..
..
"Nadakpan na ang aswang! [The aswang has been captured!]"
It was already dark, but a neighbor came to our house and told my parents about the good but eerie news. With that, my mother and father went out of the house with our neighbor to check the news' validity.
"Pang-lock mog bintana ug pultahan. [Lock the windows and doors]", father said. I was left to take care of my two younger sisters. As they left, I hurriedly locked the doors and all the windows.
In the middle of our small, unfinished house, we sat and waited.
In the Philippines, aswang is a mythical creature that hunts only during the night to devour people. It takes the form of any animal or another human being to lure its victims and feast on the poor soul's innards. Commonly, the aswang myth is used to scare children into venturing during the night and to make them sleep early.
My parents were both raised from a typical rural family, and thus their childhoods also revolved around superstitions and the belief of aswangs. I remember my mother would tell us stories of supernatural encounters - from her parents and other rural-living relatives, to their neighbors and other people they know.
I am one skeptical person you will have a hard time convincing. But the imagination is a mysterious and vast thing, even a person like me would stop in the middle of the dark and think.
"What if..".
While we, siblings, were waiting for our parents' return in the wee hours of the night, the unexpected happened.
"Oh, brownout!", my sisters screamed.
How creepy could this get!
News of the aswang terrorizing nearby towns spread like a virus days before the immediate news that the monster had already arrived in our area. Jittery neighbors added to the thrill and the unwanted panic.
Has the aswang killed already? Has anybody seen it? Could it only be a madman or a serial killer on the loose? Nobody could answer a 13-year old boy's questions.
My sisters were very very scared. I told them to stay where they were as I groped in the dark for some matches and candles. Lucky, I know where they are safely kept, so I lighted a candle in the middle of the house to appease my sisters' nervousness. Mother and father still haven't arrived yet.
The silence was deafening. Oh such a thing may be an irony, but I know the feeling of how silence can do that. Complete silence creates a strong buzzing sound in your ears that you cannot do anything but endure, even my sisters' faint cries and whispers weren't enough to break it. There is no source of that mysterious sound. It's like an inaudible frequency becoming so audible due to the absence of all the other distinctive sounds.
Then something broke that silence.
I heard flapping sounds outside the house. Wings. Like of a big bird. Flapping. I knew it was the flapping of wings, since there was no other sound other than that and the faint cries of my sisters.
It was hovering in front of the house. I dared not tell my sisters about it since I might scare them even more, but I have no idea if they heard what I heard.
Then the flapping resumed at the backyard. Then back to the front. I was already having goosebumps.
It was circling the house.
It circled two more times. Three times all in all. I won't forget that number. Because I unknowingly counted them. There was nothing but flapping. Could it be.. Oh, skeptics like me will think of a way to shrug the thought out of our heads. It may be just a silly bird. A really big silly bird with big silly wings to be exact. Or I may only be hearing things. But what if..
Our house wasn't completely finished back then. There were still gaps at the sides where the roof and the walls meet. The only thing I was hoping was that I have not left any door or window unlocked.
I prayed silently. My goosebumps weren't helping at all. The only candle I lit was the only illumination we had. I was already looking for something to defend myself. The knife in the kitchen is too far. I don't believe in aswangs, but what if?
Then the flapping sound vanished. I motioned my sisters to stay where they are. I wanted to make sure that the flapping sound has left.
It might be just lurking at the sides.
I lost count of the time. We dared not move from where we were. The night was still silent as ever. Dark as ever.
Then there were knocks at the door. Parents finally came. Or are they? What if..
They were knocking, but still nobody tried to get up and open the door.
"Kinsa na? [Whose there?]", I asked.
"Abrihi mi! [Let us in!]", shouted an already irritated lady. It was my mother, thank goodness. Or is she?
Damn! Suddenly I had second thoughts of opening the door! My sisters won't open it either. The woman at the door was getting frustrated as ever.
I crept slowly towards the knocks, and like an assuring question, I asked, "Ma, ikaw na? [Ma, is that you?]".
My mother screamed my name in anger. OK, that's my mother alright. I unlocked the door and in came my mother and my father with their what's-the-matter-with-you faces.
"Nya, nakit'an ninyo ang aswang, ma? {Well, did you see the aswang?]".
"No", my parents answered. Turned out the news was just a hoax. But the truth about the existence of the aswang? Nobody knows.
The flapping sound.
What if..
