10 Quiet Lake
In the next day, Ato and his friends decided that they'll catch spiders during the noon break.
This was their unanimous decision since they needed to give the spider to Janoy by afternoon. Also, they have no choice but to catch the spider near the lake since it's impossible to find a big dotted pulahan anywhere else during the day.
Dotted pulahan spiders thrive in the main lake area because people rarely disturb the place. Spiders normally start to come out at sunset, but if they venture in the lake area, they still have a chance to get a big one even in the middle of the day.
As soon as they were dismissed at 11 o'clock in the morning, they immediately left. Their mission: to catch at least one big dotted pulahan and return to school before one o'clock in the afternoon.
After fifteen minutes of brisk walk and intermittent running, they met a boy sobbing. They approached him and asked why he's crying. He looked very weak and really afraid and he had fever.
He said that his father left him and promised to return to bring food, but he had not yet returned since yesterday. He was looking for him and he's starving since he had not eaten yet for two days already.
Seeing the really sad condition of the boy, Ato gave his lunch. They told him that they'll stay with him for a while to wait for his father. They asked the boy how old he is. He said that he's seven.
After he'd eaten, his temperature dropped a bit. Less than ten minutes passed, Ato noticed Biboy's worried face.
"We'll leave you another meal you can eat for dinner. We need to go now since we have an important thing to do. But we'll definitely come back before 1 pm," Ato said.
But before they can go, a man appeared shouting the boy's name. The child looked at the man and his face glowed. He wailed loudly, weeped profusely, his mouth wide opened, and forced his weak legs to stand up, then he ran towards his father.
But Ato and his friends were shocked and frightened upon seeing the man closer. He was bringing an M16 rifle! The man looked shabby and exhausted.
He held his son in his shoulders and looked gently at him. Tears flowed from his eyes and he hugged his son tightly.
Ato searched him but can't see any sign of food. The man was also quick to notice the packed lunch his boy was holding.
"Did these kids gave you food?" the man asked.
"Yes, they gave me two meals. I've already eaten the first and this one is for you," the boy replied. The man's eyes were wet again, his lips quivered. He took the food and quickly ate them.
"Don't worry, before night falls, food will be available, I promise.
Since I left, I haven't eaten too yet. But don't worry, papa got a job and we will not run out of food anymore," he smiled assuringly to his son.
He told his son to thank his friends and he did. In response, Ato said that they'll have to leave now. But before they can leave, the man asked for Ato's name.
"I'm Ato," he replied.
"And my name is Mik-Mik, sir!" Mik-mik added grinning, intending to act friendly with the man. Four of his front teeth were missing.
The man just nodded and smiled after seeing Mik's cute smile. Mik-mik had a rounded and neat face and his eyes were bigger than usual. Then Ato and his classmates left. At first they were just walking but when they're a bit far, they ran.
-
Ato and his friends can now see the lake's water. They paused for a while to eat their lunch. They shared the food that was left. Goryo remembered something his father once told him.
"My father told me that the giant croc only stays at the middle of the lake, which is it's deepest part. He also said that this croc moves or swims very fast."
They all gazed at the middle of the lake and, to them, it appeared far.
"So that means we are safe," Mik-mik replied.
"No. It is because there are still crocs that stay near the banks. Also, watch out for snakes. They're all over!" Goryo replied. His shaking voice revealed his fear inside.
"Then we need to finish this quick and return immediately," Mik-mik said.
"Yes, but we will not go back without getting one," Ato interjected. Mik and Goryo glanced at Biboy.
"My father said that the king-croc looks like a dinosaur," Biboy said to himself. He almost said this to them but he succeeded in restraining himself.
"We just transfered to this town, so I really don't know much about this lake or about many things in this place," Ato said.
This explains why, compared to the three, he had less superstitions and or apprehensions with the place.
"You know, Ato?" Goryo said. "Since you transfered in our school... although, the reason is because your parents died – we are truly sad for that – but we are really happy that you have become our friend! Many things changed since then."
Ato was a cheerful kid, has a strong personality, and sometimes stubborn. But tears quickly fell from his eyes after being reminded of his parents. Goryo noticed this so he immediately stopped.
Last year, his parents died, just three weeks before the school year ends. Since then, Ato wasn't able to go back to school but he was fortunate his grade four teacher gave him passing grades – relatively high grades, in fact.
His grandmother took him to her place, the childhood place of his parents, and transfered him to Quiet Lake Elementary School. As the newest transferee, he instantly became famous, though, he also became more attractive to bullies and competitors.
