“Manananggal!” Andres shouted, pulling me back into the hut.

There was a shrill voice in the air. The monster uttered a shrill piercing cry.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

My hands automatically covered my ears. I took one quick glance before coming inside letting myself be pulled by Andres. I saw a severed body kept afloat in the air with the violent flapping of bat-like wings.

He shut the door and windows, however, the disembowelled monster kept on trying to breakthrough. Andres hurriedly grabbed a knife from the kitchen and gracefully chopped the garlic he got earlier and stuffed them into his pants. “Just stay where you are, keep hidden. Let’s make a run for it when I give you the signal.”

I nodded fervently.

He grabbed a wooden ladle and threw it outside a window. The manananggal got attracted to the noise and perhaps thought that we went through there, so it attacked while we ran to the door to exit.

“Now!!!”

While running for my life, I lost balance and fell flat on my stomach. My feet were hurting as an elongated dark pink mass of muscle tightened its grip on me and began pulling me.

“Isay!” Andres shouted, his fingers missed mine reaching out to him. I was dragged towards the window and I couldn’t do anything but to scream for my life. Before I was completely pulled out of the window, I stretched and moved my arms and legs violently in attempts to shake its tongue off, but its hold on me was far too great.

I managed to hold onto the frame of the window to keep myself from being pulled out of the house.

If I pass through the open window… if it manages to pull me out, it’s gonna be the death of me! I don’t want to die! You must endure, Iza!

My hands and feet reddened, the pain didn’t help either, but I kept holding on as I eyed Andres running towards me with fear and determination both present in his visage. He offered his hand to me again and I was able to grab onto it this time. He pulled me closer into a hug with one of his arms as the other held onto the kitchen knife. He used the pointed object to pin the manananggal’s tongue to the wooden wall.

“Let…me…go!” I kept on kicking and squirming until the pinkish mass finally let go of me.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

A putrid smell suddenly hung in the air as a hand with razor-sharp hands started clawing its way from outside. I can see a faint pair of reds in the darkness of the night, but what really caught my attention was a similar golden accessory hugging one of the decaying fingers of the manananggal.

It looked like the same one that lola wore earlier.

No.

It can’t be a coincidence.

Why?

How can this be happening?

“Lola…?” My voice faltered as I called out to her.

The manananggal stopped attacking, as if suddenty gaining inhibition from preying on me.

I felt my heart stop in confusion and disbelief as I gazed at black eyes that reflected my emotions.

A few seconds later, it was followed by an even higher-pitched shriek that writhed in pain.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

My hands found themselves covering my ears once more as the manananggal cried like an animal being butchered. I fell on my knees and pressed even harder towards my temple. This is impossible. It can’t be lola. Why the hell would she help us only kill and/or eat us? I didn’t even feel that there was anything off with her; she was so sweet and lively.

There was a thud outside and I quickly ran there, only to find Andres standing over the lower body of the manananggal, he was spreading the garlic he had on the top where intestines and other organs squirmed.

I ran back inside to see what happened to the other half.

The upper body of the manananggal struggled as it weakly crawled through the window. When the candlelight reached its face, it revealed an old woman that closely resembled lola, save a few creepy alterations like sharper ears, corpse-like skin, and eyes that shone crimson amidst the darkness.

“L-Lola… It really is you.” I slid down and sat on my legs. My head was spinning. It was all too much for me.

She gave me a pained smile.

“Why, lola? Why did you help us if you’ll only end up killing us or maybe even eating us? Why did you do this?!” Tears started to well up from my end. “Were you hungry? Did you really want to kill us? I… I have really enjoyed staying here. Being here, spending time with you and Andres – it had been a quick breather for me, considering everything that happened when we stumbled into this world. Did you also lie about having come from our world? Did you use that lie to keep us lured in your trap?!”

She looked desperate as she tried to take up a smile. “It’s true. I was a human being before. Prior to coming here, I was tricked by a manananggal. I unknowingly ate food with her blood and it didn’t take long for me to transform into a monster like her.”

“You mean the food that you kept offering to us had your blood?!” Andres should as he got back in.

The old woman shook her head. “I couldn’t do it. Isadora reminds me of my daughter, so I wasn’t able to mix anything weird in there.”

The edges of her ears softened into a curve and the red hue reflected into her eyes returned to being light brown – she was slowly transforming back to her human form. Her wings folded up and started to dry out as her cheeks became filled with color once more.

“Y-You’re not coming back to the other half of your body?” I panicked as red blood gushed out of her lower half and out of her mouth.

“No, Isadora. I’m afraid this is the end of the line for me. A manananggal will continue being a severed body and will not able to turn back if garlic or salt has been put over our lower body. I will be leaving this physical world soon.”

I ran towards her and cradled the upper half into my arms, ignoring the stench of blood. “But still, why go this far? Why did you attack us? This could’ve ended differently if you didn’t do that!”

Sensing her life will soon come into an end, the waterworks started to activate and I kept on having hiccups as I sobbed audibly.

“No matter where I came from or whatever my form seems to be, I am still a monster. In the end, I became what I hated; I almost took your life… I couldn’t resist the urge to taste fresh human meat. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will be after your lives, so please, take care of each other…and sorry for what I did.”

“Nooooooo… Lola!” I never knew my grandmother, so meeting this woman made me feel like I’ve finally met her, that I finally knew how it feels to have a grandma.

“Thank you, I can finally return back to Him.”