To all the ghosts I married

4 : d r e a m s

The Writer's POV

(Speaking in Tagalog)

"Lakasan mo." (Harder) And she hit it harder. She turned around and maneuver a kick, followed by a straight punch.

The rain was pouring cold and hard, the thunder making the land shiver.

"Masyadong mabagal. Bilisan mo." (You're too slow. Faster.) She turned fast to maneuver once again, and the deafening sound of lightning hitting the ground pushed her out of balance.

Her grey jacket had savored the wet soil, and she could feel the mud water seeping through her back.

Out of nowhere, she felt a sting of pain on her face, and her cheeks had turned the other way around.

She raised her eyes only to feel another slap, and a voice roaring through the mountains.

"Napaka lampa mo. Mamatay ka ng maaga sa ginagawa mo. Tayo!" (You are so clumsy. You will die early if you continue doing that act. Now, stand up!)

She looked all around her, and it was pouring hard, the lightning striking everywhere on every second.

"Ano? Mas takot ka ba sa kidlat kesa sa akin???" (What? Are you more scared of the lightning more than you're scared of me?)

She wants to go home. She just wants to finish all of it quickly. The rain felt like a cyclone, and the sounds from the sky is scary for a 9 year old little girl like her.

But of course, she stood up, and continued the training. The thunder and lightning may be frightening, but there is no other thing horrifying than her father.

Hermia opened her eyes, and she woke up from a dream. Was she supposed to call it a dream? A nightmare? Or should she define it as Dreams of nightmare from memories of her past?

Hermia took the chance of sleeping as soon as Leandro left. She hadn't slept last night, and thank God, Leandro didn't noticed anything. As soon as Leandro woke up, she also woke up and made breakfast for them.

As she was dripping hot water into the finely ground coffee beans, Leandro was staring into nowhere.

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Nothing. I just had a weird dream."

"What kind of dream?" Hermia replied, now placing the leftovers of last night's dinner into plates.

"I-I don't know. It was just so weird, I don't even get it." Leandro mumbled.

Now Hermia rose up from laying on their bed and it was already 10 AM. She held her head, and said to herself,

"I guess Leandro and I are both having weird dreams."

Of course she was lying. That was not a weird dream, because unlike Leandro, she gets all of it. And she knew that it was not just a mere dream. It was her memory opening up once again.

She took her time and started making adobo* for lunch. Leandro is not coming home for lunch, but instead, he would finish working on the library.

(Author says: Adobo is another Filipino dish, which is caramelized pork in soy sauce and spices. It is the most famous Filipino dishes internationally. Or so do I assume it to be lmao.)

She had already packed the leftover lechon from their last night's date for Leandro's lunch. And she also didn't forget to make some adobo rice for him.

She had enjoyed the adobo, and the calmness of her home. She cleaned up the house for a while and tended to her mini garden where her flowers are blossoming.

After all of the extra curricular things she had done, she finally put on her gym clothes and headed to her greenhouse.

Leandro loves being around nature but hates the idea of planting. Hermia was kind of the opposite. She likes planting, and loves nature at the same time. So, she was the only one who has access to her greenhouse.

And Leandro would never know that inside of that greenhouse was a punching bag.

Lunchtime had arrived at Leandro's library. He was facing his laptop, papers scattered all over his desk and he was having something that he always call as a disease; a writer's block.

But it was not even about the story anymore that made him daze off-- it was his dream from last night.

It was so weird and doesn't make any sense. He could not recall it anymore, but he could still see some clips of it on his head.

They reached a cliff, and it had a waterfalls. It was so beautiful, and suddenly, the water started gushing out red blood. In front of him was Hermia, and he called for her. She turned around, and she look scared. The waterfalls suddenly dried up, and she was crying.

That's what he actually dreamed about. But he could only recall the part where they saw the waterfalls, and the part where Hermia was crying.

For him, that was the scariest of all--not remembering anything but the emotions of what happened still lingers.

He pulled himself back to reality, back to his library and laptop.

There were some students who were courageous enough to skip lunch just to glue their eyes into the books they were studying.

Even if there is lunchbreak, that word doesn't really exists in libraries like his.

Students were cramming, and they wanted to make each second worth it.

He started to stood up and said, "Never mind, I'll just figure it out after lunch."and he cleaned up his desk, preparing for lunch.

He had took out his lunchbox when a female on her mid-20s approached him with three bulky books.

"Hi, I would like to buy these." She said, with a smile on her face. She was wearing a long skirt with a long sleeve loose top that goes into her right shoulder.

The make up on her face was shining through the windows of the library, and she looked bronze.

Leandro had scanned through the books and had noticed that he had never seen this books in his own library.

Or maybe it could just be his mind throwing out every memory in his brain for the sake of his book, who knows?

The books looked older than the lady buying it, fully covered in leather yet what seems like skin. The book seems ancient.

Leandro scanned through his computers and it was a book about wicca. But the strange thing was, the books was not registered to whatever station or part of his library.

Sure, it has the name and the author of the books, but it had no number. And he had gone through mental cartwheels just to think if he had a book like this before.

"O-Ohh, that was weird. Are you sure you found this book at this library?"

The girl, still with a flash of smile on her face said, "Yeah, I found those at aisle 9. Why? Are those not for sale?"

Wouldn't it be bizarre if a devout Christian like him would just have books of Wicca laying around in his library?

But nonetheless, he gave the books a low price since he was really not a believer of Wicca. And if he really had books like these, he just wanted to give it to those people who could at least appreciate topics like this.

