2 Boracay Island
Four months ago, Boracay island was closed.
The government deployed more than four hundred military personnel in full battle gear in order to implement at once what they said to be "a cleaning and rehabilitation" of the world class beach.
Many protested the drastic move of the Government. But the iron will of the President prevailed. Since more than a year ago, the Government implemented an enhanced security not only all over the island but even in the mainland city port from where the small ships, carrying tourists and locals, enter the island.
The Government's justification was terrorist attacks. A couple of these attacks have happened in some beach resorts in the archipelago.
The terrorists are targeting foreign tourists to kidnap in exchange of hefty ransom. And, for obvious reason, Boracay is their premium target.
Aside from the small ships and boats, only commercial choppers can reach the island. But since the enhanced security, more military choppers are seen flying to and fro.
-
It's been two weeks since the island's reopening.
The day was unusually beautiful and the warm weather was refreshing. The serene crystal-clear water reveal the beach's underneath splendor and its white powdery shorelines are without blemish.
Many people, locals and tourists, were already in the White Beach as early as five o'clock, excited to experience the lovely sunrise of the newly opened beach of Boracay.
It's passed seven, people have gradually filled the beach. In the remote left side of the island, a cute little girl waved her hand as she called on loudly to his brother,
"KUUYAAA! You've promised to teach me kite fishing," she ran towards her older brother. "Is that it already?" she added excitedly.
"Yep," the eight-year old boy replied. "What we need is this fish-shaped plywood. Good thing papa made this for us," he showed her the one-fourth inch thick plywood cut in the shape of a fish. It's about one and a half feet long and ten inches wide.
"Then we attach this wood." Using two nails and a rock as hammer, the boy attached the seven-inch long stick perpendicularly at the center of the plywood fish. The stick is a little less than an inch thick.
"Finally, this nylon." The boy tied a long nylon at the end of the stick. This nylon is about thirty meters long but more than half of its length was wound on an empty plastic bottle.
"Uhum, uhum..." the girl nodded with full attention.
There were also ten pieces of short nylons, one-foot long each, that were tied perpedicular to the long nylon and arranged two feet away from each other.
At the end of each of these short nylons were little fishhooks. The first of these nylons with a fishhook was also two feet from the plywood fish.
-
The White Beach, the main tourism beach of the island, was lined with restaurants, lodging houses, small cottages, and hotels.
Its wide beachfront of pure white sand was divided by an array of palm trees and some coconuts standing proud and adding natural beauty and cozy ambience to the beach.
No wonder it's the number one beach in the world!
Three girls were throwing Frisbee on each other and another three males were doing the same who seemed to be so proud of the exaggerated ways they threw and caught the plastic disk as they glanced from time to time toward the girls.
Some, mostly children, were building sand castles while others were splashing the fresh water. Others still were simply lying, with sunglasses covering their eyes, and enjoying their morning sun bath and the clear blue sky.
On a bench facing the sea, two men were conversing about the strange things that recently been happening in the sea. They were referring to deep-sea creatures washed on the shores in the different parts of the archipelago.
Rumors of these strange creatures have already spread around the world. The other version of the rumor was that the deep sea-dwellers are messengers from the deep.
"Lots of strange things happening now in the sea, right? I mean, the mysterious creatures washed on the shores," said one of the men.
"Uh, yeah! Those were crazy news."
"They say that they bring a warning of looming catastrophe."
-
"Hold it steady!" shouted the boy to his sister. She's holding the plywood fish and was around fifteen meters away from his brother.
His brother was holding the plastic bottle where part of the long nylon were wound. The un-winded part of the nylon, which was tied to the plywood fish, were filled with the ten suspended fishhooks.
"Be careful with the hooks!" the boy yelled again. The ten short nylons with hooks on their ends swung as the wind blew them.
"Now, place it on the water... That's it!" the boy affirmingly said to his sister for she placed the plywood fish correctly in the water.
"Yey! Kite fishing, we're kite fishing!" the little girl jumped out of joy as her eyes followed the plywood fish gliding away.
Holding the nylon with his right hand and the plastic bottle on his left, his brother walked along the shore to exert a constant pull on the plywood fish against the water. The little girl, on the other hand, was swinging her arms as she gaily followed her brother.
The steady pull of the nylon and the opposite push of the water allows the plywood fish to keep balance and swam towards the deeper part of the water.
The mechanism here is the same with what happen with kites. The pull of the string and the opposite push of the air allow the kite to fly higher until it reaches its maximum height. The difference only is that in the case of the plywood fish, the boy should continue walking along the shore so that the fish will remain in standing position and not lose balance and float flat in the water.
