I followed the strange creature that I saw and as I do so, the voice belonging to Andres was slowly drowned out by the overwhelming feeling in my chest that took over me. I wanted to know why everything felt familiar – the smoke, the thrill, and the darkened greens beckoning me to a place that smelled of uncertainty and excitement.

I stopped running when the rustling of the leaves stopped, as if the creature causing it has stopped working or perhaps just vanished into thin air.

The kapre, well this kapre in particular, is just what they were described in the folklore– mischievous and cunning. Perhaps the creature noticed that there was a human trailing after it so it used a magic of some sort to make me lose my way in the woods swallowed by darkness.

When I got to the place where I last heard the steps, I only found more trees and shrubs and no signs of the creature in question.

As it dawned onto me that it was all for naught, my curiosity died down and was replaced with fear. Shadows seemed to beckon me into the darkness and the trees seem to start whispering secrets into the cold winds that blew. There was also no end to the sounds of the plants dancing and other creatures howling in the distance.

What the heck was that? I couldn’t have veered off too far from our house, have I?

It didn’t take long before I stopped being able to make sense of it all and before the cold hugged by tired body. This made me stop in my tracks.

I felt something on my shoulder and I almost shouted in fear, but then a hand swiftly went over my mouth. I turned my head quickly and saw the outline of a person.

“Isadora, it’s me, Andres.” He was panting while speaking. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Why did you go running into this place? This – this place is dangerous!” He attempted to keep his voice low; it was a mix of frustration and worry. His eyes shot daggers at me, as if I was a kid who just broke a ridiculously expensive vase while playing callously.

“A-Andres…” I spoke as he slowly removed his hand. “You saw that, right? That creature…" I managed to gulp down my nervousness. “The kapre.”

“Are you a dumb kid to follow something like that?”

“I’m already twenty-three, okay?! I’m not a kid anymore! But…”

“So you’re not denying the ‘dumb’ part?”

“So, what? Nothing happened, anyway.” I removed his other hand on my shoulder and started to walk towards the direction that I came from. “Let’s go back. It’s getting late.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy.” His words made me look back at him.

“What do you mean? We’ll just have to walk like half a kilometer back or so.”

“Even if we did, you won’t find your house.” Andres walked towards me and heaved off a big sigh. “Damn, we’re lost again.”

“Again?” I faced him and grabbed him at the sides. “What do you mean?”

“I-I’m sorry, Andres… You got caught up with my stupidity. Now it seems like we’re completely lost.”

“Why did you even run towards the woods? You know it’s dangerous, especially at night! You’ll get scolded again if we don’t get back soon.”

I looked away. “It doesn’t matter. No one would look for me. No one cares anyway.”

“I do.” I found his around me in a tight embrace even before my tears could fall. “I care about you. You’re my first friend.”

He removed himself from the hug and gingerly wiped my tears with his hand, as if I would crumble in the slightest bit of pressure. “Don’t do something stupid like this again, okay? Promise me.”

I nodded.

“Why did you even do that? I’m sure you know it’s dangerous.” He repeated his words earlier.

“It’s just that… I heard some noise by the trees and I got curious. It turns out that it wasn’t a small animal. There was a huge smoke and an even bigger man was walking around!”

A memory flashed in front of my eyes which was different from what I know and what I believed in for the past few years. Wasn’t the reason as to why we got into the woods was because he wanted to show me something on my birthday?

“I remember this tree. We’ve passed it earlier.” Andres said as he scratched his head. He shortly began to undo the buttons on his red polo shirt. “Get out of your clothes too.”

“W-What?! What are you saying, you pervert!” I slapped him before he could completely remove his top. “So you just wanted to take advantage of me?! Is that why you said it won’t be easy to get back to my house? Were you just pretending to be worried when you went after me?”

“Ouch. You have some slap in you.” He was holding his cheek. ”If what you saw was really a kapre, then isn’t it natural that we removed our clothes and turn it inside out before wearing it again? This is so we can counter their mischief so we won’t be going around in circles.”

“But you’re wearing a red polo! That’s not necessary for you!”

He grinned a little as he mumbled under his breath. “Well, you might find it unfair if you were the only one doing the stripping.”

“Fine!” I knew that I would have reacted the way he just mentioned, so I turned my back from him. “Turn around too, I’ll remove my clothes and put them back on reverse.”

Andres did what I asked. I slowly lifted my white shirt over my head and turned it inside out before putting it on again. “So you believed me when I told you of what I saw?”

“Yes.” He said. “Can I turn around now?”

“Go ahead, I’m done.” I said as I whipped my long hair out of the shirt. “Does this mean that… that what you were saying when we were kids were true? That we saw mysterious and fearsome creatures?”

“Yes.” He spoke with conviction. “They’re true.”

“T-Then why don’t I remember it? Why do my memories since I was a kid say otherwise?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it was because you were too shocked? Wasn’t there a defense mechanism where people bury unpleasant memories at the back of their minds? What we went through just to get back to the human world may have been too much for you.”

“Maybe. Wait, what? What do you mean the human world?” I looked around. The lurking shadows and the looming sounds were gone. Nothing was different from how the woods looked from our house. The only change was the fact that we are lost.

“Look at the sky. What do you find?” Andres pointed a finger up towards the area where there are no leaves obstructing the view of the night sky.

I did what he asked and what I saw made my eyes and my mouth widen in surprise, I brought a hand to quickly cover my mouth.

Three silver orbs hung on the blanket of the night, providing little light to the creatures grovelling in the dark. They were lined up pretty well that one would that it formed a straight line.

My knees gave up on me and I almost fell to the ground when his arm went around me and hooked me back up to my feet. He asked if I was alright and I nodded in agreement.

“It’s supposed to be seven, you know. Especially since we are now in the other world.”