1st very rough draft

 

Halina did not bother to look back at the fire she was running away from, she had too much blisters on her feet and the heat and exhaustion is slowly taking her breathing away. The bukot hut where she was staying in caught flames and it had covered the entire barangay, Carrying only a knapsack pasiking filled with 2 clothes and two agimats, one anklet and one bracelet. She made her escape. she did not bother to look back despite her people running in chaos. She had planned her escape six full moons ago but couldn’t do it. The uripons were quick and the rajah’s soldiers, her father’s soldiers, were too quick on their feet. Being confined in a bukot your entire life takes so much from you that freedom is all you can think of. She was devastated of the flame swallowing my home but her leave has been due.

            Barefooted, She had sustained multiple cuts and bruises from running toward the forest. So, she took rest on a big tree and started sharpening bamboos; one long as a spear and two which acts as my swords, the act was not princess like as many may thought but her observation skills were often on point.

The sun rose twice ever since her escape and from the luxurious food her father offer her, now she only had berries to sustain her, she got lucky one time where a stray chicken came my way and it sustained me for a day. As she was resting and staring at the leaves of a tree, the night looms in once more and as her eyelids feels heavy, A wild rustling of leaves and heavy smell of tobacco took her attention. Looking up she saw a huge man, slim, ragged and slimy hair, wearing a tattered bahag with tobaccos on it and he was blowing one. He looked at her with a menacing stare as he puffs another; he looked at her and the moon once more. He did his best to look cool as possible but when one is towering and mostly dirty, you’re not taking hearts, you’re instilling fear in one. The he spoke in a deep hoarse voice:

            “What brings you to my forest?” It is rare for someone to come my way, and don’t bother trying to fight me, you just can’t. He stopped looking at me menacingly but he had that disinterested look on his face. She knew that he was expecting an answer but her entire body is too shaken to respond as if her soul was taken by ulilang kaluluwa. He sighed deeply and went down from his tree, as he thought it would comfort me but to see someone towering over you for over 7 feet does not really help alleviate your fear. She had prayed for hoped and pray for a god then she remembered she was a non-believer so she simply hoped that help would come.

            “Does my appearance bother you?” as he sat on the floor to level with her. She nodded her head the entire time and avoiding disagreeing with him, at this point he could say that taking a bath is a social construct and she would happily agree. The kapre was a nice dude and talked of things like rainbows and food in order to comfort her. He also talked of how his trees are often exploited, how humans often destroy his forests and how people would often get lost in his dimension. Far from the legends my parents told me he was a nice kapre, she guessed that not all aswangs are bad, in the long conversation they had he offered her a smoke but she don’t do such so she politely declined him and at that moment I realized that I lost my fear in talking to him, he realized how she was raised as a judgmental girl who based her assumptions based on looks. He was different from the looks of others but that doesn’t mean his heart is in another place.

            It turns out she was stuck in his dimension for three days and all the animals she “hunted” were a gift. Her ego was struck but she was alive to be offended to she didn’t mind. He mentioned someone who passed by. An energetic girl who was traveling the world, she was wearing blue tunic and is in search of an eagle. He told me that, that girl’s instinct was strong that he was found immediately. But unlike me, she was not hostile but rather friendly.

            “I think you stayed here for too long, I had long wanted company but I guess isolation is really my style” he said while standing up and stretching his absurdly long legs. He offered her a giant tobacco the size of her arm.

            “What? I won’t and can’t smoke the little one and you’re giving me this?!” She exclaimed. He had that disinterested look on his face as he was visibly annoyed by her as she keeps making assumptions before he could speak. He smacked the tobacco on her head and said “learn to listen before exclaiming in people you idiot!” She was visibly hurt from the smack and was tending to her little bump from this, while she was doing so he added “You’re not meant to smoke this, just lit it and –“ “then I will smoke it! Anyway what’s the point of litting them if you’re not got gonna smoke them” she interrupted again. She got another bump on her head she bowed her head as he saw how visibly annoyed the kapre is.

            “Kapre’s tobaccos are special, if it was lit by a human, it can the smoke shows where one’s fate is headed and the fallen ashes can show what the heart’s desire. It’s also a decent insect repellant.” She was amazed and concerned at the same time. First is that she gained something most people search their entire lives, a proper guide to where you’re heart lies and where you’re mean to be but she was concerned how she was perceived since she really looked clueless enough to be given a guide thereof.

            She appreciated it and kept it. She asked the kapre’s name in which he replied “I told you like 5 times, it’s baga” He told her to only lit the tobacco if only necessary as the item is not infinite, the hearts desire will often change but fate will not, and often human beings have tendency of ignoring what is essential and chasing what they want.

During their talk and upon listening to Baga’s instructions regarding the tobacco, she remembered whys she left home despite the demise it was experiencing. She hated it, every minute of it and as she’s walking away her thoughts were being clouded and her entire body was shivering. Her teeth were clenched along with her fists. She did not desire for that place to burn, she did not even bother to look back once. The town was dead long ago along with her family to her.

            Her family was far from perfect per se. being the eldest daughter she was expected to act in accordance to their will. Being a princess she was, she was confined in that bukot for years in order to train her in poising herself for a man. She never want any of that, though she wants to believe that everything do happen for a reason and Bathala has a higher plan. But even then she never liked the eyes that looked up to her so much and judge her in a second she crumble.

One misstep, one fail, one trip and all those clapping hands will start covering their mouths of rumors it was too much to take for a child. Her mistakes are of her own yet her achievements are shared. They applaud her excels in writing, combat and other skills yet criticize the errors of the world in which they have little to no control of.

Being the most talented and smartest in the family does have its perks but when all of their insecurities arise, even your parents, will pinpoint every mistake you make and try to make you feel bad for something you are proud of. Often they ridicule her looks and her manners in which they see as not princess like. The academy for princesses does not help also as it only creates tensions and raises her parent’s expectations.

Baga was growing weary of her as the kapre learned that he does not bode well with moping humans. He prefers isolation at this point. So he shooed away the princess and climbed back up to his tree. She took her leave and went on her travels once more. The kapre knew that she needed someone but he was not right for the job he watched slowly as she gets smaller on his sight. He lit up his tobacco once more and stared at the moon.

Halina walked once more and overwhelmed in her own thoughts she sought another place to sit. She looked around for another kapre but saw none. In an attempt to clear her thoughts: she took one of her stick and draws the baybayin symbol of “Pamilya” on sand, which is ironic because she hated hers. There were few redeeming traits as not all were bad, but the first thing in healing is accepting that they did do something but no, everytime she call them out she was called called arrogant and delusional.

Imagine being stabbed by a bolo, in order for it to heal you have to pull it out and let the wound heal by putting medicine and putting in pressure. But that is not the case right now; they haven’t pulled the blade let alone touch it. They even pretend that the blade is not there. In the search of traveling the world Halina seeks someone to pull the blade.

            She grabbed two sticks and started to ignite the straws lying on the ground. She pulled out the tobacco the kapre gave and started to ignite it. She looked up and the smoke rose above reaching the stars. Then a person appeared on the smoke, shivering.