When Back In Time

HE WAS gone...

After Bangun Bangun left, Esperanza immediately treaded her way out from the forest in the nighttime. She vaguely remembered the path she once took when she left Agustin's house.

She blindly walked in the stygian surrounding with no lamp on her hand. It took her a lot of scratches on her legs and arms and hitting her injured feet on a rock (causing to hurt her ankle more) and injured her hand as she groped her way out from the woods.

Finally, she stumbled outside.

She was panting.

She stood up and followed the stream as she remembers that it led to Agustin's nipa hut. She traipsed while limping alongside the stream back to Agustin's nipa hut.

She stopped as she steps on something. Taking a step back, she saw something on the ground. Under the moonlight, she could see a small thing on the ground. She gasped in horror as she accidentally stepped and killed an innocent bird.

She bit her lower lip, saying her sorry to the poor thing and abandoned it, but still hesitant to leave it. She walked faster while limping.

'What have I done?' she told herself.

Then she finally made it.

When she arrived, the nipa hut before her was still and dark.

The stairs creaked softly as she tiptoed carefully towards the door. Pushing softly the door, she entered the hut.

It was too dark when she walked inside. All she could see was nothing but pitch-black as she groped her way towards the kitchen's sink.

The path towards the kitchen was easy since the living room was connected with the kitchen, and there's no wall that stood as a boundary in between.

When she got there she immediately searched for another lamp but after a few seconds she found nothing. She then sighed and started trailing the sink's edge until she hit her head on the wall.

"Ouch!" she said and cursed the wall for doing nothing but instead done its duty as a wall.

If she remembered correctly if she continued to follow the wall she will reach the bedroom where Pepe was.

Pepe...

Deep inside, she missed Pepe. After all the long time she endured as she time traveled, he always visited in her mind and it always made her guilty.

Reaching the door of the bedroom, she opened it and entered. This room was dark just like the living room behind her.

If she remembered correctly, there's a drawer on her left and on top of it was a lamp.

She then carefully made her way towards the said direction. Her hand hit a solid thing as she tried to grope her way towards the drawer.

She's now hating this kind of situation she's in. 'Why the lights were out anyway? It's too dark to walk around,' she complained to herself.

Her leg hit something. She stopped and started groping it. It's the drawer. When she found the lamp, she lit up with a match she found near it.

As the fire lit up, it emitted light which illuminated her surroundings.

Finally, she could see better.

She turned around to see Pepe laying on the bed. She stopped with frowned eyebrows. Instead of finding Pepe lying asleep on the bed, and recuperating from his injuries; she saw no one.

"Pepe? Nasaan ka Pepe?" she asked as she went out of the bedroom. (Pepe? Where are you, Pepe?)

She looked around the living room and saw there was no one there. It's so quiet.

'Where is Pepe?' she asked herself. 'Where did he go in his kind of situation?'

She's so worried for Pepe. After all, he had been shot 3 times, broke his nose and fingers and injured his head. 'He should be sleeping. He should not be walking around with his injuries,' she complained.

Her eyes traveled towards the table. She remembered Pepe once laid down there while he was operated.

Her hand touched the table. She's so worried about Pepe.

And then she remembered, "Where is Agustin?"

Suddenly a gun was shot. The bullet hit the door and passed through it and went straight to the kitchen's sink.

Esperanza yelled in great surprised and ducked promptly as the gunshot continued. She immediately crawled her way inside the bedroom.

"What is going on?" she asked and shrieked.

Bullets were fired ceaselessly. It hit many things like the table, the cabinet, the sink and finally it hit the lamp Esperanza left on the floor.

The lamp exploded.

Esperanza was about to close the door when suddenly she was caught by the explosion.

She hit herself on the wall first before the door landed in front of her.

She then lost her consciousness.

The fire grew bigger and bigger and started spreading and engulfing the hut.

Someone came inside the hut. He looked around the hellfire-like feeding on his own hut. He heard a groan coming from the bedroom. When he turned his head, he saw her sitting on the floor almost covered by the wooden door. Her nose bleeds, probably from when the door hit her nose.

He drew near her and examined her.

Esperanza opened her eyes and saw him. It was Agustin.

She weakly pushed away the door in front of her. She let out a cry as she tried to stand up but her injured ankle seemed to be damaged again.

"T-Tulong," she said weakly. (H-help)

Agustin squatted down and examined her arm. He grabbed her hand and eyed the wristwatch.

