Scisces-Libquarius: Mind Jammed

Lonely Narrative

Miles PoV

I returned to the classroom, fresh off my lunch in the University cafe. When the bell rang, the rest of the class returned to their tables. Except one... Ron. His seat was empty, and I noticed that a few other of our classmates; My crush Annalie, Mally, a girl she fought, Arvin, and Armando. Though probably they're just his group mates in the other subject. I finished my projects and wandered around the school. 

Days passed, and Ron didn't show up, Sir Ralph later announced that Ron was nowhere to be found. Fast-forward a few days after the first quarter exams and submitting projects, it was now time for a break.

I was in my bedroom with the light turned off, and I had just scrolled down the old Outcasts GC, I missed them... 

Then my mom came in, she had snow-white streaks on her jet black wavy hair, she was in her pajamas, "Hey Milly, I just want to let you know to prepare your stuff for the family reunion," she told me, "Probably one of my cousins would show up, one of your classmates goes by A-"

"-I'm not much in the mood to make friends right now, mom," I interrupted.

"Why is that?" my mom gently asked.

"I lost my friends, some went away, some formed other friendships," I responded with a weighed down face and bittersweet tone, "And eventually not much talk..."

She then sat at the side of my bed, "What about that girl you spent with during grade 7?" my mom asked.

"That didn't work out," I replied.

My mom slowly patted my head, she went out, and eventually, I fell asleep.

That midnight, I woke up and prepared my stuff for the trip.

My family left four in the morning. I played a mixed playlist of Alex Lizayes songs and Miles Tamathe, and the songs eased my brain to let me fall asleep for the whole trip.

When I woke up, we were at the beach hotel in Sipalay. My relatives had already moved into their rooms, my younger cousins were playing at the pool. 

I got off the car; my parents helped me settle to my room that was across theirs. The white walls were panelled with strips of wood, the floor was made of porcelain tiles and the window had a great view of the beach. 

While my older cousins were either swimming, sleeping, or taking a massage. I was busy strolling at the rough sands of the shore, and then I saw a girl with long raven hair and I recognized a familiar face... it was Annalie. Also known as my crush.

Later that evening, I was kept awake by the snores of the adults. Through the window, I saw her by the seashore. I was scared of going out because the last time I went out, I was kidnapped and got a friend of mine killed...

But I said to myself that I wouldn't be able to have a moment like this with her, she was really a hard person to be close with.

So I went outside, she was in blue pyjamas and slippers, gazing on the azure shore.

The breezing moon illuminated the sparkling design on her clothes.

Which made me embarrass about my yellow tank top, shorts and crocs.

I didn't know what to do, I don't want to screw things up, so I approached her and stopped at my tracks behind her, my voice went to panic mode, "So what's a girl like you? Doing in a place like this?" I sang in a cringe-worthy way. In times like this, I wish I had Ron's voice.

She turned around, looking a bit unimpressed, arms crossed. And I had to respond quickly before I get beaten up, "Hi I'm Miles, from school," I introduced myself.

"You're the one Mally talked about," she noted. Even with her stone-cold expression, she still looked beautiful, "What are you doing here?"

"Family reunion," I responded, "You?"

"Just took a vacation," she replied, "I think I even saw another classmate of ours."

My heart began to panic, another challenger? Dammit.

Our awkward silence was interrupted by a sound of flapping wings.

We ducked, "Relax, it was just probably a bat," Annalie told me.

Then my attention was caught by a grey figure from afar. As it got closer, I saw that it was some kind of mutated creature that looked similar to an aswang.

Annalie grabbed my hand, "Let's go to the forest, we could lose it," she told me.

I followed along, I mean maybe more can happen after we... lose it.

We dashed into the thick dark crowd of trees.

Our surroundings got darker until the full moon was covered by the canopy of trees.

We assumed we've lost it and for a while, we thought we did.

Then we heard another sound of flapping wings, we didn't have much time to react because Annalie was swooped from the ground.

I had a glance at the creature with bat-like wings, long tail, sharp claws that grabbed Annalie by the shoulders. She managed to struggle out of the grip and she plummeted ten feet to the ground.

Meanwhile, I had to deal with a mutated humanoid bird.

"Miles!" Annalie screamed.

And she slammed a detached branch straight to the bird's head.

Now we had to deal with the aswang that chased us earlier.

Annalie tugged me to the ground, "Stay down pretty face, I got this!" she boasted.

She charged through the aswang and slapped it.

The monstrosity retaliated by lunging itself at her, wrapped its tongue around her stomach and scratched her with its's sharp claws at Annalie's back.

Annalie screamed in pain and slammed herself against a nearby tree trunk.

The aswang's grip got weakened enough for Annalie to slip out.

But it didn't give up so easily, it crawled towards me and I backed myself behind a tree, the monster got closer, and all I could do was throw anything nearby, then I picked up a rusted metal rod.

I swung the rod and killed the aswang, Annalie came close to me, she reached for a hand, "Nice swing," she commented. 

We then continued to run as fast as we could, after an intense dash, we hid behind a large tree to rest. The beats from our hearts were so rapid that we could hear it, I think mine even pushed against my lungs.

We took deep breaths to calm ourselves from the horrors we just been through. After we soothed ourselves down, A galloping sound and neighs began to echo from the darkness. 

We didn't want to take chances so we began to run again.

We dashed through the rough soils, ducked under a fallen branch and climbed some elevated rocks until we were cornered to a cliff.

I knew we were in high ground. The monster that chased us emerged from the shadow.

It was another mutated creature that resembled the Philippine monster: Tikbalang, a creature that a horse head body of a man and the legs of a horse.

Annalie gathered a handful of dust and cast it at the creature. But the wind made it drift to my eyes.

I had to cover my eyes to clean it, I still had my rod so I swung it towards the Tikbalang's face but it dodged it.

I slipped and plunged to the bottom of the cliff.