Chapter Two

Getting to school that day wasn’t any more difficult than every other day. One only had to accept that Capitalism was terrible, acknowledge that one’s life is not one’s own, and be thankful that one will, eventually, be given the opportunity to die.

It wasn’t the best outlook, but it got people out of bed. ‘People’ being Amihan.

He arrived at school the same time as he always did and found Lila on her chair, head down. He patted her back gently. “You didn’t do the homework,” he said.

“Nagawa ko na,” she tells him, the quickest way to make him back off.

“Not AP. The Math one. They gave it yesterday after our exile.”

Lila jolted up, looking around for any proof. Sure enough, the questions were written on the board. She turned to him accusingly. “E paano mo nalaman?”

Amihan raised an eyebrow. “I checked my Messenger.”

She dug angrily through her bag for some paper. “Kailan ang Math?” she all but demands, looking almost feral. Amihan thinks about letting her copy from him to give her time to sleep, but knew she would refuse. Copying meant the system won, and succumbing to sleep meant Mrs. Cruz did.

“First subject,” he informs.

Lila exclaimed something inappropriate and started solving. Amihan grabbed his bag from the floor. “If you wanna compare answers, I’ve got mine right—”

His fingers touch something cold and wet. He looked into his bag and found his water jug overturned, his homework reduced to an indiscernible rag.

It was his turn to exclaim inappropriately.

Lila handed him a piece of paper. Together, they did their homework in a thoroughly disgruntled manner.

“Ah, buhay pa kayo?” one of their classmates, Vic, asked upon approaching. “So. Totoo ba ang sabisabi?”

“Oo. Nasiraan kami ng ulo at namatay. Ang kinakausap mo ngayon ang aming mga bangkay na sinasapian ng mga demonyo,” Lila replied without lifting her head.

“Wow, sungit,” Vic laughs, turning to Amihan. “What happened?”

“Um… we walked. We ate. We sang. We slept. I have it on video.”

“Pa-send,” she requested, hitting his shoulder good-naturedly before walking away.

“Sure…” He watched her go while Lila chuckled at him.

Despite the distraction, they managed to finish the homework before flag ceremony. The teacher had just walked in when they simultaneously lifted their pens. The teacher, being Mrs. Cruz, eyed them suspiciously. “Narito pa kayo?”

“Magandang umaga po! Magagalak kayong malaman na walang nagparamdam na ‘masamang espirito’ at hindi kami hinoldap pauwi nang 2 AM.”

Lila grinned wide and tantalizing, causing Amihan to stifle a laugh. On one hand, Mrs. Cruz could get them in trouble for disobedience and truancy. On the other hand, Mrs. Cruz could get in trouble herself for leaving kids stranded in the woods, unsupervised. Checkmate.

Mrs. Cruz glowered venomously then ripped her stare away. “Good Morning, Class…”

*

He was really lucky to be Lila’s friend. She was probably the coolest person he’s ever met for various reasons. However, this meant that she’d outshine him in almost every aspect. It didn’t bother him most of the time.

“Wrong,” Mr. Guerro said flatly, waving him back down to his seat. Amihan grumbled. It was the third time he tried to recite today. It was also the third time he made a mistake.

“Lila raised her hand. “Oxygen,” she said confidently. Predictably, she was correct.

Amihan reached into his bag for a book he bought, so he could keep his mind off the jealousy. He frowned. It was soaking wet.

*

The second bell rang, and lunch had officially ended. Amihan stared at the door nervously. Lila wasn’t there yet. They weren’t together at lunch because she had a club meeting. Maybe that could excuse her.

Twenty minutes in and still no sign. Amihan was about to het the comfort room pass when a small blurry figure barreled into the room.

“Good afternoon po, Sir Basil!” Lila’s voice greeted breathlessly.

Chuckles bounced about the room. Mr. Basil raised an eyebrow, amused enough to perhaps save Lila’s conduct grade.

“Miss Albao,” he huffs. “And what is your excuse for being so tardy?”

“Akala ko po… ’yung kabilang music room…”

Their classmates start laughing, and Amihan isn’t entirely immune himself.

“You have to go to the Office then.”

“Pero, Sir—”

“Either speak straight English or straight Filipino.”

