Daniel's Eyes [On Hold]

Prologue

The tricycle driver finished removing the flat tire and looked at her.

”Miss,” he said, “perhaps you should just come back with me to the barrio. I can’t possibly return immediately, and I’m not sure if there will be any more tricycles coming this way. It’s still over two kilometers into town. It will be hard to walk that far carrying those bags, especially with twilight coming on.”

“But it’s still light, Manong,” she pointed out. “I could get there before it’s fully dark. It’s not that far.”

“Still, this is a lonely road,” the man said. “It could be dangerous for you, a young lady, walking alone at this hour…”

”Oh, Manong,” she said, taking her backpack and gym bag out of the tricycle. “It’s all right. I’m used to walking alone. I just need to get back to the city as soon as possible. If I hurry, I can catch the last van out of town, right?”

She smiled at him and began walking along the road to town.

When she looked back, the tricycle driver was staring after her with a worried expression. Finally he shrugged, shouldered his burden, and started on the two-kilometer walk back to the barrio.

She looked at her watch. It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was already dipping towards the foothills behind her. She looked up the road with a sigh. It was wide and dusty and unpaved – just another country road in a remote Philippine province!—and it curved around a stand of trees up ahead.

”Two kilometers, just four city blocks,” she told herself. “I’ll get there.”

She frowned and looked around her, hearing the insects in the grass by the roadside and the birds in the trees.

”I’ll get there before dark,” she said, and went on, trying not to think of what could happen to her if she didn’t make it before nightfall, although it hastened her steps.

She was in sight of the trees that sheltered the first houses on the outskirts of town, and could see the spire of the church, when dusk fell. On one side of the road was the cemetery, the white tombs of the town’s dead faintly gleaming. She had passed the gate… the church was so near… when the silence, the ominous silence, descended.

She dropped her bags and ran.

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Note: Vocabulary

Manong - literally, "older brother." A Visayan honorific used to address not only older brothers or male cousins, but also any older male not old enough to be your grandfather. More generally used since it's less intimate than "tiyo / tito" (uncle) -- and yeah, more flattering. Counterparts: Tagalog "kuya,", Korean "oppa", Chinese "ge ge."