Thunderstruck

Of all the sounds Ramil heard that morning, the hum of a car passing by was the least expected. He looked up from his gardening and watched the bright red top of an Innova just visible over his yard's stone fence. Ramil glanced at his dog, Pilyo, playing with a black beetle it had spotted in the grass, unbothered by the strange vehicle.

Ramil continued to watch, clapping dirt off his gloves, as the car took the nearest right from the main road.

It was called the La-Lakay Road, named after the family that owned the land that it was on. At the end of that uphill road was a residence of the same name. Everyone in the village knew it was haunted.

"Interesting," he said under his breath, just as his dog started barking, finally giving the car some attention.

Eventually, their view of the red top was obscured by trees. Pilyo stopped barking and went back to the grass, finding the beetle had long gone.

Ramil tossed his gloves onto a wooden table by his front porch and disappeared into his house for a couple of minutes before emerging with fresh clothes and Pilyo's leash. Where he had only been wearing overalls and no shirt while gardening, now he wore a white shirt with a faded rock album print at the front, and jeans. He was still barefoot, but on his other hand he held brown Caterpillars.

The dog heard the familiar tinkle of the metal carabiner at the end of the leash and rushed to Ramil's side. Ramil put on a wide brimmed wicker hat over his longish coarse black hair, put on his high ankle, leather shoes and he and Pilyo were out the gate.

It was going to be quite the walk, Ramil knew, if indeed the car was going where they thought it was going, but he didn't mind. If Pilyo was at his side, any length of walk felt like nothing to him. He didn't want to use his pickup truck, as Pilyo didn't like being in any vehicle, and he would rather have the dog with him for where they were going.

The red car had quite the lead already, but they were in no danger of losing it. From this point on, there was only one way, and it ended in only one place.

Pilyo kept him at a brisk walking pace, but as they ventured further up the road, and the trees grew closer and closer to each other, the road abruptly switching from concrete to hard-packed dirt, the dog slowed down.

"We'll be fine, P," Ramil said, gently tugging at the leash, for Pilyo has now slowed enough to be lagging behind. Ramil pulled out a small, slender piece of yellow crystal from his jeans pocket. Whatever little sunlight broke through the now-thick canopy made the stone sparkle. Splinters of light bounced off of Ramil's tan face, and onto Pilyo's brown fur.

The sight of it seems to have been good enough for Pilyo, as the dog now walked at an even pace with his human.

Ramil checked his watch. Unsurprisingly, the hands had stopped working. He gave it a noncommittal tap. It did not work. He pulled out his phone and found the screen to be unresponsive. The volume and power buttons at the side worked, at least well enough to activate the screen. But any swipe or tap Ramil did had no corresponding effect on the screen at all. He could at least see that somehow, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

"We haven't been walking for 8 hours, have we, P?" Ramil asked. Pilyo whined in response. It was Ramil's turn to reassure himself everything was going to be fine.

The sight of a shiny red amidst the green and the brown informed them of their trek's end. A deep rumble came from the back of Pilyo's throat. It was not towards the car, but at the house next to it.

The La-Lakay house was a two storey building, with unremarkable architectural features. It was made completely of wood. Its walls were white, and the roof and trim were chocolate brown. The steepness of the triangular roof gave it a church-like silhouette. Indeed, the weather-vane lazily spinning at the top could be seen as a cross if you squinted.