October Nightmare – The Stickup

November 7, 2009

It’s been almost two months since I last poured out my thoughts here in my corner of cyberspace. A lot has happened and I got caught up in a rollercoaster of events good and bad. September passed me by like a bullet train. Nothing much to write about for that month as it was all work, work and more work. But let me tell you about an event that rocked my life like a magnitude 9 earthquake and triggered a chain reaction of events that led me to where I am now.

October 1st. I was on my way to work at 3:30 AM. I just live nearby where I work but I leave at this time so as not to be late for my 4:00 AM shift and still have time to fix myself before commencing work. In the subdivision where I stay during the weekdays, one would think twice about walking the streets at such an unholy hour, but maybe it was the brashness of youth and the nagging urge not to be late that made me indifferent to the perils of living in the metro.

As I walked the dimly lit street, a motorcycle zoomed past me with two guys on it. Thinking it was just the neighbors having an all-nighter, I went on. A couple of minutes later, the same motorcycle came out of nowhere. Still thinking nothing bad about it, I walked on. When I reached the corner of the pharmacy where it was really dark, a figure of a man loomed and walked toward me. He was slim, taller than I am, wore a jacket and a cap. I couldn’t see his face. At that moment, I knew I was in trouble. He declared it was a stickup and grabbed my bag.

We struggled a bit. I refused to give it to him because in there were my cell phone and wallet (containing money, government-issued IDs and ATM cards). My arms gave way; he was stronger than I was. He tried to hit me in the head with my bag, but I was quick enough to dodge it. He made a run to where their motorcycle was waiting and the bastards quickly escaped with my white shoulder bag with cute, little birds on it.

All I saw was a yellow blur. I didn’t even get the plate number. Then I knew I wouldn’t get the thing back. But still I made a run for it, screaming at the top of my lungs like a mad woman, hoping the neighbors would wake up, hoping the tricycle drivers and security guard at the gate would stop the speeding motorcycle. But it was too late. My landlady heard my screams and moments later joined me at the subdivision’s gate. I hugged her, expecting myself to cry hysterically, but no tears flowed from my eyes.

I was surprised I wasn’t that affected like I expected myself to be. I guess the incident only strengthened my belief that material things really aren’t that important. When they’re gone, they can easily be replaced unlike a human being’s life. And then I thought about how lucky I was that the good-for-nothing son of a bitch didn’t have a gun or even a knife. I was left unscathed - only a few bruises on my arms. It could’ve been much worse. I could almost laugh at that moment at the absurdity of it all.

After the commotion, with the tricycle drivers baffled, the tambays asking me what happened and the security guard making excuses for not doing his job, my landlady and I decided to go to the baranggay hall and have the incident reported. A useless endeavor, but I feel it was the only thing I could do at that moment, to at least make the authorities aware that such things are happening in their community.

We went back to my landlady’s house, and I called my parents up. I requested my mom to pick me up because I was in no shape to come to work psychologically. Also, I had zero money in my hands. I also called up my boss, informing her about what had happened and that I might take the rest of the week off to tend to my lost government-issued IDs and ATM cards.

Around 7:00 AM, my mom and my brother picked me up. Before going home, I dropped by the office to pick up my check. I also called up the banks to inform them of my losses. On my ride home, I really felt mostly numb. It was so surreal I refused to believe it at first. I was a bit furious at myself for being so careless and unassuming of people’s motives. You see, I believe that people are inherently good. I don’t pass judgment that easily. Unfortunately, it got the best of me. But would I be cynical because of this one event? Hmm. I don’t think so. Much careful is what I’ll be from now on.