LITERARY: "The announcement" by Eric Paulin

"'Among Us' tonight?" asked Hannah.

"Sure, chat-chat na lang," I replied.

We weren't paying attention to our teacher in front who was scribbling random numbers on the board which I never fully understood, nor cared to understand. Most of my classmates were blabbering too despite the endless times the teacher called out for our attention.

Can you blame us? It was the last subject of the day and everybody was already exhausted from the day's bulk of things to mind.

Besides, everybody else were not discussing topics anymore. We were at the denoument of our school life and mostly were just all about compliance and completion.

Breaking my train of thoughts, Brian's subtle voice came out of nowhere. "It's just next week and then we're gone here."

I replied, looking into blank space, "Yeah."

"Are you coming over tonight?" Jayson butted in, talking about the session they had been planning immediately after the last time."

"I'm not sure," I answered back hesitantly, "My parents are a little worried."

My classmates remained in silence for they understood what I meant. Everyone's afraid. The news had all been about it since last the week or so. We were also scared for our graduation ceremony next weekend. Everything had been set as if the stage was just waiting for us. The teachers were already working head to toe to finalize our grades and all we needed to do was just to claim our togas on Thursday.

"Class, listen to this."

The room turned into a defeaning silence. There was something in her voice that told us she was not calling for us to listen to her discussion. Instead, it was something about what she had just read on her phone right now.

"Classes tomorrow are suspended until further notice, Malacañang has just announced."

A swarm of buzzes reverbarated across the room, mostly sounding gladdened. I myself was happy about the announcement. Going to school this past few days had all been but fun. We just sat all day long with no teacher attending anymore (except for our last subject).

It was March 9th.

It was the last time I saw Hannah, Brian, Jayson, and the rest of my classmates for about a year now.