Cadet's Lady

I was a Marine Engineering cadet in an academy in the outskirts of Bataan, it was 2009 or 2010. The academy molds its cadets to be world-class seafarers in the future so it conducts different military-like training regimens that will help us be in top shape physically and mentally. This includes living within the academy barracks and can only step out of its premises 2-3 days every after 2-3 months unless you are restricted (restricted cadets cannot go because of demerits or accumulated point deductions).

I belong to a class that consisted of roughly 500 midshipmen and 15 midshipwomen. Imagine you are a guy who is staying somewhere for months seeing very limited women. We have classified a syndrome that whenever we see female outsiders regardless of how they actually look, we consider them as BEAUTY.

There was one night during the shore leave when cadets are supposed to go home leaving the restricted ones behind, my "Bok" (how you refer a classmate) and I, since we were restricted ourselves, decided to go over the fence at 2 AM and walk a deserted and poorly-lit 3.2kms road planning to wake a small store owner up to buy goods (chips, sweets, noodles, powdered juice and cigarette packs which are all prohibited).

As we walk along the road of fear, my bok and I who both can discern entities thought that it would be fun to talk about scary stuff and experiences. We didn't pay much attention to the surroundings as we exchange stories. We were almost at our destination when we saw a lady walking by a light post about 100 meters towards us.

Having the said syndrome we were both excited to see an outsider's beauty, we talk about how this lady is such a hottie (and you know how it is when to guys talk stuff about a girl). We were teasing each other in excitement, "Aba ate, hating gabi na nasa labas ka pa magisa" (Miss, it is already midnight and you are still out alone), we joked among ourselves. As our distance drew closer towards this lady I noticed that she was texting, I told my bok "tineye-text na yata boyfriend nya oh?" (She may be texting her boyfriend) and we both laughed.

We are about to cross paths with her, still excited about how she really looks like. Pretending that we were minding ourselves and just looking forward while walking, but actually were trying to take a good look at her. She was still holding her phone close to her face as she walks and with the distinct yellow backlight of a Nokia 1100. Her face was eroding or moldy and she stenches like bad meat! Bok and I hopped at the same time about a meter away from the road, away from her. We ran as fast as we could, yes, 2 masculine cadets who endured hellish training ran like there's no tomorrow.

We were running out of breath when we decided to stop and look back, but she was gone, nowhere to be found, she just vanished. Talking about what happened, we were in disbelief, I may have just thought what I thought it was and maybe he just ran with me. But no, we both saw what we saw and the terror was real. We did what we came there for when we have reached the store. Thinking twice as to whether to ride a tricycle back as it will get us a higher chance of getting caught and be considered as AWOL. We had no choice rather than see that lady again. We came back to our classmates who were waiting for the goods and told them what happened. An addition to the long list of horror tales in our Alma mater.