile of flashcards.
Beside the computer was a cheap mirror that held her reflection. She searched for the girl’s eyes that once bore hope and eagerness.
Beneath the deteriorated surface, she found them.
The girl stared back; only she was slowly deflating into nothingness. F DAWN DANIELLE D. SOLANO
