Heroes

"Oh! Lucky!" Ino exclaimed as her parched lips curved around the edges.

She had found saliva-drenched bones with little scraps of meat still intact and a handful of dust-flavored rice after scouring the bellies of the trash cans that ingest more food in a day than what she eats in a week.

Under the blistering heat of the scorching sun, Ino was unfazed in meticulously rummaging every nook and cranny of all the garbage areas at the bustling streets of Del Monte city, hoping that she can get her callous hands on recyclable trashes or even leftovers.

It was a daunting task for this seven-year-old girl, especially with her fragile and scrawny body build that can snap at any moment, to loot and plunder the horrid and wretched trash bags that even just a whiff of its foul smell can make even Dwayne Johnson puke. On top of that, she traverses the suffocating, dust-filled roads while being tortured by the maiming, waxing hot blazes of the sun with nothing but thin and tattered clothes shielding her charcoal-colored skin. Despite all of these adversaries converging at her, she's still anchoring on her unwavering faith because all of these hurdles were rendered completely useless by Ino's undying resolve to help her father who is a superhero.

Mr. Dravelo Komiko is a symbol of courage and strength- a hero for everyone. With his impenetrable shield forged from Katchin and Mythril, the two indestructible metals, he valiantly conquers all the wicked savages of the nation and passes down the verdict to all the nefarious villains to preserve peace and tranquility in the world.

This is Mr. Dravelo's heroic job, or at least what she tells Ino.

"Hey, miss!" A distant shout came out roaring on the other side of the road. "Come here!"

After Ino turned her head to the direction of the mezzo-soprano voice, the corners of her mouth turned upward that gave way for her corn-like teeth a space to peek into. She was filled with a euphoric feeling when she saw two sacks that are brimming with plastic bottles beside the pregnant store vendor who is calling her. Ino glanced sideways and crossed the street.

At the cooling shade that was provided by the humungous branches of the old Oak tree, the April's warm breeze softly sways and tickles everyone's hair and the sweet rhapsodies of the rustling leaves made a ravishing scenery for their encounter but the pompous discourse between the three drunkards spoiled the almost perfect scenery as if they were the people in the theatres that always talk even if the movie is already showing.

"Young miss, can you please get these sacks? I'll be paying five pesos for each." The woman asked her while pointing the bottles that seemed to be a plethora of gold for Ino.

"Yes, ma'am!" Ino, now oozing with ecstasy, responded to the woman's requests and then started hauling the sacks.

Curious, the woman asked, "Aren't you a bit too young for this type of labor?"

"No, ma'am. My father always says to me that no one is too young in trying to be a change for our world." Ino said as she beamed a smile to the woman.

The woman’s almond eyes rippled with surprise. Her cherry lips cracked open a smile and it radiated the sweetness of a century-old grape wine.

“That's great! Even though you're still a child, you know what's going on around you!" The woman exclaimed. "But where's your father, miss?"

"Oh, he's out there fighting the evil!" Ino bolted while mimicking a boxer in the middle of a duel.

A pang of uncertainty washed over the woman’s face.

"What do you mean? Is he a police officer? Perhaps, a soldier?" Curiosity slips out from the woman's porcelain skin.

"No, he's a superhero!" Ino roared with ferocity.

Her words echoed through the street’s sweltering asphalt and when it came back, it became a resounding laughter that reverberated throughout the streets. Everyone chuckled. The passersby guffawed, customers cracked, and even the woman giggled.

"You have any loose screws in your head, kid?" One of the three men drinking in the store asked while his two friends couldn't stop snickering.

"Maybe the sun already toasted her brain!" The three burst into another boom of laughter. Their face turned crimson-red. Probably because of the beers they are gulping or the laughter they are enjoying.

Frustrated, Ino shouted, "No! I'm not kidding! He's really a superhero!" Ino's eyes were filled with a fiery rage.

The three stupor men started slapping their knees. They laughed, laughed, and laughed some more. They now look like they are inches away from following the same fate of Chrysippus.

While the three are depleting their supply of laughs that they have in their life, the woman couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

"Then where's your mother?" Words clawed its way out of the woman's mouth.

Ino paused. Stunned. She was immobilized by the sudden dagger that penetrated her.

"Don't tell us she's also a superhero!" The exuberance of the three went up a notch.

"She was," Ino's cold glare pierced through the three and rendered them speechless. "Father told me that she left us because he is not strong enough for her."

Anxious, the woman replied: "I'm sorry I shouldn't ask that." She muttered while slowly approaching Ino. "I was just carried away by your story."

"It's nothing, ma'am." Ino panted after she lifted the sack. "And that's that! That will be 10 pesos, ma'am." She said as she opened her filthy palms towards the woman.

The woman giggled, reached her pockets, and placed two 10-peso coins on the hands of Ino.

"1,0,1...hey, wait!" Ino's count was interrupted when she suddenly yelled to halt the woman. "Ma'am, you gave me too much!"

The woman smiled, shrugged, and said: "You've earned it, miss." She closed Ino's palm as if she's wrapping a present.

After hearing those kind words, Ino illuminated a warm radiance as if her face was a lighthouse in the middle of a treacherous and vicious sea.

"Thanks, ma'am! I'll say to my father to save you when you're in need." She said while she beamed a dazzling smile.

Just before Ino was leaving, the woman asked her another question. "Miss, wait! May I ask what your name is?"

Ino glanced behind and replied: "Ino, ma'am."

"Always take care, Ino." The woman waved her hand, bidding her goodbye.

