10:00pm.
I decided NOT to write the songs that have been playing for the duration of my walk. I looked straight ahead and saw the people chatting inside 7-11, which I've only been to once before. I had a tiny urge to go inside and check it out, but I brush it aside. I just wanna grab some food at McDonalds and go back home to blog.
As I walk past the arc, I notice something...bright. The spot it's on used to be a construction site that I thought was never gonna finish. Now, it's fully finished, bright as the heavens...
Caltex gas station.
"Wooooow."
I was sure they were building something else when I first saw the construction site months and months back. I thought maybe some kind of commercial building of sorts. But no. A gas station. Not that I'm undermining the establishment. I do think it's a pretty good idea to put up a gas station that's NEARER to civilization. You see, just on the next corner, there's another gas station. That one got built way before the Caltex one and back then I thought, "That's a good idea." It wasn't. It didn't even take a month and the gas station was already dead. I asked around about what happened. Some said it got robbed. Some said it just didn't get enough revenue. Yada yada. Bottomline, it crashed and burned (not literally, oh god). As far as I'm concerned, it's now a constant reminder never to put up an establishment in the middle of nowhere if you haven't thought things through.
I continued walking ahead while my eyes were still locked on the Caltex station. It looked so clean and new and shiny and pretty. When my neck got too twisted, I stopped and faced the station properly. That's when I noticed something. Something else. The building behind it, where the 7-11 earlier was. It had a rooftop bar now! I'm not even sure if it was that high before. I'm pretty sure it was just around 3 floors, but now it has 5. I don't know what got to me, but I stared at the building for quite some time. Shortly after the smell of smoke grabs my attention away from the rooftop bar. Not the bad kind of smoke. The good kind, like the ones coming from stone stoves powered by charcoal. I followed the trail and checked my suspicion. I was right! Bibingka! Like a native rice cake. (Why am I bothering to explain what it is?) It's usually pretty seasonal and comes up only when it Christmastime is near. Except for the few random Christmas lights, this is the first hint of Christmas coming on this side of the road. I didn't buy one, though. But the thought of Christmas coming really soon was enough to perk me up.
The now dead gasoline station marked the start of a wide spread of nothingness. Like the Scary Half, there's not a light post in sight. It's as if the darkness of the night sky spilled over and covered the ground as well. But unlike the Scary Half, I didn't mind the darkness. It was calming. Coupled with the cold wind blowing, I savored every step. I tucked my hands to my jacket's pockets and continued on. In a nearby corner, I notice a new construction site, one that I've never seen before. It had around 7 or 8 light bulbs scattered about the site and it barely illuminates the area.
"Hmmm...."
"I'm not in any rush, anyway." With that in mind, I head for the site to take a look.
It had a tarpaulin put up in the front but it was too dark to read what was written. It had a picture of the would-be building so I'm pretty sure it says what it's gonna be. As I get closer, I noticed a car parked near the site. It had it's back lights and dashboard light on, yet I can't see if there was anyone inside.
"Are there people having sex in there? Or maybe murder!"
I didn't want to check. But if I were to get close to the site, I had to pass through the car. I had no choice. I walked hurriedly to the tarpaulin, taking glimpses of the car, just in case someone comes out and jumps at me. Though if he were to try and chase me, I won't be able to escape. I mean, he's got a car and all. So basically, the moment I walked towards the site was the start of my (would-be) demise. I stopped when I reached the front of the site. If he wanted to kill me, he'd do it now. I take a last glimpse.
No change.
...
"Nah, he's not gonna kill me."
Even though I was practically in front of the tarpaulin, I can barely read what was written. At that same instant, a bright flash of light beamed at the tarpaulin! I looked back and saw a car from afar flashing his head lights directly in front of me. I don't know if he saw me trying to read the tarpaulin and decided to help or if he just happened to have his head lights on while making the turn, but I gestured a thank you to him. I hope he noticed. I snapped back to reading the tarpaulin.
"Unihealth Southwoods Hospital and Medical Center"
Just as I finished reading, the lights go off. It's like he's right there beside me. I couldn't help smiling. A hospital, huh? I counted the floors it would have. It had six if I remember correctly. Who knew we'd have a hospital in the middle of nowhere. That's when I felt that things are really changing. Months will pass and that hospital will be finished. By then, who knows what else would have changed. There's A LOT of vacant space around. I'm sure someone would think of something.
Then I remembered, someone already did.
I read a few months back that some corporation signed a huge ass project to turn this empty expanse of land into...something big. A "BPO center and IT Park" in their own words.
"Oh yeah, they did say there was gonna be a hospital here. So it's this one, huh?"
I was ecstatic when I first read that article. Now that I'm looking at it's birth, it's first bricks and foundations, I felt like I was looking at history in the making. That years from now, I'd be standing in the same spot in front of that hospital, saying, "I saw you when you were just a pile of stone and cement."
But speaking of history in the making, an even more prominent evidence of the change that has swept the area shimmers like a jewel in a dark cave.
McDonalds was in sight.
The darkness of the area simply intensified the brightness of their lights in my eyes. Like an oasis in the desert. It wasn't as dark as it used to be anymore. For one thing, I can see the road I'm walking on now.
But the serenity of the night remained.
I looked up to the night sky. There seem to be more stars than it used to. No, that's probably not it. I must have just been too accustomed to the night sky in the city. Where the view of a starry sky can only be seen in patches. Sky lines cover the smoke filled sky. The stars weren't particularly bright. But there were lots of them. Lots. Spread out on the black blanket enveloping the land. I'm not one to be too sentimental about the difference between the city and province since our place is technically part of the metropolis, or at least very close to it. But this time, it felt different. I've passed through the same expanse countless of times before and I've looked at the night sky more times than I can remember, but I don't remember seeing it being this huge. This overpowering; belittling. I tried sizing up the night sky, looking at it from end to end. But it's as if the edge of the dark sky melded to the edge of ground, where their division blurred and the two worlds became one. And in the middle of this dark dome of peace?
A shining, shimmering McDonalds.
10:18pm.
I've reached my destination.
But I haven't reached the end.
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