It did not help that life continued. The sun and the moon and the stars continued to grace the voided heavens; the elements continued to nurture and destroy and threaten the world with storm and snow and flood and quakes; people were born and people died and people killed and helped each other and people forged on.
The scientists posited the theory that meteoric dust and a large-scale solar flare had caused a worldwide illusion. The conspiracy theorists believed that big corporations had hacked into the minds of the populace, testing their newfound power by making everyone believe that they’d been abandoned. Radicals claimed that it was merely a test; that gods were among us, waiting to see who would continue to resist the faith.
You, as always, were the voice of reason. You asked the people to believe, not in provocative headlines by those who claimed to know better, but in what was in their hearts. One particular speech of yours became extremely popular in social media. The picture journalists attached was of you, embracing your children and your wife, proclaiming to the world what was truly important.
“My sister will go to college this year,” Ponce said, smiling and exhausted, as he rubbed his hands on his pants in a futile attempt to clean out the grease. “I’ll have to work more shifts, but I think we’ll be okay. She was always the smart one.”
“My husband and I have been going to our parish priest for counseling. I think it’s working, a little bit,” Ruby said, after she showed me photos on her phone. “Yesterday, when she took her first steps, I felt a strange sensation. Later, I realized I was happy.”
“Well, the government and all the fucked-up bureaucracy is again too late. I’ve got fucking cancer,” Mark said, playing with the buttons of his new wheelchair. “I’ve been thinking I might spend some time with the grandkids down south. Those poor little fucks don’t even know how to cuss properly. I think it’s about time they have a proper education.”
Despite my dedication, the therapy facility I was volunteering for closed down, after the number of people clamoring for counseling had dwindled. The Ponces and Rubys and Marks had all, in their own way, found their peace of mind, or at least found something else to distract their demons. I returned to my routine, focusing all of my energies on deadlines and paperwork and finding joy in the little things: milk tea, seeing you when your schedule permitted, the freedom I had to do the things I wanted to do.
It was an ordinary day, when I came home and broke down.
I WAKE UP and see you’re no longer there. This doesn’t surprise me. Ever the considerate one, you always leave quietly. Sometimes, you even take the time to write a note.
This is not one of those days. There is no note, no naughty message on the bathroom mirror. There isn’t even a wet towel. You must have been in so much of a hurry that you decided to take a shower at work. I try not to imagine how things would be, if you went back to your family with my scent still on you.
I quickly shower and change. I neatly fold my towel, gather my things, and leave, knowing that you will have already settled anything that needs settling. I walk out of the hotel room, into the empty hall.
And I wonder if the gods who left were really just finding their way back home.
Kate Osias loves reality shows, cheap chocolate, and diet carbonated drinks. She has won four Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the GIG Book Contest, the Canvas Story Writing Contest, and the 10th Romeo Forbes Children's Storywriting Competition. She’s earned a citation in the international Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Kate has stories published online and in print. Her book, The Flightless Diwata, is available through CANVAS. You can find her and her Monday rants on Facebook.
Noel Tio
Lamat
IT’D BEEN ALL smiles for Dom and Jay. They’d just had one hell of a double-date with the cutest girls in school, Claire and Rachel. They hung out at the mall and caught the latest superhero flick. Jay got to French-kiss Claire during the trailers. Dom was happy just to be able to hold Rachel’s hand. After the movie, the foursome grabbed some French fries and cheap soft-serve ice cream.
When it was time to head home, Jay and Dom – being gentlemen – accompanied the girls to the jeepney terminal. As they said their goodbyes, Rachel made a suggestion. “Our block is having a party. Why don’t you guys come with us?”
Dom quickly agreed, but Jay hesitated. “I have to be home by seven,” Jay said to Dom.
Dom asked the girls to excuse them, and pulled Jay to the side of the jeepney. “Come on, bai. Don’t mess this up for me. You got to kiss Claire inside the movie house. I only got to hold Rachel’s hand. Let’s go to their place, ’cause I just might get her to kiss me there.”
Jay resisted, but Dom was very persistent. In the end, Jay relented. “All right, but we have to be home around seven. I’ll just text my mother that I’ll be a little late.”
-fistbump-
After agreeing to the compromise, the boys entered the jeepney and took their seats beside the girls. Dom got Jay to fish out a P50 bill from his pocket, and handed it to the driver. “It’s on us,” Dom said. The girls giggled as they said their thanks.
AFTER ABOUT HALF an hour, the giddy group alighted at the corner of the road that led to the girls’ homes. Claire and Rachel lived in a housing subdivision four kilometers from the main road. They approached a tricycle that was waiting under the shade of a mabolo tree.
“Kuya, we’re going to Pleasant Homes,” Rachel said to the driver.
“That’s too far, inday,” the driver said.
Both Rachel and Claire had to haggle and plead with the tricycle driver, offering to pay more just so they could get home. Wanting to impress the girls, Jay and Dom sprang to their rescue. The boys dug deep into their wallets and produced a crisp P100 bill. The tricycle driver quickly swiped the cash.
-fistbump-
“Hop on,” the driver said. “But I’ll only take you as far as the gate. I’m not going inside Pleasant Homes. That place gives me the creeps.”