"This is not the one," he said, "Where is it?"

Esperanza was startled and confused about how Agustin knew how to talk in English. And then she remembered, he had once the wristwatch and he might have used it and went to the future and learned English.

"Where is it?" he asked.

"Why don't you help me first," she said.

"I said where is it?" he insisted.

"Help me first, please. Your hut is burning."

"The wristwatch first," Agustin said.

"I-It's in my….my…my bra," she mumbled.

"What?"

Esperanza took the wristwatch from her bra, feeling ashamed but at the same time determined. Agustin immediately took it from her hand.

He stood up and examined the wristwatch intensely.

"Help me stand," she said and reached out her hand.

He looked down at her, "No. I'm not going to do that."

"What?"

He looked at her coldly. "I'm sorry. It's nothing personal. It is just I was only ordered to do it."

"W-what do you mean? What…what order?" she coughed as she inhaled more smoke.

"Extermination."

"Ex…termination?" she asked, "Please don't joke around."

He pulled something from the back of his pants. He produced a gun and pointed it to her, "I'm not kidding around. I'm serious."

She gasped and coughed. "W-why?"

"I said, I was ordered," he said casually.

"Order? Who ordered you to--- to do it? To do such a thing to me?"

"You don't need to know because you're about to die anyway," he said.

"Please----please don't kill me," she pleaded.

"Don't waste your breath," he said.

The ceiling was starting to crumble.

"You know you really gave me a hard time. I mean, if you just let my men kill you then I wouldn't do this hateful thing to you. But you leave me no choice," Agustin said.

"Why? Why me? What men?"

"Those civil guards I hired to eliminate you," he said, "It's troublesome to travel all the way here just to kill you, Miss Time-Traveler."

Esperanza was having a hard time breathing. She cupped her nose, trying her best not to inhale the smoke. But her actions were in vain.

"Oh. I have a better idea. I'll let you live," he said.

Esperanza looked at him with wide eyes. A smile formed on her lips and she started to thank him vigorously.

"Silly. I'm not finished yet. I will let you live for the meantime," he said and pointed his gun towards her leg and pulled the trigger.

Esperanza let out a cry and grabbed her shot leg.

"You mother f*cker!" she cried.

"I don't actually understand that word. But I think I take it as a compliment. Anyway, I'm going to leave you here with that shot on your leg. Have some fun while burning and dying slowly," he said as he turned his back on her.

Esperanza let out another cursed and throw it to him hoping to pierce his soul.

When he was on the doorway, he stopped as he remembered, "Oh. I forgot. Pepe."

"What?" she uttered, "What did you do to him? What did you do to him?!"

"I finished him off a while ago and threw him in the stream. Haven't you had an opportunity to meet his corpse?"

She gasped in aghast. Tears started to fall om her cheeks. "How could you do---how could you do that to him---- you monster! Why you killed him? Why?! After you helped him not just once—but twice! How could you do that?"

He turned his head and met her gaze, "Because I'm evil. That's what I do. And besides, his your friend. He should accompany you in heaven."

His suddenly whole eyes turned to black which chilled her. A sinister smirked form on his lips.

"Say my 'hi' to him," he told Esperanza as he resumed to leave, "Farewell to you girl."

"You monster!" she screamed as she cried out all her tears. Pepe is death. He's gone.

She looked around the room which was burning rapidly. The air was hot, the smoke was slowly killing her. She coughed and tried to stop herself from crying.

'I need to see him. No! Pepe is not dead yet. He is not dead. I must see it with my own eyes before I believe he's dead,' she told herself.

She tried to crawl her way out from this burning place. Blood oozing from her leg.

The ceiling gave in and fell. It crashed on her.

She screamed in pain.

"Someone! Please---please help me! Help me!" she yelled, trying in vain to call out people to help her.

Nothing. There was no one there to help her.

'No. this is not my end. I've come this far, I've experienced a lot of things. I just came back from the future to continue my task,' she thought to herself, 'This is unfair. This is not happening.'

The fire grew bigger and bigger.

Esperanza's face slowly fell on the heated floor. She started to see dark spots.

She coughed. She's having a hard time breathing with all the smoke she took in.

"H…help," she mumbled softly, "Some…body. Somebody…"

But whatever she does, however loud she screams no one was there to hear her as her voice was swallowed up the loud sound of the hut crumbling apart.

And then, finally, her eyes closed peacefully in the burning nipa hut which will soon burn her to the crisps.