The Little Boy Next Door

Photo: jobspapa.com

It's 1243 am and that boy next door has been crying for almost an hour. And then the cries just went louder, and I can hear the mother shouting, "Inaano ka? Inaano ka?" ("What's with you?") But the boy kept crying saying "ayoko, ayoko!" ("No. No. I don't want to!") I went near their door and I can hear some slapping. I was trembling but I knocked on their door so hard. I wanted to tell them to lower their voice down, my kids are sleeping. I heard a man's voice, he said, "may tao, may tao" ("Someone's at the door"). The woman said,"diri ako, di ako mag aabre." ("No, I won't open the door.")

So, I went back inside our unit. Now, it's quiet, but I wonder if the boy went to sleep crying, or he's just inside their room still enduring whatever it is he went through earlier.

I don't know what happened but no mother in her right mind can endure hearing her child cry in the middle of the night for hours. Won't you just give in to whatever your child wants just for the sake of some peace and quiet in the neighborhood? And how can a mother not send her child to school when school's just across the street? And for free. I may have been crazy, but she's crazier than me.

What to do? Some told me to leave them alone, but if you live next door to them and you hear the boy shout at his mom "p*a ka" (Wh*re!) , maybe she deserves it, but there's still something wrong how the boy is raised.

Their door is closed all the time, and the windows too. She don't open up to people knocking on their door, whether it's a mail or the electric bill being delivered. Why? Is she hiding something? She comes out of their unit with the boy to buy supplies, and that's the only time I see their door opened. Oh, and sometimes when the woman's boyfriend, who by the way looks like a crack addict. When he does come, that's the time our neighborhood's peace is disturbed. Either the two of them would shout and try to kill  each other, or the boy ends up crying just like what happened earlier.

I also want to live in peace, me and my kids, but sometimes, you really can't hide from your conscience. Just like what I said to the police when I first called for help because of a "suspected domestic violence" activity next door,  I don't care if they kill each other, I'm just concerned about the kid. The police even joked about it and said, maybe that's how they have sex. And I said, "so , what about the kid? They let him watch?"

Yes, that boy has witnessed how those two would try to strangle each other.

There may be so many reasons for how that mother treats and raise her child, but the most obvious one is mental problems. She should seek help. I pity the boy so much and I don't know how much I can take of this.

Maybe I am over reacting, but a child's cry can pierce through the deepest parts of anybody's heart. More so because I have kids of my own. True that sometimes when children gets irritating and annoying especially when they have tantrums, we lose our cool. But a disciplinary action is different from depriving a child's right to play and study.

I pray that the boy next door finds someone whom he can feel love. I pray that he grows up to be a good person in spite of everything he's going through. I pray that someone rescue him and put him in a nice place where he can run and play with other kids. I pray that he'll be able to go to school and learn what every boy needs to learn. I pray that the sun plays on his face and he can breathe in fresh air every day. I pray that he be free from the harsh situation his parents has brought him in.

Lastly, I pray that God hears and listen to the boy's cries and give him all his little heart's desires.

Photo: shutterstock.com

This is how I would like to see him one day, exploring under the sun.

Keeping the faith,

Mei