KABA, KUTOB, KILABOT BOOK 2

Cagayan De Oro City

My family just moved to a new house in Cagayan De Oro City. It was on a peaceful subdivision on the upper part of the city. The lot has a big garden at the back, with a mango tree shading the middle area. The house itself is beautiful. It has two floors with the pathway made up of wood. After a few weeks of moving in the house we are all happy... until strange things started happening.

I began noticing that our garden gnomes (the little figurine statues of dwarfs) are always knocked down every morning when I take a stroll in the garden. I thought it was caused by the neighbor's dog going in the garden. I asked my neighbor if they could leash their dog every evening, but even then.. the garden gnomes still get knocked down.

And then there is my kid. His name is John (not his real name for security reasons). Before we transferred he was always a timid, meek type of child. He stays indoors a lot and prefer to be alone reading rather than playing outside with other kids. I thought of it as something natural since I was also a loner in my younger years. However, after moving in I began to see changes. Small changes at first, like playing in the garden or being talkative while eating. The big change came when he introduce to us his friend Tom.

Tom is John's imaginary friend. Me and my wife were shocked at first since we view something as "imaginary friend" unhealthy to the development of a child. However, John was happy so we just let it slide.

John has a diary of his own in which he drew all the things that he did that day. The entries in his diary were pretty normal before the existence of Tom. I've stumbled upon his diary the other day while I was cleaning the room. It piqued my curiosity so I read what he wrote yesterday. What was written there gave me the creeps.

"Today I raced against Tom but he always wins since he can float. I want to float too. He said he can help me, but mom called me for lunch. Lunch is better than floating."

I read John's other entries. I was slowly being consumed by fear as each page flip to the previous ones.

"Tom was really angry at the dog today. He said that the dog reveals his location whenever we play hide and seek so unleashed the dog and push its head to the pool of Mrs. Samantha. Tom said that the dog likes it. He said the dog was happy. I am also happy."

"Tom said he was always looking at Pa and Ma whenever they sleep. He said that he was guarding them. Tom is a really nice friend."

That's it. I need to talk to John now. He should have limits to his imagination.

I head down the garden to look for him. He was not there. I looked for him in the kitchen, still not there. I searched all over the house. My fear getting worse, and couldn't even see a glimpse of his shadow.

Finally I head a cry. It was John stuck in the branches of the mango tree. My fear quickly dissipating, then I noticed that there is a rope attach to his neck. As to how and why he was up there with the rope on his neck, I thought of nothing about that. What I was so concerned about is the figure, that ominous figure standing behind him. It was a startling figure for it has no eyes, no nose. It only has a very big and creepy mouth. The creature seems to chuckling to the situation I am in, either that or to what he intends to do to John.

I was frantically exploding inside as John continued crying and the monstrous being continued laughing. Then he did it. He pushed John from the tree-top. My heart stop, my breathing turned heavy as I saw my son falling. The rope was reaching its full stretch size until a miracle happened.

The rope snapped.

Realizing what happened, I hurriedly run to catch John. As I have John in my arms again I regained my rationality.

We moved out of the house, transferred to my parents' until I was able to find another house. This time, hopefully, with no enigmatic beings. That was, and hopefully, the last time I ever saw that entity.