-A TALE OF THE FLEETING GORGON-
It was on long sands-a-time ago, approximately nine years when I lived a merry princess life. I had everything, a loving parents, a sole child position, a great castle to stay, a garden to spend with, and books to read. My parents were the richest in town, both from the known clans of merchants from the far east.
They were both social philhellenes. They would always tell me stories about Greece, as well as Greek mythology, from library readings, to bedtime stories; it's what binds our family after all.
My favorite was that of the gorgon, Medusa: her story of beauty, protection, and fall; the gorgon who curses you with a stare, may it be lurid or not; the story of her fleeting existence.
But who would've thought...
She would show her existence one night?
That night when everything I have become 'had' after falling apart?
The night, where the darkness starts becoming endless, with the lullabies of the weeping walls and cacophonies of the ripped bedtime pages.
Everything was clear even 'til now.
I can't still forget the irony of her eyes...
Pagmulat ng mga mata ni Agnes, ay unang sumalubong sa kaniya ang buhay na lampara ng gabi. Puminta ang kahel nitong liwanag sa buong silid na kinaroroonan niya.
Agnes raised her body from her bed, malalim na ang gabi at naglalaro sa ere ang mga pamilyar na awit ng mga insekto at ibang nilalang na kinukubli ng dilim.
Hindi na isang salamin ang sumalubong sa kaniyang mga mata sa kaniyang pagbangon kun'di ang naiwan nitong kuwadro matapos niyang gawing bubog ang laman nito.
Sa sumunod na sandali ay makikita ang anino ng pagtayo ng dalaga na sinundan ng paggalaw ng liwanag sa loob ng silid. Agnes was now holding the lamp as she walked out of her room.
Nasa madilim na pasilyo na siya ng bahay kung saan nakasabit sa bawat gilid na pader ang ilang mga naglalakihang kuwadro ng mga pintura ng tao. Nagliliwanag ang bawat isa sa mga ito sa tuwing ito'y kaniyang nadadaanan, at sa nakakabinging katahimikan ng pasilyo, tila buhay ang mga mata nitong nakasunod lamang ng tingin sa kaniyang mga kilos.
Dinala si Agnes ng kaniyang mga paa sa harap ng pares ng pintuang papasok sa abandunadong botanical garden ng bahay. Its creaking yet thuding sounds echoed through the dark when she opened it to enter. Sinalubong ang kaniyang mukha ng liwanag ng buwan na pumapasok sa sira at bukas na mga bintana ng naturang bahay-halaman.
The moonlight hit the skin of her face as she entered the jilted garden. Her pet frog greeted her in the lurking shadows.
"D'yan ka lang, Penong." Shortly she gave him attention before walking straight to the bed of red spider lilies where the bright moon directly silvered, highlighting the as if floating blood-drops by the sight.
She stopped in front of it and gave it her usual stare. The next moment she bent her body, knelt down to put the lamp on the soil.
'All these years, I tried hard to live an accursed life...' Agnes closed her eyes and breathed heavily.
'Was looking at her eyes truly worth the sacrifice?'
'If so... why can't I still find the answers that I've been looking for? Why can't I still find my peace after going to a faraway land where those bygone memories weren't born?'
Ang kaniyang American-frog ay nakatingin lang sa kaniya sa malapit at nag-ingay nang isang beses.
'Why does it seem like the more I tried to get far, the more that night pulls me back?'
Something from the inside of her is burning again, and she doesn't even know what it is.
'Why must that night happen?'
"Bakit kailangan niyong gawin ang mga kasalanang iyon?" Sa sumunod na sandali, naramdaman na lamang ni Agnes ang kakatwang lamig ng hangin na yumakap sa katauhan niya kasabay ng banayad na pag-sayaw ng apoy sa loob ng lampara na tila hinipan ng isang 'di malaman-lamang puwersa.
"All this time... I still can't forget those horrifying caterwauls." Nagmulat ng mga mata si Agnes.
"Did I really grow strong, and almost different from those princesses told by fairytales?" The redness of the spider lilies met her eyes again.
The face of Aquil flashed in her mind out of the lurking blues.
"Or to no avail, my growth became stagnant, making me indifferent from those damsel princesses who needed their own prince to get what they call 'happily ever after'?"
"Certainly, I'm not sure" Sumunod na bumalik sa kaniyang isip ang mga ala-ala ng yumaong tiyahin at ang mga sinabi nito. Pati na rin ang mga naging reaksyon at pakikitungo ng mga taong nakapalibot sa kaniya.
"But one thing I realized now..." The picture of that little girl she saw on the painting made her eyes close upon flashing back on her mind.
Somehow, she looked calmer now.
"...is that I'm tired." In her mind, she saw herself naked at the center of bristly vines that wrap around her entirety.
"And I need to get free."
BINABASA MO ANG
Victims of Medusa｜PUBLISHED UNDER UKIYOTO
Fiksi Remaja[The Jose Memorial Awards for Literature WINNER] Set in the late '80s, antisocial teenager Agnes Delgado, suffers from a mental disorder that makes her not cry, and a genetic condition that devoids her tactility. But what happens when she meets Aqui...
