MGA PAKIWARI AT PAGMUMUNI-MUNI (An AlDub Collection of Poems and Short Stories)

Lost

Day 23 of AMACon Drabbles for Oikos.

I enjoyed writing this one again. 😬 I'm seeing a trend in what I'm liking to write lately so far 😅

Unbeta'ed and not proofread as always.

FICTION OK?? OK.

For you labs - kathartickat 💛 you inspired this. I love you. You know that right?

//

They were lost. Like middle-of-nowhere lost. Like they-don't-know-how-they-were-going-to-go-back-to-their-hotel lost. Like where-the-fuck-are-we-now lost.

Simply put, just lost.

"Menggay naman! Sabi ko kasi sayo kanina dapat di na tayo umalis sa Shibuya, eh," he complained, almost stomping his feet and pouting like a five-year old.

"RJ, mahal! Where's your sense of adventure?" she exasperatedly said, while checking the map app on her phone for their exact location.

"I left it back dun sa maraming tao," he mumbled. "Walang tao dito, mahal. Tapos malapit ng gumabi. Ang hirap pa man din maghanap ng marunong mag-English dito."

They were in Japan on the second leg of their honeymoon, the first being in Thailand where they enjoyed the spicy food and the white sand beaches that Maine loved. They decided to do a month-long honeymoon after their simple wedding back home and spend 4-5 days in each country that they had always wanted to visit. Of course, they would end their trip in Como, Italy where it all started.

They were on their last day in Japan, having enjoyed seeing and experiencing it - this time together - and Maine, as always, asked RJ to do something else other than their initial plan, much to RJ's distress.

"The map said na yung masarap na ramen place na yun eh around this area lang," she said, brows furrowed as she studied her phone. "Ugh! Bakit ba kasi pati mga mapa nila dito in Japanese?! Tapos very few English words lang ang mababasa mo."

"Which was why I told you, dapat hindi na tayo umalis dun sa maraming tao. Marami rin namang ramen resto's dun." He started walking ahead of her, trying to make sense of the street signs around them to no avail.

"Hey, love - look! There's a lady walking palapit satin. Maybe we could ask her," she excitedly pointed to the said woman, albeit discreetly. "Marunong sigurong mag-English yan. Naka pang office attire eh."

"I don't know, love," he replied quite unsure when he noticed that the woman looked skittish, her eyes wide, hair escaping from her tight bun with her disheveled attire and was looking left and right then down to her shaking hands as she was walking quite briskly.  "Sa iba na lang kaya tayo magtanong?"

"May nakikita ka bang ibang tao pa ha?! Ikaw na mismo nagsabi na magga-gabi na. What's wrong with asking her?"

"Wala naman, ano lang kasi -- HUY! Menggay! Teka lang!" He ran quickly after her when she left him standing by himself to talk to the said woman.

"Uhm, sumimasen," Maine smilingly approached the woman.  "Do you know how to speak in English?"

The woman looked at her for a heartbeat, her stare penetrating, before nodding slowly. 

"Oh, uhm - I was wondering if you would know how we could get back to Shibuya from here. As you can see," she explained, laughing slightly.  "We're kinda lost."

The woman didn't respond, simply stared at her, before her gaze started to shift to RJ who finally caught up to them.  "Meng, love - please don't — Oh, uhm - kon'nichiwa."

Still, the woman didn't respond, simply stared at RJ unblinkingly, not even bothering to respond to the both of them.  She tilted her head to the side, her gaze unwavering.  Then slowly, she smiled.

After a few seconds, Maine whispered to RJ, "Hindi ata nakakaintindi ito ng English kahit na sinabi niya kanina na oo, eh.  Tara na nga.  Medyo nawe-weirdo-han na rin ako sa kanya."

"Uh - we'll go ahead.  I was just about to tell my wife that I found the way back to Shibuya already," RJ politely said, fibbing just so they could get away as both he and Maine bowed slightly to the woman.

They turned around slowly and started walking away when Maine had to stifle a gasp because she felt a hand clamp tightly on her wrist.  She swiveled back and saw the woman gripping her arm, grinning at her, head still tilted to the side. 

RJ was alarmed especially when he registered the pain on Maine's face from the woman's grip on her wrist.  He tried to pry her away from his wife but the woman's hold was so tight that even with his strong fingers, he couldn't do anything. 

"Please - we need to go," Maine pleaded as she tried unsuccessfully to remove the woman's hand from hers. 

"Be careful about your husband," the woman whispered hoarsely, her eyes glinting manically.  "He looks like my husband.  The same height, the same style of hair, the same build, even the same dimple on his left cheek.  He looks exactly like my husband.  My husband who cheated on me with another woman.  My husband who I caught fucking another.  My husband who I just left right now in our house with his whore."

She started to laugh, a deep disturbing laugh that had Maine in tears and RJ fearing for their lives.  He was still trying to remove her fingers from Maine's arm but for some reason was having a hard time.

"My husband," the woman continued, her gaze burning towards RJ.  "My husband who I just killed together with his whore."

Finally - Maine was able to break free from the woman's hold and without a second thought - both of them ran towards the opposite direction, never looking back - the insane and mad laugh of the woman echoing through the empty streets.