The boys helped the girls inside. Claire and Rachel took the two best seats within the cabin of the tricycle. With only one seat left inside, Jay and Dom had to flip for it. Jay won the flip, but Dom beat him to the extension seat, before he realized he’d won. So Jay sat behind the driver.
From outside the tricycle cabin, Jay could hear Dom put the works on the girls, trying his hardest to make them laugh. The girls, being polite, forced half-hearted laughs in response to Dom’s corniness.
Dom asked the girls, “How far away are your houses from the gate?”
“Just a couple of blocks,” Jay heard Claire answer.
“Cool, you want us to carry you piggyback?” Dom quipped, as he flexed his muscles in front of the girls. “We don’t want those pretty legs to get tired.”
In between giggles, Rachel said, “Oh, both of you have been such gentlemen. No need for you guys to exert the extra effort. We want your muscles to stay as tender as possible.”
Hearing Rachel say ‘tender’ made Jay wonder what she meant. It sounded weird. But he then heard Dom spew out another corny pickup line and quickly abandoned the thought. He then heard the driver utter something.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you clearly,” Jay said.
“I said: are you really going inside the subdivision?” the driver said.
“Of course.”
“Aren’t you boys scared of the place?”
Jay paused to think. It never once occurred to him that the girls’ place was scary, having never visited before. “We can take care of ourselves, kuya. We’ve survived our fair share of run-ins with gangs and muggers.”
“That’s not the kind of scary I’m referring to.”
“What are you talking about?”
No answer. Jay again felt strange, so he diverted his attention to Dom and the girls. Dom let his mouth run non-stop, until the tricycle came to a full stop.
JAY LOOKED AROUND and realized just how far off they were from the main road. The area certainly looked remote,
with no neighboring houses surrounding the girls’ subdivision.
As Dom helped the girls disembark from the tricycle, Jay approached the driver. He suddenly thought of a predicament: their return ride.
“Kuya,” Jay said, “I haven’t seen other tricycles pass by.”
The driver just gave him a smirk.
“Can you wait for us? We shouldn’t be long. About an hour, maybe –”
The driver didn’t even wait for Jay to finish. He gunned the accelerator to signal his disinterest.
But Jay held on to him, before he could leave. “Wait; we’ll pay you. Fifty now, and fifty when we get back.” Again, all it took to convince the driver was the sight of money. And like earlier, he quickly swiped the cash dangled in front of him.
“Fine; but if you’re not here after an hour, then I’m gone.”
“Thanks,” Jay managed to say. All the while, Dom and the girls were already making their way inside the gate of the subdivision. Jay had to run to catch up with the group.
“What’s taking you so long?” Dom asked. Jay explained that he had to request the driver to wait for them. Dom didn’t seem to care too much about their return ride.
Jay, in contrast, started to see what the driver meant. Like outside the subdivision, there were very few houses inside. The foursome crossed several blocks of shrubs, weeds, and grass overgrowth. This gave the boys the impression that the subdivision was empty and uninhabited. But on the far end of the street, Jay and Dom finally saw houses.
“We’re almost there,” said the girls.
They were met with silence, when they reached the first few houses of the block. Not a soul bustled about outside the homes. It made the vibe creepier for Jay, but he decided to not dwell too much on it. Dom was completely oblivious to the unnerving quietness of the place. In fact, he was completely overcome with excitement at having arrived at the girls’ place.
As they passed by one particular house, Jay decided to take a peek through one of the open windows. What he saw weirded him out even more – everyone was asleep. It was the same for the next few houses.
He grabbed Claire by the arm and said, “Everyone’s asleep.”
“And?” Claire answered with a smile, her nonchalance hinting that this was nothing out of the ordinary in their place. Claire gazed into Jay’s eyes, smiled, and turned away to catch up with Rachel.
Jay stopped walking. He stared at the gate and estimated how far they were from it. He wanted to turn back.
“Jay, hurry up. No time to waste.” Dom was waving his hand, gesturing for Jay to move faster.
Jay took a deep breath and decided to uphold his wingman duties to Dom. He gathered his feet and ran toward Dom and the girls.
A few more meters, and they finally arrived at the home of Rachel. “Welcome to our home,” she said, as she opened the door.
-fistbump-
But this time, Jay’s hand just meekly grazed Dom’s, which he didn’t seem to mind that much. “You better get to second base, Dom,” Jay said, under his breath.
INSIDE THE HOUSE, the boys were struggling to adjust their eyes to the darkness. Not only was the place quiet with sleeping neighbors, it was dark, too. All the windows were boarded shut.
“Brownout?” Dom asked.
“Nope,” Rachel answered, “we like it this way.”
Jay’s phone beeped. He retrieved it from his pocket and said, after reading the message, “Listen, guys, I hate to do this, but I have to hurry back home. My mother just texted me, and there’s been an emergency.”
“What the – What kind of emergency?” Dom asked.
“My sister’s sick. She’s in the hospital now. I really have to go.”
Jay quickly marched outside of the house. Dom was left inside, torn between staying with the girls and following his distraught friend home.
