*Season's P.O.V.*
Contrary to my presumption, I was actually able to sleep for the rest of the morning, probably brought about by the exhaustion that I felt after everything that happened. When I opened my eyes, the midday sky greeted me and I almost panicked, thinking that I'm outside. But, of course not. I'm safe inside one of the Jacob's guestrooms, with a huge open window, hence why I was greeted by the view of the sky. I stood up and decided to take a shower first, before facing everyone downstairs. Not that, I have an issue of facing them. But I just hope that Collin is feeling better now. Cause me? I'm still kind of floating. And it's not even a good thing. After that shower, I put on some gray shirt and a red, knee-length shorts before descending downstairs. I heard voices in the kitchen so I went there. I am pretty hungry after all.
"Hindi ko alam pero matagal na akong may nararamdamang kakaiba kapag nandyan sya." It was mama and Eden, talking while having their lunch. Yes. It's already lunch time. While tita Corazon is looking for something in the cupboards.
"Bakit? Hindi ba ito ang unang pagkakataong may nakita syang mga ganun?" Tita Corazon asked. They still didn't notice me standing by the corner and I decided to just listen to their conversation, although I don't understand it.
Mama, turned her gaze from tita Corazon to Eden, as if trying to tell her something. "Noong namatay si Shawn, sinabi ko sa kanya ang hakahaka ko." She started but Eden intercepted.
"Mama hindi 'yon totoo." Eden said.
"Para sayo. Pero nakita nya! Nakita nya ang aswang na pumatay sa anak mo. At noong nawala sya ng tatlong araw, sinabi nya sakin kung saan sya nanggaling at batay sa mga sinabi nya, napagtanto ko na na engkanto sya." Mama explained, uttering such familiar words that made my heart race all over again. Eden was about to say something when mama continued. "Alam kong hindi ka masyadong naniniwala sa mga ganito pero kausapin mo ang asawa mo. Baka kailangan talaga ng kapatid nya ng tulong. Hindi natin pwedeng pabayaan na maging ganyan lang 'yon."
Heavy footsteps from upstairs halted their conversation and we all looked at the three men approaching. My chest felt a lot lighter when I saw that Collin is now awake and I guess, everyone felt the relief that I'm feeling too. "Collin! I'm glad you're feeling better!" Tita Corazon said as she invited the men in the table, I decided to just follow along and sit beside my brother and across from mama, who is giving me a worried look. Eh?
"Yeah, I'm glad too. Thank you for saving me." He said and our attention immediately went to him, and the soup that tita Corazon served.
"It was Season." Mama said and everybody else agreed. Me? I did nothing but tell them, and well, I also killed her but, all of us helped.
"Thank you Season." He said, beaming at me.
I nodded and before I could stop myself, I spoke. "But that's what you get for being a womanizer." I uttered, rolling my eyes.
Collin, who has a really good sense of humor, laughed at my statement. Yeah right? As if it didn't cross my mind that he's a maniac who can slice a woman into half. "Don't be jealous sugarplum." He joked.
"Jealous?" I countered.
"Dude, you gave my sister a fright. Stop with your jokes." My brother said sternly, which actually made Collin stop and mouthed a 'sorry'.
"Enough with that." Tito Lincoln butted in. "After what happened, I decided to let a priest come around and bless the whole property, as per adviced by the shaman that came here, so as to, ward off such evil spirits or well, creatures." He announced and we all agreed.
After the meal, I decided to breathe some fresh afternoon air at the left side of the property, Sean did mention that we'd go home later on and because I have nothing much to do and to say, I decided to be alone. As I was gazing at the empty lawn infront of me, I noticed a bulge in the soil near a tree, a mound or perhaps an anthill, nothing out of the ordinary except that, when I blinked, I saw an old looking man who has the height of the child and a black complexion, complimented by his gray mustache. Oh, and by the way, he's wearing a farmer's hat. I narrowed my eyes, wanting to see what tricks nature is playing on me again and I decided to go near the mound. Cause what if it's just soil that's carved into something that would look like a little person? Or perhaps a doll left outside?
