Writing Neoansian Tales:Haluwan's Secret (PG)

[Solayo]

[i]This is a story I've written when I didn't know much about good storytelling so please forgive me if something's wrong. This one has characters loosely based on Philippine monsters (or something like that.) Hope you like it.[/i]

Chapter 1
Summer at Grandma's

Our story begins in a peaceful village in the country of Pilines in the continent of Neoansia.

It was summer. The school year is over, and almost everyone in the cities goes to the provinces to either go to the beach or visit relatives.

One of the families from the city came to the province for a different reason. And this family was Sente's family.

His family, well, can't really be called much of a family. Sente lives with his mother in Pilines while his father works in another country. You get the
picture.

Since his father doesn't really earn much, his mother decided to help by going to work in another country as well. So that means Sente is going to be
left all alone, and that is where the story begins.

"I'll be leaving now." Sente's mother said to Sente's grandmother. After that, Sente's mother said to Sente, "Good bye Sente! Be a good boy and don't make too much trouble for your grandmother you hear!"

"Just go already! If you really don't want to leave him, then take him with you! You're going to be left behind by the tricycle if not the ship!" Sente's
grandmother said to Sente's mother.

With that said, Sente's mother rode on the tricycle and left for the docks. Sente's grandmother went inside and closed the front door. She then saw
Sente standing in the living room. She said to him, "What are you doing standing there like a halfwit?! Sit down! You're not a stranger here, you know!"

Sente sat down on one of the couches while his grandmother did the same. But then, a boy a little bit older than him rushed in through the back door.

"Haluwan, you scared the wits out of me! I swear, if you do that one more time, I'm going to get a heart attack! Do you want me to die before you get to
high school?!" Sente's grandmother said to the boy.

"N-No. I-I'm very sorry. I just wanted to see your grandson, that's all." Haluwan said.

"Why didn't you say so?! You could have saved me a lot of breath." said Sente's grandmother, "Haluwan, meet Sente. Sente, meet Haluwan. Now that
you're introduced to each other, you can just play outside or something while I prepare some snacks."

Sente and Haluwan went out to the backyard.

"So, Sente, what do you want to do?" asked Haluwan.

"I don't know. I'm still quite messed up after all of Grandma's shouting." Sente replied.

Haluwan put his hand on Sente's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Grandma might look a little cranky sometimes, but she's still
okay."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Haluwan removed his hand from Sente's shoulder, thought about something for a while, and said, "Since you're new to this place and all, I might give you a tour. Would that be okay?"

"Sure."

And so the two of them went off outside the house. While they walked along, Haluwan showed Sente the people and the different places in the village.

Hey, do any of you even read this stuff? Oh well, I'm continuing this one whether anyone reads it or not. ^_^

Chapter 2
Storytelling

Sometime in the middle of their tour, they came across some other kids. They were having a storytelling session.

One of them saw Haluwan and said, "Hey Haluwan! Would you like to tell a story?"

"Yeah Haluwan! Tell a story! You know, like the ones you always tell." another one of them said.

"Okay, okay." said Haluwan, "But what should I tell a story about?"

"I know! Tell us the story about the aswang!" one of them excitedly said.

"Oh come on. We read that story in class remember? I mean, you could just read it again from your books." Haluwan said.

"I know that! It's just that, when you tell it, it somehow comes alive. It feels like it really happened." the one who suggested the topic said.

Haluwan chuckled a bit and then said, "Since you put it that way, I'll tell it."

The other kids (including Sente) clapped their hands. Some of them even cheered and whistled as Haluwan began to tell the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a rich, young man whose favorite pastime was hunting..." Haluwan began.

The young man in the story was invited by his friends to come to the province. There he decided to go to the forest to hunt.

The elders there warned him not to go but he ignored their warning. The young man went to the forest anyway.

When he saw the forest, he was amazed by the different kinds of plants and animals there. He was very delighted when he saw a group of animals that looked like it was having a meeting.

He shot the animals one by one until he killed them all. Just then, he heard a voice saying that he must pay for his disrespect for the lives of animals. The voice then said that the spirits of the animals he killed will reside in his body and take over him when there's a full moon.

The young man ran out of the forest, and while he was running, the voice said that when he dies, the curse will be passed on to his first child. When the young man got out, he was sent back immediately to his parents.

From then on, a monster appeared in the light of the full moon. Many of the people who lived near where the young man's house was were frightened because many people were killed by it.

The years passed and the young man got married and had a child. And then his secret was revealed.

One night with a full moon, the young man's wife saw him turn into a monster.

She saved their child by handing her over to the maid and telling them to escape while she fought the monster.

The maid and the child ran away and the maid told the townspeople what was happening.

The townspeople lost no time in hurrying to the mansion to help the young man's wife. But they were too late. They saw her being eaten up by the monster. They killed the monster and thought that that was the end of it.

"But little do they know that the curse was passed on to the child." Haluwan said.

