When Back In Time

Big tidal waves were coming.

Esperanza was on her knees, holding tightly on the handrail of the deck.

The sky was curtained with dark clouds, the wind blew harshly, and big tidal waves kept crashing on their ship.

The storm was here and the people inside the ship were praying to God to save them.

Esperanza eyed the angry sea and to the raging n.a.k.e.d woman standing on the ocean's surface with a conch shell on her hand.

The n.a.k.e.d woman had eyes of swirling deep blue ocean. Her hair went here and there.

Esperanza closed her eyes and recollected what happened.

Two hours ago…

The ship she was embarking was still in Visayas and continued to sail further to the south, Mindanao. She needed to find Jose Rizal there.

Esperanza left Pepe on the deck. She was getting tired of watching the vast, serene and boring picturesque ocean, she reasoned to him.

As she went inside the ship, deep inside of her, she was getting anxious.

Days kept passing by and her quest was not yet near to end. She longed to go home. She grew tired of this slow journey and feared that she might not accomplish her quest.

She's terrified to the fact that 'What if Jose Rizal is not in Mindanao'. It's only speculation that he is in Mindanao, and this worried Esperanza.

Lastly, she feared that she might not find the other clock. She remembered the time that already had it, it was already near her. But she failed to retrieve it.

Her mind went back to July 20, 1892, at Tondo, Manila. She remembered the man of his 20's wearing Barong Tagalog and a salakot (wide-brimmed hat) on his head and who had a well-trimmed mustache on his face. How could she not notice the wristwatch on his wrist when he gave her food and coins? He was so close to her yet she missed the opportunity. How unfortunate of her!

Now, how could she have a chance to see him if he was in Tondo, in Luzon when in fact she was now heading towards south, to Mindanao?

She went to her cabin to take a nap.

After one hour, a knock on the door woke her up. She plodded towards the door while rubbing her sleepy eyes. When she opened it, an awkward-looking Pepe welcomed her with a foolish smile and a nearly emptied bottle of wine on his hand.

Esperanza backed away after smelling his intoxicated breath, "What in the world----- I mean, lasing ka ba?" (What in the world------- I mean, are you drunk)

She cursed herself from asking the stupid question. Of course, he was drunk.

Pepe wobbled back and fro. Esperanza held his shoulder to steady him. She eyed the bottled wine, "Sino nagbigay sa'yo ng alak?" (Who gave you the wine?)

"Ahhh ito ba?" Pepe said and looked at the bottle on his hand, "Isang maginoong estranghero ang nagbigay sa akin nitong masarap na…..na….na…." Pepe squinted his eyes in trying to read the name on the bottle. "Umm….na….na…uhhh….alak." (Ahh this? A gentleman gave me this delicious…..this….this….um….this….uh….wine)

He shook his head.

She thought, 'Someone gave him a wine? Why?'

Esperanza asked, "Bakit ka nandito?" (Why are you here?)

The intoxicated Pepe said, his face was red, "A…akala ko kuwarto….ko. Sa palagay ko nagkamali akong kinatukan. Paumanhin." He looked at her with his silly smile. (I thought this is my room. I guess I've made a mistake on knocking on the wrong room. My bad)

Esperanza sighed and offered to help Pepe to his cabin. His cabin was a few rooms away from hers.

She anchored his arm around hers and helped him to walk. But she was having a hard time helping Pepe. He kept wobbling around.

Pepe started talking, "Alam mo…. Itong estranghero na ito… mayroon siyang napamaimis na misay. At….mukha siyang galing sa marangyang pamilya dahil sa kanyang magarang kasuotan. Napakabait niya. Nagkita kami doon sa kubyerta at nag-usap patungkol sa mga bagay bagay. Nagsalitan kami ng sarili naming pahayam patungkol sa nangyayari sa ating inang bayan. Alam mo...naalala ko siya dahil sa iyo." (You know….this stranger… he has this well-trimmed mustache. And....he looks like he came from a wealthy family. He's kind. We met in the deck and talked about stuff. We share our different views about what is happening in our nation. You know… he reminds me of you)

She looked at Pepe with frowned eyebrows.