But... "Hindi ko alam paano mo nagawa ang iyong ginawa." It spoke! And as usual, I am frozen in the spot. What the hell? It even continued. "Ngunit napaslang mo ang babaeng ibig ko mapangasawa!" This time he sounds angry. I just want to run away from him and this place altogether but the way he held my gaze didn't make me move. "Kaya dapat lang na maparusahan ka. Magkakasakit ka, at hahabulin mo na ang iyong hininga!" The intensity of the way he spoke those alien words to me, snapped me out of my shocked state, making me run straight inside the house and into my room, not leaving it until Sean said it's time to go.
"Hey." Collin said as he met me at the bottom of the stairs. His calm nature, calming down the turmoil in me too, and seeing his smile made me smile as if I didn't see yet another strange being.
"Hey." I responded, wrapping my arms around his torso. He responded to the hug and when we let go, he gave me a light kiss on the forehead.
"Take care." He said.
"You too." I smiled. We were always this comfortable, I'm surprised my sister was not jealous of me. Or maybe because I was just a kid when they were in a relationship, but duh. Anyways, I got into Sean's car, happy that I can finally be out of this beautiful but traumatizing residence. I'd love to see Collin again but, I doubt if I'd still want to comeback here. Hah! I have this mindset everytime something like that happens to me. Remember the resort? Yeah, but who can blame me though. Which got me thinking, why am I always seeing beings like them?
"Let's go?" Sean's question cut through my train of thoughts as he started the car. We sped off to the road and I just stayed quiet. Not that anyone was speaking. Well, that was until one hour had passed and mama decided to break the silence as she spoke beside me.
"Season?" I turned to her. "Are you okay?" She asked. Oh, am I okay?
"I guess." I answered honestly.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She inquired. I looked around the car, Eden is asleep in the front seat while Sean is very focused on the road, so I guess, why not?
"Yeah, ma what does it mean when somebody always sees, different beings?" I mustered the courage to finally ask.
She sighed, as if she had anticipated my question. "Well, maybe their third eye is open." She answered, assessing my reaction.
Of course, I don't know much about these paranormal things but I have heard the term 'third eye' before. "Tell me more." She looked at me when I said that.
"When a person's third eye is open, he or she can see things or beings that are invisible to most." She provided.
"Can anyone have an opened third eye?" I asked. I mean, you don't think that that's the reason why I'm seeing these beings consecutively right? In my defense, I pretty sure am not the only one who are seeing them though. They saw the manananggal too, right? And the Tikbalang, Andrew saw them too. The siyokoy, originally attacked Alyssa. But, do they see them as often as I do? And, the only reason why I'm the only one who saw those other beings that I saw was because I was alone when they showed up! That can be used as an excuse right?
"Yes. Young children mostly have them. That is why many mythical creatures play with them." I didn't mmiss the double meaning of her 'play with them' line. "But, the third eye would gradually close as they age." She added.
"Can ummm, grown ups have them?"
"Rarely. Yes." Should I be happy with her answer?
"Do you know someone who have?" I decided to ask. I observed how superstitious mama is and of course, I experienced how her superstitions actually have accuracy. Perhaps, she's speaking with secondary experience?
"Yes." She uttered that word for the third time now and everytime she does, I'm silently wishing that she could've said otherwise.
"Who?"
"The albularyo that I called to treat your friend. It so happened that he was also in the province but, he's from Capiz." She answered. That creepy man? He can see what I've been seeing? Is it the reason why he emits a different aura?
I just nodded after that and didn't ask any further, making the rest of the car ride quiet once again. When we reached the house, I decided to rest in my room for a while before having dinner. During the course of dinner though, I felt a little itch on my throat and started coughing.
"You okay?" Sean asked.
"Yes, yes. It's probably the exhaustion that has taken a toll on me." I answered reasonably as I drank the water that mama offered me.
"You must get some rest Season." Eden said and I nodded. Yes, I need a rest. In fact, I need a break from these weirdness that I've been experiencing. It's just that, going back to Tennessee wouldn't really help me either and I have nowhere else to go. So, I can only wish that everything would be fine, from now on. But of course not as the irritation on my throat worsened when I went up to bed and i even asked mama to put a pitcher of water in my room, along with a glass so I can relieve my coughing. Gosh! I hate being sick.
"Are you sure you're not feeling anything else? Your temperature is normal anyways." Mama said when she refilled the pitcher.
