*Note this story is in Tagalog
Hindi pabayang nars si Clarissa; sa katotohanan, mas masikap siya kaysa sa sinuman sa ospital, pero hindi maiiwasang magkaroon ng bulong-bulungan. Ito ay dahil bawat pasyenteng nasasailalim sa pangangalaga niya ay ‘di kalaunang namamatay. Hindi sa direktang kasalanan niya ang anuman sa mga insidenteng iyon, palagi lang talagang nagkakaroon ng problema.
Halimbawa, si G. Pasamba. Isa iyong ordinaryong kaso ng appendicitis. Naging matagumpay ang operasyon maliban sa isang maliit na impeksyong magagamot dapat ng mga antibiotic. Sa mga sumunod na linggo, hindi niya na kinaya ang mga komplikasyong dulot ng impeksyon, hanggang sa pumanaw siya pagkalaon.
Naririnig ni Clarissa ang mga usapan kapag hindi siya nakatingin. “Siya ang may kasalanan.”, “Tumawag agad sila sa morge nang malaman pa lang nilang siya ang nakatoka.”, “Isa na namang biktima ni Clarissa na may sumpa.” Pero hindi nagpadaig si Clarissa. Alam niyang kung mananahimik lang siya at gagawin niya nang maayos ang kanyang trabaho, hindi siya mapapahamak.
Hindi ganoon kasimple ang naging sitwasyon ni Gng. Bengzon. Dalawang beses siyang nabigyan ng maling diyagnosis, at naging mahina siya mula sa mga hindi kinakailangang paggamot. Isang umaga, natagpuan siyang pumanaw na sa kanyang kama sa ospital. Si Clarissa ang unang nakakita sa kanya.
Hindi kailanman nagkaroon ng ebidensya ng ‘di-wastong gawain, iyon ay, walang anumang matatagpuan mula sa autopsy. Hindi kailanman pinanagot si Clarissa para sa alinman sa mga pagkamatay ng mga pasyenteng nasailalim sa pangangalaga niya, at bakit naman iyon gagawin? Palagi lang talaga siyang nasa maling lugar sa maling pagkakataon.
Kaya nagpatuloy si Clarissa sa kanyang trabaho at hindi niya pinansin ang mga bulong-bulungan. Kung patuloy niyang gagawin ang kanyang trabaho, hindi siya mapapahamak.
Hanggang sa mangyari ang maliit na insidente kaugnay ni Gng. Villamor. Hindi naging maingat si Clarissa at nakita siya ng isa pang nars sa kanyang tunay na anyo, habang nakayuko sa ibabaw ng katawan ng kanyang pasyenteng malapit nang mamatay. Nagitla si Clarissa at sinugod niya ang nars na iyon.
Hindi niya alam kung paano niya ipapaliwanag ang dalawang biktima, pero bigla siyang nakaisip ng ideya.
Nagpanggap at umarte si Clarissa, “Nakakakilabot, sa sobrang pagkakonsiyensya niya sa pag-euthanize kay Gng. Villamor, nagpakamatay siya.” Nailagay niya na ang lahat ng kinakailangang ebidensya sa dapat paglagyan ng mga ito, at hindi nagtagal bago paniwalaan ng ospital ang kanyang kuwento.
Kaya naman, pinanindigan ni Clarissa na may sumpa ang kanyang palayaw, kataka-taka pa rin ang sitwasyong nakapalibot sa pagkamatay ng kanyang mga pasyente, pero kamalasan lang iyon.
Isa siyang mabuting nars na gumagawa ng kanyang trabaho. Iyon lang ang kailangang malaman ng ospital.
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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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*Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages alongside English.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Translation by Dyanne A
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Translation Copyright © Dyanne A
Inspired by the Aswang legends
Aswang na Gala illustration by Lou Pineda
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