Jillianne Santos is a dental medicine student from the University of the Philippines Manila. She started writing personal essays and short stories during the pandemic and is currently a freelance writer. She had her first short story entitled “Tulad ng Bulaklak sa mga Bitak ng Aspalto” published in 8Letters Circles Magazine Issue No.4, Vol. 1. Aside from writing, she also has an interest in Filipino writers. Some of her inspirations are the novel “;Ano” by Zero A.D., and the short story “Servando Magdamag” by Ricky Lee. 

by Jillianne A. Santos

Artwork by: Jillianne A. Santos

MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT DURING CONVERSATIONS. People communicated with their words and body language. But the eyes spoke more than the two of these combined.

King used to struggle with maintaining eye contact. He found it uncomfortable to look into people’s eyes. Or maybe, people looked into his eyes a lot more. They found it fascinating to look at his green right eye and maroon left eye. 

Every time someone asked King about his eyes, he insisted that “it’s just heterochromia.” In reality though, even among the many people with heterochromia, he was the only one with this pair of eyes. King could see lies. Literally.

In King’s vision, people emitted a certain aura around them as they spoke. The young boy soon figured out that the colors of the aura he saw pertained to how truthful people’s words were. Auras with greenish hues indicated the truth while reddish auras meant they were lying.

He called it his lie-detecting vision. At some point, King wished for an awesome superpower like reading people’s minds or laser vision. But having eyes that detected lies was just as cool, so he was already happy with what he had. 

EFMER E. AGUSTIN is a BA Communication Arts graduate of University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban and has earned his MA in Comparative Literature from University of the Philippines  Diliman. He teaches literature and language at the Division of Humanities of University of the Philippines  Tacloban. Mr. Agustin’s works have appeared in the journal Humanities Diliman and in anthologies such as Pinili: 15 Years of Lamiraw. He also contributed to the latest edition of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia on Philippine Arts.

ni Efmer E. Agustin

(English version: The Woman Who Sloughs)

Kat-uran adto han iya pag-abot ha baryo. Bitbit an usa la nga dakulaay nga bayuong, nagbaktas hiya sayuhay han aga tikadto han ginpapaplet-an nga balay ni Mana Rosa, nahiraniay la ngadto han tindahanay gihap han baga dakuon nga tag-iya. An tindahan, daplin han kalsada ngan an kan Mana Rosa balay, ha luyo hini pero baraktason pa maguti tipasulod. An papletean nga balay, naharumbay han balay mismo han tag-iya, may mga traynta metros an kahirayuon tikang hini.

Mahuraw, pero duro kadakmol an dampog ha kalangitan. Madulomay bisan nakagawas na kaupay an adlaw, ngan naghuhurulos an nga tanan ha kalibutan nga diri naaatpan. May-ada mga tirok hin lasaw ngan an lapok diri mahuhutdan. Hini nga mga takna hin katugnaw, kadam-an nga mga mananap nga namamag-usóy, nangangaturog hin hipos nga kahilom. Basta tig-uran na ngani ngan naghaharagkot, nasusukot it paglinunay ha higdaan. Salit man guol it mga parapannganak kahuman hin siyam kabulan.

by Efmer E. Agustin

(Waray version: An Babaye nga Naglulunó)

It was the wet season when she arrived at the barrio. Carrying a medium-sized bag, she marched one early morning towards the house of Mana Rosa, just near the store of the same portly owner. The store was by the roadside and Mana Rosa’s house was behind this store, a good number of steps inward. The house-for-rent was next to the owner’s house, about thirty meters away.

The rain had momentarily stopped, but the clouds hung threateningly about the sky. It was dim though the sun had already fully come out, and everything unsheltered on earth was soaked and dripping. Puddles were ever-present and there was no scarcity of mud. During these times of cold, most creatures that crawled would snooze in silent slumber. When it’s rainy and chilly, the bed was a very welcoming retreat. That’s why the midwives were overworked nine months later.