Her eyes stared back at me for a second, wondering who it was standing beside her bed. She rolled over to her side, breathing heavily, she kept trying to doze off to sleep. I kept fanning her with a local comic that I found beside her bed. Together with my aunt, we've tried to calm her down but she was unease with her situation.

Irritated by the tubes that was attached to her nose, she tried to remove them. We struggled with her, trying to put back the tubes that transport life-giving air to her. We struggled to keep her calm. She struggled to keep holding on. Unable to look at her current state, I left the room as tears are welling-up my eyes. Outside, her husband sat waiting, troubled and tired. Nurses keep checking on every movement she make. All of us are waiting for something.

Hours. Minutes. Seconds. Everyone is waiting for something uncertain. The radio on the Nurses' station softly sang... "Don't give up on us, baby Lord knows we've come this far. Can't we stay the way we are? The angel and the dreamer Who sometimes plays a fool Don't give up on us, I know We can still come through". She finally calmed down. Every breath for her is a heavy task. She raised her hands, stared at them, then closed her eyes.

Everyone struggled. As I look through the glass window, the doctor tried to bring her back. But by bringing her back means bringing her more pain... and so I conceded.

She finally won her battle. Her children gathered around her staring back at her through watery eyes. Trying to accept the truth and the fact the she finally won the battle.

...and so I conceded.

I hastened myself as I close our house gate. Double check everything in my bag before going to the jeepney stop. As I was walking through the street to the coastal road, I saw her. She had just finished hanging wet clothes and was returning to her house.