Welcome to the blog site of my open project, "The Unfinished". This site will serve as the primary repository of all finished chapters until I am able to complete the whole story. This will be an open project, meaning, it's in a raw, unfinished state and even the published chapters will be undergoing some changes as I continue with the story (hopefully, not by much).
If you're looking for completed works, you can ask me or just check my other literary portfolios.
Comments are welcome of course, as long as they're not of a personal nature. (e.g. comments about my eyebrows are not welcome).
Lastly, I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing stuff here.
Thanks and have a nice day,
Red.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Prologue: Wrong Turn
Rain, night, and cold weather made the meandering road back to the lowlands a blind man's maze. Napagbulagan pass, the locals called the place, for the sheer lack of visibility during the storm season.
A red Corolla cut through layer after layer of falling rain, its halogen headlights barely piercing through the thick mist that loomed around the zigzagged pathways of the mountain pass.
Inside the car was peace, alienated from its surroundings, with only the radio and the faint sound of the running engine breaking as white noise.
"That was some party huh," a young man behind the wheel softly spoke, voice only loud enough to pierce through the mellow tunes of the Astud Gilberto song playing in the background. A young lady was sitting beside him, her face barely recognizable under the dim reflection of the outside light. She smiled and nodded.
The lady turned to her side and looked at the window. Droplets of rain had formed around the glass and were edging their way to the back of the car, like liquid ants making their way to the hill. Back to the hill. "I didn't think Ramon would get so drunk so easily. So much for the so-called bottomless pit," she replied with restive enthusiasm in her tone.
Lightning flashed from behind thick clouds, barely visible from within the car, but noticeable enough to surprise the weary eyes. The girl in the passenger seat touched the driver's right hand, carefully rested on the stickshift, "Careful, Phil. We're not in a hurry."
The driver grasped the dainty hands of his passenger and nodded. The car coursed down the road with ease, its wheels making a squirting sound as it forced water out of the cold asphalt, into the narrow canal just alongside the road, its engine roaring under-revved.
"So Anna, I was thinking, after graduating we should really go for that internship program Tita mentioned," the Phil, young driver casually conversed. "After that we can both move to the States and work there."
"I'm still thinking about it. There's just too many possibilities still. I'd like to try my luck here first, you know?" the girl replied and yawned. "Like Mon said, it's not like we're getting married anytime soon anyway right?"
Silence filled the cabin of the sedan. Phil looked into the eyes of Anna and smiled. "Right," he said, confident, assuring. "I guess a couple of years working here to get a bearing can't hurt. I'm sure there'll always be opporunities to - "
Cut midsentence, Phil's attention was forcefully diverted to an uneventful sight, back to the road -or what was left of it. The inner lane of the pass had been cut off by a mudslide, soft and wet, imposing. The Corolla was quick to swerve to avoid it, but the road as all too slick to sustain forward momentum. Slip. Skid. Slip. The telltale sounds of the wheelgrip foretold a grim scenario. And Phil knew what was happening all too well.
"Brace yourself Anna!" Phil yelled at his passenger, his arms pushing back Anna's chest into her seat. Anna screamed in horror, eyes closed, crunched into fetal position at the far right of her seat. The red Corolla spun out of control, like a screaming banshee tormented by its own wails, crushing the guardrails as though they weren't there, and fell into the sea of trees looming beside the treacherous road.
It was a very rainy, that night in Napagbulagan.
A red Corolla cut through layer after layer of falling rain, its halogen headlights barely piercing through the thick mist that loomed around the zigzagged pathways of the mountain pass.
Inside the car was peace, alienated from its surroundings, with only the radio and the faint sound of the running engine breaking as white noise.
"That was some party huh," a young man behind the wheel softly spoke, voice only loud enough to pierce through the mellow tunes of the Astud Gilberto song playing in the background. A young lady was sitting beside him, her face barely recognizable under the dim reflection of the outside light. She smiled and nodded.
The lady turned to her side and looked at the window. Droplets of rain had formed around the glass and were edging their way to the back of the car, like liquid ants making their way to the hill. Back to the hill. "I didn't think Ramon would get so drunk so easily. So much for the so-called bottomless pit," she replied with restive enthusiasm in her tone.
Lightning flashed from behind thick clouds, barely visible from within the car, but noticeable enough to surprise the weary eyes. The girl in the passenger seat touched the driver's right hand, carefully rested on the stickshift, "Careful, Phil. We're not in a hurry."
The driver grasped the dainty hands of his passenger and nodded. The car coursed down the road with ease, its wheels making a squirting sound as it forced water out of the cold asphalt, into the narrow canal just alongside the road, its engine roaring under-revved.
"So Anna, I was thinking, after graduating we should really go for that internship program Tita mentioned," the Phil, young driver casually conversed. "After that we can both move to the States and work there."
"I'm still thinking about it. There's just too many possibilities still. I'd like to try my luck here first, you know?" the girl replied and yawned. "Like Mon said, it's not like we're getting married anytime soon anyway right?"
Silence filled the cabin of the sedan. Phil looked into the eyes of Anna and smiled. "Right," he said, confident, assuring. "I guess a couple of years working here to get a bearing can't hurt. I'm sure there'll always be opporunities to - "
Cut midsentence, Phil's attention was forcefully diverted to an uneventful sight, back to the road -or what was left of it. The inner lane of the pass had been cut off by a mudslide, soft and wet, imposing. The Corolla was quick to swerve to avoid it, but the road as all too slick to sustain forward momentum. Slip. Skid. Slip. The telltale sounds of the wheelgrip foretold a grim scenario. And Phil knew what was happening all too well.
"Brace yourself Anna!" Phil yelled at his passenger, his arms pushing back Anna's chest into her seat. Anna screamed in horror, eyes closed, crunched into fetal position at the far right of her seat. The red Corolla spun out of control, like a screaming banshee tormented by its own wails, crushing the guardrails as though they weren't there, and fell into the sea of trees looming beside the treacherous road.
It was a very rainy, that night in Napagbulagan.
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