Part 3 of Aura’s Revenge
I’m scared all the time now, I think these things are following me. Mama’s still in the hospital and papa said she’s just sleeping, but I heard him and the doctor talk. The doctor said that mama might not make it, she’s too sick and she lost too much blood he said it was exanwi— exisani— exsanguination. I don’t know what that means.
I went up to mama and I told her I was sorry. I didn’t know the baby was going to hurt her. It just grew more teeth and it started hurting mama. She told me to run away, but I’m a brave girl. I hit it with a stick, but I don’t think I was strong enough. I screamed and I screamed until someone came to help. They didn’t believe me when I told them the truth, they thought it was a wild animal.
Kuya and I are staying in the hospital room to take care of mama. She’ll be fine, I know she will, but I don’t think I should stay here anymore. I’m just going to keep hurting my family if I’m around them. I told this to kuya and he just laughed. He told me not to worry about anything, we’re a family and we should stick together. Kuya’s right. He’s so smart.
Today I saw a strange man walking around the hospital. He was tall and he had curly hair and his fingernails were really long. He asked me what my name was and I said “Teleia!” and he told me his name was Swing! It was a funny name for an adult.
Kuya called me and I said goodbye to Mr. Swing. Kuya told me not to talk to strangers but I think it’s okay. Mr. Swing seems nice.
Kuya told me he had to leave me alone for a little bit, he said that papa wanted to talk to him. That’s really strange though because papa told me that he was going to be out all day, he needed to fix things at his job so that he could stay with mama while she recovers. I think I should have told kuya but he left really fast. After that, I took a nap next to mama. I got her an extra blanket to keep her warm.
When I woke up kuya still didn’t come back. He should hurry.
He might miss dinner.
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Story continued from the Tiyanak’s tale
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Siring entry in Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology. Ramos. 1971.
Siring Illustration by Leandro Geniston from Aklat ng mga Anito
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