Daniel's Eyes [On Hold]

Chapter Three

Yanggaw
(yang-gaw)

The process of being turned into an aswang through ingesting aswang saliva.

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Micah found out the next day what happened.

She'd decided to sleep later than usual, since it was Saturday anyway, but lay awake after punching her alarm, making plans for the house. She ran downstairs at 8:30, bubbling with ideas, only to find Manang Norma and Manong Tino looking serious as they discussed something at the kitchen table. Manang Norma got up to pour her a cup of coffee, while Manong Tino pulled out a chair.

"Is there a problem?" she asked as she sat down. "You both look worried."

Manong Tino shook his head quizzically and said, "You have to promise us that whatever you do, wherever you go, you will be back here before  nightfall."

Before she could voice an indignant objection, Manang Norma laid a hand on her arm.

"We're worried about you, Micah. There have been aswang sightings lately, and last night-- a girl just a few years younger than you was almost attacked."

"We don't know what we'll say to your father if anything happened to you," Manang Norma added. "Your mother would haunt us for the rest of our days."

Micah didn't really believe in what they were saying about aswang, but she could feel they were genuinely afraid for her. She patted Manang Norma's hand gently.

"Okay, if it makes you feel better," she said "I'll always be back at nightfall."

But that was not the end of the matter. The two insisted on giving her what amounted to a crash course in aswang lore, much to her (hidden) amusement.

"If you should meet someone on the road, especially after sunset or before sunrise," said Manang Norma, "greet him or her. Don't wait for the other person to speak first, because if it is an aswang and it speaks first, it will have power over you and you won't be able to escape it."

"You have a habit of looking people in the eyes," Manong Tino added. "This is good, but if an aswang catches you looking in its eyes, it will come after you."

Micah frowned; she'd heard that before, from the woman at the market.

"It will run after you," Manong Tino explained, "because it fears that you noticed that your reflection in its eyes is upside-down. Because an aswang can look like an ordinary person most of the time. It can go around like an ordinary person, and eat or drink like an ordinary person. But once the sun is not in the sky, it can change into a shape that makes it easy for it to hunt. And when the moon is full, it gets hungry for raw meat and blood and doesn't care where or how it feeds. It has to feed once a month or it will get weak and die."

While he was speaking, Manang Norma put breakfast on the table. As Micah reached for the rice, Manang Norma said, "And that's another thing, Micah.  Be careful about what you eat. When you are among strangers, don't be too eager to eat what is offered, if you don't want to end up an aswang yourself."

"Really, Manang Norma?" she asked while putting rice on her plate. "Even food?"

"It's... not exactly the food," Manong Tino put in. "It's the saliva. If they want to turn you into one of them, they'll put their saliva in your food. You'll start turning into an aswang, although you won't be a full aswang until you eat raw flesh and blood at the next full moon. It's called yanggaw."

Micah dropped her spoon and gulped. "Ew, gross. Ugh. Yuck!"

"Micah, you're not eating," Manang Norma said after a while. "I thought you like sausages."