It was around twelve when Rogelio entered his room. After putting away a few things atop his bed, he takes off his shirt and hangs it on a nail on the wall, next to a poster of dogs playing billiards, an old calendar with a picture of the Sto. Nino, and a new calendar of Phoebe Cates using her hands to cover her nude chest. He lays down on the mattress of the bamboo bed with hands behind his head, while thinking and savoring the moments he spent with Tessa. He keeps on replaying the scenes in his head, trying to ignore the drunk neighbors a few steps from their place.
"Did you get to call him?" Shouted one drunk guy.
"I didn't bother, he could be asleep."
"What time is it in Saudi anyway?"
He knows the voice of the loud man, the new tenant on the house beside Aling Precious. A nice guy, but is really chatty when drunk…which is every Friday and Saturday. And the other five days of the week.
"Just call him tomorrow, guy won't die. Hahahaha!" The guy who people with relatives abroad go to is drunk. There are only a few people with PLDT¹ in Pelaez, and this drunk guy is the only person you could ask to for overseas calls. According to Bok-bok.
"Mother is going to RCPI² tomorrow again," answered the other guy. "She won't stop sending telegrams until she hears about Joel."
"Relax, the company'll send him home once all his colleagues are sick. Hahahahaha!"
"Then, I think I'll just be returning tomorrow."
"You don't wanna drink?"
There were murmurs from a few other guys before an explosion of raucous laughter. This was followed by the barking of dogs, the sound of opening San Miguels³, bottle caps splattering around. A common sight in these kinds of crowds. Rogelio tries to sleep. He covers his face with a pillow when the drunkards suddenly go silent. The barking of dogs took over. The sound of falling bottles. Incoherent conversations but there was clearly no laughter. Chairs are pulled out. Running.
"What did the guy who kidnap the kid look like?"
He suddenly gets up to look out the window. The only one remaining on the street is a short man, with hands on his waist staring at his mates running off, not knowing what to do, nor what to answer to the questions of the women exiting their homes one by one.
Captain Who finds himself ending up in a dense vacant lot in the search for the child kidnapped that night. He knows that the victim is around here. In the light of the moon, he sees a shadow moving on the treetops. He follows it with his gaze while heightening his senses. Rustling. Head turn. Strong wind. He lowers his gaze to invite the presence of the shadow once more. Nothing. He continues walking. He hears a noise. From the old hospital? He gazes at the abandoned Lunas Hospital. The shadow moves once more. He ignores it, moving toward the direction of the noise. A loud scream! Captain Who answers with a powerful leap. The window of the old building shatters as the savior bursts through. There was no light in the place except for the moon's rays streaming in. He looks to the left, nobody. He look to the right, an animal covered in hair surprises him. And with that a punch to his face that throws him to a column. Concrete collapses on him. The whole place goes darker with airborne dust. He was still trying to figure out what's going on when the hairy beast stood upon him once more; it was a man, but covered in hair four inches thick. It holds him in the neck, before throwing him like a rag to the other side of the room. The rotting beds and rusting steel cabinets crumple under him. Not satisfied, the creature follows him and kicks him out to the corridor. The wall he hits collapses. He struggles to stand up and protect himself. With a strong and sudden clapping of his palms, he is able to make a blast field that could protect himself from the hairy man's flying kick. But it wasn't on time, and they both fly off on impact. He immediately gets up to go on the offensive. Using thermo-chemical energy on his fists like a projectile ten horsepower strong, he punches the enemy away to several meters.
Paaagh!
And again. Paaagh!
One more. Paaagh!
The creature's body is broken in all places as he lays on the restroom, water spraying all over from a broken tube.
The shouts of the victim from the other room grow louder. A desperate punch almost kissed the face of Captain Who when he traps it with his right fist. The cracking of the enemies bones echoed out, but it was not enough to stop it's left hand from grasping his right.. Captain Who's arm is almost ripped off. He immediately lets go of the hairy man's fist, which lead to him being thrown like a cannon ball.
Baaagh! Baaagh! Baaagh!
He makes holes through three walls of the hospital. He tries to stand up but couldn't. Dust from the holes in the wall, crumbled foundations, shattered plywood, and cracked tiles and cement fill the air. It was as if a war took place inside the old hospital. The hairy man tries to sense if the superhero who dared enter his lair is still alive. A minute of silence.
Zzzt.
Something sparks in the darkness.
Zzzt. Zzzt.
The monster comes closer. He can't see anything except for a tiny blue flame from where Captain Who is at.
Zzzt.
Another glance.
Zzzt… Gabbbooooom!!!
The enemy is blown away by a giant ball of white fire from the palms of Captain Who. A lightning bolt that illuminated the entire first floor throws the creature to the other side of the building. Captain Who is amazed at the power that he only managed to perform correctly now. He was caressing his palms while standing up when he hears the voice of his enemy.
