Chapter 17 : Lourdes
1057 Words
Barangay San Fernando, Pampanga. October 13, 2008. 3:04 AM.
One minute after the fire. One minute after Lilia became Mireille. One minute before Amihan was found.
EXT. CAGAYAN RIVERBANK - NIGHT
EXT. CAGAYAN RIVERBANK - NIGHT
The habagat is angry. Water high. Brown. Fast. It takes houses, trees, names.
LOURDES REVENAR, 58, runs. Soot on her face. Duster dress torn. In her arms: A BASKET. Rattan. Lined with malong, blue flowers.
Inside: A BABY. Six months. Crying. JADE PENDANT on red string. No note. Lourdes burned it.
Behind her: ST. MARTHA’S. Burning. Sky orange. Sister Agnes is screaming. The five other girls are ash.
Lourdes doesn’t stop. She promised.
LOURDES
(breathless)
Patawarin mo ako, Lilia. Hindi kita nailigtas. Pero siya, ililigtas ko.
She reaches the river. The water eats the bank. One more step and she goes with it.
She kneels. Puts the basket in the water. Holds it.
LOURDES (CONT’D)
Wag mong kalimutan. Hindi ka Monteverde. Hindi ka Revenar. Ikaw lang. Ikaw.
She pushes.
The current takes it. Fast. Too fast.
The basket hits a kangkong patch. Stops.
Lourdes stands. Her legs give out.
From the water: A HAND.
Not a child’s hand. A man’s.
DON SEVERINO. Suit black. Not wet. Standing on the water.
DON SEVERINO
Lourdes.
EXT. CAGAYAN RIVERBANK - CONTINUOUS
Lourdes doesn’t scream. She’s 58. She’s seen him every six years since 1972. First when she was six. Then 12. Then 18. Then 24. Then 30. Then 36. Then 42. Then 48. Then 54.
Nine times.
This is the tenth.
LOURDES
Tapos na. Nasunog na. Wala nang bahay.
DON SEVERINO
There’s always a house.
He steps off the water. Onto the mud. His shoes stay clean.
He looks at the basket. It’s moving again. Downriver. Toward Dingras. 150 kilometers north.
DON SEVERINO (CONT’D)
You took her.
LOURDES
Hindi ko siya kinuha. Binalik ko siya.
She pulls something from her duster pocket.
A SKELETON KEY. Seventh one. The one for 2008.
LOURDES (CONT’D)
Ayaw ko na. Tapos na ako.
Don Severino holds out his hand.
DON SEVERINO
Then give it back. And give me the name.
LOURDES
Anong pangalan?
DON SEVERINO
Maria Liwayway Monteverde.
Lourdes laughs. It’s ugly. Broken.
LOURDES
Hindi siya si Maria. Hindi ko siya bininyagan. Hindi mo siya pag-aari.
She throws the key. Not at him. At the river.
It sinks.
DON SEVERINO
You broke the bargain.
LOURDES
Ikaw ang sumira. Bata pa ako nung kinuha mo ako. Anim na taon.
Flash: 1972. Room 6. LOURDES, 6, white dress. Burn on chin. A woman — her mother — says “3:03, anak” and pushes her out the window. The woman burns. Don Severino waits outside. “One life for the house, Lourdes. You’re the house now.”
LOURDES (CONT’D)
Pero hindi mo kinuha si Lilia. Kinuha ko siya. Tinago ko siya. At ngayon, kinuha ko yung kapalit niya.
She points at the basket. Almost gone now.
DON SEVERINO
She won’t survive.
LOURDES
Hindi mo alam. Hindi ka diyos.
Don Severino steps closer. The water behind him STOPS. Freezes. Not ice. Time.
DON SEVERINO
I can take you instead.
LOURDES
Matagal mo na akong kinuha.
She steps into the river. Water to her knees. To her waist.
LOURDES (CONT’D)
Pero hindi mo makukuha yung bata. Hindi mo makukuha yung kapatid ko.
