CHAPTER SIX - WHAT THEY REMEMBERED

“So what happened to you?”  Beatrice mumbled through the eggs that she stuffed her mouth with using her bare fingers.

          The others suddenly looked at Anrhu, the same question clearly on their faces.  He looked at each one, swallowed the remains of the food in his mouth, and took a sip of the thin coffee that Zoriah placed in front of him in a tin cup.

          “What do you last remember?” the girl amended the question she spoke earlier.

          He cleared his throat and spoke.

          “I was sleeping, probably unconscious when something stung my eyes and I woke up.  I was pinned to the ground under a pile of debris; broken glass, pieces tiles, rubble.  But it was not that heavy.  I pushed with everything I got, but I was so weak.  When I was free, I saw that I was here.  I thought I was dreaming but then I never woke up.  I’m still here, here in Buglas as you call it.  But I really never know where this is.”

          Everyone was hanging on to his every word.  Automatically feeding pieces of the food on their plates towards their mouth but their attention was entirely on Anrhu.  He continued.

          “I walked around and saw the ruins of a place that looked vaguely familiar until I saw a big letter S leaning on one of the devastated wall.  Suddenly, I knew where I was.  Or thought I knew, but everything seems so impossible to be true.  That’s when I saw the dog and the man on a bicycle.  I decided to follow.  You know the rest, so here I am.”

          Nobody said a word.  For a time, everyone was thinking about what the boy just said.  Everyone caught up in his and her own thoughts, remembering their own stories and memories that brought them to that particular time.

          Bulagao broke the silence.

          “I remember the quake vividly.  We, my kind, we managed to hide ourselves from humans for so long that we have become just characters in your stories and most often than not are creatures that your elder women use to scare children to behave and sleep at night.  In truth, we encourage these stories so that we can exist in peace but we are not the monsters that your stories describe us to be.”

          The giant stood from the table and took a few steps towards the doorway which was still open. He looked at the direction of the trees, turned and looked at everyone on the table and gave a sigh.  He closed the door, returned to his seat, took the tobacco which he put off before eating and lit again with a match that he took from his pockets.

          “The truth is, there is nothing special about us. We are just like you, only, we look like this.”

          A pause.

          “Did you know that tobacco smoke is good for the trees?” Bulagao inquired of Anrhu.  “A long time ago, we; what you humans call kapre are the guardians of the trees.  Your stories have a bit of truth in them; there were others that undoubtedly saw some of us.  What they don’t understand is that we live in trees because we give trees life. There are others like me still alive out there, I hope, but even I don’t understand how the trees are dead and it’s been a long time since I saw one of my own” A pain, like a slice of a dull knife cut through the air.  Anrhu almost felt the physical sensation through the words of the kapre.  It was obvious that the huge creature hurt.

          “What do you mean, the trees are dead?”

          “Dead!  Unliving!  You might see them like that, green and growing but deep inside they are dead.  I know this, and that how I’m sure that something is wrong.”

          “When the earth shook, I awoke from a very long sleep and found the world much like today but there was so much chaos.  There were so many dead, and the streets were filled with rotting.  Their air stunk for weeks, even months.  Those that got sick after because of this died and still more sickness and deaths followed. Some of the wakers, those that awoke like me, were the scavengers and meat eaters.  For days that followed the streets were filled with blood as the more savage of the wakers fed at night.  What I don’t understand is,” Bulagao looked pointedly towards Anrhu “You seem to be a waker, but all wakers are creatures from your tales, I have never heard of a human waker before.” 

          Everyone looked at Anrhu.  He looked back, but there was really nothing to say.  Obviously, something was not right, but then, nothing has been right since he woke up the day before.

          The thought bothered the boy and he welcomed the silence as he gathered his thoughts within himself.  But the thoughts just delivered more questions.  The others, deep in thought must be thinking of the same questions too. 

          Nobody noticed Bantay as it stood up from gnawing on a piece of bread that someone threw at it beneath the table.  It’s mangy fur bristling with tension.  Suddenly one part of the wall, the one made of doors, exploded towards the companions as a huge cloven leg entered from the outside; slivers and piece of the wooden doors raining down on everyone inside.

          “Run,” somebody screamed.