29th of September was just like any normal day for all of us.
See, very ordinary day and almost routinary for a typical family.
We haven't even reached the middle of our dinner, a few spoonfuls to be exact, when the dreaded and scariest phone call came. It was Arlu who got the call. We thought it was a friend who's inviting him for a
random dinner. My dad overheard the person on the other line's statement and said the words loud enough for us to hear. Those were words that no person, especially for a mother, a father, a brother and a sister, ever, ever, ever wanted to hear as long as he/she lives. It was the surgery resident on duty at the ER of UST Hospital who called to tell us that my youngest brother, Jam, was stabbed near his school gate. We stared at each other across the dinner table. Disbelief, that was our initial reaction. How can that be? How is that ever possible? Lord, no, not our brother. Arlu passed the phone to my mother. My mother uttered "Oh my God" in a way I had never heard in my entire life. I know she was this close to collapsing but she just needed two words from the doctor to bounce back - Okay and Stable.
We changed clothes and headed to the ER. Arlu was left at home since he still had schoolworks to do. The walk to the hospital seemed the longest and heaviest walk I had. We were never scared as hell until that day. With my medical background, horrible images had flashed through my mind. I kept on saying, "Lord, I really do hope my brother's okay. Make my brother okay." while walking. Upon arrival at the clinical ER, we were met by some teachers and members of the faculty, few friends of my brother, members of the student council and some more students (that we found out later on were Journalism students). The faculty calmed us and told us that Jam is okay, briefed us of what happened. They told us that they had been contacting us for almost 30 minutes but they couldn't since our now-defunct Cavite number was the one written on my brother's school record and my mom recently changed her mobile number. They even tried contacting my father at his office. His friends looked scared as shit. They told us that my brother was transferred to the pay ER. We went to the pay ER and I stopped at the door. I couldn't seem to get my feet to move. I overheard the nurse telling my mom that Jam was brought up to the Radiology department for X-ray. My mom called me to get in. The nurse told me that my brother's okay as I entered the ER and passed by in front of her. The word 'okay' suddenly became very, very vague and had a broader meaning. Does okay mean sort of good and sort of bad just like I mean it when I say 'okay'? Does okay mean almost bad or almost good? Okay is something not okay to say in a case like this, I wanted specifics.
The surgery ROD accompanied us to the Radiology department. Only my parents were allowed inside so I sat in the receiving area for 30 seconds or so. The Student Affairs person gave me my brother's bag and told me they got something from his bag. I knew what he meant. He took my dad and mom to the side and talked. But my brother came out and boy, I couldn't be happier. Seeing him in a state entirely different from the horrible images that flashed in my mind earlier was very comforting and calming. I cried. I asked him if he was okay (Yes, I know. Looking back now, why did I even use the word 'okay'?! But it's the only word that my mind can make up of at the moment.) and he gave me a thumbs up. We went back to the pay ER where the doctors talked to us and showed us my brother's x-ray result. My brother had blood in his lungs. It wasn't too much, thank God, but they had to insert a chest tube on my brother to drain it. My brother needed to be stitched as well since he had a stab wound on the chest as well. He also needs to undergo a surgery the next morning to check if there is bone or nerve damage, clean and stitch the wound on his arm. My mother signed the consent. My parents left me with my brother for a while since the Dean wanted to talk to them. I couldn't watch my own brother undergo such a thing but I had to because I had to see if they're doing it properly or if my brother's in pain. I didn't see him flinch a bit. I'm just grateful that my brother's very much alive.
First thing in morning the next day, my brother was brought to the OR. The surgery went well. No bone or nerve was affected and the surgeon only had to repair the extensor and flexor muscle and stitch the skin. They also opened and double checked the wound on his chest, I think. Before lunch, he was brought back to his room already.
In between the walking back and forth at the hospital, the story of how it happened was told by witnesses. The next paragraph is the account of what really happened to my brother that night.
My brother and two of his friends just finished their Theo finals. Since no one is allowed to stay in the room once they are finished with the test, they went out. They just stood more or less 20 steps from the UST-Dapitan gate. One of their friends went back first. They followed her right after when a guy, who was wearing the same uniform as my brother, came up to him and placed his arm on him and asked him if he can talk to my brother. My brother agreed, thinking it was an interview for a school thing, and walked away a few steps from his friend. His friend thought my brother knew them so he walked ahead. Four more guys appeared and they started punching my brother but they couldn't since my brother is kind of big and muscular so he was able to parry the punches. Then, the worst happened, he was stabbed. My brother couldn't remember if the weapon went through and through from his left arm to the chest or if he was stabbed twice. But he remembered that he used his arm to shield himself. His friend was already inside the gate when he looked over and saw that my brother wasn't following him. He went back outside and that's when he saw my brother standing at the wall and bleeding and the five assholes ran. My brother was still able to walk. He signaled the guard that he was stabbed. The guard was asking more questions when two teachers saw them. They all bought my brother to the nearest ER of the university's hospital. The doctors and even my brother initially thought it was a stab wound on his arm alone but when they checked and cut his uniform off, they found out that he also had a stab wound on his chest.
The initial suspicion of the authorities was it had something to do with fraternity that's why they got my brother's wallet inside his bag because they found a frat ID in it. yes,my brother had been member of a frat since junior year in high school and nothing like this, even the famous and always used leg tortureinitiation, ever happened to him. Theirs was a socio-civic frat. They were initially bothered because his frat membership wasn't from the two recognized frats (who had their own frat war) in their university. (Since when did a 'Royal and Pontifical University' became so warfreak and 'violently liberated', by the way??) What's bothering was one of the guys who almost killed my brother was wearing the same uniform as his! If this was a frat war, why try to kill my brother? He's not a member of any of those two. And if there is a frat war in school, the authorities said that it was nothing like this (or they really don't know what's happening inside their campus). If this has something to do with frat, my brother and his friends sort of had a hunch on who this person is that did it.
Another angle we're considering was maybe someone had an ill-feeling towards my brother that he doesn't know of. My brother said that he doesn't have anyone he's angry with.
There are a lot of possible and uncertain reasons. If it's a schoolmate or someone who knows by a schoolmate or a just random person, the uncertainty just puts my brother into the same or more (hopefully not!) danger that that he already is. We don't know whom should my brother be careful of, what precautions do we need to take to make him safe. For whatever reason that person who did it had or whatever God's reason for allowing to happen, the bottomline is my brother is very much alive and does not have any form of long-term damage. That's the most important thing for all of us. That alone is something we are all grateful for. His surgeon told us that his chest wound's depth was very, very close to the heart. This is now my brother's second life and he only just turned seventeen 18 days ago from that night. A big thank you, Lord! :) But this case isn't over, of course. Once my brother's much better, my mom will pursue the investigation. The university and the police is doing its own investigation as well (WHICH I HONESTLY DOUBT IT WILL EVER PROGRESS! Earth calling to the police and security people of the university, HELLO?!?!?!?!?!?! Don't wait for the next student victim for you to take REAL action!). We don't feel any hatred towards the person/s responsible for this, but we all hope that he/they will be found and be punished for what he/they did to my brother.
Our family would like to extend our sincerest and deepest gratitude to all those who prayed with us for my brother's recovery and smooth operation. We almost lost him that night but now he's doing well. To all those who visited him, thank you! :) I have never seen so much visitors in one room and for consecutive days! You all made him laugh even if it was hard for him to do due to the inserted chest tube.
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| Hang in there! :) Love you, Jampong! :D |