Cellphone Snatching - Three Stories

I share these stories. All of them really happened. Some names were changed for the privacy of my friends.

This piece is dedicated to Lia. Bless you and your family.

I. Sue

Sue was in a bus on her way home at 9:30pm from Ortigas. She heard a gunshot and THEN a hold-up was declared. Three men stood up and demanded that cellphones and wallets be dropped on the bus aisle.

Nobody resisted. Do you know why? That single gunshot a few seconds ago -- it left one man fighting for his life. He was shot point blank BEFORE the holdup was announced. His wife cried hysterically beside him while the gunmen took the valuables and escaped on foot.

The bus sped to the nearest hospital. The man who was shot was declared dead on arrival.

One life lost. No one won.

Sue witnessed it all in that eventful bus ride home. She was traumatized. She no longer takes the bus nor jeep for fear of another episode of violence.

A life less free, enveloped in fear.


II. Lia

None of us knew the real details yet. We just knew that Lia was in critical condition.

Lia was off to work at 5:30am for her shift at the call center. She waited for a cab at a street corner a hundred meters from the city hall.

A cab stopped, she got in, the cab driver drove on. Then, a few meters down the rotunda, the cab stopped again and a second man got in the cab.

He had a gun.

The bullet pierced her soft neck, she went on coma for a few days, then she passed away.

A life lost, a brilliant future wasted.


III. Jon

My wife and I had just gotten back from Lia's wake that Saturday afternoon. We told Jon and Joan about Lia.

I ended the story by telling Jon and Joan: "Ang cellphone, napapalitan. Ang buhay, hindi."

Two days later, we heard about Jon's surreal experience.

Going home at 3am after his shift at his call center, he took a jeep to Taft. Two men got in the jeep. They sat beside him, put out a gun, took Jon's phone at gunpoint.

Lucky for Jon he lived to tell his story. So surreal just days after hearing about Lia. Surreal yet so real.

Fear more real, life unstilled.

---

EpiBLOGue

I have lost a phone before. It isn't easy. It's like losing a part of my self.

It's not just A phone. It is my message box, my treasure box, my journal, my planner, my reminder, my companion.

It is my alaga. It is my connection to my family and friends. It is part of my personality. It is part of me.

A part. But nonetheless, just a part. It is not me, it is not my life.

Anumang galing ng cellphone, walang cellphone na mas-mahalaga sa buhay.

- Edwin

Read: Anti-Cellphone-Theft: Wireless Leash, Cellphone Theft - Inquirer's Special