After their lunch, they started to search the area. They found some spiders but they're not what they've came for. At last, after several minutes of careful searching, they found what looked like a dotted pulahan hanging on a tree. They approached to see closer.
"Yes! It's a dotted pulahan, and it's big!" Goryo, the tallest among them, said. The four were very happy at their discovery.
Ato used a stick to reach the spider. But he froze after seeing a snake crawl in the branch of the tree. The other also saw it and they panicked causing them to stepped backwards.
"Waaahh!" The three were startled at Mik-mik's scream. Near his right was a king cobra in attack position! Mik-mik pointed his finger to the cobra and the three saw it.
Ato extended his arms to halt his friends. He wanted to make it sure that no one runs ahead of anyone.
"At the count of three, let's run together," he murmured to them.
"One, two, three, RUN!" the four ran as fast as they could away from the tree. And before they knew it, they have already reached near the lake's bank.
Somewhere in the lake, a large crocodile was alerted by the movements in the bushes near the bank. It slowly swam towards the bank to observe.
As soon as the kids stopped, they were all laughing. Their fear quickly sublimated to laughter because of their humorous experience of running wildly.
In another location, a deer can be seen cautiously approaching the bank. It wanted to drink water. It stopped to gaze at the vast expanse of bluish green water in front it. Then it moved again towards the water.
The kids resumed searching around their location and, soon, one of them found a spider. From their location, they estimated its size to be big enough. They were wishing that it's a dotted pulahan as they approached.
But they were disappointed that it's a different kind. This time, they have come even closer to the bank. They were now around eight meters from the edge of the water.
Mik-mik, the smallest among them, protested that they should return now. The placid water gave him chills. And besides, he's terrified of the water because he doesn't know how to swim.
Ato was also worried after looking at Biboy who said nothing and only bowed his head to the ground.
"I agree with Mik-mik. We should return to school now. It's very dangerous here," Goryo hesitatingly said.
Biboy raised his head. Ato sensed that Biboy was about to give up, thus, he quickly moved and looked around, hoping to see a spider at the last moment. He saw something dangling near the tip of a bush' branch. Ato felt hope.
Unfortunately, the branch was arching over the bank towards the water. Ato didn't hesitate to approach the bush and keenly examined the spider.
"Yes! It's the one we need. And it's really big!" Ato yelped.
His friends gathered closer and saw immediately the difficulty of getting the spider. They all agreed quickly to look for a longer stick to reach the spider. Ato quickly ran around to look for a longer stick.
Fortunately, he saw a thin branch long enough to reach the spider. He broke the branch and quickly brought it back.
Meanwhile, the big croc surreptitiously drew near to the bank sensing that movements were still going on. It was now close to the bank but not a single creature in the dry land seemed aware of the plan of this killer predator.
Ato tried to reach the spider with the stick. But not known to the kids, dotted pulahan spiders were intelligent. It knows whether the object that disturbs its web is a prey or a danger. It crawled upwards and took refuge in the branch.
It was impossible now to get the spider using a stick. And the kids' frustration was deeper than ever. Mik-mik almost cried. But Ato was quick to read the situation. There's no other way to get the spider. He had to climb the branch!
Without saying anything, he climbed the bush to the shock of his classmates. They attempted to protest but it's too late already. Ato's two hands were holding in the branch where the spider was, while his feet were supported by another branch.
He slowly moved his feet and hand toward the tips of the branches. The two branches bent a bit towards the water.
He's now above the edge of the water and was over a meter high from the water's surface. His right hand was close to the spider. He made a final movement of his right feet forward and then his left hand.
Having estimated that his right hand can now reach the spider, he prepared his right hand. He needed to be quick. His friends froze!
He swiftly grabbed the spider! His heart jumped. He felt the spider in his palm! He knew he successfully caught it!
But suddenly, the branch in his feet cracked. It started to broke. Ato, realizing he's going to fall in the water, mustered all his strength and jumped towards the dry land.
But the branches didn't gave him enough support. His jump didn't allowed him to reach the dry soil. He fell in the damp part of the bank. He lost his balance, tipped a bit backwards, and the fingers in his left hand touched the water!
Suddenly, a violent splash in the water occured. The huge croc snapped its prey with its sharp teeth! Ato's friends were stunned – terrified. They saw everything! Blood mixed with the water!
The thirsty deer has fallen under the croc's ambush trap. The helpless deer wailed wildly and did everything to escape from the croc's powerful jaws. The croc's teeth embedded on the deer's neck and part of its head.
