The Moon of Bathala

Chapter 1

The march was slow and cumbersome while the sun beat down behind my polo shirt, making it hard to breathe. Even though I've sloughed some SPF lotion on my skin earlier and I was holding an umbrella over me and my lola, I felt like we were in an oven. I didn't complain though. 

The large car carrying lolo's body was inching in a snail's pace in front of me, and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying again. It was only the fifth day since he had left us, and I still can hardly make myself believe that he is gone forever. 

Lolo was suffering of lung cancer, and it seemed like it was only yesterday that I was with him in our farm, helping out with the vegetable garden while Lola was busy with the washing of clothes. Our house is respectively small and near a sloping hill behind a small lake. Lolo had a small plot of land to farm in, and I would help him tend to the palay we eat. 

"Iha," he asked me that day. "Someday I'll be gone but the world will still keep on moving. I wouldn't want you to be sad and alone when I go, you understand? You are more loved than you think, and they are always watching over you."

"Who are 'they', lolo? My parents? My sister?" I had asked him.

He shook his head, and then pointed northward, a steady wind blowing so. I must have been high on something when a woman's face suddenly appeared through the wispy clouds and smiled down on us. Then she disappeared. 

I was only five years old, and lolo's mystical stories of diwatas and enkantos rang clear and true in my head.  Now, I was sixteen. Ten good more years of lolo being with us until he couldn't stand up without breathing laboriously. 

He was going to be buried in the Siniloan Local Cemetery, nearest to the acacia tree, and a lot of people had attended. Lolo was a good man, too generous my lola used to say, but everyone respected him in the barangay. 

I could see some of his friends, who were the parents of my teachers in school, others who knew him, some barangay tanods, and even some of my classmates' parents. And of course, my parents, with my lovely sister, Marissa.

Marissa was two years younger than me, but she was my complete difference. I'm Jaycee, the country girl, and my skin was always tinged a dark tan because I spent more hours tending to the farm than inside. I never wore make-up, is a simple girl with simple needs, and I was happy without wearing preppy clothes. T-shirts and pants is always my routine.

Marissa was beautiful, a city girl, and she was wearing a stylish black dress and dark sparkly half-heeled shoes. Her skin was a deal lot fairer than mine, and I believed she was wearing black mascara and a light pink lipstick that made her skin blush. She was holding a lacy umbrella above her head, but she was still wearing a little bob hat with a net over her eyes. She looked like someone who walked out of a cover magazine, in my opinion.

Our parents walked between us, also festering in the mid-morning heat. "Anica-" I hated being called my second name - "Want some water, honey?" My mom dug in the bag she was holding and then gave me a cold, sweating bottle of water.

I drank gratefully, and also gave some to my lola. 

"Salamat, iha," she told me. I nodded and then tucked the now nearing half-empty bottle in my own bag. I watched Marissa out of my eye, and saw her talking away quietly on her sleek white Iphone. 

"Ang init-init kaya rito! Next time, magdadala na ako ng air-con, mas madali pa buhay ko!" she said into it.

I pursed my lips and stared straight on. Laguna was a really really hot place, but if you lived in it for a decade, you get used to the heat that you're almost resilient to the heat. I didn't look back at Marissa as papa told her off for using her phone. 

I had other things to think about, thankfully. Other from Marissa and some teachers, I saw Oliver Jace Sandoval and his tita walking at the other side of the small crowd following the car. He gave me a small wave when our eyes met. 

Jace is one of the best basketball player in the school, gwapo, and surprisingly, a good boy who kept up with his grades. He also prays a lot, and even though there were girls who followed him around, he has never had a girlfriend. 

How do I know this? Sinabi niya sa akin eh. 

I met Jace in our annual Sportsfest, just after the Math race. We were in first place, thanks to my color-mates, and they came in second. Jace had approached me then, telling me that I should give him small lessons once in a while. Later did I find out that he was only a section away from me. Some Fridays, we would get together in the library and then teach each other Mathematics, even delving into more lessons and chapters we would later tackle in our own classes.

He's a good friend, nothing more than that. 

"Ate, who's he?" Marissa's voice jerked me out of my thoughts as she poked me with a sharp, manicured finger. She motioned towards Jace.

"Kaibigan ko siya," I answered her.

"What's his name? Does he have a Facebook account?" she pressed.

I turned my face away to roll my eyes. "Jace Sandoval. You like him, don't you?" I poked my sister in turn. She giggled. She was so predictable when it came to cute guys.

"Maybe." Then she looped her arm around my own. "Papa said you're coming back with us in the city," she said conspiratorially, as if papa would overhear whatever diabolical plan she had in mind. "We talked about it with lola. It's time you have a change of scenery."

I bit my lip. "That sounds great," I tried to sound happy, but the prospect of leaving everything me and lolo had in here sounded worse than his death. "Let's just ..."

"Yes, yes, okay ..." Marissa said but continued on describing the condominium they had in Makati, where it was so big for only her to occupy. 

My mind wandered off, remembering the stories lolo would tell me when the night was so cold that I couldn't sleep. What he would tell me about was the story of the Diwata who fell in love with a simple farmer.

The diwata once strayed too close to Earth. Mesmerized by the beautiful sights, she dashed into a tree and fell down unconscious, her wings torn. A farmer found the divine creature. He took great care of her and inevitably they fell in love. The diwata and the farmer married and had a child.

 But every night, the diwata would look at the heavens and think about her family and friends there. So, one day she decided to pay them a visit, and took off with her son. When she reached the Enkanta kingdom, the king was furious at her for straying too far, and confiscated her wings. 

She couldn't go back to her husband and became morose, looking down, for hours at the river near their house. The farmer too, would stand on its bank, waiting for his wife and child. One day, the king chanced upon the lovesick couple, and taking pity on them, made a bridge of seven gleaming colors for the diwata to climb down and spend a few precious moments with the farmer.  

The story is used to instill fear, and respect boundaries. Although it was a bit morbid to some, I think it was beautiful, because rainbows still symbolizes hope and love, just like the old story of Noah and the arc of the Bible. 

"Uy, ate. You might stumble," Marissa tugged me back before I fell down the stony walkway of the cemetery. I was brought back to the real world, and Marissa looked at me worriedly. "Are you sick? You look pale." She placed a hand on my forehead experimentally, and then scrutinized my lips. "And you need lip gloss. Your lips are chapped."

"Girls, bilisan niyo diyan. We have to be there with your lola," mom called back at us as they went on with the procession. 

"Yes, mom, just helping ate out." Marissa gave them a sparkly smile with her straight and pearly teeth. I groaned inwardly. 

Living with Marissa looked like it posed a greater challenge than ignoring girls' whispers behind my back.