Once, a void within
four walls,
a tidied up bed,
the amplified calls of cicadas,
echoing.
I had not woken for a while,
nor have i noticed
this nothingness. Until,
the footsteps
i never knew i was waiting for
arrived. Until,
a familiar smile flashed, the one
that for some reason drew my eyes
back to a small
freckle on the nose. Until,
a gentle stare looked at me straight,
but I couldn't stare back.
I wanted to.
you calmly embraced the growing nothing
and made it your home.
A nightmare can only dream of you
and believe when I say it has.
Malaya Kundiman Novicio is a 17 year old Creative Writing student from the Philippine High
School for the Arts. She lives in Tagaytay City where she spends all of her free time hanging out
and talking to her five cats. In 2024, she published her first book ‘gabi na, matulog ka na’ under her school. The said book
contained a collection of children’s short stories focused on highlighting a Filipino’s narrative,
something she finds to be important in her works.
"Almond's Footsteps" by Thomas Hawk is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
