OPENING INVOCATION

Dead BATALA,

Holy Gumamela, Maria, Empress of Heaven

and almighty Diwata,

Hear my honeyed voice and enlighten my darkened mind

So that I may tell the story of anger.

/// A NIGHT OF SNOWFALL

One thing you must absolutely know is that it never snows where Angela lived.

Within an oversized sweatshirt, her skin light, and her hair raven black, Angela watched as the snow drifted from the skies, like the tears of some foreign god. Sitting by the window, she reached out and tried to catch a piece of falling snow, but when her hand met with one of the white flakes, it disappeared, a wisp into the wind.

“What the hell...?" Her mind wandered into musings. How could there be snow, where she was? A tropical country, of all things, where the only semblance of cold coming from the sky is the occasional alien hail? Was this some kind of curse, begotten from nature? Or was it an omen for the consequence of humanity's actions upon the earth?

She walked back to her bed and picked up her phone. She took a moment to fix her short hair, to fix her bangs, and then called her friend.

The phone opened up to a video call, showcasing Esther Hermosa, with her high cheekbones, triangle face, and high nose. Her eyes were darkest brown, and her hair the blackest of black. Her skin was light, but not as white as the snow. Unlike Angela her hair was long, trailing behind her like a tamed serpent. Presently, it was tied up above her head. “Ate Angela? Don’t just call out of the blue. You know you can just message me, right?.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t reply to me!”

The young woman groaned, looking about her surroundings. “This is about the snow, right? It's creepy as fuck. Whenever it falls on me, it disappears. What the hell?"

Angela nodded and she looked out. She wiped at the snow that fell on her windowsill. It dissipated at her touch. It was as if the snow didn't want to be here, as if at the first sign of attention from reality, it cowered away and disappeared to whatever sorcerous realm that conjured it. “Where are you right now?”

Esther showed her where she was, and Angela saw that she was surrounded by a dark neighborhood. Tall spires had wires cutting through the sky, even at night, and the lamp posts washed the street with an orange hue. “Bought some noodles from the 7-11. Fucking creepy.”

“Maybe we should ask Yewon? She might have something to say about this,” said Angela as she added Yewon into the call.

Esther rolled her eyes, as if to state that she was tired of the specter of Yewon always hanging around everything Angela said. "Yewon again?"

On the video call, Yewon appeared, wrapped up to her neck in a blanket. Her eyes were wide and large, and her nose cute as a button. Her cheeks rosy in the cold, and her hair a lighter brown than theirs, tied up into a messy bun above her head. “Guys! It’s snowing! That’s so weird!” She coughed twice.

“Hi Yewon,” said Angela, her eyes suddenly brightening up and her smile smile widening, before that smile was cut with worry. “Are you okay? You don’t sound good.”

Yewon scrunched her nose up and Angela hid how she melted. “Yeah, don’t worry! I’ll be fine.”

“Doubt,” said Esther.

“What?”

“I am expressing doubt. Anyway, are you going to school tomorrow?” asked Esther.

“Yeah, of course I will!” and she coughed again. “I guess it’s just… the sudden shift in temperature.”

"I wonder if this is what Ate Susanna and Gala experience every winter in Korea...?"

“And even Ate Jenna?” added Angela. “Esther, I’m not going to drop this call until you’re home, okay?”

“Thanks, yeah. Okay, I’m back home,” said Esther. “Shit, I'll just eat then I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

/// MORNING OF SNOWFALL

The next morning, a thin sheet of snow covered the school. All the students wore warmer clothing: hoodies and jackets and scarves and trench coats. As always, Esther stood between Angela and Yewon. By Angela's request, of course.

“It’s so cooooold!” said Yewon, brrring. She smiled widely as she did.

“Yes, thank you for that news update, I never thought I hit follow on your profile,” replied Esther, sneezing as she tied her bright pink hair up. Yewon scrunched her nose.

"Here, Yewon, you can borrow my scarf," Angela said, and she suppressed a burning giddiness rising up, as if someone had tossed mentos into a well of pepsi. Esther smiled and nodded, pushing a lock of hair to the back of her ear. Angela wrapped it around her, and she did it in front of Yewon, so that when Yewon looked up, their noses almost touched.

