When Back In Time

"AGUSTIN!" SHE exclaimed.

Pepe jolted in surprise.

She told him that they should find Agustin, the latter might help them in their search for Jose Rizal.

"Talaga?" Pepe asked, perplexed. (Really?)

Esperanza didn't tell Pepe the whole truth.

This is her chance to retrieve the other clock from Agustin. And, as what she recalled Bangun Bangun once told her, whoever had helped Jose Rizal escaped from being exiled in Dapitan, he must be someone who came from the future other than her----- he must be someone who had time traveled, who has the other clock.

That's it. If the two will find Agustin and she gets the other clock, then one task down and one task to go.

Agustin was her only key to find Jose Rizal.

Leaves from the trees started to fall as a very strong wind occurred.

"Anong----(What----)" Pepe said in surprise. He covered his eyes from the dust with his arms.

For a second, Esperanza noticed the leaves froze from falling. There was silence. She could only hear her breathing.

The time paused.

"Tictok!" he whispered to her ears.

She jumped, she was startled. She looked beside her and see Bangun Bangun with his usual barong tagalog outfit and his cane.

'Oh. Seeing him here now makes me anxious,' she thought.

"You only have," Bangun Bangun started, "3 days and 8 hours to go."

"I know. I know. I only have that? Less than 4 days," she said.

"Hurry or say hi to your demise."

"Okay, okay. I understand. Just------ please don't pressure me. I know I have a deadline. Just----- please," she said.

He looked at her for a few seconds. "Do you really understand that you only have less than 4 days to spare before you die, do you?"

She rolled her eyes in irritation. She fully knew that much. Her deadline and the lot. And she's really afraid if she will not meet her deadline.

"Hey! Don't you dare roll your eyes to me human!" he scolded her.

"Listen, I'm doing my best here, okay. Just please wait for the result."

Bangun Bangun raised his head to the sky. His face was wary. "The stars."

"The stars?" she asked.

"The stars are telling me your quest is inauspicious."

"Inaus----- what? I believe I'm not familiar with the word," she replied.

He looked at her and said, "It means, it does not show your future's success."

"Now you are a star reader or something?" she mocked him. She looked up and saw no stars but the afternoon sun. "There are no stars on the sky. Besides, don't say such foreboding thing. I know you want me out from this era and I want myself away from this era."

"I am not only the god of Time that could pause, fast forward or backward time per se. I am also the god of Cosmos. The stars show me. And the stars tell me your fate here. Danger is coming. Not only to you but to your nation, Philippines. I could not see the future clearly but I could sense bad things will befall. The more your quest prolongs, the more danger it will get."

"No," she muttered, "More danger? Again?"

"Hurry. That's all I can say to you." He worriedly eyed the sky, perhaps to the stars he only could see. "I feared... dreadful things will happen. I just.... could not see it clearly."

As time flowed back normally, the god of Time and Cosmos disappeared.

The girl who's lost in the time she did not belong looked curiously to where he stood before he left.

'Does the god-who-leisurely-gives-me-task-and-demands-a-lot cares about me?' she asked herself. 'Nah. That can't be right.'