Wake up!

"Ahh!!!"

Juliana got up panting, soaked in sweat. It was already nighttime. When the cold wind blew from the open window, she shuddered. It was the same temperature she had in her nightmare.

"Nana!" She hurried to her grandmother's bedroom, only to see Maribeth standing by the doorway.

"What are you planning to do with Nana?!" she yelled.

"Why are you so pale? You look horrible," Maribeth said.

"And you're despicable!" She pushed her aside, making her sister slump on the floor. 

The small basin Maribeth was holding flew and clanked on the floor. Despite the shock and pain from the fall, she stood and rushed towards Juliana, who was stepping into their grandmother's room. She found her touching the old woman's cheek and feeling her pulse. She even placed her ear on Nana's left chest, checking for a heartbeat.

"What have you done to Nana?" Juliana hissed.

"I just gave her a warm bath. What's your problem?" Maribeth was pissed, but she controlled her annoyed voice so as not to disturb Nana's slumber.

"Are you planning on feeding on her?" She strode towards and grabbed her sister's arm. "Isn't that the original plan for why you returned? You just said that you wanted to protect us from other manananggal, but the truth is, you're just saving us to be consumed by you in the future!" 

"Your mind is clouded by prejudice and doubt. Have you been smoking weed again?"

"I don't abuse substances or drugs! I dreamt of the Nana, dead on the drained lake! It's the same dream I had  before Mang Tino's son died!" 

Maribeth dragged her out of the room and gently shut the door behind them. "What are you talking about?"

"In my dreams, I saw the lake draining... and at the bottom of the dried floor are corpses! The kid...Mang Tino's son...I think I killed him! The lake is predicting who I'm going to unalive!" Juliana's sobs filled the empty receiving area of their house.

"Stop that nonsense! How could you be the cause of that kid's demise?"

"I turned into an aswang the night he died! And I'm an aswang because of you! You put me in this horrible situation!" She bellowed and hit her sister several times. 

Maribeth remained calm despite the beatings she received. She didn't retaliate. She allowed her to express her anger.

"You're the reason why I'm like this! And now... Nana is my next victim!"

                                                                                     ***

As the psychiatrist watched Juliana strike her pillow, she shook her head. She had been so violent lately, not only trying to hurt the attending nurse but also herself.

"Doc? Shall I sedate her?" a male nurse asked. The facility no longer allows female nurses to go near her because of her impulse to hurt others.

"Let her calm down on her own. When she's sober, then you can sedate her."

"What really happened to her, Doc?" the nurse asked again. "Since I have come here, I haven't seen any of her relatives visit her. She's been here for two or three years?"

"Based on her records, she lives alone in her apartment. She's a writer who became instantly famous, and the pressure of producing more high-quality novels caused her condition. She is experiencing bipolar disorder and schizotypal personality disorder."

She showed Juliana's notebooks to the nurse. 

"Are these her drafts?"

The doctor nodded. "Ongoing drafts, yes. Reading her work would make you feel the dark place she has been all her life. Traumas that are very difficult to accept." She sighed and inhaled deeply. "She has no one. That's why she created a story with an elder sister, Maribeth, and a grandmother, Nana."

The doctor glanced in Juliana's direction before speaking again. "She writes to escape the brutal reality and life she has been living, but the imaginary and fictional world she created consumed her... even her sanity has been stolen, so she can no longer keep her identity."