Glow-in-the-Dark

When I was a child, I had this figurine of Sto. Nino Palaboy placed in front of my bed, atop an almond-tainted table with legs that looked as if it were to detach any second. Back then; my tiny room was still a disaster. Imagine a royal blue carpet flooding the whole area of the floor, sky blue plastic blind shields that were already distorted on both ends, wallpaper with kite-like patterns on the verge of peeling-off, and a ceiling cluttered with glow-in-the-dark star stickers. Furnishings that filled up the empty spaces of my room were all made up of artificial wood. You can easily identify since at the corners of each cabinet, pieces of the top layer were chipping and you can feel the grainy material that consisted the inner layer. One of the cabinets, which had a transparent glass door, housed the wide array of Lego collections I assembled. Beside, was my study table that had a red-colored bear sticker situated at the upper right hand corner with my name written on it. Perpendicular to my study table was the territory of my Sto. Nino Palaboy figurine.

Treating him as if he were a living person, I dressed him up with the clothes I grew up on. But often, I was not satisfied until I put a hat on his head. One of his hands gripped a long wooden crucifix, while the other hand was carved in such a manner that made it look like he was about to give a high-five to someone. As I mentioned earlier, he was right across my bed, and so, it was him who never ceased to stare at me whenever I go to sleep at night. Not unless I failed to catch him blink. No thank you, I would rather settle in the idea of him staring at me still-eyed.

The figurine was a gift given to me by my mom, which she bought from the masseuse that offered her home services once a week. Joy, the name of the masseuse, was a close friend of ours. I treated her as my second mom; she would baby sit and take care of me whenever my parents were out of the house. And if there is one thing to describe her, that would be: religious. Even though she was not fortunate enough to have a baby of her own, she never took it against the man above. In fact, she even adopted children and offered them a comfortable living, regardless of financial difficulties.

One day, as I was unmercifully climbing on her back and asking her to carry me, she told me something that at first, I was quite skeptical about. Bringing me down to the floor, she told me to look at the figurine. Being the naive kid that I was, I obeyed without further questions. "Mickey, maniniwala ka ba kapag sinabi kong buhay ang rebultong iyan?" she whispered in my ear. I gave off a hysterical laugh immediately after hearing what she said. Inquisitively, I posed her a question, "Bakit hindi gumagalaw?"

After looking at it intently, it never actually moved. Joy took a deep sigh, as if to prepare for something big, really big, then shared the story behind everything - as to why she wanted me to believe that indeed, the figurine was alive. According to her, it all started when a young girl named Marevick died. Inside the morgue where her body was brought for identification, a miracle unexpectedly happened. For some unexplainable happenstance, she was brought back to life. Ever since, Sto. Nino Palaboy used her body as a host, a means to communicate to the material world. By then, Marevick voluntarily devoted herself into a vocation of healing and of spreading the word, with the help of Sto. Nino Palaboy's spirit. As you can see, the story is pretty much overwhelming and hard to digest, especially for a little boy like me back then. Thus, she decided and promised to bring Marevick to the house and introduce me to her along with Palaboy someday.

Joy eventually fulfilled her promise. It was a hot Sunday afternoon when she arrived along with a shy and odd-looking lady (I found her odd since she had short hair, similar to that of a boy). It was none other than Marevick herself. Wasting no time at all, gripping my arm tightly, Joy took me to my room (along with Marevick) and commanded me to pay attention and prepare for what I was about to witness.

Marevick sat down on one end of my bed, slowly closed her eyes, and remained silent for a few seconds. At the back of my head, I was already wondering what the hell was happening and was I supposed to be taking this seriously. In a blink of an eye, she suddenly woke up. But there was something different - her voice. It was no longer the voice of a lady, instead that of a little boy. She (rather he) asked for my name. But I was not replying. Ironically, it seemed that although my brain was telling me to answer M-I-C-K-E-Y, I had no voice to utter a six-letter name. After a while, I just pretended like I was accompanied by a new playmate and future partner-in-crime. And so I invited him to help me put together the brand new Lego set my dad bought for me, while Joy was busy giving my mom her weekly dose of a relaxing full-body massage. Those visits became more frequent, thereby bestowing me all the more reasons to forget and pretend like nothing really unusual happened.

It was particularly a Wednesday night then when Palaboy decided to give me a taste of his miracles. Unable to get myself to doze off, I opened my eyes and thought of going downstairs to get myself a glass of hot milk. As I brought myself up from the bed, I saw a glimmer of light shaped like a cross, similar to what the figurine was holding. Only when it started levitating and spinning (while still glowing) did I realize that my guess was indeed correct. Having no second thoughts, I rushed to my parents' room, crept on their bed, and forced myself to fall to sleep in between the both of them.

However, since Palaboy and Marevick had tons of healing missions to cater to all over the country, I was not able to see both of them for quite some time (most probably for about 10-13 years). And in that gap, the memories I shared with them absolutely never crossed my mind, maybe because I refused to believe in what I saw (including the glowing staff), or maybe not. I don't know. My mind was caught in a limbo. Too confused that I never was aware of the fact that my mom already gave away the figurine to her friend without my consent. Even if she did anyway, it would not have mattered; things would still end up the same way.

Until yesterday, as I was having my late dinner at 7:00pm (I usually eat dinner between 5:00-6:00 pm), I saw Joy opening the entrance door along with this familiar woman. She was staring at me as if trying to confirm who I was from afar, but I was not looking back since I was preoccupied with filling up my extremely hungry stomach. Just as I was done eating, the very same woman approached and called me by my name. It was when I found myself face-to-face with her that I felt slightly embarrassed (how come she remembered me perfectly, while I did not) since it was Marevick after all. Lost for words, I just stared at her for a moment. Eventually, she told me Palaboy desperately wanted to finally talk to me again and so we went straight to my room. Re-entering the body of Marevick, once more, I had an opportunity to meet him, but this time, i was already all grown up. True enough, the first thing he said was how I looked completely different from before. "Tumaba lang ako," I insisted. We caught up with one another, and I was blown away as I discovered how he knew every single detail that has happened to me, even about my recent college life. Enthusiastically, he was telling me how he was watching and following me whenever I went to school. Not only that, he knew the names of my block mates, and even shared secrets that apparently my block mates had. During the whole conversation, he was the only one talking, while I remained slack-jawed. What struck me was that he was trying to ask me why throughout the years, I was able to forget about him - that I allowed the figurine to slip away from my possession without doing anything at all.

It pained me that I was not able to answer him again, just like when we first met. But there was something that I was able to tell him though, that I was going to get myself a figurine of his, similar to what I had before. He ensured me Marevick knows where to get me one. I was just about to say how thankful I was but he interrupted by saying he had to go back to heaven to sing for Mother Mary. Before leaving the body of Marevick, he suggested that the next time he decides to make the staff glow, he told me to be afraid no more and that he will definitely come back again on Wednesday (which is tomorrow!). The exact day when he decided to give me a taste of his miracles. (And then I started having goose bumps because something tells me he knew all along that I have no classes during Wednesdays)