The Tiyanak

The Strength

Alicia's eyes opened for what felt like the hundredth time, even though she had forced them shut moments before. It was like they were attached to springs and couldn't keep open for any length of time. She twisted on the bed, normally her mattress soft enough to carry her to the land of dreams – but even now she could not be eased to rest. She thumped the mattress a couple of times in frustration – although exhaustion nullified her punches somewhat.

She wanted to sleep so badly. She was so very tired. And yet, she was afraid that when she closed her eyes that the screams would start again; that she would see – it. Though her body ached for rest, it would not be forthcoming anytime soon.

Alicia decided to upload a video to her blog, just to update her followers. She didn't really say much – just how tired she was and how things were getting on top of her. Not one of her best.

Racing for anything that might give her reprieve, Alicia reached for the copy of Macbeth by her bedside table. She had started reading a little bit in the hope that she would drift off; so far it hadn't helped. Alicia was in a production of Macbeth, she remembered – she played Lady Macbeth. Alicia limply opened the middle pages with a morose yawn; appearing on the scene where Macbeth had just done the murder of Duncan, and how he cursed that he had 'murdered sleep'.

Alicia loved acting – and hoped to go to drama school to eventually act professionally. She believed that she could be the next Jennifer Lawrence or Gal Gadot – mostly because she wanted to make Hollywood films, rather than just doing plays like everyone else in her class. Though she had fun in those days – messing around with her co-stars and just enjoying life.

Getting the part in Macbeth was a huge achievement for her. She was still pissed off that her sister hadn't come to any of her shows. Her father said it was because her sister was going through a bad spot – a boy she liked had just rejected her and it made her 'depression' worst. Alicia was so angry with her that such a stupid thing would set her off. She had even told her sister to 'sort her fucking life out'. And even when her sister admitted she felt like a 'selfish bitch', Alicia showed her no mercy. This was supposed to be her big moment. Even her aunt, who suffered from a bad back, travelled from London down to see her – and her sister couldn't walk two streets down to watch her show?

Alicia had always been angry about her sister's depression. Whenever her sister had a moment, Alicia just wanted to smack her as hard as she could. There used to be this song that she used to sing, but her singing was so off key it actually hurt Alicia to hear it – and she would have to leave the room.

Her father always tried to defend her, but Alicia wouldn't buy it. To her, she was just using her depression to get attention – probably because a lot of people were coming out with depression online, maybe her sister saw it as a trend. Everyone else may have been fooled, but Alicia wasn't – and she was quick to tell her that.

Apparently, suicide was also the trend of these people – seeing as her sister also did this. Some told Alicia her actions may have been a factor for it, but she wasn't going to believe that. If anything, her sister being gone meant that she could finally get on with her life.

Karma could be such a cunt.

It didn't look like she was going to get any sleep in a while, so she booted up her computer to see what was on YouTube. She found some videos of old Darla episodes that she liked to watch from time to time. Alicia used to watch these back home, although not many knew of her outside of the Philippines. But Alicia loved the idea of a a badass women kicking butt – the idea of feeling strong appealed to her in more ways than one. In this one video, it started with Black Darla (an evil doppelganger) using her superbreath to blow away people like leaves. Watching this, Alicia was reminded of the exercise she did in Ms Potts class today. She shook her head with a sarcastic smile.