Sente said to Haluwan, "Haluwan, can I tell the rest of the story? If that's okay with you."

"Sure Sente! You sure you know the story?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have volunteered to tell it if I didn't know it."

"Alright, let's get on with it." Sente began, "Many years have passed since the incident and there was this woman named Nelia..."

Nelia lived far away from the town where the incident took place. Her husband had recently died and she was pregnant.

She has been living all alone ever since her husband died in a tragic accident. His lifeless body was found at the foot of the mountain where he picked fruits to sell.

Many were puzzled by his death. His body was found bathing in its own blood. And what's more unusual was that no organs were left.

Some said that it was eaten by wild animals, and some said that an aswang ate it. But not many people believed there was an aswang and so that thought was easily forgotten.

One day, Nelia finally gave birth to a child. It was a beautiful and healthy girl. Nelia was very happy since the baby was the only thing she had. And she was quite glad since the baby had a striking resemblance to her husband.

One night, Nelia heard a dog's howling. When she looked through the window to see what was happening, she saw the full moon.

Her head suddenly hurt and her body suddenly felt stiff.

She didn't know what happened afterwards. She just woke up with her clothes feeling wet.

She then saw that her child was dead. The child's death was just like her husband's.

Nelia blamed herself for what happened. If only she knew what happened then she could have saved her child.

The next day the whole village knew about what happened. Now they knew that there was an aswang since it was the only one who could do this sort of thing.

The men decided to patrol the area every night to prevent another incident. Thank goodness there were no victims after that.

Four years passed and the incident was forgotten. Nelia still went on doing laundry. But unlike before, she doubled her efforts in order to forget the bad things that had happened in her life.

Nelia became fond of the children and became especially fond of Tina, a four-year-old girl who reminded her of her own child.

Tina was a sweet, obedient and prayerful child who was liked by everyone. Nelia treats her as if she were her own daughter.

One day, the people were shocked by the coming of another disaster. One by one, children went missing. The men patrolled the area and looked for them but found no trace of them.

Nelia worried about Tina's safety and so she reminded her to always be careful.

One night, Tina slept, forgetting that she left the window of her room open.

Out of the darkness, two fierce-looking eyes glowed. At the same time, the hand of the monster went nearer and nearer to the child through the open window.

Tina woke up. She saw the hand of the monster and prayed immediately.

Her father, who was going to her room to check on her, ran to her room and saw the monster as well.

He thrust the itak (it's a large knife, if you don't know what the heck it is) he was holding into the monster while holding Tina who was crying in fear.

The monster suddenly vanished. It disappeared into the darkness of the night.

The next day, Tina and her father told everyone about what happened. Everyone admired Tina's father's courage. The people also believed that Tina's goodness and being prayerful saved them.

From then on, the people made more effort to be good. They became prayerful and cared more for each other.

After that, no more children went missing and life became peaceful again.

A few days after the monster's last attack, the people saw Nelia lying in her hut, feeling ill. Her illness got worse and worse until she died.

She was buried by her neighbors led by Tina's family.

Time passed and modern living reached the village.

The whole village was bought by a wealthy businessman and this was to be turned into a huge factory. The villagers left and looked for another place to live.

While the bolldozer cleared the land, some of the workers found small bones under one of the huts. These were bones of children.

The workers wondered why there were children's bones to be found under the hut. Since the villagers have already left, they will never know who owned the hut.

"And the former villagers will never know that Nelia was the owner of the hut under which the bones were found... For Nelia was the child of the cursed young man. The curse has ended because Nelia had no more children to pass it to." Sente ended.

"Great job Sente!" said Haluwan as he clapped his hands, "I couldn't have told it better myself."

"Thanks Haluwan."

"Good thing that story's over. It's making me hungry." Haluwan said, "I almost forgot! Guys, meet Sente. He's Grandma's real grandson. He's from the city and he'll be staying here for a while."

The other kids said hi and Sente said hi as well. Little did everyone know that "a while" will last longer than they thought.

Haluwan and Sente left the storytelling group and continued with the rest of their tour.

I haven't finished typing the third chapter, but I have finshed writing the whole story in my notebook. I've been caught up in my comics. :animeswea

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Arial][size=2]Welcome to OB Anthology, Solayo. Before posting again, I strongly suggest that you read OB Anthology's [/size][/font][url="http://otakuboards.com/rules.php?#spam"][b][font=Arial][size=2]rules[/size][/font][/b][/url][font=Arial][size=2], a very important document that will keep posters out of trouble. For example, in the rules, it details Otakuboard's position on double posting. Basically, double posting is not allowed. If you want to add more to the original message, or another chapter, just hit the [i]edit[/i] button on the right hand corner. ^.~[/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=2][/size][/font]
[font=Arial][size=2]If you double post again, I'll be forced to close this thread.[/size][/font]

[Solayo]

Whoops. Sorry. I'll make sure I don't do that again. Thanks for the warning. ^_^