Angela finished the rest of it burning as pink as Esther's hair, and so did Yewon.

Then, two boys approached them as if on cue. One boy had wavy hair and wore large round glasses, which only really emphasized how small his eyes were. This boy, Jonathan, only came up to the other boy’s chest. Around his neck he wore a large set of headphones, which he stuck into his bag as he neared them.

Mattheo, on the other hand, towered over them all, reaching six foot two in height. He took off his airpods as they neared the three. “Holy shit, snow. Here!”

“Yes, we have senses, Mattheo,” said Esther again.

"Is this what it's like in Korea, Yewon?" asked Mattheo, grinning.

Yewon rolled her eyes. “I’ve never lived in Korea, stupid.”

“But aren’t you half-Korean--”

“Shut up, dumbass,” snarled Jonathan behind him, reaching up and pulling his ear.

“Ow, ow, stop!”

Esther stepped in, then, tilting her head to the side. “Where’s my Melona?” She made a face. “You told me you were going to bring me Melona!”

“You’re seriously going to eat Melona?” asked Mattheo, rubbing the back of his head. “In…” he gestured at the snow around him. “...this?”

Esther scrunched her face together. “Why? Like I would know it would snow here today.”

“Hay, alright, fine, I’ll get you Melona after school.”

Esther, still scrunching her face, simply bumped Mattheo’s forearm with her fist, and then left. Mattheo, sighing, followed after her.

And the school bell rang, and it was time for first period.

/// SCHOOL TIME

Please be recess already. I’m hungry. Angela’s thoughts loud enough to drown out the teaching of the teacher. The entire classroom looked like it was about to fall into slumber. The teacher’s droning voice echoed across the room amidst silence. Some students tried talking to each other on their phones (mostly the ones in the back), while others tried their best to listen only to fail and stare out the window. Others stared uncomprehendingly at the blackboard. It was as if a specter of indifference and inattention fell upon them, brought upon by the teacher's lackluster teaching.

Through heavy-lidded eyes, Angela saw Yewon, diligently taking notes. Whenever a loose strand of hair would fall across her face, she would ignore it until she finished a sentence or the teacher stopped talking, and then she would brush it behind her ear.

Jonathan was more of the same, although he didn’t write everything, he listened to everything. His drooping, haggard face didn’t help, though.

“Don’t stay up all night, Jonathan,” said Miss Salvador, turning around and writing on the blackboard. Jonathan did have large dark bags beneath his eyes.

Jonathan leaned closer to Mattheo beside him and asked, “Am I that obvious?”

Mattheo snorted, looking up from his phone scrolling. He was particularly caught on a news bit about the ghost snow phenomenon. “A little bit, yeah.”

In front of him, a bunch of girls discreetly scrolling through their phones was giggling and laughing at Esther, who had her head resting on her arm. Completely passed out. Jonathan stared at Mattheo and then gestured at Esther.

Mattheo snorted and then pointed at Angela.

Angela wrapped an eraser with scratch paper, exhaled, and then threw it at Esther’s head.

Tok!

It bounced off of her brown hair. She shot up, jolted awake, and rubbed her face.

Esther turned to Angela, and Angela was pretending she hadn’t just disrupted her beauty sleep. “Hoy! Did you throw that at me?” She whispered loudly.

Angela shot her a look as if to say: Don’t sleep in front of Miss Salvador!

The teacher was still writing on the chalkboard. “Just because I can’t see doesn’t mean I can’t hear.”

“Sorry ma’am,” said Angela, loudly, put the blame all on her instead of Esther. “I’ll be quiet.”

With a sigh, Miss Salvador put her marker down and turned to the class. “You, Jonathan, and Esther: stay later and clean the classroom.”

The class snickered. One of the girls that was taking pictures of Esther grinned at her friend sitting beside her. Mattheo scowled at that.

Esther looked at her in disbelief. “B-But--”

Miss Salvador turned around and wrote on the whiteboard and went back to her lecture.

