Tales from the sea.

I woke up in the morning and while drinking my Three-In-One Cappuccino mix, I rocked in my rattan chair and looked out over the ocean’s rhythmic to-and-fro ebbing. Mesmerized by the tide, I was enjoying that precious moment frozen in time.We live in a cove with few prying eyes; here the ocean is still colorful and rich with marine life. We’re next to a village of fishermen and so there are plenty of boats parked beside our house. I keep thinking, it would be so great to rent a small boat with my husband, Darwin and explore the coral reef!
So, I asked our housekeeper Emily, whose husband and father-in-law are fishermen, “Can we rent one of those boats so we can swim and snorkel?”“Sure. I’ll ask Papa, but it’s jellyfish season. I wouldn’t go there right now.” She explained that they emit a saliva which spreads all over the ocean.“For real?”“Yeah!” She answered, “It makes you itch all over. You won’t see them, but you will feel them for sure.”“Okay, I guess we’ll just have to wade in from the beach.”“Yes. But just don’t go too far in the blue end!”“What do you mean?”It was then that Emily warned me of being possessed at sea! “There are entities out there, the dili ingon ato i.e., They are not from here!“What are you talking about?” I asked.“Honest, Ma’am! My boss’ Leila, her sister Mama Nena… she visited from the city with her family for her children’s summer holiday last year. Her 15-year-old son, Tony was so Gwapo and smart. He just made the honor’s list, so Mama Nena wanted to reward him with a vacation at her sister’s beach resort.“We warned them about the danger of the ‘deep blue end’. People have never come back because if those Sea Spirits fall in love with you… then you belong to them!” Emily said.

”After the warning, the boys immediately swam there. If you tell them ‘Don’t’! They will. They’re teenagers. They went straight to the prohibited spot!”
The sun set in glorious colors painting the sea with different shades of orange, Mama Nena was worried especially when her heart tightened. The kids were not back from their swim yet, and she intuitively sensed that something was wrong. “What’s taking them so long?” Mama Nena asked.She paced at the lobby and began going from room-to-room at the resort, knocking on doors.“Have you seen the boys?”Emily told her, “I spotted them sitting by the rocks an hour ago. I called to them because I was worried that it may be getting dark soon…and there are these sea entities.” 

”Hey, you guys, come back already!” I yelled from here. “It’s getting late and you should make it on time for dinner”

‘Okay, we will be back,’ they said and just stared back with a dazed look.By then, Mama Nena was panicking and sought advise from her sister, Leila. “It’s 7:00 pm already and the boys are not yet back, what should I do?”“Report it to the Barangay Captain and so they can look for them!”Mama Nena went directly to the Barangay Captain ‘AKA Neighborhood Captain’ and sought help. He quickly organized a search team consisting of local villagers and fishermen who volunteered to look for Tony and Rick.It wasn’t long before the whole village was searching for the boys. As if an answer to prayers, within a couple of hours the tide had gone out and their bodies were delivered by the edge of the seashore. Tony was lifeless, but his beauty was still preserved. At first Rick was presumed dead, but they discovered that he still had a pulse. The villagers crowded around the boys forming a circle, praying, crying, and wailing! They tried to pump the water out of their bodies and resuscitate them. They failed to hold their noses as they blew air into their mouths; no one properly trained in CPR, but water came out of their noses anyway.Tony’s eyes were closed peacefully. “Dios ko! Please help him! Save him!” Mama Nene was hysterical, but Tony was dead.

”Anak!” Nene screamed a loud shrill piercing cry. “No, no, no, don’t go!”

Her sister, Leila contained her by wrapping her arms around her.“I don’t know why? Instead of driving Rick, who was still breathing, to the hospital and then taking Tony to the morgue, they brought both boys to the morgue?” Emily continued her narrative.

”Perhaps they were planning to stop at the hospital afterwards?” I asked.

”Although, I think they should have gone to the hospital first.”

At the time Emily didn’t explain why, but conveniently for the rescuers when they got to the morgue Rick died too which saved them a trip.I can report that it was with goosebumps on her arms and a visible shiver that Emilie unraveled what she knew then to be the truth. As early as when she’d spoken with the boys sitting on the rock, Tony was as good as gone. He was already possessed by the Spirits. 

She recalled “ I kid you not, ma’am. His voice was monotone and low, and his eyes were glazed over.”

It was only moments later that Rick was ‘yelling for help’ because Tony had been claimed. Emily reasoned that Rick should never have tried to deny the Spirits their prize. The still-living-Rick was brought to the morgue because the Spirits had enthralled the villagers. Rick was claimed either for his transgression, out of mercy because the boys should remain together in death, or simply because the dili ingon ato were insatiable!

Emilie further explained that when the boys were brought ashore, a guest pointed his finger at Nilo, the resort’s Lifeguard saying! “It’s all your fault. You couldn’t be bothered. Rick was waving his arms in the water signaling for help, and you were glued to your cellphone! You didn’t even try to rescue them.”Defensively Nilo explained, “I thought they were just playing.”Nilo was eventually fired and rightfully so! Leila, the owner of the resort said, “You should have been doing your job!”

Not only did he lose his job, but according to Emily the spirits of the boys haunt him to this very day. They appear in his nightmares screaming, “Why didn’t you save us?”At a loss for words I said, “Shoot, Emily do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Yes, honest ma’am. I’m not kidding you!”Every time, Emily comes to work in our home, while she’s sweeping the floor or washing the dishes, we chat about everything, but she knows I love to pick her brain about Sigbins, Mermaids and the dili ingon ato sightings!My husband, Darwin and I bounce this kind of thing off each other all the time. From his perspective when people are faced with the ‘meaningless’ we confabulate a ‘backstory’ to find ‘meaning’ in it.

Things that happen that are too arbitrary or too random demand complexity. The stars, the sea, and the senselessness of death require something more complex, because we are ruled by meaning and meaninglessness just won’t suffice. He thinks this is the more likely reason for the similarity in myths around the globe and throughout history.As for me, I’m more divided… I think at least some of these things do exist. I believe in God, so why can’t spirits exist? Are they the fallen angels or spirits caught in between the worlds? What do you think?

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