“Please don’t go,” the girls implored. They pleaded for them to stay, but Dom chose to follow Jay.
“Sorry, girls. Jay has an emergency,” Dom said, as he left Rachel’s house, trying to avoid the disappointed looks of the girls. He quickly ran to Jay.
“Ataya, bai, this was the moment I was waiting for. Damn the timing,” Dom said. “What happened to your sister, anyway?”
“Nothing,” Jay replied.
“What?”
“My sister’s fine. There’s no emergency.”
“Then why did you just cock-block the best chance I had to score with Rachel?” Dom demanded to know.
“It felt really weird there. You didn’t notice, because you were too busy trying to impress Rachel,” Jay said, in between Dom’s curses.
THE TWO BOYS argued, shouted, and cursed one another as they navigated their way back to the waiting tricycle. But instead of arriving at the gate, where their return ride waited, they found themselves back at Rachel’s house.
“Let’s go the other way,” Jay suggested.
“See, Jay, our feet are bringing us back here. Fate brought us back here,” Dom said, pleading.
“You stay if you want,” Jay said, annoyed with Dom’s incessant whining.
So Dom shut up and followed Jay. “You owe me, Jay.”
“You’ll thank me later, Dom.”
After a few moments of silence, Dom held up his fist to show he had no hard feelings.
-fistbump-
The boys walked in silence, but their serenity was jolted by the sight of Rachel’s house, yet again. This time, there were people outside – the neighbors were now out and about.
And all their eyes were fixed on the two oncoming boys.
“I’m sure we took the correct street this time,” Jay said.
“Yeah, we must have missed a turn,” Dom replied.
“But we didn’t take any turns on our way here. The path we took was straight.”
“I can’t remember, bai. I was talking to Rachel the whole time.”
“Why is everyone staring at us?”
“’Dunno. Rachel and Claire must have told them about us.”
“Let’s take the other street,” Jay said.
Dom shrugged and followed him.
THE BOYS QUICKENED their pace, as they tried to beat the setting sun. They followed the same route they took when they first got to the girls’ housing subdivision. They passed by the same shrubs, the same weeds, and the same grass overgrowth.
But instead of seeing the gate that led to the outside world, they saw the same row of houses from earlier. More people were now outside. Jay quickly realized that something was amiss, while Dom remained completely oblivious.
“Look, Jay, they’re calling us. Let’s stay and join the party.”
“Let’s go. It will be dark soon.”
Dom would not listen. He made up his mind and decided he’d had enough of Jay’s nonsense. He was staying. “Jay, what’s wrong with you? You’re getting all weird over nothing.”
“Don’t you see?”
“See what?”
“Listen, it might not make sense now, but you’ll just have to trust me on this. We have to leave. Now!” Jay held up his fist, waiting for Dom to make a trust-based decision on a situation he didn’t fully comprehend.
His fist hung in the air, as Dom deliberated whether he should follow his impulse, or whether he should stand by his best friend. Behind them, the sun was setting fast.
-fistbump-
And so the boys were off, this time with a little more sense of urgency. They ran as fast as they could, in the hope of getting to the gate before the sun fully sank on the horizon.
“THANKS FOR TRUSTING me, bai.”
Dom shrugged and said, “I figured you were always the smarter one, that’s why.”
“And better-looking too.”
“Stop dicking off. Your haircut’s awful.”
Their leg muscles tightened, and their lungs burned, but they pushed themselves harder. After a few more steps, they began to notice things getting very familiar. They were back again at the girls’ homes.
“At
aya, this is hopeless,” Jay said, stopping to crouch and put his hands on his knees. “There’s some strange magic shit going on here.”
“You know, you’re absolutely right. I get it now. It’s the lamat,” Dom said.
“The what?”
“Lamat – like what you said, a magic spell. That’s why we keep coming back here.”
“Don’t make stuff up.”
“I’m not. My lola used to tell me aswang stories, when I was a kid. She said that they’d use the lamat on their prey all the time. That’s how they get to eat their victims.” Dom paused, and a with a curious look continued, “So that means we’re –”
“Guests of honor? Highly doubt it,” Jay said.
“No, bai, we’re this party’s dinner,” Dom asserted.
“I was thinking along the lines of gang rape and torture. But getting eaten is at least as bad. So what did your Lola say about how to reverse this hex?” Jay asked Dom.
Before Dom could answer, a crowd of people began to approach the boys’ general direction. Ahead of the pack were Claire and Rachel.
“Please don’t go,” the girls begged. Their eyes shone brighter, but the features of their faces were somehow muted. “Please don’t go,” they repeated, until everyone else echoed the plea.
JAY AND DOM made a run for it. They didn’t even care about which street to take. They just wanted to get as far away from the houses as they could.
Then Dom remembered something, stopped, and snapped his fingers. “We have to wear our clothes backward and inside-out,” Dom said.
“Are you serious?” asked Jay, who started taking off his shirt, but remained suspicious.
“Yes; I mean, come on. What have we got to lose?”
“You better not be punking me, Dom. Underwear?”
Dom nodded.
“You have got to be kidding,” Jay protested, but proceeded to take off his pants anyway.
Philippine Speculative Fiction, Volume 10 Page 13