“Subalit, Ginoo! Hindi niyo ginawang tiyak ang particular na silid ng musika na nararapat puntahan! Makatwiran naming isipin na magkaklase tayo sa silid na lagi nating pinuntahan sa mga nakaraang klase. Hindi ko po sinasadya ang pagkakamaling ito!”

Amihan couldn’t hold the giggles in, at that point. “Sir, as politely as possible, wouldn’t it be punishment enough for her to walk across the school twice and have to catch up to the lessons she missed?” he interjected a little too quickly.

Mr. Basil considered this. Lila tried her best to look twice as exhausted.

“The rest of your classmates knew to go here,” he points out.

“Iba ang aking kaisipan sa karaniwan, Ginoo,” was Lila’s terse reply.

Their teacher looked pleased by this. Or perhaps by being called ‘Ginoo’. “Alright, Miss Albao. Only this once.”

*

“I told you it was this music room right before you left for your meeting!”

“Nakalimutan ko, okey?” Lila gulped down all the remaining water in Amihan’s jug and wiped her face. “Nagmamadali na kasi ako.”

They were at the rear end of the crowd of students headed back to their classrooms. “There’s been a lot of bad luck today, don’t you think?” Amihan mused quietly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quiet enough.

“Hindi totoo ang ‘luck’, Amihan. H’wag kang maging pesimista,” Lila scolded. “Kung totoo ang luck, edi marami na rin tayong swerte dahil natapos natin ang homework bago mag-time. Nakalusot ako kay Basil. Hindi tayo kinidnap pauwi.”

Amihan rolled his eyes and decided to let that pass. Upon rolling his eyes, he caught sight of a figure beside their path. “Good morning…” he tried, but trailed away.

The janitress’ face was as pale as an equatorial sheet, and her unblinking eyes were wide in terror. She was frozen in place, staring at them. At him and Lila.

“Hi, Ate Tessa,” Lila greeted nonchalantly and walked straight by her.

“She didn’t seem okay,” Amihan told her as he caught up. He glanced back at Ate Tessa’s paralyzed figure. Her gaze followed their every step.

“Heheh. Nag-‘good morning’ ka. Alas dos ng hapon.”

He glared at her. “She looked terrified,” he pointedly continued.

“H’wag mong pansinin,” she waved him off. “Nananakot lang ’yon. Palagi niyang sinasabi na may third eye siya. Naniniwala naman sila.”

Third eye… A theory brewed in Amihan’s mind that he dare not say out loud. It wasn’t until the middle of their last class that he put all the pieces together. He leaned forward to whisper to his friend. She turned at the call of her name, raising her eyebrows.

“I’ve been having a bad day,” Amihan starts.

Lila nodded attentively. “Same. Kung nalaman mo yung nangyari sa banyo…”

“What happened in the bathroom?”

She sliced her hands around dismissively and gestured for him to continue.

“So we saw Ate Tess staring at us weird a while ago.”

“Mm.”

“And you said she had a third eye.”

“’Mihan.”

“And a lot of bad… stuff has been going on.”

“Mihan.”

“And it started when we got back from the—”

“’Mihan, hindi totoo ang malas o ang masamang espirito.”

“But—”

“Ms. Albao and Mr. Zelsos!” Ms. Mata called with the snap of a ruler. Amihan blanched. “Ano’ng pinag-uusapan ninyo?”

“Ang aralin po,” Lila answered without missing a beat. “Iniisip po namin kung ang maikli na ‘ng’ ang dapat gamitin sa pangalawang halimbawa.”

Ms. Mata looked down at her book. “Ay, oo nga noh! Dapat sa akin n’yo na lang sinabi…”

Lila spared him a milisecond’s glance radiating smugness. Amihan could only frown at his book in contemplation.

Any bad thing, left unchecked, got worse. Time would prove which one of them was right.

*

Wednesday and Thursday passed. Along came more accidents and unfortunate incidents than they had ever experienced in the past few years.

The wifi in Lila’s house was cut off, and Amihan’s shoe fell into the swimming pool. Lila had the hiccups the entirety of a group reporting. Amihan’s group had a problem with the projector, causing them to desert the powerpoint presentation he worked all night on. Lila forgot their locker key inside their locker, and somehow, they managed to simultaneously forget their packed lunches.

