Sunday, May 25, 2008

Fairy Tale ?



This story happened in our village in Tandang Sora, Quezon City a few years back, when a man who was considered legally deceased came back and disappeared again.
This is his story.
Carlos at 29 years old had everything anyone could ever want. Good looks, youth,stable job and a successful career that placed him in a position of envy among his peers.
He had no known girl friend although he dated a lot of beautiful girls. It seemed he would like to enjoy his bachelorhood to the fullest. He was fond of night outs. The guards at the gate were already used to his nocturnal adventures and that night was no different when they saw his car entered the gate at wee hour in the morning of Saturday.
Carlos was a few yards away from their house when he saw a small figure ahead, on the side of the road. It was the boy of the village laundrywoman. The poor family lived in a makeshift house at the far end of the village where trees and thick foliage made it look like a small forest.
Recognizing the boy, he swerved off the road and coming to a sudden stop, he rolled down his window.
He asked the boy what he needed. The boy’s voice was filled with anxiety and Carlos thought he was going to cry any moment.
It was his mother. She was in pain when he left her to ask for help.
Carlos paused a moment, considering that next day was a Sunday, decided to help by bringing the woman to a physician. He asked the boy to climb into the car.
There was no paved road leading to the hut of the boy. No electric posts either. It was dark, so he asked for the boy’s directions.
They stopped in front of a small house near a very tall balite tree. He climbed out of his car while watching the boy run and disappeared from his view.
He made his way to the hut where he saw a small light that he thought was too bright coming from a candle.
The boy was nowhere to be found. A table in the middle of the hut was laden with food; black rice, white rice, fruits such as grapes ?, mandarins, apples and peaches--fruits that only moneyed people can afford to put on their tables. At the end of the table were wines and a jug of swirling water.
But that was supposed to be a hut of a family with no means.
Then a beautiful lady appeared. She was apologetic in abducting him by impersonating the boy he knew.
Suddenly, Carlos began to think some of the obviosuly strange details surounding the boy's appearance and the long trip they made to reach the hut.
The lady offered him the black rice. Remembering some stories that he did not believe when was younger, he did not accept the food. He did not know exactly what was bad about eating the black rice and drinking from the swirling water.
Upon his refusal, the parents of the lady made their appearances too. They made a proposal for him to marry their daughter.
At that instant, the surroundings changed. It was no longer a hut but a palatial home. The trees were gone and instead a community existing in another dimension materialized .
He could not do anything. He did not know how to go back. The wedding was solemnized in their own way of conducting marriage.
The bride also wore a bridal gown. Something was unique however in the ceremony. The groom had to carry the bride on his shoulders.
After their marriage, he asked for permission to visit his family to inform his parents of his disappearance but with the thought of not coming back.
His wish was granted. He was made to sleep and when he woke up, he fell off from the balite tree.
He did not find his car where he left it, so he walked.
Surprised by the change in their house overnight that he was gone, he asked a young lady standing infront of a newly painted fence. It could not be his sister. She was just a 14 year old girl last night. How could she had grown to a full woman during his absence?
The sister recognized her and called their parents.
He was gone for five years and nothing had changed in his youthful look. His car was found in a moutainside hundreds of kilometers away from the city. It was cannibalized that only the body frame remained intact. The guards that night recorded his entry but there was no record that he left again during that early morning of Saturday.
The parents could not believe his story but they still sought the help of a priest to prevent him from going back.
Carlos thought that it was easy to leave that other realm. The wife came and started stalking him. The parents and relatives could not see her but they found the grapes that she threw to Carlos.
They would see him talking to someone whom they did not see. He never lived a nornal life again.
He lost his enthusiasm to live that he practically became a recluse until he disappeared again.
The family said that the son was sending messages from the other dimension. He got already kids and he decided to stay there for good.

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