adventures in neverland

before she left the room, theresa, her long, black hair tied into a bun, took a one last look at the sleeping paolo. she lingered at his handsome face, at the w ell-sculptured nose, at the long eyelashes, at the small, closed mouth. those lips that made her swoon in ecstasy last night. in a month, she will marry paolo's father, the sixty-nine year old businessman, who owns half of the city's real estate, as well as several restaurants, hotels, even a taxi fleet. paolo, who is her first love, does not know it yet. but soon he will and she hates the thought that she will be breaking his heart. quietly, she turned off the light and closed the door. outside it was still dark. the beach has calmed down now. the waves were turbulent last night and the rains were persistent, won't stop. the howling winds have also quieted down. there was a storm signal last night, but they decided to come here to paolo's family's beach house to be alone. to share a night for th

i knew something was wrong the moment i entered the room. it was a bit dark (the light bulb was off…there was only a candle from where he was sitting)  and a pungent smell of cigarettes and alcohol greeted me as soon as i opened the door.  cigarette smokes swirled like invisible tiny clouds hurting my eyes and caused a few tears to swell up, a case of beer on the floor, and the soft humming of the beatles on the cassette player -- here, there and everywhere.  he didn't notice me. he was there, but he was not. he barely moved from his ghostly, statue-like post on the floor. i removed my shoes, my shirt, and my pants. then i grabbed last night's short pants hanging from a nail on a wall right beside my tiny bed. then i sat on the floor, right across from where he was seated. beer bottles, cigarette butts and a lighted stick between us. finally he saw me and gave me a lukewarm smile. i could not see his face clearly. but i knew he was forlorn, like the grey afterno

there's something about the quiet, dry evening that woke me up. when i looked at the clock, it was only three in the morning. too early to rise from bed, i decided to just lie down. hoping that soon, sleep will find me. but a few hours later, it never came. feeling restless, i decided to turn the dvd player and tv on. but soon, the movie (realtiy bites) bored me. i have seen it twice this afternoon..and more than a hundred times  since i bought the dvd years ago. for the past several days, i have been waking up early in the morning.. sometime i wake up at around two, sometimes at three, sometimes at four.. there must be something about this bed, i thought, as the movie went on... as winona ryder, ethan hawke and the rest of their restless generation x searched for the meaning of life while losing jobs, searching for themselves and breaking hearts.. this morning (or late afternoon when i woke up), i was surprised to find a long lost friend, ok former lover, who