"I'm fine ma. Just the cough really. And with the amount of water I've been drinking, I'm sure... Uho-uho, excuse me." I reassured while still coughing.
"Alright alright." She said, now walking back to her room. I closed my door as soon as she left and had another coughing fit. Gosh, I hate this. I took deep breaths, feeling a bit suffocated so I strolled towards the window and opened it. The night's breeze has a soothing caress when it entered my room and I am very glad that it has that kind of effect.
"I told you not to go any further." My head whipped to the side at the way Kaloy's stone cold tone pierced through the calmness that I just started feeling. And him appearing out of nowhere always gives me the frights. But he's not really frightening, you know?
"Hello to you too. Uho-uho. Excuse me." I let out sarcastically, but it wasn't that effective because of these coughs. So I went back to my water, watching him watching me with a certain level of hardness. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I finally asked. Is he mad about something? What something?
"You got yourself in a whole lot of trouble." He stated with a sigh, finally looked away from me, for a bit.
I scoffed at that. "I know right. Why weren't you there anyways? I thought you were always going where I'm going?" I wondered off. Not that I was really looking for him. But I could've used a little bit of his engkanto help against that manananggal you know? It would've been less traumatic. Right, I won't deny it, I do feel kind of safe when he's around.
"I can't go there. It's another province and it is not under the scope of Lumayan, so I can't go there whilst I still have a lot of duties to attend to here." Of course he's such a busy person and I felt kind of ashamed for asking such a question. I mean, he's not my 'on call knight in shining armor' after all. And, I did say that I didn't really want whatever protection that he has to offer, yet here I am, acting otherwise. "But, I was watching over you. I warned you."
I met his gaze when he said that. It's true. He came through a dream and his warning resounded in my head very clearly, however... "I had to help my friend." I reasoned.
I heard him let go of a sigh. "How important of a friend is he that you're willing to risk your life for him?" His question stopped me. Is he really asking me that? Why? It's not like he doesn't understand how it is like to help someone in need! He, for Pete's sake offered a stranger like me, protection. So, why is he asking me this again?
"Surely, you wouldn't want a comrade to die when you could've done something to save them. You can even help strangers, how much more a friend?" I pointed out. "You should really understand this because that's what you're doing for me, on those instances that you can. I added.
"Really? So you made that move for love? Cause that's what I've been doing for you." What? What the-, LOVE? A word that's way too deep for my liking.
"No, that's not what I meant!" This is frustrating. I don't love Collin, or do I not? I mean, I have had a crush on him since I was young but that was just a silly crush. But, the real thing that bothered me is Kaloy's indirect declaration of love. That's the thing that I'm not quite ready at.
"So, what do you mean? I warned you because I know the danger that awaits you, yet you didn't listen to me. It's quite a slap on my ego that I'm trying to protect someone who only wants to come to someone else's rescue." His statement is making my head spin. And I really am not in the mood to argue right now because this cough is still plaguing my system.
So, I just sighed and decided to step closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "No, it's not like that." I said, in manner a lot calmer than earlier. "Just, don't worry too much about it anymore, okay? I'm safe, we're all safe. Nothing that bad happened." Yeah right? That was a pretty bad experience but I'm getting the hang of it, of these mythical creatures in this country. "Thank you for warning me anyway. Uho-uho." I stepped away from him and held on my chest as another round of a coughing fit hit me. I lifted the pitcher to pour water on my glass but it's running out empty. Gosh.
I felt Kaloy behind me, caressingmy back and handing a glass to me. I didn't have time to ask him what it was and where he got it from or how did it just popped out of there because my throat is running dry and I'm desperate to be hydrated. So, I drank it all. My nonstop coughing subsided after that and I gave him a grateful smile. "You're wrong." He said, his voice softening now.
"About what?" I asked, tiredness slowly eating me up as I sat at the edge of my bed.
"About what happened and what's happening to you. Something bad is really going on." Normally, what he said should've alarmed me but, for some reason worry didn't cross me as I look straight into his eyes and I felt his strong arms wrapped around me. I don't know why he did that or why did I let him do that, all I know is that, I'm soothed by something, or someone and that everything would be alright now.
If only I know how wrong I was.