Leyon

I

A girl warned me not to go anymore to the forest and just let my friends there.

"What a gloomy girl," I said while the girl is walking away from me towards the opposite part of the forest I'm looking at. "What is that 'Kids like you and your friends should go home now'? What is she our mother?"

I put my hands on my waist and shouted, "I am strong enough to live on my own!"

And then I ran into the forest to find my friends.

I have 4 friends: Beher, Jagar, Engoy, and Tigri. We used to play luksong baka, karerahan, tumbang preso, and played with slingshots, which is my favorite one because we look like a hunter every game. Right now, we are playing Hide and Seek, and I am the seeker, I wanted to find them as soon as possible, to win, of course.

As my right foot landed on the visible roots on the ground which we consider the borderline of the forest, I shivered and gulped. It was dead-quiet, the dead leaves slowly falling from the trees, there was no wind passing by but my body was shivering every time I stepped forward, the heaven is still orange and the moon in the corner of the sky is not that bright yet like a silver coin floating in the air. This is the first month of summer but it's so cold as if it was winter, but there is no winter season here. I hope there is. 

I felt like there were dumbbells above my shoulders and leg cuffs with a huge metal ball in my legs dragging it while moving forward slowly.

What is this, a curse? Is this forest a cursed place? No way! My dad and other villagers are hunting here for years and this is just beside our village.

I need to find my friends before the moon gets into the middle of the sky or else if I go home that late, my mother will smack me, for sure, I knew. And I wanted to eat her special Sinigang for dinner.

I looked beneath the log and I saw several red and brown worms crawling. Then I checked inside the log and I found a spider hanging with its web and a centipede stuck in the cobweb, it's still moving, forcing its way out. I checked inside and behind the bushes and trees, I am surrounded by green, several of them I don't know what kind, but most of the trees are Narra. Still, my friends are nowhere to be found. I started to hate the game called "Hide and Seek."

I remember what the girl said and now it is on my head, repeating over and over again: Kids like you and your friends should go home now...

I don't even know her name and I am sure she doesn't know my name as well, but she said that as if she was my mother or knows me a long time ago. What a joke.

The sky turned dark orange and the forest became darker.

I bit my lips and clutched my cloak; it's a birthday present for my seventh birthday 5 years ago. It was a cloak with a Lion's head on the hoodie part and a lion's fur on the shoulder part down to the middle back and the rest was a skin of a lion, I don't know if it was from a real lion, but I don't care since it is too comfortable and look real. My father said it's not a real lion but I still do believe it was. It was the best gift I ever received. I like lions so much, no; I love them especially their characteristics, I don't know why it's just.

"Hello?" I asked, almost shouted. No one replied.

I looked sideways and shouted, "Are you guys still here?" I put my hands on my cheeks and shouted many times: "Where-are-you!?"

I'm running out of air. I breathe deeply, deeply as I can, craving for more air with my hands on my knees.

I wanted to go home now but I shall not. I don't want to be defeated. I hate losing, especially to become a loser or to be called like that. I love victories. I like how people praise me for my glory. I always wanted to be on top, the best, the champion, the victor, and the undefeatable. 

"This sucks!"

My lips are already dried. My face is burning yet my body's shivering. I clenched my jaw and my teeth. I clutched my cloak tighter than before, soon it will be torn off.

I'm hearing loud noises beneath me every time I step forward, and then I realized I'm stomping. I cannot stop it; my body is moving on its own.

Tuko! a sound echoed in the forest.

I jumped as I heard it. My lips are trembling. I cannot see very well as the liquid in my eyes blocking my sight. I sprinted away from that place. I am brave, I said it to myself, repeatedly as I ran.

I stumbled over a branch stick that stuck on the ground. Fortunately, my hands landed on the ground first but my knees hurt, it stings.

I am about to get back on my feet when suddenly I felt something cold, dry at the same time sticky, and rough, touches my right leg, and then it grabs, tightly. Slowly, dragging it.

My eyes widened as well as my mouth then I clench my teeth, I screamed louder as I could. I stood up quickly; I sprinted as fast as I could away from that place without minding the pain and wounds in my lower body. 

It's so blurry, everything I see is blurred. I felt my cheeks are wet. I know, I'm still screaming, a deafening one.

What was that? What is happening? Did I disturb a Duwende? Is a Kapre fooling me? No way! I don't believe such a thing!