A bad dream woke me up last night.The dream was fuzzy, but I knew that it was not good. I looked at my wall clock: 2:23AM. Too early to be getting up from bed. But I had to get up. I suddenly felt uneasy.
I don't know what triggered that feeling. The sensation that someone is watching you...and that for some reason, you feel that they are waiting..waiting for what?
Then suddenly, I remembered my dream...it was about my grandma's ultimate ghost story.
I was already hungry to see the world when I was but a wee li'l girl. I'd often pester my mom to allow me to go and have my summer vacation with my relatives in the low lands. I particularly like going down to Tugeugarao, Cagayan. My mom grew up there, it is where she graduated in high school... where she met her first love...
I guess, like any other child, I'd like to know what it was like when my mom was young.
One summer, Mom gave in. My Grandfather (God bless his soul) helped us pack and whisked me and my two other siblings to the city of Tuguegarao. And it was a big adventure for us back then! We get to pick our mangoes from the tree, we get to ride horses (with strict adult supervision), we get swim the river (which cause my Granmother a near heart attack because it was teaming with leaches), and we get to catch our own dinner (the river was also rich with tilapia)!
We were nearing the end of our 2 week vacation spree when I noticed that my two aunts who were with us then had the same exact scar on the same exact spot over the left eye like my Mom. I asked my Grandmother about it...she looked at me..and a strange expression passed by her face. It was as if...she was afraid...
I never got my answer that day. But on the afternoon before our scheduled departure, Grandma asked me if I wanted to go with her and get berries in the forest. Ha! I'd never say no to that!
And so to the forest we went...when we were already there...we passed by a small path..but it looked like it was not used for a long time already because there were weeds and shrubs nearly covering it hiding it. I asked where the path leads and Grandma said, "It was a path to the place where your mother and 2 aunts were born."
"Really Grandma? Can I see it? Can I? Can I? Pleeeaaase?"
"No, child. We must not. They have already rested for some time. We cannot risk disturbing them again. They are just waiting, you know...waiting to be awakened again... "
"Who, Grandma?"
Once again, my grandmother never answered me. I didn't mind it then. I was too distracted filling up my basket with forest berries.
That incident never crossed my mind again until I was 16. I was in 4th year high school. We had to report about our own indegenous background. I asked my dad about Ilocos Sur history...and of course I asked Mom about Cagayan. I learned that Cagayan was captured by the Japanese in 1941 and that US and Philippine forces had to bomb Tuguegarao often to drive the invaders away. Because of this, the people were forced to leave their homes and move deeper into the forest.
"Me, your Tita Son and Tita Lhee were actually born in the forest that just lay beyond your Grandfather's palayan. But when I turned 8, we had to move and settled a few miles south..where the soil is rich so that we coould grow crops."
"You were born in the forest, Mommy? Lola mentioned something like that before when I was a kid. But she did not want me to see your old house."
Mom laughed. "Probably because she still thinks it was haunted. You see, when we were young, me and your two Titas got really sick at the same time. We all had fever and we were bed ridden for a week. And all three of us had a left eye that was bloated."
"What caused it? Your mumps grew on your eyes ?"
Mom shrugged. "I'm not really sure. But your Lola kept saying that it was caused by the spirits in the forest."
"What would make Lola think that?"
"Probably she was talking abut the family that was massacred by the Japs. You see, people were trying to hide from the war...and according to the elders, there was a family that moved into the forest together with their poultry and everyone of them got killed when they crossed paths with patrolling Japanese soldiers."
"That's awful!"
"Not only that. The mother was the last one to die because they raped her first. But before she had her last breath, she cursed the land. She said that whoever trespasses them again will be punished. And that they will die a slow death like they did.
When we got sick, I remembered Nanay always saying: Leave my children alone. We will move away. Just please leave them alone. She kept saying that over and over."
A shiver went up my spine. Knowing my mom, she's not really into the spirit world and stuff. I think she was one of those kids that got to know that Santa does not exist at an early age.