"Do not hurt my son!"
In between burning pieces of wood, Captain Who looks for the source of the voice. He sees the hand of his enemy trapped under collapsed shelves. He was going to help him when he hears it speaking again, a few steps from his the arm.
"Do not hurt my son! He did nothing wrong!"
The left hand of the hairy man is cut off. And he was burnt from the stomach down. He is now only using his right hand to lift his head off the floor and look at the person he is talking to. In this pitiful state, Captain Who sees the man under the hair.
"You are the monster who kills people?"
"I am the monster made by people," Solomon Suico smiles before surrendering his back to the ground. "Forget cuffing me and flying me to jail…that only happens in comic books. In real life, that isn't what happens when someone like you and someone like me meets. You save the city, I save my son." He looks at Captain Who. "We both have obligations."
"Where is the child?"
"Do not hurt my soooooon!" With all his might, Mayor Suico shouts, begging, and he soon finds the reason why: his son is behind him.
Hooohrghh… Hooohhrrghhh….
A deep and rattling cry, but unmistakably human. Captain Who carefully turns around. Every move calculated. Carefully, with held breath. Until he sees under the lights of the scattered fires a whale-like giant. As tall as him. More than two meters long. Covered in thick fur, like the Mayor. It has small feet by it's back that you could mistake for a torn tail, and short stubby hands by its sides, but all of them – its hands and feet – serve no function. It can only crawl like a giant worm.
"I tried being humanitarian to fulfill my lack of humanity. I didn't want to pass my disease to my son…I didn't know he will have it so much worse," Suico is crying. "He only needs the protein in human blood…blood we could buy before. But my son is growing. And the supply and money to buy blood is no longer enough."
Captain Who slowly retreats as the giant with the repulsive smell comes closer. "Eight infants and five mothers simultaneously died in this hospital when it was closed down. So the people saying it wasn't because of the epidemic are speaking the truth?"
"There is nothing right with their minds!" The Mayor is writhing just trying to speak. "They know nothing. They are the leeches of the world. Parasites to one another!"
"The people do not know when what they're doing is wrong."
"But they also do not do what they know is right! Pests waiting for someone to save them…I am the only one that gives hope in this town!"
"And you charge it with the citizen's lives?"
"Because that is their debt to me!"
Captain Who has reached the end of the room, nowhere to back down now. He feels the cold of the wall he is forced to lean on, and the weight of the giant crushing him on the front. It's breath reaches inside the helmet, which is now reflecting the approaching creature. It's mouth is two spans wide, like a wallet that couldn't be opened much, full of human teeth.
"My son's name is Michael…he has a name…not 'aswang³', not 'tikbalang4', not 'monster!'" the mayor's anger turns to crying once more. "He is the only memory of my wife left, who died serving this town."
The whale slowly bites Captain Who in the shoulder, a playful nibble by a dog to it's owner. The savior endures the slight pain while trying to read the giant's intentions, trying to avoid violence.
"Michaeeeeeeel!" A shout from the father. Only then did Captain Who see the blood flooding the floor killing some of the small fires. He looks at the Mayor, the blood isn't his; his own shoulder, no wound; Michael, still looking at him with human like eyes, but slowly fading. The blood pouring out of his side grew stronger, cut by a steel sink, turned upside down, rusting, and torn with a sharp point.
"My son…" the father who has almost ran out of breath weakly lamented.
Captain Who stares at the spilling blood of the people of Pelaez from the heavy body of the Mayor's son, which despite him shouldn't and couldn't be able to do, crawled to his father's side. Michael finally collapses before the blood keeping him alive for all this years stopped spilling out.
The victim?! Captain Who suddenly remembers about the kidnapped child. He runs to every corner of the hospital to look for the kid that could still be saved. He sees the child in a pungent room with beddings on the floor, this probably being the place where Michael once hid. But he grows weak and his lungs tighten when he approaches the prostrated victim: with pulse, but without clothing, bloody, unconscious…and not a child but a woman. Tessa. He quickly carries her out of the place to bring to a doctor.
After arriving at the hospital, Captain Who quickly leaves the girl. Behind him comes the hurried arrival of Rogelio. Who is met by the news that Tessa has passed away.
Translation Notes:
1 – Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (but it’s been a long time since they were called that. PLDT is now the largest telecom and internet company in the Philippines)
2 – Radio Communications Philippines Inc. They aren’t around anymore, but they used to be the company to go to for telegrams.
3 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswang
4 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikbalang
Both are mythological creatures in Philippine mythos. I ‘ll go more in-depth with this in future projects, since most Philippine Fantasy is centered around PH mythos too.
