A planned muder?

The second story is almost like a planned murder... well, almost.

I have a cousin named Brina. She’s the daughter of my “Mami,” which is what I call my mom’s older sister. Because we’re only three years apart, we used to play together all the time, Barbie, henna (inai), dress-up dolls, you name it. But at that time, Brina hadn’t moved to Tapaktuan yet, so she was still around.

I don’t remember exactly how old we were. I think she was about three, and I was six. Or maybe she was four and I was seven. Honestly, I can’t really remember.

One day, we were playing at my grandma’s house,  my grandma on my mother’s side. The house only had one bathroom, and the bathtub was huge and long, divided into two sections by a partition. But the water inside was still connected, so we could move around in it together.

We used to take baths together, poop together (yes, really), and even clean the bathtub together. We loved pretending to be mermaids, swimming around while scrubbing the tub.

One day, we were bathing as usual. The tub was full of water. Suddenly, I accidentally pushed Brina into the tub. She was still small and didn’t know how to swim, so she sank right away.

I got so scared that I quickly got out of the bathroom without telling anyone she was still underwater.

After a while, her mom (my Mami) started looking for her and asked me where she was. I pretended I didn’t know anything, I acted clueless, like a total innocent kid.

I still remember her mom in a house dress, sitting on the floor, sliding her legs back and forth, grabbing her hair, crying and shouting, “Where’s my child? Where’s my child?” Everyone in the house was panicking and searching for Brina.

Finally, my grandma, whom I call Oma, found Brina in the tub.

Thank God, she survived. She’s still alive and well today, and she’s actually getting married soon. Thank God.

I never admitted what really happened until I was older. Eventually, I told her that it was I who accidentally pushed her under the water.

Thankfully, she’s still healthy, living her best life, working in Australia, and she’s getting married this September, on the 5th. She’s also planning to go for Umrah soon.

I hope she prays for me too in front of the Ka'bah, hopefully a good thing.