Pt 1 of The Diary of a Teenage Cannibal
It’s time again.
Most people like to keep graveyards at a safe distance. They don’t like to be reminded that the dead still linger somewhere in the cold, dark earth, but they shouldn’t worry, the dead never stay in the grave for long. The drums ring across the gravestones. The sound isn’t as loud as you would expect from the celebrations, but human skulls weren’t made for noise. They had to be resourceful.
You would ask why I’m here. Why a respectable girl like me would be in a cemetery following the sound towards them. It all started with curiosity, like most stories do. My parents told me not to go to the graveyard, and I went. It was as simple as that.
That first night I heard the drums. I saw the bats and dogs and bugs turn into them. They looked at me as soon as they turned, and I didn’t know what to do. They pointed towards a huge banana leaf and on it was Manong Tonio. A month before I was at his funeral.
They led me to the body and I could see they were celebrating. It was a macabre fiesta. They had knives and clubs made out of bones and somehow, I felt at peace. The fear that I expected never arrived. Not even when they offered me a piece of their meal.
It’s time again and I can hear the drumbeats get louder.
I wonder who will be the feast this time.
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Kagkag entry in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971.
Kagkag Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
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