With a heavy sigh, Esther slumped onto her desk. “This isn’t fair, just because you’re our adviser!” Esther’s complaints were muffled.

Angela bit her lip and looked at her with a certain regret. Jonathan just exhaled and glared at Miss Salvador, the dark bags under his eyes adding some volume into her dark gaze.

/// AFTER SCHOOL

After class, Angela was made to mop and Esther wiped the whiteboard and the windows. Jonathan swept the floor clean of dust and was in charge of bringing the room plants outside and watering them.

As they cleaned, Mattheo leaned against the door frame, and Yewon stood beside him. “Sorry I couldn’t help you guys,” said Yewon.

Angela began doing twirls while she mopped.

“Hoy, Ate!” Esther shouted out from the windows. “You’re not going to clean efficiently like that.”

“Yeah but how else would I make this fun?” She said as she performed another elegant ballet move.

Esther rolled her eyes and continued wiping the whiteboard with a wet rag.

It wasn’t long before Jonathan scooted inside again. “Excuse me,” he said, his voice so small that one could barely hear it.

“Huy, Jonathan,” said Mattheo moving out of the way so he could walk in. “You should really raise your voice, you know that?”

Jonathan didn’t answer. He walked to the last flower pot set by the window, bent over it, whispered something, and then picked it up. He walked toward Mattheo and stared at him as he neared the door.

“Ach, this isn’t what the Engkantos are supposed to be doing!” said Mattheo as he walked aside.

“Stop it with the ‘Engkantos’,” said Esther, miming quotation marks in the air. “We don’t need to name our friend group. It’s a stupid name anyway.”

“It is our childhood.”

Yewon chortled. Esther glared at Mattheo. “We’re supposed to be running around, messing up the town, vandalizing and then respecting spirits or bathing in the river or whatever.”

Yewon sighed. “Mattheo, Yewon’s right. We’re not kids anymore,” said Yewon. “We’re high school seniors. We can’t do that. Some of us are preparing for college entrance exams, remember?.”

“Y-Yeah but…,” Mattheo sighed. “We had so much fun back then.”

“Things change,” said Angela, shrugging. “People change, circumstances change. We have to be active, we have to change with it. I mean, look, have a sports scholarship for soccer, remember?”

Mattheo scowled. Yewon held his arm. “Hey, Mattheo. Don’t worry, we won’t leave. Even if you leave for America, we still have Messenger.”

Mattheo stifled a laugh. Esther nodded. “And it’s not like we’re going away forever. We can probably leave and visit you.”

Jonathan walked in at that moment, hands wet. “Is that what you’re afraid of? Us ignoring you?”

Mattheo ran a hand through his hair. “I’m just... afraid of things changing.

“Too bad!” Esther bit back. “You can’t stop change. That’s the fundamental truth of this world.”

“She read that off of some Tumblr blog,” said Angela, soliciting a scowl from the loud-mouth. “Anyway, what Mattheo is suggesting isn’t bad. It isn’t like we have a lot of projects and homework right now."

“We can,” said Jonathan. “But first, we finish the chores. Come on.”

Someone poked Mattheo from behind. Both he and Yewon turned around. A group of girls, around three of them, were huddled up to Mattheo, grinning widely. “Hey, can we ask for a picture?”

Yewon blinked, and then uttered an apology as she moved out of the way of the shot. When the girls left, some of them stifling giggles, Yewon scrunched up her nose and teased Mattheo. “You’re so popular now.”

“I didn’t use to be back in elementary.”

“Yeah but that’s why you hit the gym, right?” asked Yewon. “Because you wanted to look cooler, better, more handsome?"

Mattheo sighed. His eyes darted to the left, but he caught himself and nodded. “Yeah, yeah.”

Yewon leaned in closer. “Or was there someone you wanted to impress?”

Mattheo blinked. “Wh-what gave you that idea?” A nervous laugh.

Yewon looked straight into his eyes, and Mattheo felt his heart skip only for a bit. The girl scrunched her nose up, and then she shrugged. “All right then, no use squeezing it out of you.'

