BALANGIGA won first prize in the 2010 kaSAYSAYan Historical Scriptwriting Contest, sponsored by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). This unproduced screenplay is uploaded for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. If you wish to enter into a production deal, please contact the author at petelacaba(a)gmail.com.
His walk from the water edge to the rock where I sit was like forever. Then, I felt his warmth, his skin lightly touching mine. He sat next to me. Gently, he took my hand, kissed it, and pressed it against his chest. I froze. I felt my hand sweat. The back of my hand could feel the rapid beating of his heart while he rubbed his palm on mine with his other hand.
I always think the reason is me – I doubted myself, in a way. I thought that she looked down on me, or that she doesn’t like me at all. But logically thinking, no one in the right mind can dislike someone she has not met before. No one can judge someone she has never even seen personally. And this thought led me to a realization that perhaps...
She makes life soothing for me. She shuts the blinds since the sun rears its lazy beginning. She then plays some music on the stereo. She plays with my ears softly while she sings Juciest by Alicia Keys.
You stand five feet away from me, and I try not to look. I've been trying so hard not to look all night. I glance at my watch. Ten minutes pass one, a little late for me, but it doesn't matter. Nothing matters.
Malakas ang ulan. Ngunit umaaraw. May kinakasal na tikbalang. Tumayo ang mga testigo dahil dinemanda ang nanay ng bida dahil sa pagnanakaw ng bagoong kaya sinampal niya ang kaniyang aso dahil kinain niya ito ng hilaw. Nagkamot na lang ng ulo ang aso dahil hindi pa ito naliligo. Humatsing si Tatang. Si Tatang Namoh pala ang bida dito, binata pero meron siyang tatlong anak. Dahil inanakan siya ng tatlong babaeng hindi niya kilala. At ang tatlong anak niya ay inanakan din, kaya siya tinawag na Tatang Namoh.
The outskirts of London have changed dramatically since I have set foot upon their cobbled streets. Now markets with dull, chipped paint stand amongst unkempt houses, forgotten by their owners who now only remember the address of the local pub. Monstrous barns and useless soil reside where dense thickets of grass once stood with white, milky flowers peeking though. The only things that remain unchanged are the decrepit streets waiting for unsuspecting travelers to fall into their nooks, and the boys hiding in the alleyways waiting to rob the unwary person.
I have become the suggestion of a stranger... the invited intruder.
Where is the phantom entrance to somebody’s somewhere?
I am fading from view.
I am nothing but a flicker.
I am nothing but a speck of dust, floating and shimmering in the air.
I am in the middle of it all just like you.
I don't have many pictures of you. I will have to change this so that I have something to show at your wedding.
I stood there, outside his room, waiting. With my head bowed down and my eyes shut tightly, I kept on replaying what had happened. Everything that happened.
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