Crazy is the Name of My Game

( 31 ) Feed the Savage

Erica Santos

Warily, I pulled away, and so did she, uh, me… Yeah, you get the point. It was freaky I tell you. It was like staring at yourself who is not yourself, if you get what I mean. It was nothing close to looking at yourself on the mirror. It was like seeing an old photograph, and recognizing her to be me, even though I've never seen her.

She's so different yet so… me.

Ugh. That didn't make sense, did it?

"Hi?" I waved hesitantly.

Her dark eyes went wide with surprise. Her expression was adorable, almost bordering to child-like.

Ah, shame on me. How can the me-Aglaia be this gorgeous? No wonder Len fell for the gal! If I didn't know we were one person, I would have gladly become lesbian just for her.

I'm not kidding.

Aglaia, although we undoubtedly share the same soul, was a far cry from my current state. She was tall -- ugh, how unfair! -- with a slender, graceful body of a womanly hunter-predator. Her limbs were firm and muscled lightly, which looked amazing on her bronze-kissed skin. Blue paint covered half of her -- my -- face, and if I was standing far enough, I could never see the resemblance between our faces. Her wavy black hair, unlike mine, was knee-long, braided on one side, with leaves and grass stalks interlaced with the strands.

She was barely covered, with dried animal skin and corn silk covering her chest and most intimate parts in a way that she could run without them falling. A long bow slung on her shoulder, while her right hand was poised on an arrow.

She looked so bad-ass as she stared at me in a defensive half-crouch.

Was she going to run, or was I supposed to be doing that?

Tentatively, I risked a step forward, and she bared her teeth at me. Her eyes narrowed. I grinned.

Feisty.

Yep, she's definitely me.

"Naiintindihan mo ba ako?" I asked, speaking in Tagalog, trying to gauge how high our language barrier was. For all I know, Aglaia might be Visayan, and spoke the language of native Filipinos from the middle islands. I personally grew up in Metro Manila, though I used to live in Isabela. I could only speak Tagalog, English and a little Spanish.

Plus, I bet my college fund that the language of the present and the language spoken in the ancient times were way, way, way off from one another.

"Aba'y! Sino ho sila?" she said in my voice, though her thick accent nearly caused me to think otherwise. "Bigla ka nalitaw sa aking harap!"

Tagalog! Definitely Tagalog! Oh my god, this ought to be recorded in history! Me, a girl from hundreds of years into the future, could understand ancient Tagalog! The form was different, and her manner of speaking sounded… old. Heavens, I couldn't stop grinning!

I looked around, trying to put a name on the place. The landscape seemed familiar. The hills, the plains, even the shape of the lake. I must have traveled here before with my family. But where?

"Saan to? Nasa Manila ba tayo?" When she looked confused by my question, I rephrased it, using her Batangan accent as a lead. "Nasa Bai ng Laguna ba tayo?"

Instead of answering my question, she straightened herself and demanded in a harsh tone, "Bakit iisa ang anyo nata? Ire ba ay lilong diwata?"

I blinked, and then started snickering. After a full minute, the snickers turned to full-on laughter. Oh sweet antelope, I swear I would die from a laughing fit one of these days!