On Friday, October 31, I sighed heavily as I left the office by 8 p.m. Outside the building, a dumpster truck halted nearby. I looked upon myself, & I almost threw up. I caught a bus & decided to visit Venice, Italy, in BGC for the first time. & it felt more like December. Monsters, villains, headless ghosts, etc. – lined up & received treats along the bank of what resembles the River Styx, splitting the majestic mall in half. The vines of hanging lights mounted on the mall’s second floor balconies are stretching & sagging across the river’s width, tinting the river with a buzzing TV static. I strolled around in circles, as if looking for something, or someone, at least from my memories, or from myself. I stumbled upon a Timezone karaoke booth & rehearsed songs about someone I could hardly name, but I deeply scarred my throat. I then went out again. There were still crowds, but there was no one—like how I know there are countless stars yet the pitch-black sky curtains them. I drank my beer while I stood idly by the second-floor exterior overlooking the apparitions & the river’s expanse. Only then did I notice the moon nearly full, in its drinking of light, as if clinking its bottle with mine. I then shifted my sight back into the vines of hanging lights.
One bulb dead.
I squint my eyes a little—
the lights spill in.
KERVIN TABIOS graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. He was a fellow at the 4th Thomasian Undergraduate Writers Workshop, a member of the Thomasian Writers Guild, and a writer at the Thomasian Engineer, the official student publication of the UST Faculty of Engineering. His works appeared in Philippine Collegian Literary Anthology 2021 and shortlisted in San Anselmo Publications’ Pambansang Hámon sa Pagtula 2025. He currently works as a construction professional specializing in modelling softwares at an outsourcing firm in Ortigas.
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