*Note this story is in Cebuano
Naa’y usa ka lalake nga terible gyud ang iyang kaso sa pagtulog.
Dili sya makatulog kada gabi-i mau tong huwaton pa niya ang oras hangtud sa makatulog nalang siya.
Gisulayan na sa mga doktor nga hatagan sya ug tambal para makatulog sya ug tarong pero wala gyu’y epekto.
Hangtud sa naa’y gi-rekomenda ang iyang higala tungod sa iyahang problema.
Ana sa iyahang higala nga mangita sya ug usa ka butang ug didto lang mag-pokus.
Hinumdumon niya ang usa ka butang hangtod sa mu-kalma kadtong lawas niya ug mu-hinay ang iyahang paginhawa.
Wala na gyu’y ubang mahimo ang lalake mao nang gisulayan nalang niya.
Unang gabi-i, gikan sa iyahang bintana, gisuway niya’g tan-awon kadtong duha ka suga sa karsada.
Gi-tan-aw nya’g deretso, pokus sya kaayo ug sunod ka-adlaw, natingala nalang sya’g pagmata niya, nindot ang iyahang pagtulog.
Ika-upat na ka-adlaw nga sige nya ug himo adtong nindot nga paagi sa pagtulog kay maayo man ang nahitabo
Sa ikalima ka-adlaw, nakamatikod sya nga nawala-wala ang mga suga, murag naa’y nabuak pero nag-pokus pa gihapon siya ug ning padayon sa iyahang pagtulog.
Pagkabuntag, namintana siya para tan-awon ang problema sa mga suga.
Dili sya makaginhawa sa nakit-an niyang dagkong kuko sa ilalum sa iyahang bintana. Ana gabi-i pud naghabol siya hangtud sa iyahang ulo ug gisulayi’g pokus sa uban ka butang. Pero lisod kaayo to himuon.
Ning balik ang mga suga.
ug kusog ang sindi labaw pa sa tanan
English Version
There was once a boy who had a terrible case of insomnia.
Night after night he would stay awake, trying to pass the time until he could finally get to sleep. The doctors tried to give him different drugs so he could sleep better but they didn’t help.
Finally, his friend suggested another method to help him deal with his problem. She told him to find something to focus on, just one thing and to see it in his mind’s eye. To think about it until his body was calm and his breath was slow.
The boy didn’t have anything to lose so he tried it. The first night when he was in his room he decided to focus on two street lights he saw from his window. He looked right into them, focused as much as he could and to his surprise, the next day, he woke up after a good night’s rest.
For four nights the boy continued this new method and every time it worked. On the fifth night, he noticed that the lights were fading in and out, like something was broken, but he focused anyway and he managed to get some sleep.
The next morning he went to his window to see what was wrong with the lights. He almost couldn’t breathe when he saw the claw marks by his windowsill.
That night he put his blanket over his head and he tried to focus on something else. But that was a very difficult thing to do.
The lights were back.
And they were brighter than ever.
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*The Cebuano language, alternatively called Cebuan and also often colloquially albeit informally referred to by most of its speakers simply as Bisaya (“Visayan”, not to be confused with other Visayan languages nor Brunei Bisaya language), is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 21 million people, mostly in Central Visayas, western parts of Eastern Visayas and most parts of Mindanao, most of whom belong to various Visayan ethnolingusitic groups, mainly the Cebuanos. It is the by far the most widely spoken of the Visayan languages, which are in turn part of wider the Philippine languages. The reference to the language as Bisaya is not encouraged anymore by linguists due to the many languages within the Visayan language group that may be confused with the term. The Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, the official regulating body of Philippine languages, spells the name of the language as Sebwano.
Cebuano Translation by Jemer Allanic
Translation Copyright © Jemer Allanic
Story adapted from Kubot entry in Myth Museum. Medina. 2015. And a half-remembered Creepypasta
Kubot Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
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Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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