Meanwhile, as soon as Ato's fingers touched the water, a wave occured starting from his fingers and propagated quickly throughout the lake!
When the wave reached the crocodile, it felt something weird and it let go of the deer and swam away. The deer laid half submerged on the water and its neck was bleeding profusely.
When the wave reached the center of the lake, an earthquake occurred. It came from the bottom of the middle of the lake. The kids saw violent water movements and bubbles appeared at the center of the lake! They also saw different kinds of birds flew away from the woods.
The earthquake also caused a bigger wave to appear – five times bigger than the first wave. It started from the center of the lake and propagated towards the lake's edges. The wave was about two feet tall when it reached the banks.
When the wave reached the deer, the deer regained strength, and it quickly stood up and run away. It's wounds also started healing miraculously.
Nearby, a dying tilapia also regained strength and it swam gracefully. All the creatures, all sorts of them, under water also felt invigorated!
Ato was pushed by the wave causing him to stand on his feet. But he never let go of the spider. His classmates were shocked since they all witnessed what just happened. But they have no single idea about the things they saw.
As soon as they've came back to their senses, they asked Ato to show them the spider. Part of Ato's body and his two hands were wet. When he opened his hand, they were very happy to see the spider, which was all wet and not moving.
But they also saw something that saddened them. They saw one leg of the spider separated from it. It must have been severed by Ato's grip, so they thought. They're worried that Janoy will not accept the spider or will still demand to get him another one.
Ato transfered the spider in the matchbox, which they have prepared as container for the spider. Then they hurried to return to school. When they reached school, it was exactly 1 p.m and Ato was all dried up already.
But among the four, Biboy was the most anxious. He's holding the leg of the spider and frequently looks at it. His worry of what will be Janoy's reaction later made him unable to listen to any of his teacher's discussions.
"Maharlika is an archipelago situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It is composed of three main islands and more than seven thousand lesser islands," said the teacher in loud voice. The subject now was Social Studies and he's discussing the history of their country.
"The 4th century A.D. is called the "Emergent Phase" of Maharlika. It is at this time that the pre-colonial Maharlikan kingdom was first established by a Raja who arrived in the archipelago with seventy balangays or large boats. Each balangay carried three to five families. When they settled in different areas and mingled with the natives, the division of families into seventy balangays later became the seventy tribes united under the benevolent rule of the Raja. Maharlika was a flourishing kingdom, rich in resources and gold and was an advance civilization compared to its neighbors. But when the Spanish colonizers reached Maharlika in the year 1521, which is a thousand years later, the kingdom is long lost already. What they encountered, instead, were impoverished people, scattered, and divided by ignorance and superstitions."
Biboy's favorite subject was really Social Studies, especially, history. He's always alert during this subject and actively recited. But today, he's different and his teacher noticed.
"BIBOY!" his teacher yelled at him.
"Y-yes, sir?" Biboy replied tensedly.
"Do you know that no one knows what really happened to the Maharlikan kingdom?" his teacher asked him.
"Y-yes... I know, sir." His classmates all looked at him out of curiosity about what his answer might possibly be.
"NO, you don't!" His teacher cut him short. His classmates snickered.
"It's because you're not listening. No one really knows, not even the Spaniards. The Spanish colonizers never thought that there was such a kingdom that existed even until they left our country. They've always believed that the pre-collonial Maharlikans were barbaric and primitive. Only recently did our historians concluded the existence of a rich ancient kingdom because of the archeological evidences that have been accumulated. However, our historians still have no idea why the kingdom collapsed."
After the class, Janoy and his gang were already waiting for Biboy in the center ground. They were all prepped up to beat him. Biboy handed him the matchbox.
Biboy, Goryo, and Mik-mik didn't looked at the matchbox when Janoy opened it. But Ato looked keenly. As soon as Janoy opened the box, a big spider came out and was moving briskly. Janoy grinned and his eyes widened. The spider had complete legs and it appeared vigorous!
Janoy's friends were envious. His new dotted pulahan was definitely bigger. Ato and his friends were surprised. The spider had complete legs! They can't understand what they're seeing.
-
Ato and his classmates were oblivious of what fully happened in the lake. Completely unknown to everyone, there was an underground cavern at the center of the lake.
The wave that started from Ato's fingers caused a leak in the cave and a drop of water fell on something inside the cave causing it to burst with radiant light. The powerful burst of dense light caused the earthquake, which produced the tsunami-like wave in the lake.