"You don't believe it then?"
"Every place has their own urban legend."
I don't know what triggered that feeling. The sensation that someone is watching you...and that for some reason, you feel that they are waiting..waiting for what?
Then suddenly, I remembered my dream...it was about my grandma's ultimate ghost story.
I was already hungry to see the world when I was but a wee li'l girl. I'd often pester my mom to allow me to go and have my summer vacation with my relatives in the low lands. I particularly like going down to Tugeugarao, Cagayan. My mom grew up there, it is where she graduated in high school... where she met her first love...
I guess, like any other child, I'd like to know what it was like when my mom was young.
One summer, Mom gave in. My Grandfather (God bless his soul) helped us pack and whisked me and my two other siblings to the city of Tuguegarao. And it was a big adventure for us back then! We get to pick our mangoes from the tree, we get to ride horses (with strict adult supervision), we get swim the river (which cause my Granmother a near heart attack because it was teaming with leaches), and we get to catch our own dinner (the river was also rich with tilapia)!
We were nearing the end of our 2 week vacation spree when I noticed that my two aunts who were with us then had the same exact scar on the same exact spot over the left eye like my Mom. I asked my Grandmother about it...she looked at me..and a strange expression passed by her face. It was as if...she was afraid...
I never got my answer that day. But on the afternoon before our scheduled departure, Grandma asked me if I wanted to go with her and get berries in the forest. Ha! I'd never say no to that!
And so to the forest we went...when we were already there...we passed by a small path..but it looked like it was not used for a long time already because there were weeds and shrubs nearly covering it hiding it. I asked where the path leads and Grandma said, "It was a path to the place where your mother and 2 aunts were born."
"Really Grandma? Can I see it? Can I? Can I? Pleeeaaase?"
"No, child. We must not. They have already rested for some time. We cannot risk disturbing them again. They are just waiting, you know...waiting to be awakened again... "
"Who, Grandma?"
Once again, my grandmother never answered me. I didn't mind it then. I was too distracted filling up my basket with forest berries.
That incident never crossed my mind again until I was 16. I was in 4th year high school. We had to report about our own indegenous background. I asked my dad about Ilocos Sur history...and of course I asked Mom about Cagayan. I learned that Cagayan was captured by the Japanese in 1941 and that US and Philippine forces had to bomb Tuguegarao often to drive the invaders away. Because of this, the people were forced to leave their homes and move deeper into the forest.
"Me, your Tita Son and Tita Lhee were actually born in the forest that just lay beyond your Grandfather's palayan. But when I turned 8, we had to move and settled a few miles south..where the soil is rich so that we coould grow crops."
"You were born in the forest, Mommy? Lola mentioned something like that before when I was a kid. But she did not want me to see your old house."
Mom laughed. "Probably because she still thinks it was haunted. You see, when we were young, me and your two Titas got really sick at the same time. We all had fever and we were bed ridden for a week. And all three of us had a left eye that was bloated."
"What caused it? Your mumps grew on your eyes ?"
Mom shrugged. "I'm not really sure. But your Lola kept saying that it was caused by the spirits in the forest."
"What would make Lola think that?"
"Probably she was talking abut the family that was massacred by the Japs. You see, people were trying to hide from the war...and according to the elders, there was a family that moved into the forest together with their poultry and everyone of them got killed when they crossed paths with patrolling Japanese soldiers."
"That's awful!"
"Not only that. The mother was the last one to die because they raped her first. But before she had her last breath, she cursed the land. She said that whoever trespasses them again will be punished. And that they will die a slow death like they did.
When we got sick, I remembered Nanay always saying: Leave my children alone. We will move away. Just please leave them alone. She kept saying that over and over."
A shiver went up my spine. Knowing my mom, she's not really into the spirit world and stuff. I think she was one of those kids that got to know that Santa does not exist at an early age.
"You don't believe it then?"
"Every place has their own urban legend."
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