Another nervous laugh. “Yeah! Yeah.” And his eyes drifted over to Esther.

As they were finishing up and leaving the campus grounds, three girls in volleyball attire walked past. They sneered at Esther. "Good luck getting a sports scholarship when you sleep during class, spiker," said a girl who had dyed her hair partially blonde.

"Get bent, Nicole," said Esther. "You can't hit a smash if it killed you."

The girl with short brown hair beside her spoke up. "Well, maybe if you didn't fuck Coach Jonry then you wouldn't be out of the varsity."

Mattheo stepped forward. "Hey, that's enough."

"What, you her new boyfriend, fuckboy?" said the third girl, who was short and stout, like a little teapot, and had her face caked in makeup. She held a volleyball in her arms.

Mattheo blinked. "Fuckboy."

"Hey, fuck you Katherine. You're pretty stupid to believe rumors."

"Not stupid enough to miss the chance at a scholarship--" But Esther's fist had connected with Katherine's jaw. Nicole tried to run away, but Esther turned to the volleyball that Katherine had thrown into the air after letting go of it, leaped up, and smashed it. The ball slammed against the side of Nicole's head and she fell over.

Angela stepped in. "Esther, that's enough. Come on."

"That felt good. I've wanted to do that for a long time," Esther replied, fuming, even as Angela hauled her away.

"Come on, let's go. We don't want to do this."

/// EVENING

“All right, we, the Engkantos, are finally out to wreck the town of San Lazaro!”

“What’s there to wreck?” asked Angela as they sat on the bench outside of a 7-11. “It’s not like San Lazaro is filled with anything,” She played with the few bits of snow that would pass her, which would then immediately turn into wisps of wind when they met with her skin or hit the ground. “Putangina, that’s creepy. Anyway, Esther already wrecked Katherine's face, so I don't know what else you guys want to wreck."

“Ghost snow, the news calls it,” said Mattheo. “A strange ‘new phenomenon’. They’re still trying to conjure up some kind of explanation why."

“Was there an explanation?” asked Angela.

Mattheo shrugged. “I didn’t read the thing.” Angela chuckled.

Yewon had some input: “Maybe something to do with the colder air? Temperatures have been going down around the earth because of volcanic eruptions lately… Maybe that? And it’s a bit drier here in San Lazaro, after all.”

Jonathan nodded, staring off into space, sipping on his Big Gulp. “Maybe the spirits are angry at us.”

“What did we do to anger them, though?” asked Angela.

“I got sisig!” Esther burst out from the doors of the 7-11 and sat beside them, carrying a lousy paper box filled with minced pork and liver and rice. She slammed it onto the table. "Some self-rewarding after I beat the shit out of Nicole."

Jonathan nodded. "It was cathartic, seeing you do that," he muttered. "Fuck Nicole and her rich dad."

They all nodded in agreement. "Yeah man, fuck Nicole and her rich dad," said Mattheo. Anyway, eugh, 7-11 Sisig is the worst,” said Mattheo. “It’s like eating--”

“Hepepepep!” Esther put up a hand and stopped Mattheo from talking. “Stop right there. I don’t care. Let me enjoy my food. Besides, it's not like we can eat at Ministop, it'd be weird."

Jonathan sighed. "For the last time, it's okay to eat where I work."

Angela laughed. Esther did, indeed, enjoy her food.

“It’s cold,” said Yewon, burying herself into the scarf Angela had given her. Angela smiled softly, biting her lip, and Jonathan tried not to breathe, for he--like the cat that he was--was vigilant and noticed the

“So! Moving on, let's do something Engkanto-y. Did you guys hear the news about Paraiso Street?” asked Mattheo.

“What about it?” asked Esther, with her mouth full.

“It’s turned white or something, and the land around it looks like it’s covered in snow.”

“Wait, what? But the Ghost Snow we’re experiencing is...” Angela said, reaching out to touch another falling piece of snow. As expected, it dissipated into the wind when she touched it.

