Maria Nicole Besa
16 January 2009
It was around 8:30 am, I was on my way to Calculus class when Maita and Misha saw me and asked me if I knew about Rio's text. I hadn't checked my mobile yet, flashing on the screen was Loreen's text.
Guys, Besa just passed away this morning. :(
This was some sick joke. Laughing it off, I called Loreen to ask if this was true. She picked up after a couple of rings, the moment I heard her voice crumbling into sobs, what she texted sank in. Besa was gone.
All of the memories I had of Besa came over me, leaving me blank the whole day.
FIT Tutorial Program with the Frijoles kids
English Debate and her Visual Aids, English Research Paper
Playing with our calculators
Songfest 2008
I text-passed endlessly to all the people I knew who knew Besa. I was fighting back tears, I didn't want fuss about telling others why I was crying without the right words to say about what happened to Besa. She was gone that was the only thing I knew.
Around 7:00 pm at Sta. Maria Della Strada, I found myself standing with my high school classmates. The irony of being happily reunited for a sad reason. But I guess that was Besa's plan, to bring us all together. It was after all a year after our retreat, and on the 22nd would be our winning's anniversary.
Besa was the jam in the sandwich, she was the sellotape and the pretty ribbon that stuck us, 4-8, and tied us to each other.
It was at the very moment that Besa's dad invited us to see Besa. There she lay in her white coffin, in her graduation dress. It was like she was sleeping, smiling, with pearls surrounding her hair, a tiara on the crown of her head, and a rosary in her hands. I used to make fun of the thought of crying and talking to a dead person. But it isn't a funny thing at all. It happened to me. I cried, my eyes turned into swollen pink balls and my nose clogged with snot and red as a tomato.
She just turned 17. She didn't even make it one month after her birthday. It was unfair. But who am I to say that? I know that Besa is safe with Him. Besa is already happy and is loved in His company.
We celebrated mass, teary-eyed, crying or breaking down. This was for Besa. We had to accept it. I had to accept it, as hard as it may be.
17 January 2009
I went online and found my high school CL teacher online, I asked him about Besa and he told me what he knew.
Monday, she complained about having chest pains. She asked not to be brought to school and she rested. She had an x-ray done and nothing was found. The doctor said that it may be a simple chest trauma, prescribed meds and Besa admitted that she had a bad fall during their Sunday training.
Wednesday, Besa called her dad's office and complained that the pain has gone down to the abdominal area. She was rushed to the hospital and she was confined for close monitoring. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her except for her pains and fluids in her heart, which are not that deadly dangerous.
She was scheduled for more tests on Friday to have better diagnosis. But 3 am of Friday, 16 January 2009, she was sleeping with her head resting on her dad's chest, she suddenly woke up and spoke in a slurry voice. Her speech began to diminish as her dad noticed that the doctors and nurses started to scamper around.
The doctors told her dad that their monitor shows that her heart was doing very badly. They had to save her from a possible heart failure. Her dad stepped out of the room. After some time, the doctors came out and informed her dad that they were not able to save her.
20 January 2009
We, 4-8, gathered again to present something for Besa's family and all who came to her wake. We sang "Thanks to You," the song we sang and Besa conducted during the songfest, we shared some of the memories we had with Besa, we sang our graduation song that our classmate wrote and Besa notated and played on the piano. We played a little video presentation with pictures of Besa and videos of "Unwritten," another song we sang and she conducted, and clips of her.
It was an emotional night, but we all know that good memories will stay and Besa will live on forever in our hearts. We may have spent only a fraction of a lifetime together, but Besa is one special person, she has touched many lives even in the smallest way. She's a gift from God. She and I know both that I'm not the biggest fan of God, but she has made me feel the love of God.
Thank You for Your angel,
Maria Nicole B. Besa
20 December 1991 - 16 January 2009