Pangangaluluwa

Basilio (Answer)

The sound of footsteps approach, boots scuffing against the stones outside the convento. Basilio sighs in relief, for it is only Sinong, one of his companions.

"Are you really going to stay here all night?" Sinong says, looking about him fearfully. "I do not like this place. I thought I saw a child run past me just a while ago, but when I turned to look, there was no one there."

"You saw him then?" Basilio asks, leaning forward. "I talked to him earlier, but he disappeared before you came. I did not even get to ask his name."

"Only a glimpse," Sinong says, shivering. "You were talking to it! Did you not realize that it was a ghost?"

"Does it matter if it was indeed a ghost?" Basilio scoffs. "At least he kept me company."

"You truly are a brave man," Sinong says. "Odd, I thought the child looked like you, somehow." He shakes his head. "I am imagining things, of course. Places like this can do that to you."

Basilio stares at him, eyes wide.

"He looks like me," he murmurs. "Of course. Of course."

He laughs, suddenly, and claps Sinong on the shoulder. "Thank you, Sinong. I now have my answer, so we can leave this place."

"So you saw Juli, then?" Sinong asks in surprise. "Your doubts were finally put to rest?"

"For the first question, no," Basilio says, "All this time, I was by myself." And he laughs again, quietly. Sinong gives him a long, searching look. "For your second question, yes. I know now what it is I need to fight for."

"I still don't understand how vengeance is not enough for you to keep fighting," Sinong says, kicking the ground, sending a hail of pebbles towards Basilio's well-worn shoes. "After everything they have done to you, Juli, and all of us."

Basilio shakes his head. "Fighting for vengeance alone will not amount to anything. This is not why we should fight. He reminded me of this."

"He?" Sinong asks with one raised eyebrow, but Basilio does not elaborate.

"Protect his dream, he said. Protect the dreams of all children like him. Your children, my children, our children's children. We fight to give them a future, a country, where they are allowed to dream, and be free to make their dreams a reality."

Sinong continues to stare at Basilio, but eventually, he shrugs. "It does not matter, as long as you have now reached a decision. Does this mean you will also support Bonifacio's cause, then?"

"With all my heart, Sinong," Basilio says with a smile, his eyes looking up to the stars. "Tomorrow night, you and I, along with what's left of our group, will join the Katipunan."