It was a couple years ago, I was still a sophomore in college, when I heard the news that my grandma had died. I was really close to her and she used to stay at my family’s place near Manila.
She took care of us, cooked awesome meals and she was really a fun “Lola” to hang around coz she likes to joke as well.
It all changed, when I started to go to college, see at that time, most of the universities in Philippines are located in Manila. And our hometown is like 2-3 hours from Manila, if you add traffic, well, it could be 4-6 hours away.
While studying, we had to stay at a place nearer to our university during schooldays, and we would just go back to our hometown every weekend. I had 3 older brothers, I’m the youngest, and I’m the only girl and the last one to go to uni.
When my brothers had to go to college I was still in high school, they all stayed in our condo in Manila, and it was mostly me and my Lola left at our home. My dad would leave for work early in the morning and would get home quite late at night due to traffic, and my mom had a boutique shop to tend to so she would also have to close up shop.
My Lola and I are very close, we even sleep together at night, side by side on a queen bed.
I remembered how she loved listening to this one radio station, she would sometimes call the station and the DJ’s there know her, she would often request a song to be played and sometimes she would even sing. Lola also likes to chat every night before going to sleep, she would tell me tales of her younger years, she would joke around and sometimes even tell me scary stories. I enjoyed all those moments with her.
When I was old enough to go to college, my relatives thought it would be best if my Lola would come back to our province and stay there, since our home would likely be empty during the daytime and she would be alone. At that time it was the best decision, Lola was getting old and fragile, so it’s better if she had other people around to take care of her.
Time went on and the sad news came. Grandma had passed away.
At first, it didn’t hit me, I didn’t cry, I was just numb, I think.
I was in school at that time when my mom called me and told me the news. After the call, I was just silent. My friends might have noticed that something was wrong, coz usually I’m very cheerful. They started asking “what’s wrong?” “are you okay?” and that’s when I just burst into tears.
My family and I had to travel to our province, to our “ancestral home” where my grandma is. In the Philippines, usually the funeral takes place for at least 3-5 days, sometimes even longer since some relatives are overseas.
Now let me tell you something about our province. It’s very remote, probably 4-5 hours travel from Manila. Some roads are still dirt roads and our ancestral home is like located in the mountains so you would have to travel on zigzag roads with cliffs on your side to get there.
Our home is surrounded by coconut trees, we had a vast land of rice farms and it’s really beautiful and serene.
But at night, it’s a whole different story. Only the homes have light, the pathways to go to other houses are pitch black. So you would have to carry a lantern or flashlight with you if you want to visit the next house, which is usually another relative of ours.
Hopefully that helps you paint a picture on your mind about the place.
Going back to the story, we arrived at our province at it was already night time, so you guessed it, it’s pitch black on the surrounding areas, except the main house where the funeral is held.
There are tents setup just right outside the house, where tables and mono block chairs are setup for guests to sit down, mingle, talk about life, eat peanuts and even drink.
We took turns approaching the casket where my Lola rests to say goodbye, and when it was my turn, I saw how peaceful she looked, as if she was just sleeping. She had a faint smile on her face and I dropped a tear and just quietly said “Rest in peace Lola, we love you.”
After that, we went out to another house to setup our stuff, since we will be sleeping there, it’s a small house my parents decided to have there so have a place to stay whenever we visit our province, sort of like a staycation home, it was just a couple feet away from the main house where the funeral is being held and you still have a clear view of the ancestral home from here.
A couple hours later, there was a commotion, people were shouting, my uncles were shouting mad and rushing over to get inside the house where the casket is. We were all curious of course, I asked my cousins what’s going on and they also didn’t know. After a few moments, my uncles went out, they looked pissed and angry. We asked them what happened and what they told us still gives me goosebumps until this day.
My uncles were outside, sitting at the tent, they can see the main door open and can see through the house with a clear view of the casket.
One of my uncles said he saw a black creature, standing over the casket. Its hands were placed on top of the glass and its head was up close to the glass of the casket, meaning, it was glaring through my Lola’s face up close.
He then started shouting and rushed over to my Lola, cursing the creature.
The creature ran away, and my other uncles started to chase it. They said it transformed into a black cat and it went through the back of the house and into the dark.
After that, one my aunts said she was the one who was supposed to stay with my Lola’s casket that time, she just stepped away for a minute and then the commotion happened. One of my uncles said that you should never leave a dead loved ones body alone, there should always be at least one guarding over it. As you leave it susceptible to other “entities”.
Suddenly one of my aunts told us that something was wrong to our Lola, that something had changed.
When I took a look at her, I saw that the smile on her face was gone. Her lips were now curled in a way that it shows she’s horrified of something. It’s replaced with a frightened and anxious expression.
And from that point on, tales about the “Aswang” were told by my uncles and aunts, they shared stories of their encounters here in the province about it.
Most of us stayed up late that night, and the adults made sure that there’s always someone to guard over my Lola through the night, up until the day of her burial.