The Search is Over

The moon is full and above and serene as Leonardo walked out of the door of his grandfather's house into the streets of San Marcelino town in Zambales.

The town is dead. The lights are out on the rows of houses that dotted the main road. The side streets are deserted with only a few brave souls like himself darting every now and then as he made his way into the old stone house on the far side of the sleepy town.

The people are afraid. But not Leonardo, for he does not believe that the unsolved deaths of several people that occurred over the past few weeks, and were attributed by some old timers in the town to the vampires, are true. Nevertheless, stories like these, which are not uncommon in remote places in the Philippines even in this age of cellular phones and digital technology, still brought fear into the hearts of every inhabitant of the town. Besides, he was going to visit Divina, the girl who captured his heart instantly the moment their eyes met while walking along Magsaysay Street. For in Divina, he saw the girl of his dreams that eluded him for years even when he was still studying Engineering in one of the universities run by Catholic religious orders in the capital Manila.

The moment he stepped into the front yard carpeted by damp, well-manicured Bermuda grass, he knew that something was up in the air. The house was dark with only a solitary light bulb from a makeshift lamppost providing a glimpse of its facade; the deafening silence and serenity of the place only added to his feeling of dread and uncertainty. From afar, he could hear the night birds chirping and the monsoon wind blowing. The smell of the flowers of the Kalachuchis that lined the sides of the unpaved dirt road filled the warm summer air. He was about to change his mind, turn his back and leave, when the sound of the wooden Narra door suddenly opening caught his attention, and there came out Divina smiling her sweetest smile as she ushered him into the living room. She introduced him to her family who struck him as not of the typical Filipino natives but rather foreign in its features and bearings. They were more of the Castillan race, a fact, that Divina confirmed by admitting that her father's ancestor had come from Catalan to escape the Spanish Civil War and settled in the town in the late 1930's. And what with their jet-black hairs, aquiline nose and deep set pairs of brown eyes. In fact, their only daughter has inherited these features that set her apart from all the girls in the town.

When Divina offered him a cold glass of orange beverage and a handful of American biscuits bought from the American Base in Olongapo City, he seemed to relax and settle in the comfort of the old rattan chair in the porch. He noticed a black cat lying on the floor under the mahogany side table, looking at him like a hungry hyena watching over his prey. He didn't mind it though for his attention was centered on Divina, the girl that captured and enamored him not only because of her beauty and charm but also with her wit and intelligence.

They spent the night there on the porch talking about anything and everything but whether by design or not, they did not delve on the events that happened in the town the past weeks.
It was close to midnight when Leonardo bade her goodbye just as the single cry of a dog howling from afar tore the stillness of the night punctuated by the sound of frogs croaking their lungs out coming from the rice fields at the back of the house.

He walked like a man possessed on his way home, his mind filled with lovely thoughts of her and his heart longing with desire as he made a vow to himself that finally, after years of searching for the elusive girl of his dreams, he now found it in Divina.

That night, he could not sleep. He tossed and turned on his bed. It was the time when you tried really hard to fall asleep yet your mind and senses were running and wide awake. He couldn't wait for the sun to come up for he wanted to go and visit Divina again and tell her his feelings about her.

He got up and walked barefoot on the cold floor towards the window. He reached for the lock of the glass stained window and opened it for a breath of fresh air. His eyes darted on the face of the German Cuckoo clock that was hanging on the bare white wall and read 15 minutes to three o'clock in the morning. His dry mouth yearned for the taste of nicotine. In one single motion, he reached for the half-filled pack of menthol cigarettes on the glass-topped table, put a stick between his lips and with his right hand reaching for the old Zippo lighter on the left side pocket of his Levis denim jacket. And just when he was about to light a stick, he felt a soft, feathery tap on his right shoulder.

He turned around and was surprised to see Divina, with her big beautiful brown eyes and luscious ruby lips staring and smiling at him as the unlit stick of Marlboro Lights fell from his mouth to the damp marble floor.

A horrible cry was heard that night in the neighborhood.

From a distance the town was getting back to life as the rooster crowed to signal the beginning of a brand new day.
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Featured in www.Tinig.com/ July 1-15, 2003