DON SEVERINO
Luding?
LOURDES
Oo. Si Luding. Wala siyang alam. Wala siyang kasalanan. Pero mas matapang siya sa akin.
The current pulls her. She doesn’t fight.
DON SEVERINO
The tree needs a name.
LOURDES
E ‘di kunin mo yung akin.
She says it clear. No whisper.
LOURDES (CONT’D)
Lourdes Monteverde.
The BLACK TREE in Pampanga, 10 kilometers away, SHUDDERS.
A new SWAN carves itself into the bark. Eighth. Not seventh. Because Maria’s name was never given.
The river takes Lourdes.
Not drowning. Not death.
Just… gone.
Don Severino looks at the water.
For the first time, his shoes are WET.
EXT. CAGAYAN RIVERBANK - 7:03 AM
The habagat is over. Sun up. Water brown but calm.
LUDING, 43, widow, childless, washes clothes on a stone.
She sees it.
BASKET. Rattan. Stuck in kangkong.
Inside: BABY. Crying. JADE PENDANT. No note. No name.
Luding looks up. Looks downriver. No one.
She looks at the baby. The baby stops crying. Looks at her.
Eyes: singkit, tapos maitim. Like Luding’s.
LUDING
(whispers)
Sa akin ka.
She tears a strip from her tapis. Writes with a rock: AMIHAN.
Ties it to the basket.
LUDING (CONT’D)
Kasi kasama ka ng hangin na malamig.
She lifts the basket.
Three kilometers downriver, the water unfreezes.
DON SEVERINO sinks.
Not dead. Just… delayed.
INT. NANANG’S HOUSE - MAY 1, 2026. 9:12 AM
Present.
Amihan finishes her empanada. Nanang washes the kawali.
The Jollibee calendar doesn’t move, but the light through the nipa is different. Warmer.
AMIHAN
Nanang. Si Lourdes.
Nanang stops scrubbing.
NANANG LUDING
Anong tungkol sa kanya?
AMIHAN
Namali siya?
Nanang dries her hands. Sits. Rayuma loud today.
NANANG LUDING
Hindi. Nanalo siya.
AMIHAN
Paano?
Nanang points at Amihan. Then at her own chest.
NANANG LUDING
Kasi nandito ka. Kasi nandito ako. Kasi hindi niya binigay yung pangalan mo.
She takes the PICTURE FRAME. The one from yesterday.
NANANG LUDING (CONT’D)
Binigay niya yung kanya.
Flash: Lourdes in the river. “Lourdes Monteverde.” The eighth swan. The bargain paid. Not with Maria. With herself.
AMIHAN
Kaya apat na lang yung susi niya?
Nanang nods.
NANANG LUDING
Isa nung tinapon mo sa ilog. Isa nung binigay ni Lourdes yung pangalan niya. Dalawa pa.
Outside, the santol sapling by the river grows. Two leaves now.
AMIHAN
Natakot ba siya?
Nanang laughs. First time today.
NANANG LUDING
Si Lourdes? Hindi. Takot siya nung bata siya. Pero nung tumanda… galit na lang.
Amihan thinks of the bus. The girl. The dust.
AMIHAN
Galit din ako.
Nanang touches her chin. Where the birthmark is. Where the burn was.
NANANG LUDING
Maganda yan. Ang takot, sumusunod. Ang galit, lumalaban.
EXT. CAGAYAN RIVER - CONTINUOUS
Under the water.
The SKELETON KEY from 2008 rests in mud.
Next to it: ANOTHER KEY. Older. 1972.
LOURDES MONTEVERDE sits between them. Not drowned. Not dead.
Just waiting.
She’s 58. Same as the day she let go. No rayuma. No soot.
She holds a SANTOL LEAF.
The river flows.
Above, on the bank, Amihan and Nanang plant another sapling.
Lourdes smiles.
The current changes.
FADE OUT.
- Writer