It was around twelve when Rogelio entered his room. After putting away a few things atop his bed, he takes off his shirt and hangs it on a nail on the wall, next to a poster of dogs playing billiards, an old calendar with a picture of the Sto. Nino, and a new calendar of Phoebe Cates using her hands to cover her nude chest. He lays down on the mattress of the bamboo bed with hands behind his head, while thinking and savoring the moments he spent with Tessa. He keeps on replaying the scenes in his head, trying to ignore the drunk neighbors a few steps from their place.
"Did you get to call him?" Shouted one drunk guy.
"I didn't bother, he could be asleep."
"What time is it in Saudi anyway?"
He knows the voice of the loud man, the new tenant on the house beside Aling Precious. A nice guy, but is really chatty when drunk…which is every Friday and Saturday. And the other five days of the week.
"Just call him tomorrow, guy won't die. Hahahaha!" The guy who people with relatives abroad go to is drunk. There are only a few people with PLDT¹ in Pelaez, and this drunk guy is the only person you could ask to for overseas calls. According to Bok-bok.
"Mother is going to RCPI² tomorrow again," answered the other guy. "She won't stop sending telegrams until she hears about Joel."
"Relax, the company'll send him home once all his colleagues are sick. Hahahahaha!"
"Then, I think I'll just be returning tomorrow."
"You don't wanna drink?"
There were murmurs from a few other guys before an explosion of raucous laughter. This was followed by the barking of dogs, the sound of opening San Miguels³, bottle caps splattering around. A common sight in these kinds of crowds. Rogelio tries to sleep. He covers his face with a pillow when the drunkards suddenly go silent. The barking of dogs took over. The sound of falling bottles. Incoherent conversations but there was clearly no laughter. Chairs are pulled out. Running.
"What did the guy who kidnap the kid look like?"
He suddenly gets up to look out the window. The only one remaining on the street is a short man, with hands on his waist staring at his mates running off, not knowing what to do, nor what to answer to the questions of the women exiting their homes one by one.
Captain Who finds himself ending up in a dense vacant lot in the search for the child kidnapped that night. He knows that the victim is around here. In the light of the moon, he sees a shadow moving on the treetops. He follows it with his gaze while heightening his senses. Rustling. Head turn. Strong wind. He lowers his gaze to invite the presence of the shadow once more. Nothing. He continues walking. He hears a noise. From the old hospital? He gazes at the abandoned Lunas Hospital. The shadow moves once more. He ignores it, moving toward the direction of the noise. A loud scream! Captain Who answers with a powerful leap. The window of the old building shatters as the savior bursts through. There was no light in the place except for the moon's rays streaming in. He looks to the left, nobody. He look to the right, an animal covered in hair surprises him. And with that a punch to his face that throws him to a column. Concrete collapses on him. The whole place goes darker with airborne dust. He was still trying to figure out what's going on when the hairy beast stood upon him once more; it was a man, but covered in hair four inches thick. It holds him in the neck, before throwing him like a rag to the other side of the room. The rotting beds and rusting steel cabinets crumple under him. Not satisfied, the creature follows him and kicks him out to the corridor. The wall he hits collapses. He struggles to stand up and protect himself. With a strong and sudden clapping of his palms, he is able to make a blast field that could protect himself from the hairy man's flying kick. But it wasn't on time, and they both fly off on impact. He immediately gets up to go on the offensive. Using thermo-chemical energy on his fists like a projectile ten horsepower strong, he punches the enemy away to several meters.
Paaagh!
And again. Paaagh!
One more. Paaagh!
The creature's body is broken in all places as he lays on the restroom, water spraying all over from a broken tube.
The shouts of the victim from the other room grow louder. A desperate punch almost kissed the face of Captain Who when he traps it with his right fist. The cracking of the enemies bones echoed out, but it was not enough to stop it's left hand from grasping his right.. Captain Who's arm is almost ripped off. He immediately lets go of the hairy man's fist, which lead to him being thrown like a cannon ball.
Baaagh! Baaagh! Baaagh!
He makes holes through three walls of the hospital. He tries to stand up but couldn't. Dust from the holes in the wall, crumbled foundations, shattered plywood, and cracked tiles and cement fill the air. It was as if a war took place inside the old hospital. The hairy man tries to sense if the superhero who dared enter his lair is still alive. A minute of silence.
Zzzt.
Something sparks in the darkness.
Zzzt. Zzzt.
The monster comes closer. He can't see anything except for a tiny blue flame from where Captain Who is at.
Zzzt.
Another glance.
Zzzt… Gabbbooooom!!!
The enemy is blown away by a giant ball of white fire from the palms of Captain Who. A lightning bolt that illuminated the entire first floor throws the creature to the other side of the building. Captain Who is amazed at the power that he only managed to perform correctly now. He was caressing his palms while standing up when he hears the voice of his enemy.