A few more steps and they were almost on Pepe's cabin. Suddenly Esperanza heard footsteps from the end of the corridor behind them. When she looked at her back, she tried to make out huge physiques of two figures walking towards their direction.

The light on the corridor kept swaying slowly and smoothly.

Esperanza could make out blue clothes, black hats, and riffles. 'Uh-oh! Civil guards again,' Esperanza thought to herself.

She panicked. She looked at Pepe, his eyes were halfway closing. What should she do? Why were there still civil guards in the ship?

She remembered after the suicide incident happened in the ship, the civil guards finally disembarked the ship.

So why were they here? Were they here for Pepe? Then, what should she do in this kind of circ.u.mstance?

The civil guards were near and her heart could not stop from pumping faster in anxiety.

15 more steps and they'll finally come close to Esperanza and Pepe.

What should she do?

Pepe 's head lolling on her side as he was falling asleep.

Oh no!

10 more steps…

'They could not see Pepe right? I mean his back was facing them,' she thought to herself, referring to the two civil guards.

9 more steps…..

'But what if they'll try to grab him to see Pepe's face?'

7 more steps…. One of the guardia civil (civil guard) called out to Pepe and Esperanza.

Esperanza freaked out. 'OMG!'

In her panicked, she grabbed Pepe's free arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. Without thinking, she drew her face towards him. Before she closed her eyes, she saw on her peripheral view that the two cops were taken aback. She waited for them to make a move or maybe to interrupt them. But the two civil guards coughed and cleared their throats. They murmured something about disgrace and immorality and finally moved on. Esperanza heard the two knocked on the door of one the of the cabins.

The two civil guards received no response. So, she guessed, they were knocking on Pepe's cabin, they were actually looking for him.

The two civil guards stopped and walked away. She waited for their steps to fade away before she opened her eyes.

The two civil guards were finally away. She looked at Pepe and gazed his black eyes wide opened.

She jolted away from his arms and averted her eyes.

What had she done? She had no idea what happened. Everything was fast and she was in a dire situation. And she did…. She did..Her lips landed on…. Her lips…..

When she looked at Pepe, he was already laying on the floor, his eyes were shut. She drew next to him. She needed to get Pepe back to her room before the two civil guards come and get Pepe. Pepe should not go back to his room since it seemed like the two civil guards knew where he was staying.

Pepe murmured something. She could not hear it clearly. She drew closer to him. She heard him whispered, "Agustin… Iyon pala ang pangalan ng maginoong estranghero." (Agustin….that's the name of the gentleman stranger)

'Agustin?' Esperanza asked to herself.

Pepe continued, "Naalala kita sa kanya. Katulad mo…. Kakaiba din siya manalita." (He reminds me of you. Like you…. He speaks oddly) Esperanza was taken aback. Pepe opened his eyes and looked at Esperanza. "Mayroon din siya.... 'yong bagay na parating nasa braso mo." (He also have the same thing you always have on your arm)

Pepe stretched out his hand and touched the wristwatch of hers.

Esperanza looked at Pepe with wide eyes.

The man who had the other clock was here.

Thirty minutes later….

Big tidal waves were coming.

Esperanza was on her knees, holding tightly on the handrail of the deck.

The sky was curtained with dark clouds, the wind blew harshly, and big tidal waves kept crashing on their ship. The storm was here and the people inside the ship were praying to God to save them.

Esperanza eyed the angry sea and to the raging n.a.k.e.d woman standing on the ocean's surface with a conch shell on her hand.

The n.a.k.e.d woman had eyes of swirling deep blue ocean. Her hair went here and there.

Esperanza closed her eyes and recollected what happened.

When she opened her eyes, she screamed as the n.a.k.e.d woman, with wrathful eyes, was finally in front of Esperanza and was riding the big tidal wave that's about to engulf the ship.