*Season's P.O.V.*
I see greens and blues everywhere I look. From fields, to forests, up until the vast seas, my eyes are entertained by the beautiful sceneries in my sister-in-laws country.
"Don't worry, I was that amazed when I first came to the Philippines too dear." My brother chuckled, he must've seen the amazement in my eyes as I looked out of the car's window. He picked me up from the airport of Capiz after my long trip.
"Please, even the weather is brilliant in here." I said as I finally looked away from the window to look at him. It's been a year since I've seen him during his wedding and I must say, I missed him.
"The people are brilliant here too. Very accommodating and all, you've seen how my wife is." He added with a smile. He's such a lucky man and he fell in love with an equally lucky woman who is now the mother of their first born. I came here to see my nephew and my brother promised to tour me around a little bit too.
"Indeed. How far are we from your place now?" I asked since we've been traveling for 15 minutes already.
"Ahh, about 30 minutes- shit." He cursed and I raised a brow at him. "I'm running out of gas, but don't worry, there's a station up ahead." He assured and I just nodded. It's such a peaceful looking place, this part of Capiz where he resides. I see feilds of green mostly and litters of houses here and there, full of friendly looking people. He stopped the car just by the station and I decided to go out to buy us some water cause I really am thirsty.
From the station, I crossed the street where I saw a small retail store and braced myself to speak with the natives here. "Anong atin Neng?" I heard the vendor ask to the person who's in front of me.
"Kape lang Wen." The lady replied in a mellow voice. After she had what she bought, she turned around and came face to face with me. I didn't mean to be rude but because we are just of the same height, our eyes met. However, there's something so different about her. My reflection in her eyes is inverted and my brow creased at that. Maybe it just happened in a fraction of a moment but I am certain of what I saw. Then she smiled at me and nodded before she went past me so I just stretched a smile at her too.
"Ahh, what do you want to buy po?" I snapped out of my trance when I heard the vendor ask in an accent that almost sounds like their native tongue.
"A bottle of water please. Maybe two." I said. She must've known that I'm not Filipino maybe because of my appearance. I gave her a 50 peso bill and told her to keep the change, before I crossed the street again to my brother's car.
We drove quietly to wherever their house is and even the beautiful glade scenery didn't erase the memory of my inverted reflection on that lady's eyes on the store. I didn't bother to ask my brother because he'd think that I'm just seeing things, or maybe the tiredness from my trip has already taken a toll in me. So I closed my eyes for a little bit.
Before I knew it, my brother parked the car in front of a simple two storey house surrounded by a huge lawn with mini-gardens to the side and a huge manggo tree on the leftmost part. I smiled and right when I stepped out of the car, Eden, my brother's wife came rushing towards me.
"Season! I missed you dear." She said as she wrapped me up in a warm hug. I noticed that she acquired some fats after her pregnancy but she looks as beautiful as ever.
"Eden, as much as I love seeing you, I do want to see my nephew too." I said in excitement as we finally entered the house with, Sean, my brother, following behind with my travel bag.
"She said that as soon as she saw me in the terminal." Sean chuckled. Because it's true.
"Halika, he's right over here." Eden ushered as she brought me to the cozy looking nursery. There Mrs. Perez, Eden's mother stood, holding my nephew. The joy of a grandmother shinning in her eyes as she looked down at him. "Ma, nandito na ang kapatid ni Sean." Only after Eden said that did she look up at us.
"Hello Season." She smiled widely.
"Hello ma." I smiled back. I remembered her telling me on their wedding that I should call her mama too since she doesn't like the formal treatment so much. "Can I see him?"
I came closer until I got a better look at him and my heart melted at his cuteness. I looked at Eden and Sean, who just came in the room. "His name is Shawn." Sean said with love.
"Can I hold him?"
"O, sige sige hawakan mo muna para makapaghanda ako ng hapunan." Actually, I didn't understand what mama said but she did pass little Shawn to me, who I carefully held. Wow! He's kind of heavy for a four months old baby.
We spent the whole afternoon talking and taking pictures with Shawn until mama called us for dinner where we talked more. I really like these people since their families are closely knitted. I mean Sean and I are close but our other siblings is a different story, as well as our parents.
We decided to have an early night after that. They let me stay on one of their guestrooms and I immediately fell asleep because I truly am tired from my trip and the afternoon's endeavor. At the middle of the night I heard a thud on the roof which disturbed my sleep. Maybe that was a bird or something but I also felt the burn in my throat and the need to drink water is strong so I got up and made my way to the kitchen. As I walked down the hall, I passed by the nursery whose door is ajar, I decided to take a peek at little Shawn but when I did, I saw something even stranger than my inverted reflection.
The window was widely opened and something like a black cat jumped in, before I could blink, it somehow changed into a human sized beast with a long, slithery tongue which extended out to my nephew. Maybe it happened so fast, but I saw it licking Shawn who's fast asleep before it disappeared out of the open window once again.
"That's... Maybe I really need water." I muttered as I hurried to the kitchen, baffled by what I just witnessed. Maybe I'm just hallucinating though, that happens a lot to me. The cold water I got from their fridge soothed my system and as I passed the nursery again, I saw Shawn still sleeping in the crib and no beast is present there. I sighed. "That was just on my mind."
The next day was fine, except that little Shawn is ill and both Eden and Sean are really worried. They even took him to the doctor hoping that his condition would be treated. I guess my tour is cancelled.
