How I Escaped the Island of People with Red Eyes, Red Hair, and Stained Teeth

Part 4 - What I Saw In The Cave

I finally reached the cave. I was expecting the entrance to be filled with seawater. The last time I was there, during my first failed escape, I noticed that the waves were splashing at the mouth. But when I reached it at last, it was different. There was no water. I freely stepped on the rocks without the threat of getting soaked. The ocean pulled the sea away and soon it would come back as a deadly gigantic wave.

And to my surprise, there was no anito inside the cave. I was right all along. They were just bluffing. There were stalactites and stalagmites…but there was no big idol or whatever I had imagined. I didn’t bring any lamp with me but I could see clearly the crevices and myriad centipedes and unknown creatures therein. I had no time to wonder. I went inside with no idea whatsoever what awaited me.

“So you’ve come,” I heard a familiar voice. It was the village’s dialect.

Then I saw the light from the torch he was holding. It was Girong. And beside him was Dadang. They were right there in the cave all along. They might have learned what I was planning. They were standing in front of a waist-high mound of white rocks. I reckoned it was a mound for some kind of a sacrifice.

“Girong! Dadang! What are you doing here?” I approached them in haste. I cared for the after all. “The tsunami is coming any moment. You should escape with the others.”

“No, son.” Dadang said. “We will stay here. Stay with our son.”

And I realized they were not standing in front of a sacrificing mound. It was a tomb.

“I thought you don’t have any children.” I replied. Sweat beaded my forehead.

“His name was Pulag.” Girong knelt as he said it. “He was killed three months ago.”

What a pity. Whoever killed their son was heartless. I never thought that Girong and Dadang had been grieving about their lost son all this time.

“Lumot you must go now.” It was Dadang who spoke this time. She was wiping her tears with sleeves like she always did. “Go ahead and take a detour to the left when you see a large column of rock. You’ll reach your ship -”

“Now go!”

I realized that Girong pushed me and I ran once more. The ground was shaking again. I knew the tsunami was coming. I could hear the roar of the water getting closer and closer. I wanted to look back, take a look at my parents one last time. But I didn’t. I ran restlessly muttering the words ‘detour, ‘column’, and ‘left’ again and again.

And lo! When I finally took a detour as instructed by Girong, I found myself inside a huge dome in the bowels of the earth. It wasn’t dark anymore. I could clearly see a huge thing at the heart the dome.

It was a glowing silver space ship. And on that very moment, I remembered who I am.