by Yune Ko, 6-I | 15 Jan 2021
My father always describes me as a brave person. I have long hair and magnificent eyes. I get these features from my parents. My mom has brown eyes the same as me, tall and valiant. My father is the kindest, and the most heroic person I have known.
It was a cold, peaceful, and dark night. My mom walked through the unlit forest to buy medicine for my sick brother. For us to reach the store we need to pass by the forest and rice field without any electricity. I remember that night my mom only had a kerosene lamp. The lamp was not bright enough for us to see what was around. I remembered the forest had thick branches and roots. The roots were brown long and huge. The trees' shadows were very spooky that I felt it is going to eat us. The trees were staring at me silently and it felt like there were eyes looking on us. The sounds of bamboo trees were creepy, and it was like someone was whispering to us. Shadows were following us wherever we go.
I live in a poor village where there was no source of electricity. Electricity was not part of our daily lives. Only rich people who live in the city can have electricity. We do not have any car or bus to ride going to the city, so we just walked. For us to reach our destination we should pass the tall and green sugar cane and a few muddy, swampy, bright green, and flat rice fields. The people are used to having a kerosene lamp as their light. We are far from everything. It is far from the city. I live with my mom, father, brother, and grandmother. My house was surrounded by tall sugarcane, gigantic bamboos, and green rice fields. My father went to another place to look for a better job. My father works as a farmer. Both of my parents are as hardworking as a carabao. My mother is a housewife.
One night my brother had a high fever, and my mom was panicking because we had nothing. “Sam, wake up your brother has a fever,” my mom said. I briskly jumped from my tiny bamboo bed. My mom was shaking and crying that night. I hurriedly ran to my grandmother’s house to ask for help. “Lola, we need your help my little brother is having a high fever,” I said in a fearful voice. We left my brother to my grandmother as we went out to buy medicine.
Tik, Tik, Tik those sounds caused us fear. “Mom, what sound is it?” I asked fearfully “Kook, Kook, Kook, tik, tik. Those were the sounds that surrounded us in the forest, but we just ignored these and kept walking. “Mom, I’m scared,” I quietly whispered to my mom. “Just hold my hands and keep walking,” my mom replied in a shaking voice. Our lamp was getting darker than before. The wind was getting colder. Tik, Tik, Tik. Those three sounds made us walk faster. “Do not look back,” my mom said. That time our lamp ran out of kerosene. As we reached the rice fields, the sounds were worse than before. The wind howled and blew a colder chill. It danced with the leaves that touched our feet. “Tik, tik, tik, tik," the sounds kept following us. “We are not afraid of you,” my mom shouted, but the sound gets louder than usual. “Mom, let's run,” I said. “Okay, at the count of three, 1,2, 3. We ran as fast as the cheetah, but the sound was still following us. "Tik, tik, tik, tik, tik, tik, tik. "
In a distance we saw a man holding a light. Because of it we had hope and lost our fear. “Help us,” my mom shouted. He was wearing a brown jacket, black ripped out pants, and a white hat. From afar, he looked like an old man with a long mustache. At first, we were uncertain to ask help. The man ran hurriedly toward us. He gave us his other light. “What happened?” the man asked.” “We were being followed by someone.” My mom replied. “Yes, it made creep Tik, tik sounds that follow us until here,” I added. The man cannot believe what he heard. We told everything that there was something following us, and we heard the most eccentric and creepiest sound. After hearing our story, the man just laughed at us and said. “Those sounds were just birds and some other animals in the forest.” We lost all our fears because of what the man said. “Do not be afraid of me” the man said. “I lived in Barangay next to Farmer Health Center.” Then the man asked what we were looking for. “We are looking for medicine for my brother,” I said. The man walked us to the health center and got us medicines. We went back home and gave my brother medicine.
Tree photo created by photoangel - www.freepik.com
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