"Uncle Epoy's Bat"

"Uncle Epoy's Bat"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

I often talk about Ghosts because they are always around my family for some reason but these are not the only sort of things that lurk where we dwell. 

This story is about my Uncle Epoy who was a young Engineering Student during the time(circa 70's). He would often burn the midnight oil studying , keeping the wide Capiz-covered windows of the 2nd floor of our Ancestral house open to let the breeze in . This was a room that was directly above My Lola's Sari-Sari Store and it faced the road so that people passing by could easily be seen. Since it was already close to midnight and it was the province the only light was the burning lamp from the 2nd floor room.

My Uncle was already tired during that night but he had kept on reading. He was rubbing his eyes a bit when he heard something that seemed like a few feet away from the window. He could only see as far as the light of the Lamp could afford him but he strained his eyes to look at the darkness and like something from a nightmare his eyes adjusted and he could see it. It was the head of a giant bat , as it flew nearer and nearer it was beating its wings and moving closer it was giving out a shriek , and my uncle calculated that it was the size of a man , its head was determined to reach him.The light  of the lamp was showing more and more of its black skin and teeth.

In a state of panic my Uncle grabbed the nearest thing he could find. The thick engineering books that were littered on the table. Fearing for his life he heaved the book and it connected with the gigantic bats right shoulder. My Uncle saw the bat fall and the book pinning its right wing. He knew that this was his chance to finish it. One word was screaming in his mind."Aswang". He went down to the kitchen and looked around to get something to beat the giant bat with.He settled on a rusty Jungle bolo and rushed outside to face the injured bat. He only saw his bloodied Engineering book.

The following day , one of my uncles classmates who was rumored to be one of the Aswangs in town was sporting a cast on his right arm. The same arm that my uncle injured the previous night.When people asked him how he got injured the rumored aswang would just answer with silence as he looked on to my Uncle Epoy. When pressured a little more the guy said that he was in a climbing accident. My Uncle Epoy knew the truth though. It was a flying accident.