Monsterstruck

CHAPTER XIII: Retrospect

Summer, 2009

        “Samuel let’s meet tonight, seven pm at the Heinville’s.  I have something to tell you. I’ll explain everything about what really happened to me and why did I have to leave you then. I’ll see you later.” Adela said and hung up the phone.

        With fear clutched in her, Adela was in it to make a clean breast of everything. She was hell bent to win Samuel back. There was nothing left to do but tell him the truth, about what she really is. She hoped that Samuel would understand her, that he would embrace what she really is. It was like hoping against hope, but she didn’t care less for she wanted to have a clean slate and if she got lucky, she could win him back. She was still clinging to the thought that maybe he still loves her even after all those dreadful years they were apart.

    Meanwhile, Vygnet was busy bustling around the kitchen.  She was preparing to cook a chicken ensalada. She stuffed out the chicken from the fridge.   Afterward, she sliced the carrots and bananas in a cube.

    “Hmm what’s for today’s dinner chef?” Adela asked smiling broadly at her daughter.

    “You’ll figure that out mom later.” Vygnet replied with a wink and boiled some potatoes.

    “Ohhhwie!  I bet that’s Mom’s likey!” Adela said teasingly.

    Adela couldn’t be luckier for having her daughter as a good cook. 

        “Do you need help?” Adela offered.

    “Probably,” Vygnet replied appreciatively. With that, Adela helped her out in slicing.

    She looked warily at her mom as she pondered the garlic. She could feel the stabbing pain that cut down deeply to her everytime she’d see her mom trying to fog those heartaches that tears her very soul.

    Vygnet sucked in a deep breath before saying something.

    “Mom can you do me a favor?”

    “Anything for you my baby,” she replied willingly as she turned to simmer down the chicken.

    “I wanted you to be happy,” Vygnet pressed fervently.

    Adela shot her a baffled look. She couldn’t make head or tails on what she just said.

    “Really, I wanted you to be happy.” Vygnet reiterated and went on to pour the ingredients in the casserole.

    “What are you talking about? I’m happy.”

    “No mom you’re not. I could see it. I could feel your pain! I know that you’re still in love with Craig’s dad after all these years. And here you are, still holding on to your past love.” Vygnet pointed out.

    Adela sucked all the bitter words that came from her daughter’s mouth. She knew that she just wanted her to move on for she just couldn’t bear her seeing in pain no matter how hard she tried to conceal it. It’s always stuck in there. She couldn’t let go of that past love eventhough he already has his own family now. She didn’t want to end what they had before.  She didn’t want to appear the villain in his family, but every people would see it that way that she was a home wrecker if she continually bugs him up.

    “I do still love him… Listen Vygnet I can’t… never mind.” Adela replied as her pale lips curled up in a bitter curve.

    All to no purpose, Vygnet tried to help her out in her burden. Her words cut down like a double-edged knife, twice stung to the harrowed feeling of her mom.

    “I’m sorry mom. I didn’t mean to dishearten you. I was thinking for your own good. Maybe it’s time for you to find your own happy ending, Go find someone that you’ll share the rest of your life with.” Vygnet said, trying to lift her spirits up.

    “My happy ending is him, only him.” Adela said boldly and turned to pour the diced chicken.

    “Mom, wake up!  I ‘m afraid to say that’s not probable anymore. It’s been sixteen years. He isn’t the same man you’ve been with sixteen years ago. I know you led on a rough and tumble life upon losing him, until I came into your life. You’ve filled me such unconditional love and I couldn’t ask for more. You’re a beautiful, caring, and loving woman, mom. Any man in this world is dying to have someone like you in their life. Don’t waste your time hanging on the past. Mr. Davis wanted you to be happy also. I don’t want you to grow old with regrets. You’re not getting any younger. ” Vygnet pointed out in her utmost effort. She hoped that she’d strike the right note.

    Adela pursed her lips. This past love was touching her on the raw.

    “I love you mom. I hope you’d consider it.” Vygnet said heartily as she hovered by her side, wounding her arms around her mom’s waist. She rested her chin on her mom’s shoulders.

    “I know dear. I’m so sorry for putting you in this way.” Adela said morosely.

    Vygnet shushed her. “No mom. Like I said, I couldn’t ask for more for having a mom like you.” Vygnet crooned.

    “I’m lucky to have you as my daughter; we may not be related biologically. But heaven knows that I love you more than anything in this world combined.” Adela said and planted Vygnet a kiss on her cheeks. Nevertheless, Adela decided to be steadfast with her plan for tonight. With her fingers crossed, she hoped that what she’d about to do tonight would not end up in smoke.

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Summer, Present

        Craig was having cold feet as he stepped out in the car and slammed it shut.

    A two -storey Mediterranean white coated rectangular house made of woods loomed before him. It was piercingly beautiful to look at even at night.  Yellow daisies sprawled around the yard.

        “Your mom must have a green thumb, eh?”  He remarked as his eyes shifted to the daisies sprawled beside the red porch swing.

    “I planted those daisies,” Vylet rectified.

     “Really?”  

    She just nodded tentatively. On the spur of the moment, Vylet pressed the doorbell.

