"Kali! Have you watched TV? We are on a lockdown, they said." A young teenager sounded through the phone.
"I haven't. You know me, I'm too tired of watching those uninteresting drama plots. Those dramas are just repeatedly reskinned and retitled anyway." Kali, a 19-year-old boy who seems to be annoyed with his friend's question.
"So, what's the matter?" Kali asked Mike, after thinking for a while.
"The news said we're on a lockdown." Mike shared the information he got after watching the news. Just a few minutes earlier.
"Huh? What? Lockdown? What is that?" Kali asked with apparent confusion.
"They said that we are under Enhanced Community Quarantine or a lockdown in short. It basically means we aren't allowed to go out of our houses." Mike answered.
"But why? Didn't they say that we have yet to have an infection case anywhere in the country?" Kali asked once more as he can't understand what is happening.
"Uhh... bro... I bet you haven't watched much news. We already have infection cases in the thousands." Mike replied to his ignorant friend.
"Ahhh... is that so? Then what shall we do now? We promised Jenna that we would come over to her house." Kali asked as he still can't accept that the government locked them to their houses.
"Well, that will be postponed. I also called you for that. Jenna said that we should stay home for now. Her cousins are particularly disappointed that you aren't coming over. I'm jealous! How come you get all the girls?" Mike answered Kali with an obvious complaint in his voice.
"That's because you already have a girlfriend, dumbass! Anyway, if that's all you've got to say, then I shall drop the call now." Kali told Mike.
"Okay. See you when we can."
"See you!"
After conversing with his friend, Kali went to browse his phone to look at the latest news.
...
2 months later.
'Ahhh. This quarantine sucks!' Lying in his bed, Kali complained while looking at the ceiling. 'I shall call Mike. It's been two months since our last call. This lockdown lifestyle is boring me down.'
"Hey, bro! Wassup?" was what Kali heard when the call connected to Mike.
"Nothing much. I've done nothing for the past two months except wake up, eat, browse the phone, and sleep. What about you?" Kali asked Mike, wondering what his best friend is up to.
"Not much different to you. I do sneak on to Jean's room whenever there's a chance. She's just right next to our house after all." Mike said, intent on making Kali envious with his numerous baby-making sessions.
"Okay, Mike, fine. It's you who got an exciting life. You don't need to brag to me about that. I just hope you don't run crying to me saying you've got Jean pregnant." Kali joked, not taking Mike's provocation to heart at all.
"Hey, hey, don't say that. You'll curse me to hell!" Mike exclaimed.
"Yeah, okay, whatever. I just called to see if you're fine, but since you've got overwhelming energy every night, I see that you're more than fine. I'll end the call now. Bye!" Kali jokingly replied.
After ending the call, Kali contemplated what he shall do once more. Until unknowingly, he fell asleep.
'Oh... I'm sure you must have seen a 19-year-old, right? 170cm high, weighs 60kg, black hair, black iris, face with the golden ratio, high but rounded nose, red and full lips, thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and a thin body build. Yes, that's me, that's the boy named Kali.'
'You may be wondering why I'm describing myself.'
'Well, that is because I'm looking at myself right now, though not in the mirror. I'm currently sleeping, you see, so I can't use a mirror.'
'If you still can't visualize what is happening, I am currently floating in the air looking at myself. That's right. I'm in a state called lakbay-diwa right now. I think this is what most people call an OBE or out-of-the-body experience.'
'In my country, we have this notion that dreaming of walking or running around in a place you haven't been to means your soul is wandering around. And what you dreamt of is what your soul experienced out of your body.'
'In my native tongue, we call it paglalakbay-diwa it means soul wandering. This should not be confused with Galang-kaluluwa or wandering souls in English. It seems the same, but it's different.'
'The difference is that paglalakbay-diwa uses lakbay and diwa that translates to wander and soul (essence). While Galang-kaluluwa uses gala and kaluluwa, which translates to wander (aimlessly) and soul (spirit).'
'Now that you understand. Let's get back to the topic.'
'So, I fell asleep and suddenly saw myself still lying in my bed, deep in my sleep. I panicked at first because I thought that I died. But I found out that I could wake up if I willed to do so.'
'I suddenly remembered my mother telling me when I was a child that when we sleep, our souls wander. I thought this might be it. Yes, this should be it.'
'Being in a lockdown is boring, and with this ability that I somehow gained, I should be able to go outside to play. Though the one thing to note is that I can't interact with anything.'
'After a few hours of wandering around, I started to feel bored again, so I went back to my body to wake up. That was my plan. But after trying hard to go back to my body, I gave up. My body seems to be rejecting me.'
'I checked, and there aren't any spirits possessing my body, but I still can't enter. I was about to cry and mourn for my eventual death since I'm essentially in a coma when I felt a tugging sensation. It feels as if it wants to drag me somewhere, so I followed it.'
'I don't know what it will lead me to, but since I can't go back anyway, I might as well explore first before wracking my brain off, thinking how to go back to my body.'