Chereads / PROJECT: Lullaby / Chapter 21 - Day 4: 03:58PM

Chapter 21 - Day 4: 03:58PM

"There, there, there, come on… don't stop… just a little…. more..."

Great.

I paid to get myself in this party, I slapped someone so I would have a reason to run away, I strayed off the path until I found myself swimming through dry leaves in the middle of the forest until I got to this shed but what I'm getting now, after doing all that, was a couple having sex behind me. That's probably why I spent a good five solid minutes there, looking through the old wooden floors and the walls and the ceiling that was not any better. It's full of holes that made its interior seem like a discount disco with the sun's slowly dying light shedding its essence into the boxes in the corner of the room and some bottles of liquor here and there that's probably been doing nothing except to collect some dust.

Stuck with the sound of someone moaning like a goddamn church organ where I could probably count how many thrusts has been done for how many times the thin wall behind me creaked as it moved, yeah, I'm starting to review my life's choices. I'm telling you, being in this room where I could probably feel that this rotten smell of something along with the lines of the strong smell of booze, sweat and piss did not, by far, make it any better. I mean, sure, I did consider that this was an orgy where people would sometimes slip off of the party and, you know, fuck each other, but really, they came this far to have sex… I'm starting to think that they must really be a pair of pussies.

Then again, I chose to do this at a party… which was like, a death flag in every horror movie and you know, I'm willing to consider that. This was definitely a move for a pussy, such as me, but listen, all I have to do is scream and use these peeps as fodders while I make a run at a local catholic church to beg for a priest's blessing or some holy water and voila, I would be sleeping later back at my dorm no problem.

All I could say if someone asked me why, I would just answer with one, "why are you talking to me" and two, "I have to do this."

I need to… I want to… because you're really being unfair, grandma.

"Spirit of the glass… andito… ka na… ba?"

I closed my eyes and whispered in my native tongue, asking if a spirit was here. I googled how to do this and asked that fat guy in the occult's shop near me, which was, of course, a really bizarre choice of a venture now that I'm thinking about it, and this is what he told me. The image of the thick brown board of letters that I bought from that shop faded from my view until all I felt was the coldness of the transparent drinking glass that I stole from our dorm's pantry.

I'm not used to speaking like this, unlike my grandmother who chose to stay in Siquijor to live out her last days with the "clean" air and the willowing trees. This was one of the things she taught me before I got adopted by my uncle here in the states, supposedly. I basically stole an Ouija board in her room, which, back then I felt like it was calling to me. I figured that I could do it because of the movie I watched, given that they all died a horrible horrible death but somehow, I thought that I would be fine with the power of love, that time, was on my side.

Of course, it didn't work. I summoned an old dude that told me that he knew where the Yamashita treasure was and would tell me in exchange for my panties, which I replied with a hard no… I didn't know what it was back then. I could've been rich, but I don't know, oh well, going back, the old guy got angry and told me that he was going to get it anyways so I screamed so loud that my grandma had to come. I told her that there's an old man trying to get my panties, and she came in with a handful of salt and a broom on her side. She whispered something that made the ghost screech and bow down and after hitting him a few times, she whispered something in the salt again in her hand before she threw it to him. With that, the man screamed and disappeared. It was quite magical, to be honest.

There, I came clean, I told her I was sorry and scared that I summoned an old pedophile instead of my parents that died recently in a car crash. She just patted my head and smiled before calling me an idiot as a response and asked me if I really wanted to talk to them. Of course, I said yes and I still remembered her words telling me that,

"We don't use Ouija boards, dear, those are for the commoners that don't have our blood running through them, and for probably most of the people that don't know what they're doing. I remember I told you that you should not copy what you see on TV…"

Well, let's not get beyond that because that's embarrassing and so, going back, after getting their recent pictures and getting some of their stuff like their shirt and toothbrush, she ran a knife through the surface of my palm that healed, for some reason, at the same moment it bled. She spoke some words and there, my mother and father emerged and I was able to say my goodbyes to them… unlike now.

"An… nandito ka... na ba?"

I repeated my words, asking if someone was there, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes once again and saw that the glass where I entrusted my heart and my fingers remained unmoved. There, my vision started to blur… my chest tightened and my face felt warm and before I knew it… I was crying, desperate to hold it in and not trying to ruin the fun for the people behind me.

"Lola… nandito ka na ba?"

I asked where she was once again, feeling that same level of desperation that made me remember what that fat guy at the shop told me. With that, I reached into my bag beside me to take out a bundle of my hair, a picture of her and a plastic water bottle full of chicken blood that that store guy conveniently had.

Then, as he had instructed, I turned the glass over in the middle of the board and filled it up with blood up until it was about to overflow. I then shoved my bundle of hair there, making it spill and being careful to not let it touch my fingers and finally, moving through his list that I kept in my head… I closed my eyes again and clasped her old picture from when she was young in between my palms as if I was making a prayer. It was the only memento of her that I had.

"Lola… Lola… nandito ka na ba? Mag… magparamdam ka sakin… kung… oo."

I asked her where she was again and this time, urging her to make me feel her presence if she's there and then… I opened my eyes, shivering, with my cheeks still wet with tears and I still saw nothing… The dimly lit room remained the same, the air too… well, at least that's what I thought...

Because at the moment I looked down, I saw a pulsing dark hole, seemingly like a surface of a black liquid that still showed its depth. It was almost too inviting even though it reeked of charred rotten flesh and when I leaned forward to gaze where it led, something came out…

I didn't get to see more for all I knew and could remember was a pole, probably a red arm with its skin burnt and torn, going through my heart and possibly through the couple behind me too before everything turned black.

That's what I could remember and now...

I woke up naked in this empty place that feels so warm with something that appeared to be like a huge screen in front of me… was I walking... was I seeing something in someone's eyes? I don't know… this felt weird. I saw it, or myself, I don't know, but I knew that I was fighting a masked man that got cut in half like a stick of butter, the bloody kind, earlier. It made my stomach churn but in the end, nothing happened.

Although it was easy for me to find myself in someone else's eyes while murdering someone, given that… I actually used some chicken blood to do occultic stuff that would surely send me to hell but still… somehow… despite sharing its vision that enabled me to understand how bleak and monochromatic the world was in its eyes… it was scary… I know I failed to have a conversation with my grandma in mind but somehow… this felt like home, oddly.

"Lola… asan ka na… palakas ka ha… parating… na ako…"

I then heard a broken voice as if someone with a parched throat spoke… I remember saying these words to my grandma, telling her to keep herself strong after promising that I would be home after my graduation. Still, it sounded like a screech of an old woman and a young one, like my voice, mingled together. Was it borrowing my words?

"Lola… si… Myra… to… kain… ka… ng… marami ha… iin...tayin… moko… diba…"

It added, once again with that voice as we continued our silent walk, only stopping when we heard a few gunshots in the background. It appeared that this creature stopped too, although I don't know why… it's probably wary of what's happening but you know, now that I've thought about it, those shots… they sounded like they're rhythmic… they oddly sound like that 80's pop song, yeah, I really can't remember the title. Also, fun fact… about what it said right now… was it reading my memories because honestly… that's like the third last thing I said to her… right before she died…

Nevertheless, after being showered by nothing except for those scary gunshots, this creature stepped forward without a care in the world, where, at that moment, something came in. It ripped through the air with a high-pitched whisper and soon turned half of my screen black…

Also…

At that part… I just realized…

I knew it…

I just knew that at that same second, the third veil of this creature had been severed.