He packed the books on a wax paper with a little rope around it, enough for the girl to carry it back home.

And just like any local from a town would do, he asked, "Are you from this town? Did you just moved in?" He kindly asked.

"Oh, no. We were driving and we just stopped by here." She said, her hands leaning on the table.

But this home town is at the edge of the earth. This town is located out of nowhere, and if you were to drive deeply into the town, you would reach the woods. This is not a local bus stop town or anything.

"Ahh, I see, I see." He said, trying to sound normal and not freaked out. "Well, good luck on your travel!" Leandro added, and handed the books to her.

She looked at him straight into the eyes and reached for the books only for their hands to touch midway.

The girl had gasped, standing ice cold with a shock look at her face. The simple touching of their hands triggered something, and she saw lights flashes into her eyes.

She saw scenes of someone else's life, and for a second she met Hermia through his eyes, and stories that the future would unfold.

"Things are about to change. Some things are going to shake, some things are going to sour. Be prepared." She muttered all of a sudden.

And Leandro had been truly shaken off by what she said. "E-Excuse me?"

For awhile, what she said didn't sinked down on his mind. The moment he called up on her, she had waken up from a bizarre dream.

Suddenly, the door swung loudly open and then close, announcing a new visitor's arrival.

But the visitor looked horror-struck, hiding himself into the nearest wall as possible. And from the way he had ran into the library, Leandro already knew who it was-- Everest, Mr. Finch's grandson.

"Everest, you're going to break the door!" Leandro exclaimed, while Everest looked terrified.

The girl, suddenly shouted all across the library, "DUUUUUUCCCKKKK!!!!"

She had already ducked and covered her head. The readers turned around to look at the peculiar girl already ducking.

It was not long after seconds when an abrupt sound of the window breaking made them screamed.

They saw large rocks flying from the broken window, like comets landing on Earth.

Everyone had ducked their head, especially Everest.

It was followed by a loud scream of high school boys, saying, "LOSERS!" And they had runaway laughing.

Leandro chased them out of his library, to see who those kids were. "HEY! I'M CALLING THE COPS IF YOU'D DO THAT AGAIN!!!!"

He caught a glimpse of who those kids were, and he remembered them. They were also the ones who vandalized the library with words of Nerd Hoe just for this young girl of their same age to terrorize her.

That girl never came back to the library ever again, and he never heard of her. Rumours scattered everywhere, of Police's investigation, but Leandro chose not to know.

"Leandro, it's fine." Everest begged

"No, it's not! Bullying is not fine."

Leandro entered the library once again, and searched if everyone was fine. Thank God, everyone had the chance to cover their head because of the clairvoyant girl.

Oh, yeah. The girl.

He looked and searched all around, but the girl was nowhere to be found. It was odd, for if the girl wishes to fleet immediately, she would have to go in and out of the same entrance of the library.

Leandro had also looked outside, and there was no car or vehicle parked anywhere.

"I'm sorry,"

Everest apologizes to everyone. The readers looked at this middle-schooler boy, wearing a dark faded jeans with a checkered long sleeve shirt, and out of the crowd, someone said,

"They've been bullying you, aren't they?" And he nodded. The readers had been melted by his light gesture because in some ways, they had been bullied and called Nerd at least once in their life.

"Oh, no no no, sweetie. It was not your fault." A girl said in the back, complete pity in her eyes. "She's right. You don't have to apologize for their wrongdoing." Another one said, and all the other people agreed, comforting young Everest.

"Although you still need to clean the broken glass right?" Leandro said and then smiled. All of them cleaned together with Everest, and somehow, the mood was lightened up.

After cleaning, everyone had been seated once again. "Okay, lunch time everyone. Don't forget to eat."

Everest looked afraid to ask Leandro, so he asked the boy instead. "Did you have your lunch already?"

"I-I was about to ask that, Leandro. C-Can I eat lunch here everyday?"

Leandro looked at him, and his gestures mirrored his gesture when he was also on the middle school. He could see himself eating inside the toilet, where he had been locked up.

"What're you gonna do about that, huh? Are you gonna call God and sent all of us to hell???"

He was always mocked by his religion, and kids back then thought he was some part of a satanic religion just because he never drew a cross on his body when praying.

"Yes, of course." Leandro announced it for everyone to hear, especially at the back. "You guys can eat lunch here. No one should eat lunch at the school's restroom."

The people at the back felt relieved, until Leandro followed up something. "But!!!"

"You have to clean up after yourself, and no staining on the books. Stained books means you have to buy it."

The readers agreed, and started to take out their lunch boxes. In a way, Leandro's library became somewhat of a school, and a cafe at the same time.

The readers gathered around to another table and started eating lunch. They introduced themselves to one another, and they had made a friend.

They also took Everest to eat with them. Somehow, it had became a safe coven for everyone.

For everyone who had ever been called nerd, bullied, and for everyone who shared the same love for books and wisdom.

Leandro remembered when they had talked with Everest and he had asked him of what the boy wanted to be when he grow up.

"I-I don't know, to have normal friends? To be liked."

Leandro had given Everest's his dream, to have friends. Something that he never had growing up.

He proceeded to eat his lunch, when on top of his lunchbox, was money. He remembered that the girl hadn't pay for the books yet.

But isn't it impolite to put money on top of someone else's food when they could just leave it on the counter?

He looked at the money, and it was a different currency.

A Canadian change?