“Exactly, yeah,” said Mattheo. “Anyway, as the Engkantos, we should check it out!”

“When are you gonna give up that name? We’re not kids anymore.” It was Esther, after drinking from her water bottle.

Mattheo shrugged. “There are some things I want to keep, even as we grow older.”

Angela raised an eyebrow. “The Bible says: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

“Corinthians,” added Yewon. Jonathan pulled out a denim jacket from his backpack and gave it to Yewon. “Oh, th-thanks Jonathan.”

Jonathan nodded.

“Whatever,” said Mattheo. “It’s not childish. It’s… sentimental. Anyway, fuck it, come on let’s go look at it!”

“You know what? said Esther, finishing the last few scraps of sisig and rice. “Sure, why not?”

“It’s on the way to my house too,” said Yewon, beaming.

Mattheo turned to Jonathan. “Jon? How ‘bout you?”

The subtlest of nods. “Sure.” He sighed, staring up at the graying sky. “Why not?”

/// IN PARAISO DRIVE

When they arrived at Paraiso Drive, they were shocked to find that what they heard was true.

In the middle of the street, in between two large houses, was the balete tree, untouched, and covered in the white fuzz of snow.

“Bro, look at this,” Mattheo was the first to run up to it. “It’s true! The grass is covered in white!”

Angela called out a warning, but Mattheo decided not to heed it. He walked closer and pointed out how weird it was, seeing as how it was the only place where the snow would stay after hitting the ground.

Then, Yewon blinked and her ears jerked up. She hugged herself, and she felt something cold brushed against the nape of her neck. “Guys--”

“That’s where all the spirits and the ghosts and the demons live, man,” said Jonathan. “I thought I told you about it?”

Mattheo scoffed. “Yeah, but do you really believe that stuff?”

Esther and Angela and Jonathan all looked at each other.

“Guys.”

Ignored again, Angela turned to Mattheo. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Esther turned around. “Yewon, what--”

Behind Yewon stood a shadowy figure. Its arms were far too long and non-proportionate. Its head was sharp and tall and made of brambles and branches. Its entire body was made of Philippine Hardwood. It was horribly lanky, too tall. A tree with far too many thorns and splinters. It had three eye holes on its “face”, a nexus of branches and vines. Each eye hole was of a different size from the other. Peering out of each eyehole was a burning sapphire azure flame.

Esther’s eyes hollowed with dread. “Yewon!”

The creature grabbed Yewon by the neck. Her scarf fell to the snow. It was ripped, threads now frayed. Yewon reached out to Esther, to Jonathan, to Angela, in a silent scream.

“Yewon!” Mattheo ran past the other three, who were paralyzed with fear. He leaped up, reaching for Yewon.

The creature looked at him, then a spear of sharp wood erupted from the ground, impaling Mattheo straight through the chest. The sickening sound of shattered bones. Red blood spoiled the white snow.

“Mattheo!”

The creature, still holding the now crying Yewon, turned to the invisible cavalry that rode behind it. All of them blazed with red flames from within their tree carapaces. They raised their hands and spoke in a twisting, guttural, yet heavenly language. A language forever punctured and desecrated, but one that they could understand. As if their souls translated the words.

“ALL HAIL THE TWILIGHT DEVIL EMPRESS OF CREATION,” they screamed, their voices echoing and crackling like bonfires being provoked, forcing the Engkantos onto their knees, eyes watering.

“HAIL!” They chanted, and they charged forth. Angela managed to turn and look where they were running to.

And she saw the Blueflame one running headlong into the opening in the balete tree, with the large overhanging roots pushed aside like curtains. The cavalry charged and dove within the balete, disappearing completely.

Angela didn't think. As she saw Yewon disappear, she leapt in after her, reaching after her outstretched hands... only to fall into the balete tree with her.

Mattheo, clutching the wound on his chest, leapt after them.

“Idiot!” Esther leaped to her feet and ran after Mattheo.

“Shit.” Jonathan ran straight after. “Esther, don’t!”

Jonathan closed her eyes and held her breath as she dove into the opening after them.

What followed after was nothingness.