Tahong -2024- Now

“Kiko,” she breathed. “Come back to shore.”

“They’re green, Mama. Like the shells.” Tahong -2024-

She blinked. For a moment, her reflection seemed to move a second too late, a lag that made her stomach drop. Then it passed, and she laughed, and she told Kiko to stop telling stories. “Kiko,” she breathed

“That’s not tahong ,” he said quietly. “That’s something wearing its shell.” and she laughed

Ligaya ran to his bamboo cot, expecting a nightmare, a fever, a spider. But Kiko was sitting upright, his eyes wide open, his mouth moving in a shape that didn’t match any word she knew. His skin was cold — impossibly cold, like the deep water where the light never reaches.

“No, anak. You were dreaming.”