Second life, second chance

It was our last shift before Christmas break. Morning of 23rd of December 2017, everybody was excited to go home after an announcement that we will be having 4 days of Christmas vacation. After a year of busy shift and long hours of dialing, finally we will be able to have our break and enjoy the holidays with our loved ones. The shift that morning was pretty much easy. Everyone was smiling, everyone was so eager to finish the quotas as soon as possible so we can go home early. The company consists of about 500 employees with 7 teams however on that day about half was on duty while the rest were on day off.

My team was the first team who was done for the day, as for the rest of the teams, they were slowly sending home people for an under time. I was pretty much in a hurry to go home. Once the shift was done for my team, I quickly ran through my end of the day and last minute reports before the long vacation. My co-supervisors are also in a hurry doing their report, and once done, they left immediately. So I was left alone in my team, thought that everyone was already out. I received a chat message that I should go home already because my apartment was flooded due to Typhoon Vinta, which is just the night before. When I saw the photos of my apartment, I got worried and immediately left the office and hurried home.

When I got to my apartment, 5 minutes after, 2 of my phones kept ringing but I didn’t bother because I am too busy cleaning up the mess in my apartment. The calls kept coming and never ended. I got annoyed so I answered the call. It was my boss asking if I’m okay. And I wondered why would she call me and ask me if I’m okay? I guess probably she knows my place got flooded. So I just answered back, “Yes, I’m okay, I think. What’s going on?” I was so naïve. Boss says “You don’t know what’s going on? The office is on fire now.” I froze and I went blank. I don’t know what to think or to feel and I got goose bumps. This can’t be true, I was just in the office this morningand everything was fine. So I checked on Facebook for any posts and I can see a lot of live videos “NCCC Mall on fire”. Our office is at the 4th floor of the Mall. I started to get worried and anxious. Before I left, a lot of my colleagues are still there. I was thinking positively, hoping that the fire should be out anytime soon. What’s the worst thing that could ever happen? So I just stayed in my apartment and finished cleaning. Later that day, I browse through my phone again and looked for any update. And it definitely got worse, “38 employees trapped in the comfort room”. I started crying and became more anxious. This is not happening so I thought. The names of the employees were released and most of which are my friends and 3 of those are closest to me, one of which is under my team. I kept on asking for any feedbacks and updates. It was already evening, 10 hours after the fire broke down and still no updates for any survivors. I could not sleep; I cried and kept praying for any miracle.

The next day, the mall is still on fire and still no news of survivors. December 25th, they declared complete fire out of the mall and started searching for any survivors. Unfortunately, from the 38 missing, no one survived. No words can express how deeply I am saddened of the news. I still cannot believe that this tragedy happened to me, to the company, and most of all to my friends who were victims of the fire. And news broke, their bodies were found already. Most of them were found in the lobby, some are just 2 steps away from the staircase, which means they really tried to escape. It hurts more knowing they all tried to escape; they tried to live however suffering from heat, exhaustion, and suffocation. My heart bleeds in pain thinking of their sufferings during the fire.

It’s been 2 months already after the tragic incident, and the mall is now for demolition anytime soon. Every time we passed by the mall, I always think of my friends and to our good memories. It will never be the same again without them. Each one of them has been a part of my life and I will surely remember and say prayers for them. I will forever cherish the memories in our office and the good times with them when they were still alive. I know we will see each other on the other side. As for now, life goes on for us who survived. This is a second life given to us that surely we will treasure and make the most out of it.

This is for you Desiree. You are indeed a good friend. I will never forget you. I love you my friend.

(This is your last message before we parted ways that day)