Wet Footsteps
“I also have a story,” my classmates from Bicol said.
“A boy asked permission from her mother to play outside after his afternoon siesta. The mother agreed as long as he’ll come back before dusk, in time for dinner. So, he hurriedly went out to see his friends.
“As the sun was setting, the mother prepared the table for dinner. As she was about to place the plate on his son’s spot, the door banged. It shocked her and made her drop the plate to the floor. Then he saw his son enter the house, running upstairs, soaking wet.
“‘Ikaw talagang bata ka! Saan ka na naman ba galing?!’ the mother yelled as she picked up broken pieces of the ceramic plates.
“Trying to reach the piece that went under the table, she accidentally touched a sharp edge that cut her finger, causing it to bleed. Then, suddenly, she heard a loud voice from her neighbor calling her name, ‘Aling Linda! Aling Linda!’
“She immediately got up on her knees then rushed to the door. ‘Bakit ano ‘yon? May problema ba?’ she asked,.
“‘Ang anak nyo po nalunod sa ilog!’ the neighbor exclaimed.
“‘Ha? Eh kakauwi lang nya! Nasa taas nga siya e!’ she replied with a high tone in her voice.
“Refusing to believe what she had just heard, she hurriedly climbed up the stairs to check on her son. While going up, she didn’t mind the blood coming out from her finger, falling next to his son’s wet footsteps on the stairs.
“‘Anak! Anak! Anak!’ she shouted in a trembling voice.
“But she didn’t hear any answer. And the only thing she found in the boy’s room was wet footsteps.”
We all got silent because we all felt pity for the mother.