CHAPTER 2 – Those Deep-Seated Black Eyes

I

Grazziena went home with excitement rushing all through her veins. She was bubbling with merriment as she exploded the great news to her parents, who like her, have been filled with happiness and excitement too.

Grazziena prepared herself for the upcoming contest. Nothing would stop her from achieving the very thing that will help her realize her dreams to finish college.

She continued watching beauty queens as they paved their way to get their crowns. And then something hit her; willpower! That was what these beauty queens have aside from determination. They have this willpower to really win.

“Ga, look; I finished your gown already. I made it out of abaca fiber.” Grazziena’s mother said while showing to her a blue princess flowing gown style out of abaca fibers. Her eyes grew in awe as she looks at the gown. Her mother was able to make it so elegant; no one can tell that it is made out of cheap abaca fiber. The other things that she needs have been prepared already by Mel, her gay friend who also became her instant Manager/Personal Assistant.

That night prior to the beauty pageant, Grazziena was restless. Although she is excited, she also felt nervous, at the same time fears are gripping her soul and mind. The beauty pageant will start at eight o’clock in the evening 

Grazziena shot the wall clock inside her room with her half-sleep eyes. It is ten o’clock in the evening. She did not know if it was merely a dream but after her eighteenth birthday, every time the clock ticks to twelve o’clock in the evening or midnight, her body shakes as if her bones were cracking, then she will see all over her body, yellowish furs and then a feverish looking wolf, as ugly as a stray dog with wounds and lice. Good thing she has her own room. Her parents never saw her like this. She would usually crawl down below her bed until she falls asleep and would only come out when the sunlight broke the night, when she is already in her human form again, naked.

It has been a couple of months that she is suffering from this kind of shapeshifting every midnight and she does not want anybody to know it. She did not know if this is a disease, a curse, or what; all she knew is that people will kill her once they will see her in her feverish, ugly wolf form. In her young mind, aside from her dreams of finishing college; she also dreams of getting rid of this disease or curse in her. She will find a cure; she will find the answer to why she became like this.

At eleven o’clock in the evening, Grazziena has been drawn into the realm of the lethargic phase of life. She snored like a baby as the wind blew, trying every particle thereof to creep into those tiny holes from the window of Grazziena’s room. These bits of wind particles soothed the fair skin of Grazziena, giving her sleeping soul the calmness it needs.

Then the clock ticks and its two fingers darted into the twelve o’clock or midnight position.

Like a lightning, a speeding ray of light enveloped the sleeping body of Grazziena and as the light faded, a feverish, ugly-looking she-wolf, with wounds and lice on its yellowish furs, jumped down from Grazziena’s bed. The wolf’s sagged eyes, which are almost getting out of its socket, looked around the room; trying to find a certain place for its solace. Then the she-wolf wiggled its tail and slowly crawled down below the bed.

II

“Ga, wake up; Mel is here already.” Lilia, Grazziena’s mother, came knocking at Grazziena’s door.

Grazziena has been awakened and just like the many mornings that have passed; she found her naked body lying down below her bed. She hastily moved and dressed.

“I will be out in a minute Mamang,” she shouted while combing her long, dark brown, wavy hair.

“Hey Mel! Wow, you are so early,” she greeted her gay friend as she saw him drinking coffee at their old wooden table.

Mel looked at her with raised eyebrows. “It’s eight o’clock in the morning. In case you forgot at ten o’clock in the morning, your talent competition will start already. So be ready now; you only have thirty minutes,” he said strictly with fingers twisting and flaring.

“Alright, alright. I am preparing now,” she replied while running to their small comfort room just beside their kitchen.

By eight forty-five in the morning, Grazziena was all set and ready.

Luckily, Grazziena was able to finish her pot dance without any glitch at all. His father’s six pots, made especially by him for her, lay flat and comfortable on her head. On top of the first pot on her head were five other pots thereon. As she swayed her hips and moved her feet for some graceful steps, the audience shouted in fear that the pots on her head might fall down. But Grazziena just smiled and confidently swayed her hips once more, making her long skirt made from strands of abaca leaves, moved with her hips in rhythm to the sound of the drum beats as it was being hit in careful harmony by Mel.

Grazziena and Mel went home with smiles on their faces.

The night came and the grand beauty pageant in search for Ms. Albaya 2021 is about to start already. It is almost eight o’clock in the evening.

Grazziena and all other contestants dreaming for the crown were all set for their production number outfits. They are all wearing white shirts with print thereon of the Ms. Albaya beauty Pageant’s logo and design, paired with black shorts showing all their legs. They top it all with white or black sneakers.

Grazziena danced gracefully and with poise. She made it a point to stand out from the rest at this early stage of the competition. She is anyway, the tallest and most fair skin among all the contestants.

From the lines of the Board of Judges, sitting in front of the stage and ramp; a one particular, young and gorgeous man, who is sitting at the middle of all the board of judges were all eyes to Grazziena. 

He never left his eyes from contestant number 8. He seemed to be mesmerized and drawn into the tallest beauty among the contestants, who is now strutting her long and fair skin legs with her catwalk, swaying her hips in its most seductive yet elegant manner. She carried her yellow one-piece swimsuit with grace and style that none of the other contestants was able to do.

He shot her with an intense look when she posed at the middle-end part of the ramp, few inches away from where he is seated.

As Grazziena’s eyes locked into those intense-looking deep-seated black eyes, something inside her growled and her heart made some somersaults.