They say that tonight's moon is fourteen percent larger than the regular one. They also say that a lot of people go crazy during a full moon. That said, these people might be fourteen percent crazier this time.
We walked on the paved road near the airport. Lorelei says the best spot to see the moon would be near here. Even though she was just wearing a simple white oversized shirt, a pair of khaki shorts and flip-flops, her mysterious beauty came out under a fairly cloudy moonlight. Her long and dark hair is shiny, flowing like a waterfall behind her.
The elders of this area know that there are ghosts in this road, or at least they claim it to be true. Me? I sort of experienced this when I and two of my female friends boarded with an unexpected passenger during a taxi ride. My friends and I hailed the taxi, a classic Tamaraw FX, near the edge of the city. We were talking about the High School reunion we are to attend that night when the taxi hit a bump in the road and a loud crash sounded of in the baggage area of ​​the taxi. We were just in front of the big pine tree in the middle of the lane.
Most taxi drivers would fiercely avoid this road when driving late at night, but luckily, our driver, an aging man nearing his twilight years, claimed that he was actually from this place. There were rumors that a white lady was watching it. She has many names, gained over the years of infamy. She is also the reason why the local government officials did not remove this tree from its spot for a about hundred years after this road was established, despite the possible dangers to travelers.
Back to the taxi situation. A loud cry and a groan followed. But that voice was not from a woman. It was low-toned, as if coming from a big man. Suddenly a hand rose behind us. I tensed, ready for a mugging from the driver and the man behind us, while my friends screamed. The man has been with us for a while.
"Oh, ouch.. " said the man in the compartment area.
The old driver explained quickly. Given his age, he usually asks one of his relatives to accompany him when he travels at night as a back-up driver and as a bodyguard of sorts. The sleeping bodyguard in the baggage area just when the taxi hit the bump in the road. That time, I remembered a rumor about a college student who was raped and killed by a taxi driver and an accomplice hidden behind the taxi. Sure, ghosts are kind of scary. But in reality, people should be more fearful of their fellow humans than the ghosts.
So, Lorelei is here, playing tag with me at the Military Cemetery. It was almost midnight but we were unable to reach the initial spot at the airport we initially agreed on. It was too far. Plus, we needed to go back to the city on foot after we were done moon watching. There were usually no taxis this time going to the city.
After bustling between the tombs, we reached the edge of an area with a two-foot high cross in the middle. We approached the cross. The base was circular and was rather thin. Across the horizontal bar were almost illegible words describing the number of "residents" of the cemetery.
"Three hundred and fifty-three courageous souls rest honorably on this Sovereign soil…"
"We have company," Lorelei said playfully after reading the words.
Weirdo, I thought, while breathing and wiping sweat from my forehead with a handkerchief. Her long pale legs made her fast and hard to catch. I did not mind the untimely exercise but I felt that Lorelei, for some reason, wasn't tired for even just a little bit. Heck, she's not sweating at all. She sat on the left side of the cross, leaned on it, and looked up at to the sky.
It was amazing. Blue light surrounded the ground. Since there was no cloud in the sky, the white crosses and tombs reflected the full moon's light and shone a blueish hue. The breeze was cold. I laid my jacket and lay down on the grassy plot in beside her, my head touching the cross. My eyes hungrily took in the beautiful scene around and above me.
"Tell me," Lorelei said suddenly, looking down at me from where she was sitting. "How do think will you die?"
"What?" I snapped at her, a little annoyed over the question.
"I'm serious," she calmly replied.
I turned my gaze and saw her beautiful face. I surmised that she's really interested in my answer. It was kind of morbid, her asking this question while we were in a cemetery, amidst all of these tombs and in front of this huge cross.
"How about you?" I evaded the question by asking it back at her. "How do you think will I die?"
There was almost no hesitation when she answered. "I bet your time is almost up. In fact, you will meet your end after our moon watching. There will be a truck from the mines that will run into you and will spread your innards at the road behind us."
