Not like Us

Chapter 3

"What's with this outfit, Nana?" Bella complained. She was wearing an old denim jumper, an oversized checkered long-sleeved, and an additional to her heavy clothes was a pair of rubber boots. Her nana was wearing the same outfit as she aside from the cloth that was wrapped around her head that covers her mouth and nose.

"You need that in order to protect yourself from the heat of the sun," she said while placing a straw hat on Bella's head.

“How long will it be ‘til we get there?” she grunted. “My feet are hurting,” she added while stomping her feet every time she took a step.

They were walking straight on an isolated rocky road for almost ten minutes now. It was the opposite direction where Bella had run off to yesterday. This is the same road where their car passed yesterday.

It was already seven in the morning and the sun was already rising. It was scorching hot since it was summer. It was in contrast to the cold ambiance Bella had experience yesterday night but every time the air hits her face it was refreshing and clean. It was very different from the city she lived in. The city was very polluted. Cars and garbage were everywhere.

“We are almost there.”

Bella looked at her nana with an awe. How can she walked wearing heavy clothing and not run out of breath?

Her nana did a left turn which Bella followed unwillingly. There were steps where you can go down and you would be greeted with a numerous plot of land where a lot of farmers were working. Carabaos were also present in the area helping farmers do the heavy stuff.

“Good Morning, Ma’am!” The farmers greeted the grandmother in unison.

She waved her straw hat to grab everyone’s attention. “We have a new worker here!”, she screamed enough for everybody to hear even in a distant.

Everybody clapped and welcome Bella. This is the first time Bella felt so welcomed. Back when she was in the city, she was either bullied or being hated that was why she made friends with the bullies and be the bully herself.

Bella immersed herself on the wet field where the water was above her ankle. She was not used to this kind of feeling and it was like pulling her down. “It feels so heavy, grandma.”

“You’ll get used to it. This will be your daily routine,” she said motivating Bella and giving her crops even though Bella was still adjusting herself to the field.

“Start planting the crops in a straight line and work faster. We don’t have the entire day.”

Bella let out a heavy sigh and did what her grandmother told her even if it was difficult for her to move because of the wet field and the clothing she was wearing.

“Eat slowly.” Bella’s grandma reminded her.

Bella just got finished taking a bath and was now eating her lunch. It had been an hour since they got home for lunch after hours of work. Bella got hungry after planting dozens of crops. It had been such a long time since she had done such a tiring work and made her feel good. Accomplishing something good.

“Can I go out later?” Bella asked nicely.

She didn’t want to make her Nana mad since she was already old and was prone to illness such as hypertension She didn’t want to be alone and be blamed if ever something will happen to her. So as much as possible, she would try to be as good as possible and at least, she was not with her mom’s new family. Now, she was starting to see what this province life had brought good to her.

“Where? With me? To town?” The grandma confusedly asked because she knew Bella didn’t have friends here and she was just new here. Where would she go?

Bella shook her head. “No, just strolling. To breathe some fresh air since it has been a long time since my last visit here,” Bella used that as an excused but in fact, she plans to go back to the forest where she saw that man yesterday. She was curious to know if what she saw was real.

She knew that it was surely not just a man. Provinces in the Philippines were known to be the lair of different kinds of entities or also called as di ingon ‘nato (Not like us) in Visayas region. Bella had a hunch that it was an engkanto. Enkangtos were known to be very pretty gods and goddesses of the nature’s elements and what she saw yesterday was undeniably a very pretty man who had a very fair and glowing skin which is not normal for a human especially in the dark. However, engkantos remains only a legend. A lot of people were claiming to have seen such entities but none of them seems to have provided proofs. Bella’s curiosity overpowered her fear compared yesterday and now, she had decided to go back there to feed her curious self with rare information that only word of the mouth from others where the sources.

“All right,” her grandmother agreed,” but be sure to be back on six pm,” she added.

Bella put a mouthful of food in her mouth. “What for?”

“For the sunset prayer. It is not very prevalent right now, especially in your generation, but it is to me so you should join me.”

Bella’s grandmother stood up and placed her plate on the sink. " And it will be dark at that time since we are surrounded with trees. In addition, it is not good for you to be wandering around at night for a di ingon nato might take an interest in you. "

Bella looked at her and her grandmother thought she saw a disbelief in Bella’s eyes. The grandmother took a sip of her water. " Don’t look at me like that. Once you are in the province, the legend will always be alive. "