PULANG LASO (The Red Ribbon)

“They say that whenever night falls and you’re still outside, a strange and incredibly beautiful woman may appear to you. They say she’s so beautiful that you’ll become completely captivated by her, and then you’ll go with her. And just like that, you’ll go missing. No one will ever see you again, and no one will be able to find you.”

“That’s nonsense, Paolo. Adults only say those things to scare us kids.”

“Yeah, Pao. Drew’s right. You shouldn’t believe stuff like that because they’re just stories adults tell so we won’t play outside once it gets dark.”

“Louise thinks just like me.”

Drew and Louise laughed while Paolo simply stared at them in silence. He looked toward a large tree in the distance, where a red ribbon was tied to one of its branches.

One night, Paolo, Drew, Louise, and the rest of their friends decided to play together. They were all having fun until they failed to notice how dark it had gotten.

“Come on! Let’s play hide-and-seek,” Louise suggested.

The others immediately agreed, and they started playing.

Drew became “it” and had to find the rest of his friends. While searching for the others, he ended up near the large tree, where he saw a girl with a red ribbon tied in her hair.

“Never stay out too late, and especially never go near that big tree once night falls, do you understand, Drew?”

“Yes, Grandma.”

Drew suddenly remembered his grandmother Belen’s strict warning. He took a deep breath and shrugged. He was about to leave, but for some unexplainable reason, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to leave the little girl he had seen.

“Hey, kid.” He called out loudly to her.

She didn’t look at him. Instead, she ran toward the other side of the tree as if she were playing a game. The only thing he could see was the red ribbon flying in the wind.

Drew was about to walk closer to the tree when someone suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Don’t go near that,” Paolo said, staring at him.

Drew clutched his chest.

“What the heck, Pao? You scared me.” He put an arm around Paolo while catching his breath.

“Let’s just go home,” he told him.

They walked away, but Drew looked back toward the tree again and noticed that the little girl he had seen was no longer there.

The next day, he told his friends about what he had seen. They laughed while Paolo simply listened without saying a word.

“I’m telling you, there was a little girl standing by that tree last night. She had long, slightly wavy hair, with a red ribbon tied in it. She was wearing a beautiful dress. I think she was rich and had only recently moved into our area,” he insisted, but all they gave him in response was more laughter.

So annoyed that he couldn’t take it anymore, he decided to go home. His two friends, Paolo and Louise, immediately followed him.

“I’m telling you, I really saw her. I’m not making this up. I was even about to approach the girl last night, but Paolo suddenly showed up. Then when I looked back, the girl was gone. Maybe she had already gone home,” he said as he sat in front of his house. He was frowning with his chin resting in his hand.

“We believe you. If you want, we can go to the tree later. Maybe the girl you saw will be there again,” Louise said with a smile.

He smiled at his friend’s idea when Paolo suddenly grabbed his hand.

“Oh, why, Pao? Don’t tell me you’re scared?” he said with a laugh, but Paolo didn’t answer and simply stared at him. Then he looked at Louise, who was just watching them with a smile.

“You’re with us, Pao, so don’t be scared. If she’s not there, we’ll just go home right away,” he said happily before going inside his house.

That evening, Drew, Paolo, and Louise went together to the large tree. When they arrived, they immediately examined the entire tree. Drew turned on the flashlight he had brought and searched the area around the tree, from the bottom all the way to the top. That was when he noticed something familiar.

“That’s it. That’s the ribbon the little girl was wearing,” he said, looking up at the branch of the tree.

“Maybe the strong wind blew it off last night.”

He looked at his two companions and noticed that Paolo was no longer beside him. He saw Louise standing there, looking toward their houses. He walked over to her.

“Louise, I don’t think the girl I saw last night is coming here. Did you notice where Pao went?”

She didn’t answer him. A moment later, he noticed Paolo’s clothes on the other side of the tree.

“Oh, Pao’s over there. He probably sat down because he got scared thinking about the stories the adults tell about a woman who supposedly appears at night.”

He laughed nonstop. He looked at Louise again and noticed the red ribbon in her hair.

“I only noticed now. It looks exactly like the one the little girl was wearing—the one we saw hanging from the branch, probably blown there by the strong wind.”

He ran toward Paolo to share what he had discovered.

“Pao, Pao, come here, look at this,” he said happily, looking toward Louise.

“Pao. Paolo.”

He called out to him again when he heard no response from his friend.

He looked toward where Paolo was.

His eyes widened, and he dropped his flashlight when he saw it.

A skeleton was sitting against the tree, wearing Paolo’s clothes, which had clearly grown old over time.

He heard people shouting.

“Drew!!!” the people called his name.

“Drew, where are you?” his grandmother Belen cried out.

Drew collapsed to the ground, barely able to believe what he was seeing.

“He’s not here. Maybe he was taken too, just like Paolo was,” a man said, looking around the entire area near the tree.

“Let’s go back there. This place is terrifying,” another man with him replied.

That was when Drew realized it, and everything that had happened to his friend one year earlier came rushing back into his mind.

A night that shattered everyone’s silence.

“Pao!!!!” the people shouted.

“Paolo!!!!” others called out as they helped search for him.

“Son, where are you?” Paolo’s mother cried.

“My son, Paolo!!!” his father called out to him.

Drew looked at Louise, who had her back turned to him. A moment later, she turned to face him with a smile, then walked toward him and took his left hand.

In those moments, there was nothing else Drew could do but cry.