"Season?" I looked up to see mama on the door way. It's been two days since Elen and Sean admitted Shawn to the hospital and I was very alarmed to see tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Is everything okay ma?" I hurriedly responded as I rushed to her side.
"Season, patay na si baby! He's dead Season!" She broke down in my arms and tears welled up in my eyes too. Shit! Shit! Shit! I don't understand exactly how my nephew died, I thought that was just a simple fever. But I thought wrong. We cried in each other's arms, now just waiting for them to return home.
"Wala naman siyang naging malalang sakit." Mama started.
"Ma..." I trailed off.
"I'm sorry ija. It's just that, I saw the kid yesterday and I strongly believe that his condition is not caused by a human." She translated.
"Not human?" Flashes of what happened the other night came rushing back to me but I decided to ask anyways.
"Yes, it's as if an aswang was on his nursery that night when I forgot to close the window. But they won't really believe me, no doctor could heal him, but maybe..."
"Slow down ma, what's an aswang?" I interrupted her. She stared at me for awhile before she swallowed the lump on her throat.
"It's a mythical creature here in the Philippines. They're shape-shifters," it was a black cat and it shifted! " blood suckers who uses their long tongues to suck the life force out of mostly unborn fetus or young children," oh gosh! It did have a long tongue! "and they replace the bodies of their dead victims with doppelgangers who would be really ill and eventually die as if by natural cause." That's what happened to Shawn. I looked at her as she dried the tears in her eyes.
"Mama."
"Yes?"
"I think I just saw an aswang the other night."
She looked at me. "Do you really believe me?" She asked.
"P-perhaps..."
"What did you see? Tell me." She ushered and I told her exactly what I saw. "Season... If you'd see the black again, would you recognize it?"
"I guess." I answered.
"Please don't tell my daughter about this. She doesn't believe in such folklore, but there is a way for us to find the aswang that killed Shawn."
"I won't, but what else do I need to know about this aswang?" I asked, now fueled by something I don't quite understand.
"Aside from what you already witnessed, they sneak on wakes too, to steal the body of the dead and replace it with another doppelganger. They can also pass their curse to another person when open their mouth close to the one they want to pass the curse to. And what you need to know is how exactly to kill them."
Driven by the loss of such an angel, I dressed in all black, along with a black jacket whose pockets are full of salt and garlic, as well as an oil or what mama termed as "lana" that would help me determine the presence of an aswang. Gosh! I never did this before but, why not right? After all, that being killed my precious nephew.
"Where are you headed?" Sean asked when I was about to get out of the house. I thought he might be asleep by now but, I guess I thought wrong.
"Just at a bar up ahead. You'd let me go there right?" I straight up lied, while looking him directly on the eye. He just nodded and walked away, probably to get something from the kitchen. Eden on the other hand is still weeping beside the baby's casket and my heart ached at the scene but I took a deep breath and opened the door. Before I could fully close it, I saw mama looking my way, probably wishing me luck.
"Three blocks away from here, in a house painted mellow yellow, a wake is done. Go there, observe if the aswang would come and try to steal the dead's body. Are you sure you can stay up until the break of dawn to do this?" Mama had asked me when she handed me all that I need to revenge on the said mythical creature that killed my nephew.
"I could. And if ever I need to fight that beast by hand, I can handle that too." I said.
Putting everything she said in mind, I hailed a cab and went to my destination. The wake was solemn and as expected, at midnight everyone's out asleep, although some stayed along the tables set around the casket. So what kind of wake, sets everyone asleep? I guess this one.
It wasn't long until midnight approached and I stayed more vigilant here in the shadows where I took cover for this mission to be successful. I stared and stared.
Just the casket...
Just the casket...
Just the- A BLACK CAT!
The same black cat I saw that night! It hovered above the casket and then it shifted to its beast form. As expected!
Before it could open the casket to do its dirty tricks, I kicked the flower vases close to me and the noise caught its attention. Its eyes met with mine and as soon as it charged towards me, I ran.
"Wak wak wak..." I heard its distant sound but I'd rather not be deceived because it's right behind me. And on the next second slim but strong limbs hoisted me up in the air.
"Ahh! Put me down!" Shit! It scared the life out of me but I fished out the mixture of salt and garlic in my pocket and got a hold of its wings as it flapped, making it scream and immediately dove to the ground. Hah! Brought you down with me. I rolled as it just dropped me and quickly got on my feet.
The beast stared at me again and I threw more salt and garlic at it but it continued to charge. It was about to lounge so I pulled out one more weapon that mama gave me, stingray's tail or buntot ng pagi, in their native tounge. I met its attack with a slash that hit it directly.
"Ahhh!" It cried as it dropped to the ground. I continued to slash at it until I saw it shift into a... Lady?
The same lady I saw in the retail store. My slashes momentarily stopped at what I found out.
"Wag.." She begged and I was frozen. "Hindi ko kasalanang ganito ako..." She continued as she slowly opened her mouth near me. And that's when realization came rushing to my brain and I slashed the stingray's tail again, making her drop.
"Oh no you're not passing anything to me!" I poured all the salt and garlic until she cried in pain and something dropped between her legs. The crow.
With salt and garlic pieces still littering in my palm, I picked it up.
"Wag!" She screamed but I broke it with the stingray whip and the last thing I saw before her eyes eternally closed, is my inverted reflection.
I'm sorry but you did my family wrong. So I did this to you.