Si Inday: Origins (Arc 2)

Tanong

"'Tinez, gising ka pa?"

Inday could hear Martinez breathing from the floor beside her. She felt him pause as she asked the question.

Martinez could feel the sticky linoleum floor on his bare back. The window was open for any breeze that would bless their apartment, but the humid weather was unrelenting. It wasn't a good idea to be buying appliances for an apartment they'd be abandoning again in a week, so they didn't have a fan for the place at all.

Maybe next time a motel would be a better idea, assuming there was one in the area and they could afford it.

Martinez sat up slightly, and folded his arms to rest across his knees. He peered into the darkness to look at Inday, "Anong meron, ganda?" he relaxed into this position, and Inday noted how pretty he was in that moment.

She lingered a little at Martinez's shoulders, and how the blue hues of the night sky bounced on his face. Their apartment may have been stuffy, but with the lack of a breeze came also the stillness of the night. The quiet of their room was interrupted only by Martinez's voice as he sat up. He was relaxing to listen to, but Inday would never say this out loud.

She shifted slightly from the couch to face Martinez. Her hair flowed a little, and spilled over the corner of the cushion slightly, but she remained lying down. The couch's height, and Martinez's hunched back left both of them at eye-level before she spoke. "Magsalita ka nga." she commanded.

Martinez blinked. Excuse me? Ano daw? He had to rub his eyes to make sure this wasn't a fever dream. "Hah?" he made a noise.

Inday moved on the couch to face the ceiling instead. "Magsalita ka," she repeated. "Kahit ano." She closed her eyes. "Hindi ako makatulog." she finally said.

It wasn't unheard of for aswang to be awake at night, but there was nowhere to be that night. There was no food to hunt, no place to stake out. It didn't make sense for them to be awake, so they tried to sleep. Besides, that always helped with the facade of pretending to be human for their neighbors.

But tonight, it was more difficult for Inday to still her mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she was reminded of the fire, of the flames. She was reminded of Duran.

Maybe she didn't have enough on her plate these days. Maybe she just didn't have anything else going on that required much thinking, and because of that her anxieties were just more active than usual. The town they were in was quiet, and the people were genuinely nice. There was nothing to kill, no one to fight. So Inday was alone with her thoughts.

So she wondered if Martinez could assist with her problem. Besides, he loved to talk.

"Kiss muna." he said flatly.

That did it. That got Inday to sit upright on the couch.

Two words, maximum impact.

In the time they spent together, she should have known he'd say something like this. Inday kicked herself mentally at how she completely walked into this situation all on her own. Kiss muna, she thought. Tanga ba'ko? she berated herself mentally. This is Martinez we're talking about, why did I expect something different? Inday massaged her temples, annoyed.

"De, wag nalang pala." she stared at him from where she sat.

She was about to tuck herself back in her couch when Martinez stopped her. "Wai- saglet lang, oi." he had a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Eto naman, hindi naman mabiro." he pouted from the floor.

He made himself comfy in his pillow again, and ran a hand through his untied hair.

"Di ka pa nasanay sakin. 'Kiss muna' din yung unang bungad ko sayo nung nagkakilala tayo, tas mabibigla ka pa ngayon?" Martinez tucked his pillow under his elbow, and used another arm to hold his head up. He frowned at Inday.