Escape!

Three feathers to stall the inundation.
One Naga to bring it forth.
A thousand islands on the brink of oblivion.
One mortal to prove her worth.

The sorcerer once wrote a story about an island beyond all mortal sight. Everywhere about it, the waters rose up to meet the diving sky. It was a world in isolation, until the birth of its princess named Mana. Due to the effects of a devastating fate set into motion when she was born, she was forced to leave the island at the age of sixteen, clinging to the hope that there might be somewhere else she could reach beyond the horizon.

I, too, might be facing a similar fate, although I must say that the Fates themselves have nothing to do with it. I do feel the need to reach out into the world once more and blog about this because this might be the last chance I'd have to do so; within 36 hours, my life could change radically.

Allow me to shed some light into the nature of this purported cataclysm. I am in grave danger of being dismissed from the college of engineering. Simply put, if this disaster were to occur, I would have to spend two or three more years before I can finally graduate. For others, this might have been of no problem at all but to me, it means big trouble.

See, I have already missed my graduation and, though my parents took the news quite heavily, I daresay, they were understanding. However, my mother did impart a stern warning that this upcoming year will be the last I'd spend in the university. Were I to be delayed any more, I'll be completely on my own for, of course, I do have other siblings who could make better use of the funds I would have squandered.

Needless to say, I am quite obliged to them and forever grateful that they allowed me another chance. To add to my guilt, my mother once mention, during the last summer, that when I graduate, she'd send me to Macau on a vacation. At the moment, I am blacklisted by the national police, due to a debt that must be paid to what once was my scholarship. Either I work for my country for three and a half years, or I pay up my debt, before I could be allowed to fly overseas once more. She shrugged it off and said she'd pay for it.

It was with a gleam in my eye and a song in my heart that I pranced out to enlist in my delayed subjects when I found out that the repercussions of my actions for the past academic year made me ineligible for enrollment. As a matter of fact, I am dismissed from the college and my only hope is to appeal to the college to re-admit me, with certain conditions, of course.

I now hang by a thread, so to speak. It is all out of my hands now and the best I could do is wish that Lady Luck would smile at me, not with the manical grin killer clowns sometimes employ, but with the kind-hearted smile that almost says, "You damn lucky brat, I'll get you next time!" or, preferably, something much gentler than that.

If it does not go as expected, I suppose I would not be blogging for quite some time. If terrible news awats me, I do have a half-baked plan. I'd haul my ass and my closet into a bag, run away from home, find a job, crash with a few friends for the first week, find an apartment, room or at least, a respectable shelter and juggle both work and study until I graduate, fall into a coma, die, get nabbed or otherwise, disabled from doing my everyday tasks.

I'd probably shift to architecture, for I have still retained some of, what I might humbly refer to as, my extraordinary drafting skills. By that, I meant that my talent is above average, though by no means superb. It will probably be as hellish as how one of my acquaintances described it but it's the best thing I'd have going for me.

I know it's gonna be a great leap for someone who's been living behind sheltered walls all his life. Heck, I don't even know some of the cities in our own metropolis! Still, I couldn't bear the guilt of facing my parents once more and telling them I had failed once again.

It is the cage that confined you.
It is the shell that sheltered you.
It is the hedge that isolated the forest.
It is the moments between work and rest.