Rumors

After about twenty minutes more, we finally gave up on finding the man. He disappeared just like that, as if his role was simply to pass the note to me.

"What was that all about?" asked Richard. We were now seated on one of the benches at the waiting area, almost lunch time. I handed him the crumpled note.

"Hmm. Salalona Campus, huh. What do you think? Should we go?" 

"I don't know. Not sure. What do you think?" I asked him back with feigned nonchalance, though the truth was that my chest was already threatening to break out of my rib cage. I knew exactly what would happen the moment we decided to go there. Florence would perish.

"Do you have any idea what this means?" I added, trying to probe him.

Richard was silent for a while, then shook his head. "Nuh-uh! Got no clue at all! How about we grab some lunch and do what we came here to do, since we're already here? We can catch the 6:00 pm train. We won't be staying here for long, anyway. Classes will resume on Monday. Alas! The two-week holiday had passed. We still have plenty of time."

I agreed.

Despite the scorching heat, we had coffee and a couple of chicken sandwiches. I just realized that Richard was a big coffee drinker. He had two mugs, and I hadn't finished mine.

***

"Three slots left! Bound for Lucena!" yelled the carriage barker. Richard and I boarded it immediately along with a lanky teenager.

I didn't notice the teenager at first, he almost had no presence at all. Had his bracelet not fell noisily and he not clumsily picked it up, I might never have noticed him at all.

Anyway, Richard sat to my right, while the lanky teenager sat to my left. I was pancaked between them. At that time, I hadn't had the slightest clue that this seemingly unimportant character would soon become one of the greatest companions I would ever have, even to the day that I am writing this story.

And then…

"Hey, have you heard? An evil spirit is roaming all over Lucena and is killing the pigs and roosters." said the woman who wore a loose, light-fitting dress, her poorly-dyed, brown hair pulled into a messy bun. In Estatubal, it was totally normal for complete strangers who just happened to sit beside each other to engage in highly personal conversations. Stuff like: Have you married yet? Why are you so thin? And whose husbands cheated with who were the top three favorite conversation starters. In towns as small as Lucena where everybody was somehow related to each other, it wouldn't be a surprise if they knew when someone else's cat gave birth.

I couldn't help but be drawn to their conversation as well.

The fancy-looking madam replied. "Heard it from Pedro. He was so angry this morning. Apparently, the rooster he loved so much had all its intestines pulled out, turned them into a braid, and was hung to his door. He doesn't seem to believe it was a work of an evil spirit though. Convinced it was some nasty prank by some bored drunk teenagers. Ah, poor Pedro. He said he will kill the person responsible for it the moment he finds out. Been sharpening his machete real good."

Richard covertly pinched my thigh but I pretended to be lost in my own thoughts as the conversation continued. The stranger to my left was also humming in understanding.

"A prank? Pssh! Nilo Juan thought so at first until he finally saw it last night. We're neighbors so I can attest to this. Three of the pigs he was hoping to sell to a wealthy buyer for his eldest daughter's wedding mysteriously died one after another. Claimed it all started when he took some pineapples at the abandoned mansion on top of the hill. The one that was rumored to have a vampire slee—"

"Wait! There are pineapples on that hill?" the madam cut her off.

"How would I know? Never went there. I still value my life. Anyone who went to that place either got seriously ill that no doctors could heal, or had their pets mysteriously killed. Just like Pedro's. Anyway, let me continue. Um, where was I again?"

"Nilo Juan."

"Right! Nilo Juan. Was it yesterday or the other day? Anyway, I don't remember the exact date but he finally had enough so he hid under the pile of firewood where he could see the pig enclosure if he strained his neck just enough. He waited till midnight but nothing came but he was determined to stay till morning. Then finally, he heard some footsteps. It was around two when this happened according to him. Slimy, green tentacles suddenly spurted out from the ground. The tentacles were thrashing about followed by a man who seemed to materialize out of thin air. Poor Nilo couldn't even scream in fright and wet himself. The man suddenly turned his head and made eye contact with him. The man, or rather, the evil spirit's eyes were made of spiky chipped rocks."

My heart momentarily stopped beating. I had to spend every ounce of effort not to react.

'Poachers,' I noted inwardly.

The conversation soon drifted towards how imported rice was cheaper than local produce and how this didn't make any sense. And around forty five minutes later, the carriage finally stopped. We have arrived.

The passengers got down one by one.

"Let's go," said Richard to me as he gave me a light tap on the shoulder and went out first when I noticed the stranger showed no signs of standing up. Then he looked at me. His eyes sparkled like black gems, they were almost hypnotic. Eyes so dark that had supernatural intensity in them.

"D'you have anything to say, sir?" I asked him. He simply smiled at me and shook his head, making his jet-black hair sway side to side.

"Nothing of importance. I just wonder what you think about the rumor. You seemed to be pretty focused listening earlier."

I sensed no malice with his tone, just plain curiosity. But I still chose to feign ignorance like I usually did.

"I'm sorry, but I don't concern myself with rumors. I was simply focused on listening because I find it important to pay attention to what is being said. Thank you for your concern, but I don't have time for baseless gossip." I told him. "By the way, you have a feather stuck in your hair. I'll go ahead though. Have a great day."

And with that, I left for real.

***

From the carriage stand, we still had to walk some more. It was hot and humid with Estatubal's weather, with barely any wind at all. The layered suit didn't make sense either and it was making me kind of irritable. But Richard suddenly used his ability for some reason and I had no choice but to stay alert.

The air around us grew heavy, and a sense of unease settled over me as black aura began to emanate from his body. It twisted and snaked through the air.

"For concealment," he said.

As the aura spread, black smoke unfurled from Richard's form, wrapping around us in a chilling embrace. It was as if the darkness itself had taken a physical form, enveloping us in its inky tendrils.

With that, we easily arrived at the mansion on top of the hill without anybody's notice. According to Richard, the smoke will completely conceal us from human eyes, an invisibility of some sort. But I had doubts about this ability of his, because for some reason, I could still vividly feel a pair of eyes watching me from afar.

"I'll remove it once we get inside," he told me.

And just like what I saw in the memories, there was an overgrown manor. But the locals call it a mansion for some reason.

Vines and tall grass overtook the lawn and the gate. Broken windows, destroyed statues of gargoyles on either side of the entrance. And just like in the memories still, we entered, effortlessly climbing over the gate and down to the ground. The whole place was as quiet as it could get. Too quiet that we could even hear our own breathing.

The moment we got inside, my eyes immediately searched for the family portrait. And there it was, hanging innocently on the wall. A thin layer of dust and cobwebs covered it. The corners of the frame were chipped, and the glass covering the portrait was smudged with fingerprints and dirt.

And then I noticed something weird.

Cockroaches of all sizes coming out of their hiding spots as they line up, forming into an arrow pointing at a specific door. I followed the direction in which it was pointed to and I saw Jullian beckoning me to come closer from the tiny slit of the door. My eyes widened in shock as I immediately jerked my head towards Richard. Luckily, he wasn't looking.

I shot Jullian a glare and mouthed to him, "What are you doing here?" But he wasn't fazed. Instead, he motioned me to get inside the room.

"So, uh, why are we here again?" I asked Richard, not wanting him to notice Jullian.

"To confirm something. By the way, I'll check the rooms upstairs. I'll be back in a few minutes."

And just like that, he disappeared to the stairs and I heaved a sigh of relief before finally approaching Jullian.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him in a suppressed yell.

"Sorry, man. But you gotta hear this quick. Two things. First, this place is dangerous. They are here. The poachers. I could feel a lingering presence. And second, I couldn't reach the headquarters anymore. The door wouldn't budge."