When Back In Time

Esperanza and Pepe went to the port to board the ship towards Mindanao.

Andres Bonifacio did not know where else could the two find Jose Rizal except Mindanao. He could only think of one of the safest places to hide was in Mindanao.

Mindanao is one of the three major islands in the Philippines, aside from Luzon and Visayas. It is also commonly known as the Southern Philippines, as this large island located in the southern part of the nation.

Before Esperanza and Pepe left, Andres Bonifacio gave them new clothes to wear, food to eat and money for their journey. He also told Pepe to pass a message to Jose Rizal: "bumalik ka na at ituloy natin ang himagsikan" (Come back and let's continue this revolution)

Pepe left Esperanza to buy them a ticket. Esperanza squatted down and sighed. She's troubled.

A little boy drew next to her and spoke, "So how is it going?"

Esperanza looked at him. The little boy transformed into an old man, wearing a Barong Tagalog, with a cane on his hand.

She talked to Bangun Bangun, "Are we doing the right thing? Going to Mindanao, I mean."

Bangun Bangun, the god of Time and Cosmos, tapped his cane on the ground three times and paused the time. He spoke to her, "I do not know what you're about to do right now is right."

"But you are the god of Time, you do know my Future," she said.

Bangun Bangun looked at her, "To be honest, I can't just tell you what happens in your future. It's a taboo. That's why I could not tell you anything, whether this journey of yours would lead you to Jose Rizal or not. But whatever happens, you must continue. You must succeed with your quest or else your country's history will perish."

She looked at him. She regarded him annoyingly. Bangun Bangun tapped his cane and the time continued to flow. He disappeared without even helping her out.

Esperanza sighed.

Pepe came, panting, "Esperanza, kailangan na natin sumakay sa barko. Bilis!" (Esperanza, we need to board the ship. Faster!)

Esperanza stood up and looked behind him. She saw, from far away, men in blue uniforms. Guardia civil are coming (Civil Guards).

The Esperanza and Pepe immediately boarded the ship.

...…

It's been two days since they sailed away from Manila.

Now they were crossing the Visayas.

Esperanza was in the deck, watching the sun slowly slipping down on the horizon. It's been a week since she was stuck in this year, 1892.

She remembered when back in the present when dusk came, she would be in her bedroom with Maria, her friend. They would be playing online games instead of doing their homework. Oh, how she missed playing online games. Moreover, she missed the technology. She missed her gadgets. To be honest, not having her mobile phone for a week here in year 1892 made her sick from boredom. It actually sucks.

And then, the next day, the two would go to school together, laughing and teasing. They would eat a lot of delicious foods. Esperanza missed the taste of the black forest cake, the milk tea, coffee, soda, candies, ohhhh, of course, the burgers and the French fries. She added, 'Oh! How can I forget the mouthwatering pizza.'

Esperanza looked at her dress, she missed wearing her comfortable tee shirt and shorts.

She missed her school, her classmates, Maria, and her family….

She missed the present. She sighed. She hoped she could come back soon to her time, in 2019.

'I just hope to finish my task faster. I hope I can soon find Jose Rizal and that man with the other watch,' she thought to herself.

Before the night came, the ocean was wide and calm. And Esperanza saw an object standing on the ocean. Esperanza rubbed her eyes, in confusion. And then again looked at the object. It was actually not an object but a woman. The woman was standing on the ocean, staring at the ship, where Esperanza was boarding. The woman, shockingly, was covered none which revealing her bust and the other parts of her body. Crazy!

Esperanza stared at the woman intensely, trying to comprehend if she was seeing things right. When Esperanza blinked, the woman disappeared.

Esperanza scratched her head, shaking her head while thinking, 'Now…. I'm starting to hallucinate things…..'

The next day, the ship stopped and anchored in one of the islands in Visayas. The ship needed to load some fuel and food for the next destination. Some of the people disembark in the ship and visited the island.

Esperanza was walking in the corridor of the ship. On the corridor, she met a woman. The woman is beautiful. She was not wearing a dress just like everyone else. She was walking on the corridor n.a.k.e.d with a conch shell on her hand.

Esperanza looked at her in shock. The woman looked at her looking pissed. 'Whoa. Who is this crazy woman? Why is she looking like this? And why she's looking like that to me?'

A loud screamed came from the upper deck.

While the sailors were busy in their duty and people doing their stuff, a horrifying scene occurred in the deck.

People came in the deck. They looked in shock and horror in the foremast. Some looked away. Some puked.

Esperanza took a step back, held her mouth in shock and horror as she saw a woman hanged herself in the foremast in broad daylight.

Someone tugged her hem. She looked at the person. It was Pepe. He was panting. His eyes drifted towards the foremast and for a moment his eyes widen in shock. He shook his head and glanced at Esperanza. He said, "Kinakailangan natin umalis dito sa barko. Papalapit na sila." (We need to disembark, right now. They're coming."

'Who is coming?' Esperanza thought to herself.

She let Pepe pulled her away from the deck, run down in the corridor and disembark the ship. Pepe tugged her to the nearest tree and hid. He looked behind the tree and towards the ship. He saw two men in guardia civil (Civil guard) uniform were entering the ship.

Then, exiting the ship was a man wearing a barong tagalog and salakot (wide-brimmed hat) on his head. He had a trimmed mustache. On his right wrist was a wristwatch. He stopped for a moment and looked around. And then, he continued to walk.

Pepe looked at Esperanza. "Babalik lang tayo sa barko pagkatapos siyasatin ng mga guardia civil ang nangyari doon sa barko." (We will go back in the ship after the guardia civil finish their investigation over what happened on the ship)

Esperanza nodded and peeked behind the tree. She looked at the ship. Her mind kept questioning why that woman hanged herself? Why she killed herself? Why no one noticed her and prevented her from killing herself?

It was Esperanza's first time to see a dead person with her n.a.k.e.d eyes. And this was not pleasant but horrifying to see.

On the entrance of the ship, Esperanza saw two women exited. The other woman was n.a.k.e.d and was holding a conch shell, the one whom Esperanza encountered in the corridor. The other one was looking pale and wearing a Filipiniana dress. On her neck, Esperanza saw, was a weird red line.

The woman with the weird red line on her neck passed through man along her way.

The n.a.k.e.d woman guided the other woman, who seemed to be a ghost, on a balangay, a plank boat adjoined by a carved-out plank edge through pins and dowels. The ghost sat down on the balangay (plank boat).

When the n.a.k.e.d woman embarked in the balangay, water immediately covered her. Afterward, the water disappeared and the woman now was no longer n.a.k.e.d.  She was now wearing grieving clothes, her face covered with a dark cloth.

The woman who was wearing grieving clothes ferried the majestic balangay towards the sea.

'W-what in the world? Who is she?' Esperanza asked herself, referring to the woman in black.