I took the half day off from work so i can go early to St. Peter’s; after all this is the last viewing day of Lola Saling and there might be some more burial plans to be done.  Since Kris will follow there later in the evening, I decided to leave my car in Magallanes and just commute to Quezon Ave. 

Ria: Have you eaten already?

Kris: Yes. Samahan na lang kita. Where do you want to eat?

Ria: Luk Yuen!

Kris: Ok.  I can just grab coffee from the Starbucks beside it then watch a movie when you’re gone.

Ria: Ay, wait.  It’s far from the MRT station.  From the parking lot, we gotta walk towards it, then we gotta walk back towards the MRT station. Hassle pa.  Sa Chowking na nga lang.  They got same chinese noodles anyway.

While waiting for my food, we suddenly heard and felt a big explosion.  It’s like as if there was a force that warped the airspace within the mall; and personally, like there was a huge firecracking going off near us, which despite not hitting something tangible, I felt a force pushing us a bit. 

The mall rocked, some debris from the ceiling of the activity center fell (i was facing out of Chowking), and people started screaming and running (as Kris puts it, it was like pouring some drops of water over an anthill).  One security guard shouted for us not to panic, that it was just an aircon blowing off.  And so, Kris and I remained calm and just stayed put; personally, i didn’t wanna be caught in the wave of bodies rushing off and I want my food — I was famished na eh.  However, after a few seconds, more people came running and screaming past Chowking.  I thought, maybe there is fire already; thus Kris and I decided to head out na nga rin.

As we were walking, i decided to check on Shey.  She works in Glorietta, staying at 24/7 most of the time — near Luk Yuen.

Ria: Where are you?!

Shey: Ri, there’s an explosion just now…

Ria: Yes, I am also here in Glorietta. Where are you?!

Shey: I can see the street, but there’s a lot of smoke.  I can’t get out!  Please help me, send someone to help me get out!

That’s when fear gripped me.  Kris and I ran towards 24/7; however, we were stopped by police/security who were rolling out the ticker tape at the corner of ParkSquare Drive.  Dang, puro usok, rubble, shards of glass, people, police units.  Ang gulo. 

We approached one policeman and begged for Shey; however, we were told to back off.  Nakakaiyak the helplessness.

I called Betty to tell her to call Shey’s boss/officemates.  I tried to get back to Shey, but the network was now busy.  I can’t even call anyone anymore. 

Then, we saw a bloodied woman coming out.  Then a San Lo multicab rushing with a victim aboard. 

Still no Shey nor any word from/about her. 

I was using my camera as "binoculars" but all I saw was the rubble…and Shey’s car behind the wrecked cab!

After some more excruciating minutes, Betty called and told me Mel was able to talk with Shey already and she was able to crawl out of 24/7. After some more minutes, Kris was able to contact Shey na rin. 

Dang, the ceiling of her office fell on her and she got some wound sa arms nya.  But she is ok at Greenbelt area and her sister is on the way to take her to the hospital just to check on her.

Thank God! Thank God Shey is safe and Thank God we were too lazy to have gone to Luk Yuen!

At 4pm…

Tita Grace: O, akala namin after lunch ka?

Ria: You won’t believe what happened…

———–

Shey is one of those people listed as injured and discharged; her car was also announced over the radio as one of those vehicles damaged by the blast.

The next day, she was able to retrieve her car (bumper came off, one window broken), her laptop, and her bag (minus her wallet — walang awa naman yung magnanakaw talaga!).