NDE

While riding a jeep somewhere in Pampanga:

---

Trip: Text kita kapag nakarating na ako ng Manila.

XP: Okay.

Trip: You know what it means if I don't text back.

Bench: Why???

Trip: As a precaution. You do understand bud right?

XP: Yeah I know, but don't think of negative things. Blah.. blah..

---

After two minutes. All of them dropped off from the jeep we were riding.

---

XP: Bye Trippy.

Trip shows a gesture acknowledging XP and the group's departure. Three minutes after the jeep I was boarding started to run again. I heard a screeching sound like those you hear in the movies. Then there was a loud noise. Since the jeepney was quite full at that time, one can only hear something disintegrating, part of it hitting the opposite side of the jeep.

Then there was immediate panic. Those passengers on the opposite side of the jeep hurriedly transferred to the side where I was seated. When my eyes finally saw what happened, the first thing I saw was several motor vehicle parts lying on the road. Far beyond, there was a man twisted on the street. The first casualty I saw from the accident.

Based from the driver's account, a truck suddenly lost its control hitting a motorcycle. At the same time, it hit several other vehicles in front of the jeep I was riding. It was a serious accident. Some says there were two casualties, the man I saw was the survivor, while the other was pressumed dead by some bystanders.

Terribly shaken, I called XP to tell him what happened. Good thing, my other friends decided to leave early as well so I went back to Manila with companions on board the bus.

---

Looking back, I went to Pampanga telling only the half truth at home.

If my friends never dropped off several meters away from where the accident happened, there might be a possibility that those on board the jeep, may become casualties from that accident...

Including me.

I don't know if it was because of my endless prayers for safety and protection since I left home that saved me, or it was just pure luck, that the accident never caught us.

Just the same it was a very close call.

In such moments like what I saw this morning, surviving the accident would let one realize that life can easily be taken away, wherever and whenever it's time for someone to go.

For several moments after it happened, I almost thought that I'm just a mere ghost who wasn't really aware that I'm already dead.