ELECTION DAY

Mike was already losing his mind from what he always see from day to night. It's just a vast blue salty water that we simply called ocean. But amidst all expectation he saw an island. No. It's more like a whole land, just like that his limp and aching muscle, miraculously recovered some of it's strength as he paddled faster and faster until he was on shore. As Mike wanted to cry for the tears of joy. Many kids started to encircle him with curious eyes. They're looking at him as if he was an alien from space that got lost in their land. Then Mike saw a fat boy ask him in their dialect in which Mike couldn't understand.

With no experience against what's going on, he gave out his most warm and amiable smile. But his smile is stiff and unnatural which made him look like a very bad guy to the faces of the children. The thing that he did was the opposite of what he wanted. He looked like a kidnapper that would trick kids to get into vans for free candies.

Then the fat boy run to the nearest bungallow house. Not before long an elder with two middle-aged men that were carrying machetes came out of the house. The two men's faces have some ferocity as they viciously looked at him.

This didn't make Mike flinch though as he saw many of these face back at the island and all of those ferocious faces were dry corpses now. He can only endure as he is stepping in a foreign land where he didn't know the depth.

He doesn't want to invite trouble and also wasn't afraid of it but as long as possible he really didn't wanted to invite one.

The elderly first stared at Mike, before eventually asking in english. " Who are you? "

"Oh. My name is Mike, and um... My boat was wreck by storm, yes storm. " Mike made up a story as he clearly knew that these people were still a bit of wary of him since he just miraculously appeared out of no where. That itself was already suspicious enough to the people of much less to Mike.

" So you name Mike, and you boat hit by storm? " The elderly man ask jim again.

" Yes, yes hit by storm. " Mike nodded his head repeatedly as he control his urge to take a sip on the juicy meat that was being serve right now.

" So, mike where live? " The elder talk about something in their dialect in which Mike could'nt understand. Then he saw the stout men nodding their heads and then turn their gaze at him with admiration and respect. Because they knew that surviving a storm was a miraculous thing.

" Mike, welcome to village! " The elder said. Then he stared at the kids who were still watching Mike with curiousity. Maybe it's their first time seeing a foreigner. A washed out foreigner that have a very pale complexion that looks like he have no blood.

The elder then whispered something into the ears of one of the middle-aged men and their clenched hands loosened a bit and the open hostility in their eyes were reduced by a large margin.

" Ah, thank you elder. " Mike secretly sighed a relief. At least they didn't immediately minced him into meat which for him was a good thing as he felt all his body cells craving for food. Besides that after almost a year of paddling in the middle of a never ending blue colored body of water, his strength and power was at its weakest. Add the fact that his powers were suppressed and reduce to almost nothing by being constantly bath by the radiance of the sun.

" My name is Karding. " The elder said in enthusiasm. As he introduce himself and the others at their small village. Mike also found out that this was a part of Mindanao which is a huge island in the Phillipines. The elder also talk about how lucky Mike is for surviving such a disastrous storm. Then Mike found out that last week a signal number three storm hit Mindanao.

Mike thought amusingly ' Hah! What a coincidence.'

After he was shown to the house of the elder and took a bath there. Mike finally felt fresh for the past months or year. He finally smelled good and not just sweat and other bad odors.

Sitting down at the table the elder together with a man put down some food for him. There's three kind of food, that already excludes rice and bread. There's two kinds of fish cuisine and a cow soup. Mike immediately ate as his stomach already grumbled for months. It's all thanks to his powers and abnormal body or else his return from detsh would be in vain as he'll be the first vampire to die from hunger and retardation.

The village elder and Mike was still happily chatting when a middle aged man came in and whisper something into the ears of the old man. Mike heard what he said but he still couldn't understand a word from what he said.

Listening to the man, the elder looked at Mike with an apologetic smile.

" Ah, I'm sorry Mike, we have go... To town to vote. No worry my grandson will be here to you." The old man smiled as he called a person's name in the bisaya language which Mike still doesn't understand.

