She came in the night.
It’s funny, looking back I think it was the window I left open that might have been a sign for her to enter.
I remember my aircon was broken and I wanted to let the cold in, the hot air being kept at bay by the electric fan and its gentle sound, nudging me to blissful sleep.
I woke up to the sound of her voice catching waves of my consciousness towards her. Each ebb and flow pulsing towards a barely audible sound.
What was there defied explanation. A boat as large as my bed floated above me. On it was a woman, though I could tell she wasn’t ordinary. Her hand felt cold to my touch. She beckoned I come closer.
And that’s when it began.
We traveled the world that night, going from crystal clear beaches to gigantic mountains in the blink of an eye. Part of me thought that we crossed the whole globe then. Maybe I was right.
I will never forget what I saw then. We went to deserts forgotten by man and fondled the sands that kept time at bay, and the waterfalls! Such pristine majesty amplified by the moonlight. I still think of them when I close my eyes.
I tried to look at her throughout all of this. My mind wanted to know who she was and how she did these things.
As if she sensed my thoughts, she set the flying ship down by a lagoon and told me her secrets.
She set before me a book, larger than any book I had seen before and told me of its power. The woman said it was called the libro de la combania and she said that it could take me anywhere I wished. All I needed to do was think of a location and I would be there in an instant.
When I asked why she was telling me this, she laughed. She said there was something in me that interested her and she asked me what I would do with the book.
I didn’t answer her right away, my mind was filled with ideas clashing to the forefront. Would I use it to go in a bank and take as much money as I’d like? Would it be better to see the world from atop mountains? Would I think of my family and return home?
Excitement raced through my thoughts, but a part of me held back.
I looked into her eyes and electricity raced through my spine.
I didn’t know why the woman scared me so much. It might have been because she was offering me so much power, but I hesitated just long enough that she noticed.
She asked me if I would reject her gift.
I didn’t reply.
A string of profanities filled the air, words that should never be put together were strung as curses directed my way.
She called me a fool and an ingrate.
Maybe I was, but I would not accept the gifts she was giving me. Not after I saw her eyes.
She kicked me out of the boat and I could feel the wind rushing past me as I fell from the sky. I prepared myself to feel the cold water from the lagoon below.
Instead of the plunging into the clear waters, I fell on my bed, in my room as if nothing had happened.
I coughed then and I noticed there was blood, a prelude to my future troubles.
And here I stay, in my bed thinking of the past and the damage that it had dealt to me.
The doctors don’t know what’s wrong with me and I won’t tell them about the woman. I asked to be returned home for palliative care. If all the needles and prodding couldn’t solve it, I didn’t want to die in a hospital bed.
My lola said she would call a faith healer. I thanked her for the gesture but I think it’s too late for me.
I close my eyes and I remember.
Her cruel eyes and the waterfalls.
And what it was like to fly.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by The Sangkabagi description in El folklore Filipino . Isabelo delos Reyes, trans. Dizon and Peralta-Imson. 1994. (Original Spanish Manuscript printed 1889)
Sangkabagi Illustration by Florence Alcantara