I'm home. In Singapore, in case you wonder.
It's funny, things have been so different and yet, maybe it's not. I should've anticipated this, I mean, somehow deep in my mind, I knew this was coming, but I haven't prepared myself even when I thought I have.
When I got into my apartment, it felt like I have been gone for long, and I was probably just overreacting but if that's the case, then I was overreacting subsconsciously. The whole space seemed..different. My room looked different. Has it always been this bright? I wondered. And it smelled...different too. Like fresh porcelain. Like some room that is entirely brand-new. Everything looked distinctively unfamiliar, like it's someone else's and not mine. The brightness and the smell are probably the two most peculiar things that I noticed when I finally fell back into life, the life that is unfair, and cruel and bitter, and which can take you on a roller-coaster ride and you still lose in the end anyway.
It has been very hard. I thought I was ready but I was nowhere near it. I have never experienced sadness, or grief before, and now suddenly bang! What has been a really long journey, one that we have dared to hope, to wish, to long, to come out strong in the end, has finally ended in the most painful scenario one could ever imagine. I know I have been telling myself to surrender, to not hope, but I was desperate too, and I hate myself for begging and lowering myself to actually believe again, to compromise and make a pact with whoever out there to listen to our despair and desperate attempt to still be with the person that we love. I should've sticked with my stubborness, maybe if I have, I wouldn't be this dissapointed and angry.
I desperately want to tell you that I have done everything I could, that at least I have let her go knowing that I have given all, although what I could give was nothing and so insignificant. But I can't, because I was selfish, and I can't begin to say how much regret and sadness and what-ifs piled up inside me. I am disgusted at myself and there's absolutely nothing I can do now but to live with myself when I'm not even sure I like this person anymore.
At the hospital, after weeks of just being there, I grew miserable. Although not in front of her, but I was still grumpy to the others and my mood was constantly shitty. I felt like I was slowly losing myself. My cheerful, talkative and easy-going self was replaced by this unknown bitter, moody, introvert, anti-social and angry person. I refused to talk more than necessary to people, and sometimes not at all, because I just wanted to be alone and I retreated by just sitting beside her to avoid people and those pretentious sickening comments, words of encouragement and endless patronizing remarks about how her sickness was just a way to make us realize our sin and to ask for forgiveness and all that nauseating bull. I grew tired of people altogether. I was depressed, I felt stuck, being there everyday for weeks with the same people and same routine and I really feared, that I would be a bitter person from then on, that I could never be the same person again, and I didn't want that, I hated myself, I hated being angry at everybody and I hated being anti-social. I would do everything just to revert myself back to the person I thought was me. But I couldn't help it, no matter how much I tried to joke around, I got sick to my stomach, I couldn't pretend to be fine when I was miserable inside.
For what is worth, how could one not be miserable under the circumstances? I thought I could be bigger than that, I should've been happy for her, eventhough happiness was impossible, but that was the least I could do, and at times I couldn't even do that.
One time, we all got really tired and everything have just taken its tolls on us and we felt like we might go crazy anytime soon, so we went for karaoke for just a few hours. At that time, it felt like it was the right thing to do, because we could explode if we stayed there for one more day without rest, and a few hours break was all we wanted so we went.
If I knew that she would go soon, I wouldn't leave her side. But that what's cruel, isn't it? We couldn't possibly know, and now I just wanted to laugh everytime I think about myself going for karaoke when I could be with her for a few more hours, I could've asked her things, I could've asked for all her wisdom on how I could live normally without her, how I could later work and have a family without her, how I could be a better person and how I could learn to be more like her, and I could've even told her how much I'm proud of her and that she is the strongest person, and the best mother everyone could ever hope for.
Anything. I could've said anything to her and I didn't.
But, one thing that I did not regret was my decision to come home to be with her for her final weeks. I did what I did, although probably it wasn't enough but I hope, she knew that she didn't go through with this alone, that we all were beside her all steps of the way and the most important thing I really, really wish she knew, was that she is truly loved.
Days after it all happened went on like a blur. Describing it as surreal would be an understatement. Never in my life I thought I would be doing what I did. What we all did. There were just so many things needed to be done than I could ever imagine. And they happened in matter of days and I just lost all sense of time, feeling nothing but pent-up anger, and mostly, unbearable sadness. At times, it seemed that you can't even stop to think, that you didn't have time to digest and process everything that happened so you felt numb most of the time, but then suddenly, you could just sit there and break down.
When the formalities, and the rituals have finally ended, somehow I felt relieved. But soon I dreaded something that happened next. Coming home, after days of being in the funeral house. At that point, a crazy hopeful side of me still thought that it might be just a bad dream. And then more sadness were coming at our way because we had to go through her stuffs, to arrange things to go back to routine, slowly and painfully. Keeping myself busy, looking for distractions, going out with uncles, aunts and cousins, anything. Anything, just to make sure life goes on, even though life seems a lot bleaker now. Sometimes when I go home at night, I would secretly believe, that she was there, doing things I always remembered her doing, being in the exact spot she always was, talking as if nothing's wrong.
Everyone in the house were moody and small things became big problems. We all coped in our own ways and it caused unnecessary disputes and fights, we all were just really stressed and we didn't know how to act, so being angry at each other seemed better than feeling sorry and falling apart. A few times Dad would hold on to me really tightly and a small part of me couldn't help feeling angry at him, I need you to be strong for me, I'm trying really hard to contain myself and I don't have the energy to do it for you too! I can't!
I haven't been good for her, and regret is all I can feel now. Slowly, we all have to move on, and her memories will always be with us. I guess it's starting to feel better now. We're planning to sell the house and buy a smaller flat, and I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but we just need this.
The only thing I should believe, is that she is in happier place now, although my stubborness and my anger are convinced, that I should have been able to make her happier than wherever she is and whoever she is with now. I should have been there. She would be happier with me. But I can't go on thinking like that, can I?
I'm sorry, I have been really serious. I need to let this all out, I guess. After this, I promise I won't write such depressing entry anymore. I'm trying to move on, you know? And sometimes I don't know how to act, is it okay to be depressed? Is it okay to laugh again? Is it okay to have fun? Will people judge? I don't know, and I don't want to care.
I just have to live with it, although I have to admit, I'm pretty dissapointed with myself. I should have done more. And as for now, I realize more, the real importance of family, because I don't have anyone else but them.
I feel so many other things, much more than I could ever write and confess, but maybe they are better left unsaid.
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