Scene 1: The Breath of Death

Characters: Super Junior’s Eunhyuk, Donghae & Sungmin

One early evening during the last few months of the Japanese occupation, while the liberation forces were advancing towards manila, three men who were holed up in a small cave in the mountains of a remote town of Pangasinan sat warming themselves around the jumping flames of a fire they had built. Outside, the wind whistled and moaned through the mountains. Every so often, the wind carried the sound of the howling of a dog.

The three men were old friends. They had shared the joys and the bounties of the war years. They were the top makapili of the province. This was their last night out in the hills. The Next day, according to their plan, they would be making a headlong trip to manila to escape the wrath of their provincemates for being spies for the Japanese.

“Blasted dogs.” Sungmin said.

“It reminds them of their dead masters,” Donghae said slowly.

Another dog howled above the sound of the wind. This one was closer. The three men look at each other nervously.

“I don’t like hiding in deserted places like this,” the third man, eunhyuk, complained. “You never know what to expect.”

“You can go out and sleep out with the dogs if you want, eunhyuk,” donghae said as he rolled out his blanket.

The fire was beginning to burn lower. Sungmin and Eunhyuk rolled out their bags and settled down for the night. Everything was silent inside the cave. Outside, the dogs and the wind kept up their eerie symphony.

Donghae awoke from his deep sleep with a start. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. The cave, yes, the cave… he thought drowsily. But what had awakened him? He lay his head back down and shut his eyes. Then he heard it: The breathing. It was a fast, excited breathing, coming in gasps.

Donghae looked over to the fire where sungmin was sprawled, asleep.

His blood froze what he saw. The hideous face of an old woman was hovering over Sungmin’s body. The short gasps of breathing were coming from the hag’s face. Donghae could see the lips opening and closing with breathing.

“Sungmin!” He screamed.

Sungmin shuddered in his sleep. Then he raised himself on his elbow and slowly opened his eyes. His face was only two inches away from the hag.

Donghae watched as his eyes widened in horror as he looked at the face. It was old and wrinkled. The skin was blistered by the sun and disease. Her hair stood out on her head like twisting snakes. Her eyes were full of hates.

Donghae could hear the hag’s panting breath becoming faster. Sungmin parted his lips in a scream. Then the hag breathed a long, deep breath into his lungs. As sungmin’s body slumped back, the face disappeared.

“Son of a ,” Donghae cursed softly. He did not believe in ghosts. And his mind could not make any sense of what he had just seen. But that did not make any difference now. He nudged eunhyuk with his foot to wake him up. Then he ran over sungmin.

Sungmin was dead.

“We have to get out of here, Eunhyuk!” he yelled. “Sungmin’s dead. There was a face an old hag’s face… I don’t know a ghost of something…”

Eunhyuk was lying on his side, eyeing him suspiciously. “Are you crazy, Donghae?” he said. Then he stopped abruptly—because the old hag’s face suddenly materialized out of the air in front of him.

Once again, the small cave was filled with the sound of the hag’s breathing. Eunhyuk’s face transformed into an expression of horror.

“Keep your mouth shut!” Donghae screamed at him on warning.

But it was too late. Eunhyuk’s mouth opened wide in a scream. The hag’s breathed death into his body through its withered lips. Then it disappeared.

Donghae backed against the wall of the cave. The stared at his two dead friends.

A dog pierced the silence with his angry howl. Donghae ran for the opening of the cave. While he was already a foot away from escape, the hag’s face appeared before him. His legs stiffed in fright. His hand froze in midair.

The old woman’s eyes were looking directly into his eyes. He cloud see the pattern of wrinkled and scars on her face. He could feel her panting breath against his face. He felt himself choking. His breath seemed stuck in his lungs.

 The face was nearer and nearer. He struggled to keep his mouth shut. He thought of Sungmin and eunhyuk.He jerked his body and dove for the entrance. The old hag disappeared once again.

Donghae grabbed his rifle and ran down the canyon. He ran until he felt his lungs would burst. His own hard breathing haunted him. He kept running until the night broke into daylight.

Finally, he threw himself down, exhausted, on a flat rock. For this time since his escape from the cave, he made an attempt to collect his distracted thoughts. Sungmin and eunhyuk were dead—something had killed them. How still the hag’s hideous face in his mind. What was she? He wondered.

The mad ghost of a guerilla’s wife, seeking revenge? An evil spirit left by the disintegrating Japanese forces? Or was it the face that death wore? And now that she had shown herself to him, was there any escape?

Suddenly, he realized how horrible his situation was. Someone was sure to find sungmin and eunhyuk’s dead bodies. And anybody would believe his story about the hag’s face. He would be accused of the murders. People would say he had killed his partners for the bounty they had saved. And there would be no way he could explain everything.

For a moment, he thought he might go crazy. Then he realized there was only one way out for him. He had to get out of the mountains—fast—before someone found the bodies of his friends.

He knew these mountains. He had camped with the guerillas here when he was still a spy. About a kilometer from where he was a road. That would lead him to safety.

He started running down the mountains again.

Then far in the distance, he saw the dusty trail of a car. It was making its way up the mountain. That was the answer, he decided. He would ride the car out of this place. He only had little time to catch his breath before he flagged down the car. When the car seemed not to heed his signal stop, he cocked his gun and pointed it to the driver as the car approached. The car stopped. 

As Donghae climbed into the car, he barked a stern warning to the driver not to try to do anything funny. He had killed a lot of people before. Another life would not make any difference.

Donghae saw that there was only one passenger—a woman. She must be the master of the driver since she was seated at the back. He settled back into the seat and looked at her. She was young and beautiful. He smiled at himself as he thought of his luck. He had escaped the horrible death-breathing hag. And now he was seating beside this charming girl.

She saw him looking at her. She smiled shyly at him. The car rocked slowly from side to side on the winding road leading to Baguio. Donghae’s tense body began to relax. Everything will work out all right, he thought to himself as he drifted into contended sleep.

He awoke with a start. His heart was pounding wildly. For a moment, he could not remember where he was. The car, yes, the car… he thought drowsily. But what had awakened him? Then he heard it: the breathing. It was fast, excited breathing, coming in short gasps. He looked up. The young woman was staring at him. He saw her lovely lips opening and closing with her breathing.

His eyes took on a wild look. He thought of sungmin and eunhyuk. The breathing seemed to get louder; it seemed to pound in his ears. He crouched on the corner of the seat. Desperately, he looked out of the window. The car was going up the zigzag road. Below, the cliff fell sharply to the deep canyon below.

He looked over to the woman again. She was still staring at him. Her breath was becoming louder. The whole car seemed to have been filled with it.

“No,” Donghae moaned softly.

“Is there something wrong?” the young woman asked as she slid closer to him. She was lifting her hand to his forehead. He could feel her breathing against his face.

“No!” he screamed as he turned the latch on the door and jumped out of the car. His scream echoed up from the canyon as his body tumbled down the steep ravine.

THE YOUNG woman sat sobbing in the car, terrified with fright. It was her first trip in Baguio. Her father had heard of a faith healer there who supposedly can cure her asthma. She had never before seen that man who leaped to his death.

 

Upnext: Footsteps