"Do not hurt my son!"
In between burning pieces of wood, Captain Who looks for the source of the voice. He sees the hand of his enemy trapped under collapsed shelves. He was going to help him when he hears it speaking again, a few steps from his the arm.
"Do not hurt my son! He did nothing wrong!"
The left hand of the hairy man is cut off. And he was burnt from the stomach down. He is now only using his right hand to lift his head off the floor and look at the person he is talking to. In this pitiful state, Captain Who sees the man under the hair.
"You are the monster who kills people?"
"I am the monster made by people," Solomon Suico smiles before surrendering his back to the ground. "Forget cuffing me and flying me to jail…that only happens in comic books. In real life, that isn't what happens when someone like you and someone like me meets. You save the city, I save my son." He looks at Captain Who. "We both have obligations."
"Where is the child?"
"Do not hurt my soooooon!" With all his might, Mayor Suico shouts, begging, and he soon finds the reason why: his son is behind him.
Hooohrghh… Hooohhrrghhh….
A deep and rattling cry, but unmistakably human. Captain Who carefully turns around. Every move calculated. Carefully, with held breath. Until he sees under the lights of the scattered fires a whale-like giant. As tall as him. More than two meters long. Covered in thick fur, like the Mayor. It has small feet by it's back that you could mistake for a torn tail, and short stubby hands by its sides, but all of them – its hands and feet – serve no function. It can only crawl like a giant worm.
"I tried being humanitarian to fulfill my lack of humanity. I didn't want to pass my disease to my son…I didn't know he will have it so much worse," Suico is crying. "He only needs the protein in human blood…blood we could buy before. But my son is growing. And the supply and money to buy blood is no longer enough."
Captain Who slowly retreats as the giant with the repulsive smell comes closer. "Eight infants and five mothers simultaneously died in this hospital when it was closed down. So the people saying it wasn't because of the epidemic are speaking the truth?"
"There is nothing right with their minds!" The Mayor is writhing just trying to speak. "They know nothing. They are the leeches of the world. Parasites to one another!"
"The people do not know when what they're doing is wrong."
"But they also do not do what they know is right! Pests waiting for someone to save them…I am the only one that gives hope in this town!"
"And you charge it with the citizen's lives?"
"Because that is their debt to me!"
Captain Who has reached the end of the room, nowhere to back down now. He feels the cold of the wall he is forced to lean on, and the weight of the giant crushing him on the front. It's breath reaches inside the helmet, which is now reflecting the approaching creature. It's mouth is two spans wide, like a wallet that couldn't be opened much, full of human teeth.
"My son's name is Michael…he has a name…not 'aswang³', not 'tikbalang4', not 'monster!'" the mayor's anger turns to crying once more. "He is the only memory of my wife left, who died serving this town."
The whale slowly bites Captain Who in the shoulder, a playful nibble by a dog to it's owner. The savior endures the slight pain while trying to read the giant's intentions, trying to avoid violence.
"Michaeeeeeeel!" A shout from the father. Only then did Captain Who see the blood flooding the floor killing some of the small fires. He looks at the Mayor, the blood isn't his; his own shoulder, no wound; Michael, still looking at him with human like eyes, but slowly fading. The blood pouring out of his side grew stronger, cut by a steel sink, turned upside down, rusting, and torn with a sharp point.
"My son…" the father who has almost ran out of breath weakly lamented.
Captain Who stares at the spilling blood of the people of Pelaez from the heavy body of the Mayor's son, which despite him shouldn't and couldn't be able to do, crawled to his father's side. Michael finally collapses before the blood keeping him alive for all this years stopped spilling out.
The victim?! Captain Who suddenly remembers about the kidnapped child. He runs to every corner of the hospital to look for the kid that could still be saved. He sees the child in a pungent room with beddings on the floor, this probably being the place where Michael once hid. But he grows weak and his lungs tighten when he approaches the prostrated victim: with pulse, but without clothing, bloody, unconscious…and not a child but a woman. Tessa. He quickly carries her out of the place to bring to a doctor.
After arriving at the hospital, Captain Who quickly leaves the girl. Behind him comes the hurried arrival of Rogelio. Who is met by the news that Tessa has passed away.
Translation Notes:
1 – Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (but it’s been a long time since they were called that. PLDT is now the largest telecom and internet company in the Philippines)
2 – Radio Communications Philippines Inc. They aren’t around anymore, but they used to be the company to go to for telegrams.
3 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswang
4 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikbalang
Both are mythological creatures in Philippine mythos. I ‘ll go more in-depth with this in future projects, since most Philippine Fantasy is centered around PH mythos too.