    A   hysterical Mrs. Marcia Amarillo dressed in a floral maxi stepped out from the doorway.

    “Vylet!”  She threw her arms around Vylet and cupped her face. “I’m so worried!” Mrs. Marcia said hysterically.

    “’I’m fine mom. Dr. Bautista took care of me and so does this guy,” she said slyly rolling her eyes sideward.

    The woman turned to Craig and smiled cordially at him.

    “I’m so pleased to meet you Craig,”

    “Likewise, Mrs. Amarillo.” He replied sheepishly.

    Mrs. Marcia beckoned them inside.

    “Mom I’m gonna lurched upstairs. I’ll just change my clothes.”

    “Go ahead. We’ll have dinner afterwards.”

    Vylet lurched upstairs. It was amazing how her stomach couldn’t feel any hunger for being in a clinic for almost five hours.  The smell of the chicken adobo that came from the chicken wafted in the air. Vylet could now feel her stomach churning.

    “This is it. I’m already hungry,” she mumbled and threw her blue silk pajamas from her closet and a white tank top.

        Craig was stunned by the ornate ceilings as he looked up. There were also vinyl records hung on the white painted walls.   “Wow.” He uttered in astonishment as his gaze fixated on those records. It felt like he was in a classic section of a music museum.  Vinyl records of The Beatles, The Cascades, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones and Ramones were like an eye candy for him. In the right corner of the wall leading to the staircase were gold records of OPM legends like Eraserheads, The Dawn, Sampaguita, Joey Ayala, Asin, Pepe Smith, and the like.

        “My husband bought all of that. He was a total music junkie.” Mrs. Amarillo quipped as she set the dining table.

    Craig whirled around to look at her.

    “But Vylet said that she grew up without a father...” He drawled, confused.

    “Yeah. That’s true. My husband died three months after we got married.  He died in a car accident,” the woman related with an abrupt change in the tone of her voice.

     Craig’s face fell to express his sympathy.

    “I’m sorry about that Mam.  That must be hard for you,”

     “Yes, it was. Until I adopted Vylet.” The woman’s expression perked up.

    “I guess Vylet got his traits for being a music buff.”

    “Yeah, I believe that!” The woman replied joyfully.

    “Need some help Mam?”  He offered modestly.

    “Sh. No you’re our visitor for tonight.  So, make yourself at home,” the woman said hospitably and strutted toward the kitchen.

    Craig stared at the picture frames placed above the stereo. There was one, with Vylet and Mrs. Amarillo probably in her high school graduation. He was surprised to know that Vylet’s natural color was black like Vygnet’s. The other frame held the five-year-old Vylet in a carousel, her expression was almost unreadable. Why does she like to wear her poker face? She wasn’t smiling in all the frames, nor frowning.   Craig wondered, with a bit of amusement. He chuckled at the third frame showing the grade school Vylet striking a boyish pose, wearing a white snapback and a denim jumper with a lollipop in her mouth.

        “Yeah, sometimes childhood photos are horrible to look at.” Vylet countered, shamefaced.

          A wide grin stretched across Craig’s face upon seeing her.

        “Were you taught how to say CHEEZE?”  Craig asked, chuckling.

        “Obviously no.” She replied, smirking.

        “Yeah, I see. I don’t see any vestiges of your lips, trying to flash a smile,” he noted.

        “Because I’m not fake.”

        “What does it have to do with being a fake?” Craig asked, squinting his eyes

        “Don’t be such a jackass Craig. Of course, it has to do with smiling. What I mean is I hate faking a smile. I don’t smile when I don’t feel like smiling. I hate forcing a smile. I’ll just end up looking like an i***t like my classmates in their I. D pictures.” Vylet asserted as she made a face.

        “I bet you’re hitting the photographer’s last nerve everytime you’ll have your I.D picture taking,” he guessed as his lips tilted with humor.

        “I’m used to it and I’ve grown to love it,”

        “But it’s good thing that you’re not frowning. You always put your poker face.”

        “Well, it’s the thin line that divides between happiness and sadness.”

            “What?”

        “Numbness,” Vylet said in an off-hand voice.

        “Putting a poker face is a way of being numb? Is that what you wanted to imply?”

        Vylet shrugged off her shoulders.

        “That was only my theory,” she said, smirking.

        “You’re really amusing,” he remarked.

        “And outlandish,” she clipped and flashed a genuine smile.

        “You’re smiling now.” He noted as looked at her intensely

           “What? That was not a smile!”

        “And lately in the car, you do this overrated thing called laughing.  And that was the first time I’ve seen and heard you laughed,”

        “It was the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.” He added under his breath still looking at her.

        Vylet wasn’t sure if she just heard it right. But she was so sure that she was under the heels of his very presence. But she managed to keep a straight face.

        “Well, I guess I failed you over the healthy mind frame, Mr. Davis.” She countered.

            “No, you did not, your theories is rational in some sense, I must say,” he noted.

        “Dinner is ready!” Mrs. Marcia called in and beckoned them toward the table.

        SUMMER, 2009

        “That’s all moonshine!” Samuel snorted upon hearing Adela’s confession giving her a look of pure contempt.

