The Horrible Island

Hello, dear karikna! With ASEAN 2015 around the corner, let me tell you a story about “The Horrible Island.”

One day, a group of students were on a plane to Europe. They were going to attend an international youth conference. The students were very excited for it was their first time on a plane. How fun it was to be up there, riding above the clouds and seeing the land below. They were so happy.

At first, the flight was safe and smooth. The students busied themselves with watching movies, or attempting to touch the sky. They had just had lunch when suddenly:

“Attention all passengers: we are currently experiencing severe turbulence. Please stay in your seats and fasten your seatbelts.”

Things went so fast! Alarms sounded, the lights went out! The passengers felt the plane plunge then, crash!

The plane crashed into an unknown island, killing all passengers except the ten youth. Wait… plane crash… island… it’s just like the movies, right? What movie was that again?

You’re right, Temptation Island!

The students explored the island, and they loved what they saw. The island was so big and beautiful, the beach white and wide, the fields teeming with colorful flowers and the birds were chirping up above.  There were fruits of all kind in the trees—there was no one in the island and they thought they would develop it into a famous tourist destination. They were lucky to have survived the accident—but were they?

As soon as darkness crept in, the students were horrified. There was an eerie silence… as if something terrible was about to happen.

Then out of the darkness came three strange creatures. They were tiny—about three feet—but they had huge, green heads covered with something that looked like glass. Their eyes emitted flashes of light that shattered everything they set eyes on.  “Aliens,” the students whispered among themselves, shivering.  

With their long, thin hands, the aliens grabbed three students—and they vanished into thin air. The students struggled against them, but they were so strong, and their hands sent bolts of electricity.

The students could not do anything. With the students from Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar abducted by aliens, there were only seven of them left. They stayed awake all night, shuddering in fear. All night, they planned how to fight the aliens. They looked for weapons from the debris of the plane crash. They kept on planning and looking and working, until darkness came.

In the creepy silence of the night, you could hear their heartbeat. They were on alert. Then the enemy came. They set their traps. They threw their makeshift spears and hit the aliens’ bulbous heads. But to no avail! The aliens only laughed at them and grabbed three more students—the ones from Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Poor students! They could only stand wide-eyed as one by one, their companions were taken away.

With only four of them left, the students from Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines decided to strengthen their defense and try other tactics.

“Let’s build a tunnel,” the Vietnamese said. “I’ll try fixing the plane’s satellite phone,” the Singaporean student said. The student from Brunei suggested, “Why don’t we take a diplomatic approach?” The Filipino student thought these were good plans, so he did not say anything. He merely said, “I’ll support you.”

And on they planned, and worked. They planned and worked until once more, darkness came.

The four students hid in the tunnel, watching out for the hideous enemies. “Here they come,” they said, whispering. But the aliens had supernormal hearing ability. They found the students in the tunnel and pulled them out. They grabbed the phone from the Singaporean, and smashed it into pieces.

Here, the student from Brunei tries his diplomatic strategy. Smiling, he held out his hands to the alien in a gesture of friendship. The alien smiled as well, and extended its wiry hands—and electrified the student from Brunei! He was so shocked he almost died! 

Again, each of the three aliens took a student, and in the end, only the Filipino student was left.

The aliens were preparing for take-off, and the Filipino was still in shock. He tried to calm himself, to get rid of the fear and anxiety… as he would always do back home, he suddenly burst out in song:

“Ayaw ko nang mangarap… Ayaw ko nang tumingin!!! Ayaw ko nang manalamin!!! Nasasaktan ang damdamin!!!”

He was singing so loudly that the whole island shook! The aliens stopped in their tracks, gently wobbling as if losing energy. As the Filipino student’s singing became even louder and louder, the aliens became weaker and weaker, their heads turning and spinning. The other students grew bolder. They could not understand the Filipino’s song, but they joined in the rhythm. Louder and louder they went, until… Bang! The glass covering the aliens’ heads broke! They couldn’t breathe! Their heads exploded—and they fell and melted like phlegm.

Miraculously, the other three students appeared out of nowhere. Eventually, rescuers discovered the group and all ten students went back to their respective countries.

I hope you liked our story. Always remember, as long as we are united in using our talents—we can succeed and beat all odds.

Until our next story time, dear karikna. Smile!

*****

Translated by Luvee Hazel Calventas-Aquino from my original work, “Ang kahindik-hindik na isla.”