“Hindi totoo ang malas,” Lila said persistently as she tripped over the boundary of a ‘keep off the grass’ area.

That was how she found herself inside the Coordinator’s office, arguing for her academic reputation while Amihan waited outside. She came out eventually, plopping down beside him. Her mouth was pressed in a grim line.

“Verbal warning,” she informed. It wasn’t a bad punishment. It wouldn’t even turn up in her report card. It was just her first time losing a battle to teachers. Over a ‘keep off the grass’ sign, no less.

“Maybe if you hadn’t rolled over, you could’ve gotten away with it,” said Amihan. Lila didn’t deign to reply.

“A lot of bad luck…”

“Tahimik.”

*

There was a lot of proof, the problem was that none of them was conclusive. He needed evidence so cliché and obvious that Lila could not deny the urban mythological level of involvement of supernatural beings.

That was exactly what he got.

Victoria: WHAT IS THAT BEHIND U???

Amihan looked at Vic’s message, puzzled. She must be talking about the video he just sent.

Amihan: It’s just Lila. She woke up like that.

His attempt at humor was brushed aside by a screenshot from the video. Amihan stared at it. Then he stared at it some more. Then he checked the video in his phone. Sure enough, it was there too: a face with inhuman pallor hovering above their shoulders, blood red eyes staring directly at the camera.

Amihan’s mouth curled into a grin. He forwarded it to Lila.

*

“Lumabas ka na masamang espirito! O taong gumagamit ng masyadong maraming pulbos!” Lila shouted somewhat wearily.

It was Thursday, after school. The next day was the last before semestral break, so they wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Especially Lila; her birthday was on its way. However, that meant conforming to silly superstition.

“Exorcizamus te omnis immundi…” Amihan read from his notebook. It was an exorcism prayer he got online.

Lila sprayed the plants using her mother’s laundry atomizer which was filled with Agua Bendita. “Baka tao lang ’yon” she tried grouchily.

“Doesn’t explain the bad luck,” Amihan hissed before continuing the prayer.

Lila threw him a suspicious glower. “Nasisiyahan ka bang minumulto tayo?”

He walks on, ignoring her. They weren’t sure if this was the same path they had taken through the forest last time. The foliage looked identical, all aesthetically disorganized. Darkness fell, and they brought out their flashlights. The beams swept about, leaving them disappointed with all the typical figures it illuminated. An hour passes with no revelation.

“Maybe we’re doing something wrong.” Amihan clicks his light off and flops down on a mound of earth. Lila follows suit and lands beside him. They were both silent, under the veil of shadows and nature.

“Magagalit si Nay kung hindi pa ako umuwi,” Lila announced.

Amihan slumped backwards. “I know. Could we please stay a little longer? Maybe it’ll come if we sit and wait. If we don’t do this, the bad luck might persist. Please?” he begged.

Lila’s eyes shone in the dark, seeing right through him. It wasn’t about the bad luck.

She stood, cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted. “Hoy! Alam naming sinusundan mo kami! Kung hindi ka lumabas, magagalit na ako! Isa!” She started counting like an angry mom.

Amihan shook his head, chuckling. Sure, counting might work to pressure neurotic kids. But monsters? It was worth a shot. A very sad, short-lived shot.

“Dalawa,” she drawled loudly, the promise of retribution upon her tongue.

One more number and either the monster come out, or they go home. Then, they would have to live with unexplained bad luck and the realization that life is as bad as it is. Monsters and magic don’t exist, only Capitalism and corruption. They would be doomed to a life without spontaneity, with only lifeless toil or squalor as options. Privilege was not a choice, and so neither was leisure. Heaven forbid anyone to have a job that made them happy and financially secure at the same time. Heaven forbid anyone less than a genius, a prodigy, or a patrician to thrive. Anyone who wasn’t productive. Who made mistakes.

Amihan long expected that magic wasn’t as real to the world as it used to be for him. Perhaps it was time for him to be part of the world.

Lila drew in a breath. “Tat—”

“Narito ako.”

Amihan jumped to his feet, whipping out his flashlight. Of course. If anyone was going to summon a mythical being from another dimension through sheer anger and counting, of course it would be Lila.

The two stood together, before a pallid creature with hair that fell to the ground and eyes that glistened like flames.