..
"Nadakpan na ang aswang! [The aswang has been captured!]"
It was already dark, but a neighbor came to our house and told my parents about the good but eerie news. With that, my mother and father went out of the house with our neighbor to check the news' validity.
"Pang-lock mog bintana ug pultahan. [Lock the windows and doors]", father said. I was left to take care of my two younger sisters. As they left, I hurriedly locked the doors and all the windows.
In the middle of our small, unfinished house, we sat and waited.
In the Philippines, aswang is a mythical creature that hunts only during the night to devour people. It takes the form of any animal or another human being to lure its victims and feast on the poor soul's innards. Commonly, the aswang myth is used to scare children into venturing during the night and to make them sleep early.
My parents were both raised from a typical rural family, and thus their childhoods also revolved around superstitions and the belief of aswangs. I remember my mother would tell us stories of supernatural encounters - from her parents and other rural-living relatives, to their neighbors and other people they know.
I am one skeptical person you will have a hard time convincing. But the imagination is a mysterious and vast thing, even a person like me would stop in the middle of the dark and think.
"What if..".
While we, siblings, were waiting for our parents' return in the wee hours of the night, the unexpected happened.
"Oh, brownout!", my sisters screamed.
How creepy could this get!
News of the aswang terrorizing nearby towns spread like a virus days before the immediate news that the monster had already arrived in our area. Jittery neighbors added to the thrill and the unwanted panic.
Has the aswang killed already? Has anybody seen it? Could it only be a madman or a serial killer on the loose? Nobody could answer a 13-year old boy's questions.
My sisters were very very scared. I told them to stay where they were as I groped in the dark for some matches and candles. Lucky, I know where they are safely kept, so I lighted a candle in the middle of the house to appease my sisters' nervousness. Mother and father still haven't arrived yet.
The silence was deafening. Oh such a thing may be an irony, but I know the feeling of how silence can do that. Complete silence creates a strong buzzing sound in your ears that you cannot do anything but endure, even my sisters' faint cries and whispers weren't enough to break it. There is no source of that mysterious sound. It's like an inaudible frequency becoming so audible due to the absence of all the other distinctive sounds.
Then something broke that silence.
I heard flapping sounds outside the house. Wings. Like of a big bird. Flapping. I knew it was the flapping of wings, since there was no other sound other than that and the faint cries of my sisters.
It was hovering in front of the house. I dared not tell my sisters about it since I might scare them even more, but I have no idea if they heard what I heard.
Then the flapping resumed at the backyard. Then back to the front. I was already having goosebumps.
It was circling the house.
It circled two more times. Three times all in all. I won't forget that number. Because I unknowingly counted them. There was nothing but flapping. Could it be.. Oh, skeptics like me will think of a way to shrug the thought out of our heads. It may be just a silly bird. A really big silly bird with big silly wings to be exact. Or I may only be hearing things. But what if..
Our house wasn't completely finished back then. There were still gaps at the sides where the roof and the walls meet. The only thing I was hoping was that I have not left any door or window unlocked.
I prayed silently. My goosebumps weren't helping at all. The only candle I lit was the only illumination we had. I was already looking for something to defend myself. The knife in the kitchen is too far. I don't believe in aswangs, but what if?
Then the flapping sound vanished. I motioned my sisters to stay where they are. I wanted to make sure that the flapping sound has left.
It might be just lurking at the sides.
I lost count of the time. We dared not move from where we were. The night was still silent as ever. Dark as ever.
Then there were knocks at the door. Parents finally came. Or are they? What if..
They were knocking, but still nobody tried to get up and open the door.
"Kinsa na? [Whose there?]", I asked.
"Abrihi mi! [Let us in!]", shouted an already irritated lady. It was my mother, thank goodness. Or is she?
Damn! Suddenly I had second thoughts of opening the door! My sisters won't open it either. The woman at the door was getting frustrated as ever.
I crept slowly towards the knocks, and like an assuring question, I asked, "Ma, ikaw na? [Ma, is that you?]".
My mother screamed my name in anger. OK, that's my mother alright. I unlocked the door and in came my mother and my father with their what's-the-matter-with-you faces.
"Nya, nakit'an ninyo ang aswang, ma? {Well, did you see the aswang?]".
"No", my parents answered. Turned out the news was just a hoax. But the truth about the existence of the aswang? Nobody knows.
The flapping sound.
What if..
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