Minutes after, the boy snapped the nylon as soon as he felt some fishes have bitten the hooks. Then he rapidly jerked the nylon. Seconds after, all ten hooks were filled with fish.
"We've got fishes! There they are!" he shouted to his sister as he raised the nylon. Some of the fishes caught can be seen suspended partly above the water's surface.
"Yey. We've caught fishes! Lots of them!" the girl was jumping jubilantly.
-
"But today's weather is quite different, right?" said the man sitting in a bench.
"Yeah, it's unusually beautiful and calm. Thanks to Pres. Sandrigo, Boracay is now clean," his companion replied.
"Have you heard the rumors?"
"What? That the reason why Boracay was closed is because a dead man-like creature was found here?"
"Yes. Some actually claim they've seen the corps— "
"LOOK OUT!" a sharp yell interrupted their conversation. A woman in two-piece halted upon hearing the loud warning. Someone warned her of a dog's poop on her path.
"Ewwwww!" the sexy woman screamed in disgust. Too late, she already stepped on it.
"Sheesh, dogs!.. If that happens to me, I won't forgive those dogs," the man said, wishing to manly empathize with the sexy and beautiful woman.
But something else changed the woman's feelings. As she raised her eyes towards the sea-horozon, her face's expression changed from disgust to fear and confusion.
"LOOK OUT!!! THERE!" everyone was interrupted by a much louder scream. It came from two or three people.
The beach-goers turned their eyes towards the horizon and saw a familiar sight. They all became silent. It was their first time to actually see it but it looked unmistakably familiar. A mixture of tense and wonder were felt.
In the sky, an unusual number of various kinds of birds hurried to leave the island.
Then somebody broke the silence:
"TSUNAMMIIIII!!!" and everybody screamed the same.
The beach-goers fled the shore. The sand castles were trampled down and some parents were screaming and rushing towards their children. Those who were on the waters were terrified but fortunately managed to caught up.
They all ran swiftly up to the establishments. But curiously, the crowd stopped as soon as they think they have taken enough precaution.
Over a hundred meters away from the shoreline and inside the second and or third floors of hotels and lodging houses, the people believed they were safe.
Then they took their cameras, started recording, and braced themselves for the rare sight. They were glad that the tsunami was noticed while it was still far.
"How the heck did a tsunami occur here," a foreigner standing in rooftop said frantically. Some people were still running to enter the buildings.
As soon as he was finished speaking, a loud siren was heard. AAAANNGGGGK..! AAAANNGGGGK...! The crowd was confused as to what could its meaning be.
But their confusion quickly turned to panic upon realizing that the tsunami was unbelievably huge. It took their breath away. Suddenly, they realized they are far from safe!
By the looks of it, the tsunami ABNORMALLY grew its height as it approached the shore. It reached a height equal to that of a five-storey building.
The people scrambled. Many were frozen with terror. Others were put into stampede; they were screaming, pushing, and stepping on each other.
Running was pointless and the children were crying. Some men jumped from the buildings intending to run to more elevated areas but were only met with injury and or broken leg.
The incoming tsunami was monstrous that many felt it's impossible to escape death. Two aged persons collapsed, perhaps due to heart attack. Many in the crowd lost hope already, yielding to the certainty that it will be their end!
Suddenly, a bright object, which appeared, though vaguely, to be a girl, dashed along the shoreline with a speed more than twice that of sound.
"Tina, come back now!" murmured the thirteen years old boy standing at the original location of the girl. His name was Olen and the twelve years old girl was Tina. The two were in Boracay island since yesterday.
"I have to turn back now," Tina spoke to herself. The tsunami was closing in.
"Oh no… Kids!" she saw the two kids who were kite fishing embracing each other and frozen with terror.
"ARRGGHH!" Tina pushed herself to the limit and passed beyond the kids and covered about a kilometer distance more. She almost reached the end of the island.
Seconds later, she came back passing over the kids again, speeding up as fast as she could to go back to where Olen was. Tina's to and fro path produced two adjacent glowing straight lines on the ground. Each was two feet wide.
Meanwhile from an elevated area, someone was taking camera shots at the tsunami. The guy was working as an undercover sentinel patrolling the island.
As he zoomed in the images to have a closer look, he saw unfamiliar objects within the colossal wave. Something ominous were lurking beneath the tsunami! And there were many of them!
"TINA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Olen yelled while gazing at the unbelievably huge tsunami. The tsunami was now over seventy meters away from Olen but its huge size gave him the feel that he can reach it with his hand.
He glanced towards the location of Tina. Seeing none, he covered his face with his arm and ducked. Olen can't think and can't do of anything else! He didn't even have time to think wether this will be their end or not.