I sat up, surprised at what she said. "You know, you're really weird. Can't we just enjoy the scenery tonight?"
"Don't say I didn't warn you," she answered.
"Please stop," I sighed.
"Fine…"
I lie down again and thought about the exchange of words. For someone who I just met two days, Lorelei had almost no reservations expressing her thoughts. I tried to imagine the scenario she presented to me. A ten-wheeler truck would first blind me with its bright headlights before dragging me for about a meter from where I stood, blood and guts trailing behind. Just like in the movies.
"How did I die?" Lorelei began yet again.
"What do you mean?" I shot back.
"I mean, how do you think will I die?"
"That's enough, Lorelei. What's the matter with you, anyway?"
What was her problem about death, I quietly asked myself. Lorelei stopped talking, but started to sing instead. Her voice was pleasing to the ear. The song was familiar. It was a the melancholic song I heard while passing in front of an astrologer's booth in one of my visits to the local park in the city. There, I met Lorelei, ​​a day before she invited me to watch the moon. I don't know why I went ahead and agreed to meet with a total stranger in the middle of the night. It must have been her smile or maybe her eyes. It could have been the song I was hearing in the background. The same song I'm hearing right now. She just sang as though nobody was beside her. Her eyes were focused on the moon beginning to hide behind the clouds. I began to have goosebumps while listening to Lorelei. Darkness started to surrounded me.
While the song resounded, I suddenly saw how Lorelei died.
The white cloth in her mouth, stuffed there so that she could not cry out for help, was stained scarlet. Blood also flowed on her left cheek and accumulated on the ground she was lying on. Her hands were tied to the cross with a nylon rope. She died silently, singing a song over and over again in her head in futile hopes of distracting her broken self. She didn't make a sound. She could not say anything to those who defiled her, the driver of the taxi she rode in and his accomplice. She just lay down there without fighting back, with open eyes. Eyes that reflected the light of the full moon emerging from the clouds. I felt, rather than saw, a familiar cross near her body.
Lorelei died where I was lying down right now.
I suddenly stood up and looked at the cross. Lorelei was no longer there. I just stood there, not knowing what to do. I must have fallen asleep. This could just be Lorelei being annoying again. I tried to clear up my head. The image of Lorelei's corpse was seared to my brain.
I stooped to pick up my jacket when I saw a yellow rope laying behind the base of the cross, just a few inches from where my head was. I stared at it. A nylon rope. Then I heard Lorelei sing. I can't see her but the voice came from where she was sitting before.
By body stiffened. I could not move my legs. I looked around me. I was alone amongst the three hundred plus crosses that surrounded me.
Closing my eyes, I tried to gather courage to run. "Don't do this to me, Lorelei," I whispered. Then I felt Lorelei standing.
I ran. I ran towards the road and did not look back.
I headed towards the airport, knowing that there was a police station less than one kilometer from here. When I passed the Administration Building of the cemetery, I slowed down and turned around to look for Lorelei. I think I'm safe but by the looks of it, my body is about to give out. All I can hear is my heavy breathing and the furious beating of my heart. I tried to move on, still looking at the direction of the cross. My eyesight began to blur. When I looked up, there was a light coming from a large silhouette producing a lot of noise. It took my full will to force myself to leave the middle of the road.
In the last second, my body finally stirred and was able to dive to avoid the incoming object. As I lifted my face from the rocks, a big truck passed by. It seemed like one of those red Peterbilt trucks used by local mining firm in the area.
Alive! I laughed like a madman while standing bedside the road.
"You bet wrong, Lorelei," I declared as if she was there.
In the corner of my eye, I saw a person waving at me, expressing departure. I'm think I'm going to lose my mind. Or maybe I already have. What else can I expect? A lot of people go crazy during a full moon and tonight, the moon is fourteen percent larger.
That said, I might be fourteen percent crazier this time.