"The Exhibition"

"Lindy! There's a woman who's doing an exhibition on the nearest bridge!" the landlady told his mother. Then they rushed outside the house. I then followed them outside and saw a crowd on the bridge. I went nearer and there I witnessed a lady, maybe in her late 40's. She was standing on the railings looking down the river, she was shedding so much tears like the tears that might flow from her eyes is blood.

"Lady! Please stop! Don't ever do it!" one of the audience shouted, while walking nearer the lady. Well what else would they say, right? It's always like that, showing as if they empathized, but of course deep inside them there's nothing.

"Stop right there! Come nearer and I'll jump!" the desperate lady shouted, like all other people who attempted such exhibition but actually are cowards. So that man who tried to stop her went back to where the other audience are. Unconsciously, or maybe it's emphatically, if I have this sympathy inside me. I just walked without caring about the audience around, towards the railings and sat there. I turned around then there I was facing the river. Seeing the river that the desperate woman lady was seeing. Then the desperate lady slowly calmed down.

Then she said to me "Have you not heard what I just told them? If anyone comes near me I will certainly jump!" after she said that I could hear the audience talking among themselves, like a mosquito flying near my ears.

"Then why did you not jump lady?" I replied to her. All of the buzzing around us stopped and I felt a very tense atmosphere.

"Tell me what made you decide to attempt this exhibition?" I continued.

"Do you think it's just an exhibition?! Who the hell are you trying to judge me, when you don't even know what I've been through?"

"Exactly, I don't know your reason why do this exhibition. That's why I'm asking you. Can't you just explain it? Anyways, I'm not judging you."

"He left me already! He left me for someone fresh and beautiful than me!" she reasoned, like all the reasons women at her age would complain about.

"Oookay? So he left you. Do you have children?"

"Yes we have four children. The eldest is in grade 11, a grade 9, the third is grade 6 and the last is 5 year old."

"Oh, so he left you four precious stones. Where are they now?Are they still going to school? And wait, you mind joining me for a seat here?"

"No thank you. All of them stop studying after we found out that their father has other woman. Right now they are scrapping for junks to sell so that we can survive the day."  she said undignified. 

"So you're saying your kids work for you. Then you're here doing this exhibition. What's your aim for doing this? Do you just want to forget your problems? Or do you just want to stop your life because of what others thought about you?" I said while slowly looking at her direction. She was stunned and was silent for a very long time. But the tense atmosphere caused by the audience around us grew stronger and stronger.

"Lady, have you ever felt like you're the devil. That whoever went to be closer to you will experience pain and sufferings. Like people around you would say a lot of bad things about you, though they do not even know how much obstacles you've tried to overcome. How you struggled just to keep them shut their mouths? How much your mind, morals, ideals and heart fight against each other to make the 'what is ideal' decisions?" I said emotionlessly.

 

"I've been through that lady. Ever since my conception. Sometimes I would wish that I was never conceived. Maybe, yes maybe she would have a year to decide to leave my old man. Then she would not have been this woman who tried to protect us from some fiddlesticks persons. Then maybe people will not look at a mistake like me." I continued, still without emotions.

  "Then after having survived that situation, and while you are hating yourself for who you are, there would be this someone who will love you for who you are and you are not. Someone who will love you even if you can't love yourself. But such love story is evil in the eyes of people surrounding him. You can't even stop pitying yourself and hating yourself again, because they all look at you as a temptation to this man, because he is a seminarian and for them it means he must not fall in love with a woman! Again and again, people, who I must emphasized, do not even know what I've been through, what we have been through. Keep on judging us based on waht they celled the perfect ideals. Without them looking at their own irregularities." I said emotionlessly.

"The point here lady is, even how much what we do we can't stop others to do what they wanted. We can't control their minds nor their words. But remember you still have your children, and I sill have this man who also loves me and always beside me. Is it not enough to continue this life? Do we always have to listen to what these idiotic ideas of people around us and the shadows are whispering?" I stopped talking emotionlessly. Then I turned around and went down the railings.

"May I escort you down lady?" I asked her while stretching my arms towards her. She reached for my hand and carefully went down. The tense atmosphere Around us disappeared and slowly the audience disperse. Finally, the lady also walked away. After the end of the exhibition I caught a glimpsed of my husband to be. He was approached by one of the audience and I could decipher by reading the lips of that audience I think that person said,

"We are sorry."