*Note this story is in Kinaray-a
Mayad man nga nars si Clarissa. Sa pagkamatuod, tana ang pinakamatandus kag dedikado nga nars sa tanan. Ugaring may mga hinuringhuring nga mabatian parte kana. Ang tanan abi nga pasyente nga ana gintatap, nagkaramatay. Indi na man sala ang mga hitabo pero pirmi lang may kon ano nga nagakatabo.
Pareho lang kay Mr. Pasamba, apendicitis man lang to sakit na kag nangin madinarag-un man gani ang operasyon, magluwas sa gamay nga inpeksyon nga pwede man mabulong ka antibiotic. Pero kang masunod nga mga semana, nagkumplikado dya kag wara na run masarangan ang ana ginabatyag hasta tana nga nabugtuan ka ginhawa.
Maathag nga nabatian ni Clarrisa ang mga paglibak kana. “Tana kara nagpatay!” “Nagtawag lagi sanda sa morge kang naman-an nga tana ang nars.” “Sangka biktima liwan ni Clarrisa nga sinumpa.” Pero wara sa kilag ni Clarissa. Naman-an na nga kon magpakanubo lang tana kag himuon na lang ka husto ang ana obra, wara ti matabo nga malain kana.
Mas run gid ang parte kay Mrs. Bengzon. Karwa ka beses nga sala ang paglantaw ka doctor sa sakit na. Nagpangluya run dya sa mga wara nagakaigo kag indi kinahanglanun nga mga pagbulong. Nasapwan run lang nga patay run sa anang katre sangka aga. Si Clarissa man ang nakasapo.
Wara ti may nakita nga ebidensya ukon kamalamalahan sa autopsy. Wara ti sarabtun si Clarrisa sa kamatayun kang ana mga pasyente. Kag andut abi nga manabat tana? Natabuan na lang ang tanan. Wara lang tana pirmi sa husto nga lugar kag husto nga panahon.
Padayon lang si Clarissa sa ana trabaho. Wara na ginasapak ang mga paglibak kag mga hinuringhurig parte kana. Basta ginahimo na lang ka husto ang ana obra, wara gid ti problema.
Hasta nga may hitabo kay Ms. Villamor. Wara gid nag-andam si Clarrisa, nadakpan tana kang sangka nars sa ana matuod nga itsura sa ibabaw kang nagatagumatayun nga pasyente. Nagsala si Clarissa gani tinapos na dya.
Indi kamaan kon paano na ipaathag ang natabo sa darwa ka biktima. Nakapinsar tana ka mayad nga paagi. Mainarte tana. “Haraguy! Sa kaluoy na kay Ms. Villamor, ginpatay na dya! Ugaring wara siguro kadara ang ana konsensiya gani ginkutul na man ang ana kabuhi!” Ginplastar na ang tanan nga nagakaigo nga ebidensiya. Wara nabuhayan, ginpatihan tana ka hospital.
Gani si Clarrisa nga sinumpa nangabuhi sa ana ngaran. Ang ana mga pasyente may mga misteryoso giyapon nga hitabo nga naangut sa anda kamatayun. Pero para kay Clarissa mga kadimalasun lang ria.
Mayad tana nga nars nga nagaobra ka insakto. Amo lang ra ang dapat maman-an ka hospital.
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English Version
Clarissa wasn’t a bad nurse, in fact she tried harder than anyone in the hospital, but there would always be the whispers. You see, every patient under her care eventually expired. Not that any of those incidents were directly her fault, there was always just something that went wrong.
Take Mr. Pasamba. It was an ordinary case of appendicitis. The operation went well except for a small infection that should have been able to be cleared by antibiotics. In the next few weeks complications from the infection were too much for him to handle, until eventually he passed away.
Clarissa could hear the talk from behind her back. “She’s the one that did it.”, “They called the morgue once they knew it was her.”, “Another victim of Clarissa the cursed.”, yet Clarissa was unscathed. She knew that as long as she kept her head down and did her job correctly she would be fine.
That was more than anyone could say for Mrs. Bengzon. She had been misdiagnosed twice and was weak from all the unnecessary treatments. She was found dead one morning in her hospital bed. Clarissa was the one who found her.
There was never any evidence of foul play, at least none that an autopsy could find. Clarissa was never held liable for any of the deaths of the patients under her care, and why should she? She was just always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So Clarissa went on with her work, ignoring all the whispers. As long as she did her job, she would be okay.
That is, until the small incident with Ms. Villamor. Clarisse wasn’t careful and another nurse caught her in her true form, over the soon to be deceased body of her patient. Clarisse panicked and subdued the other nurse.
She didn’t know how she was going to be able to explain two victims, but then she had an idea.
Clarisse put on a show, “How terrible, the nurse felt so guilty euthanizing Ms. Villamor that she took her own life.” She had put all the necessary evidence in its place, and it didn’t take too long before the hospital believed her story.
So Clarisse the cursed followed through on her name, the patients she had still had mysterious circumstances attached to their deaths but that was just bad luck.
She was a good nurse that did her job. That’s all the hospital needed to know.
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*The Karay-a language, or Kinaray-a is an Austronesian regional language spoken by the Karay-a people, mainly in Antique in the Philippines, Iloilo and other provinces on the island of Panay, as well as portions of the SOCCSKSARGEN region in Mindanao. It is one of the Visayan languages, mainly along with Aklanon/Malaynon, Capiznon and Hiligaynon. As of 2015, there is an estimated 1,200,000 speakers of Kinaray-a with almost half of them are from Antique and Iloilo provinces.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Translation by Maaram
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Maaram
Inspired by the Aswang na Gala legends
Aswang na Gala illustration by Lou Pineda
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