        “I’m serious Samuel.” Adela looked over her shoulders and reached his hand.

        “This world is full of mysteries. Don’t get me wrong, but marginally I must do this to win you back but for the sake of my daughter, I bailed out with that plan. I just want to let you know that I never meant to leave you then…” She said wryly.

        Samuel just stared at her glumly and twitched his lips.

    “I don’t understand Adela. You gave me wide berth years ago and then few years after we met again, happily committed with our own families and you told me nothing about it? Then here you go, saying that you’re a …” he paused, trying to say the right word. “Monster.” He gulped, with a deep frown set in his face.

    “Exactly, Samuel. I didn’t choose my fate.  I know that you’re freaking out right now. But whether you believe me or not, I won’t do anything rash. I won’t harm your family. I won’t take advantage of you just because I’m still in love with you. I may be a monster in blood, but I don’t act like one.” Adela countered ruefully.

        “And that’s why Ate Verona doesn’t like you then. She doesn’t want you for me because I’m not a human. I wanted to tell you the truth but I’m so afraid then that you would shun me away and threw me into the pit of Hades.”

        Samuel pressed his lips into a hard line. Then Adela slid out the ring in her finger and handed it to him.

        “Here. I’m returning you this ring. I know Samuel, it’s stupid to love someone who doesn’t love you anymore, and whether you still love me or not. We can’t be together. Because our kinds don’t belong to yours.” Adela said faintly as desolation plastered on her face.

        Samuel took the ring, clutched in his hands. There was a long moment of pause. He could hear his heart going overdrive; like it was going to explode in fear and surprise.

        “Now tell me Adela. What your kinds are like? Bloodsuckers? Shape shifting demons?”  He scathed, thrilled with her confession.

        “Both.” She said wryly.

        “Really?”  All the blood in his face started to drain as he looked around the dark road stretched before them with the luscious greenery shrubs and wildflowers sprawled around the bench.

        “As I said, I won’t do anything monstrous. Calm your nerves.” She reiterated.

        “Then, what are you?” He asked, daunted.

        “A yoma.”  She unveiled.

        Samuel’s eyes widen in surprise as he recalled the tales of yoma during his childhood days and he even had a close encounter with one.

December, 1975

             “Help meee!” cried the seven years old Samuel whose arms was precariously clinging to a sagging branch as he tried to reach for his kitten, Max, sitting on the edge of a high tree limb. It was a cold December night, and the whistling of the wind made his hair stood on end. The branch was slender and by a little force, he would fall on the ground.

        Suddenly, a creature held its arms and scooped him away from danger. It glided toward the tree and reached for the kitten and handed it back to him.

        “You should go home now,” chided the creature and turned his back where its stubby spikes were attached. Its yellowish catlike eyes dilated to him before he flew away.

        Samuel was left there perplexed as his gaze followed the direction of the creature.

        That night, he related his encounter to his father.

        “A yoma saved you,” noted his father and he asked more questions about the creature and his father started to jabber about it.

        “He looks like creepy, but he must be good because he saved me and Max.”

        “Next time don’t lurk around, and you should just stay here at home after school. You don’t know what dangers awaits in you, son. Here always keep this,” his father gave him a crescent shape amulet. “It will protect you from danger.” He said seriously.

        “Like a yoma?” Samuel asked quizzically while he mused at the amulet.

        “Not all yomas are good like the one who saved you. Some of them are also evil. So, you better stay at home right after school and always keep that amulet wherever you go.” Samuel’s father said sternly.

        Samuel just nodded and heeded the advice of his father. From then on, he never dared to play around at night, and he stayed at home with his comic books under his nose.

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        “See Samuel, not all of our kinds are evil. There are some good ones, like me.” Adela chirped.

        “Papa said that you prey on human brain... I mean on our brain, or even our blood. Is that true?” He asked cautiously.

        “I prey on bad guys.” Adela admitted.

        “How many people you’ve killed?” He asked as a knot of fear starting to form in his stomach

        “I don’t know. I don’t mind counting them all.”

        “All. That would suffice to say that you’ve killed more than one? ... or three?” He hypothesized.

        “Maybe, I guess that’s the least thing I could do… to help our authorities,” she cracked a smile.

        Samuel was caught off guard by this whole bizarre. Who would have thought that his ex- girlfriend was a monster… but it surprised him that he never had any regret on their past, despite of all these revelations. Maybe he should give credits to that yoma who saved his life in his childhood days.

        He clutched the amulet in his pocket.

        “I know in the next two minutes; you’ll start running away from me. But don’t worry I won’t chase you.” Adela jested.

        Samuel just grinned at her. “Like it’s my first time I’ve seen one.” He scoffed.

        “But this time is different. Knowing that your ex-girlfriend is a monster, that’s a big bolt from the blue.  What could be more terrifying with that,” she blurted and twitched her lips fighting a smile.

        “I got to go Samuel. Thanks for your time. I promise that this would be the last time you’re going to see me.” Adela said morosely.

        “Adela….” he said, taking her hands

        “What is it?” Adela asked, sounding expectant.

        “I’m sorry but I have to do this,” he said looking at her straight in her eyes.