"oh."

" Then little bogz will attend you good." The old man said with a happy smile as he and the others walked out of the room.

" interesting."

A child that Mike estimated as ten year old came in with milk in his small hand. But what made Mike stare at the child longer was that the child's almost have no pulse! It almost scared the soul out of him when he saw the face of the kid. He look like a dead person, that was drained by his or her blood then he saw the child was carrying a glass full of milk.

Mike with full courage said in the little child. "hello." With of course his shitty smile. Then he tried to get the milk.

"Hmm." The Child that look like a ghost acknowledges as the child again walk out of the room with a the glass of milk he was holding.

' I thought that milk was for me?' Mike silently thought in confusion as he felt that at least one fourth of his strength came back rejuvenating Mike a bit.

" Then when can I get out of here?" Mike started to check his soroundings, then he finally notice that the air in this place was a bit fresher than the cities. ' This must be a province of some sort.'

Mike deduced as he go back to sleep even though he doesn't necessarily needed to. But he's still thinking something he must have forgotten in the island. And it must be important thing. He's the only vampire maybe in the history of vampires that have a lousy. No rather shit memory.

" Hey Mike wakey wakey boy. It's Thursday today so get your ass out here and start helping. Will ya you little sloth." A man with carrying a rake on his back said. The man walk out of the room that you could say not too shabby but definitely old.

Mike still remembered this day though as if was just yesterday. The day his uncle Clive went missing and also the day that the last he considered as a family member is gone.

On that day also he almost flipped the whole woods just to find his uncle. But he's disappointed as no sign of uncle Clive. He never gave up. He search for uncle Clive for three straight months, never missing any noook or cranny. But he never saw a sign that would lead him to find uncle Clive.

He still remembered that when he was taking his breakfast with uncle Clive.

Clive said with a silly smile. " Mike when I go to hunting today I want you to take care of the vegetables and the sheeps. I don't want to see Henry, complaining about a sheep stampede happening in the town. OK?"

He then said to Clive. " Ha... Of course who do you think your nephew is. I'm caked the best herder in the world. " Mike laugh foolishly as he bragged. Even it's not true.

" Says from the one who caused three sheep stampedes when his herding. " Uncle Clive shook his head as he went out with his hunting rifle and a little bag with three zippers.

Mike could still remember what the bag looks like. It have three zippers and the color of it was like an army comoflage. But Mike saw that some parts of the bag were either sewn again. At that time Mike thought of his savings and he's only lacking ten dollars that time to buy his uncle a new bag. But the money that he should use to buy a birthday present for his uncle never came since his uncle never came back.

Mike opened his eyes, and got out of the room to freshen up as he already knew the ways in this house. With much effort he cleaned himself up.

" How your sleep Mike. Good?" The old man from yesterday said when he saw Mike got out of the room.

" Yes. Good." Even though some bugs kept pestering my flesh from time to time. Mike rinsed his teeth with water after getting out of the bathroom. He saw that the breakfast was already served in the wooden table. Old man Karding with Bogz waited for him to sit down before they wolf down the food.

After the child prayed, Karding and Mike looked at him as he wolf down the bread and drink his milk. Mike also couldn't help but gave a war smile towards the kid. After all this child, was an adorable and sweet child.

Seeing that his grandfather and uncle Mike didn't touch their food and kept looking at him. Bogz's face became red and immediately he half the bread and gave the bitten one to his grandfather and the unbitren one to Mike.

This made Karding speechless for a second before bursting into an uncontrollable laughter at the antics of his grandson. Upon hearing the laughter Bogz couldn't help but give off a puzzled state to Karding.

" Silly child just eat the bread, I'm already good with the coffee and rice here." Karding lovingly stroke the child's hair. Mike also put back the portion of his bread to Bogz and gave off a radiant smile.

He couldn't help it, this child is a very good child and Mike couldn't help but want to protect him.