In Memoriam...

I was reading about the first appearance of the Half-Blood Prince on Harry Potter's Potions textbook when I thought I heard my mobile phone ringing inside my bag. The idiot that I was, I forgot to transfer the damned phone from my gym bag/backpack into my overnighter bag (to go to my Teambuilding tonight in Laguna)...and since the backpack was already stowed at the top of my armoire (so that it'd be out of the way), I decided not to stand up and retrieve it. I told myself, if it's really important, he/she'd call at least twice. Towards the tail end of the second attempt to call me, a thought struck me: what if it really was urgent? After all, it was half past one already. That couldn't be a tête-à-tête type of call...or so I'd think! So I decided to stand up and grab it already...with the thought This better be fuckin' important in my head. 'Twas too late. The call stopped and my phone didn't ring anymore. So I told myself that I was just going to give him/her a callback. But looking at the call log, I saw that it was an unknown number, thus an overseas call. I went back to Harry and fell asleep as Hermione was getting annoyed at Potions class.

When my phone rang again this morning and flashed the same "Call" (or number unknown) notification on the screen, I picked it up on the second ring (er stanzz/line of Atomic Kitten's "Be With You" song). It was my friend Ed from Hong Kong. I was excited to talk to him, considering we didn't really talk (let alone email) much.

"Did you get my message, Ben?" Ed said, rather sounding a bit high-strung.
"I didn't get any. Fuck this Globe network," I replied.
And then he said, "Don't be shocked, ok?"
To which I replied, "You're pregnant again?" (of course in a jeering manner).
I got a forced melancholic laugh. 'Twas then that I felt there was something wrong.

"It's Diether, Ben. Wala na siya."
All my grasp of circumlocutions and euphemisms all of a sudden being put on the side, I retorted, "What do you mean 'He's gone'????"
"Ben, he died last night."
"What??? How...why...who....oh, God. Oh God, God, my God."
"It's his diabetes, Ben. We weren't even aware that it was bad. He had complications. Something like meningitis. He died in his sleep."

Call me histrionic, but the next few minutes of our conversation felt...foggy: 'twas as if I was in a messed up reverie of sorts. I didn't even realize I was weeping until I tasted something sour at the corner of my mouth, and my forearm got somehow drenched with tears.

This just couldn't have happened. For Christ's sake, Diether's only my age. Yeah, he's practically seen the world [he and I actually "competed" on the number of "ports of call" we've "terrorized"), had his share of fun and excitement...but...he's so Goddamned young!

I met Diether in my R&R trip to Hong Kong back in 2002. I was with my friend/host Ogie in a bar at Lan Kwai Fong, when he introduced me to a group of young men and women. Diether was one of those people. When we discovered that we were both from Bataan, we practically alienated the rest of the crowd and started guffawing about people we knew: for starters, my then girlfriend, Sherylin was his classmate in high school; and so was my bestfriend Conrad. 'Twas just six degrees of separation in a totally funny, interesting, Mandarin/Oriental way. It being my first time in HK, he toured me around town, brought me to those stores where I spent loads of money on counterfeit, and drank 'til sunrise at clubs and bars with his friends.

After HK, when I went back to Marianas (and then later on in the US) we still kept in touch. We'd constantly YM or MSN each other, and would call each other from time to time, to keep each other posted on what was happening. Whenever he'd come home to Manila, he'd make it a point to see and hang out with me either in Bataan or in Manila even for just 2 or 3 hours. Needless to say, we've remained good friends. In one of my banters with him, I actually told him that I was jealous of Ed for him chosing Ed as his best friend instead of me...but that to feel better, I'd settle for a nice Nokia phone (because he'd always get the newest, top of the line gadgets, damn him). I never got the Nokia. And never got the best friend title. But now that he's gone...I dunno if I could handle the weight of all this.

Diether was such a happy guy.
He lived his life to the fullest...or up to the point where he felt that he's had it all. He was never mean, always optimistic, and took risks with no fear. I wish I was like him. And I wish he didn't have to go so soon.

Diether...farewell. I will miss you and your boisterous laughter. Godspeed.