The revving of the engines and the earth-shattering honks of the impatient drivers set the atmosphere as Ino traveled once again to find more recyclable trash. Humungous waves of people crashed down at the rowdy roads like a horde of savage beasts scrambling for the last piece of beef brisket but in this scene, they are not savages but educated elites and it's not a food they are fighting about but money. The towering white walls were splashed with crimson paint and vandalized with nasty words but a poster of a politician holding a greasy child while saying that he will help the poor was plastered to hide the hideous sight.

Ino wandered aimlessly around the city like a kite with a broken string, lost in the dark clouds. The sounds of demeaning laughter that she was showered with earlier kept buzzing and repeating on her ear like a broken record. She was clueless about why they couldn't believe that her father is a superhero.

 “Klang, klang, klang!” The enormous church bells rang and its bellowing cries brought back Ino from her thoughts.

With clouds of haziness still hovering Ino, she did not realize that her two bruised feet brought her at the vast doors engraved with gold decorations that ebbs and flows and besides it, there are erected statues resembling child angels.

Children vendors, who look like they are the same age with Ino, swing their Sampaguita necklaces like pendulums as if they are hypnotizing the people in buying their products. There are also disheveled child beggars with faces covered with dirt as if it was their make-up out there swinging their empty cups while pleading and begging for alms.

Amidst the throng of vendors, Ino was enchanted by a peculiar scene near the gaping mouth of the church. She saw a sleazy vagabond enveloped with a shirt that looks more like a concentrated ball of stain than it was a dress. His head is full of filthy, curly black hair that framed his face like a halo, accentuating that he belongs in the church.

Ino felt an avalanche of throbbing nasty emotions permeating deep inside her bones. It was getting stronger the longer she sticks her gaze towards the wretched man. Like a black hole, the man's ominous presence sucked Ino and before she knew it, she was already in front of him. Hints of a frightened skunk's pungent offensive odor and a lingering Rafflesia smell wafted around the man.

Ino excavated her pockets and retrieved the coins she received earlier. She tossed it near the man and hurriedly attempted to escape from his grasps.

In a blinding fashion, the man caught the coin and said: "Why are you giving me evil, kid?"

"W-what do you mean? T-that's a coin, mister." She glanced back at the man. On a closer inspection, Ino saw that there were neither cups nor Sampaguita near the man.

"I don't need your coin, kid." The man smirked at her and threw back the coin.

"Huh?" Mystery shrouded Ino. "Don't you need that to live, mister?" She walked towards him and sat. The paralyzing fear that once pulsated from her was transformed to a hungry curiosity.

"Evil doesn't give me life, kid." His monotone voice soothed the nerves of Ino. "Even if evil spelled backward is live."

"You're not making any sense, mister." Ino partly closed her eyes as she was confused by the words of the man.

The man turned his head and stared at Ino. "Do you know evil, kid?"

"Yeah! Father fights them!" Ino stood again and launched tiny punches that cut the wind. "He's a superhero after all!"

The man's wrinkled face displayed a dismayed look. "And where does your superhero father live, kid?" He asserted his bass voice. "Does your father live in vast white fields with scents of lilac and lavender, of honeysuckle and jasmine frolicked in the air like butterflies?”

“Uhmmm, I don’t thi-“ Ino was interrupted by the man.

“Is it where angels effervescently sing melodies that can even mend a bond to a lifetime suffering?” His voice gradually gets louder every time he speaks.

"Yes! and no" Ino butted in and raised her voice to not get interrupted again. "We do live in a place where everything is white but there are no angels singing there and all you can hear are the faint and gentle beeps."

"Hmmm, I see." The man stroked his beard and looked at Ino. "Tell me, kid, do you believe in God?"

"Ah! Father told me that God gives him the power to beat the evil and he always reminds me that I should always pray to God at night!" She said while grinning from ear to ear.

"Hmmm, so you're one of the believers who think there is a supreme being behind our existence." The man smirked and pointed to direction of the children.

"Look at those ragamuffins. They are desperate people grasping at straws while being on the edge of a cliff." He paused then raised his grotesque finger to the direction of a woman wearing a luxurious and fabulous fur jacket while holding a leather bag. "Only relying to what those people will give them.” He added. "If there is a God, why won't he help these miserable little angels? He's a God, right? Then I'm sure that he can unveil the cloak of despair that tortures our society and release us from being imprisoned in an Iron Maiden and if by any chance that he doesn't have anything to rescue these poor souls, then why do you still call him God?" The man paused and looked at Ino. "Do you still believe in your God, kid? Where is he, huh? Why don’t he make something to save us?"

"He already did." Ino's words painted a bamboozled look to the man's wrinkled face.

"What do you mean he already made something!? Then where is it!" The red-blooded man was agitated but at the same curious about the kid's revelation.

Ino leaned closer to the man, ignoring his horrible stench. "He made you." She whispered to the man's ears that sent a spine-tingling sensation to him and pacified his boiling blood.

At that moment, the world went silent and all that remained was the warm glint that illuminated Ino's hazel eyes as she gazes at him. The sky was stained with a scarlet hue that cued the farewell of Ino.

"Oh, I didn't notice the time! I should probably go back now. I'll come visit you again here, mister!" Ino exclaimed with an upbeat tone as she hurriedly ran to get back on her track.

The man looked once again to the ragamuffins and there, he saw something majestic. The children whom he thought that they were only experiencing suffering while living, have been smiling all this time. The people devoid of happiness were capable of showing the audacity that they have even though they can already be compared to Atlas in terms of the weight of the problems they are lifting.

The man's thin lips cracked a small slit at the edges as he raised his palm towards the scarlet sky and said: "Ezra, if you're there, I just wanted to tell you that you're right, maybe God really do exists and I'm sure you're with him, and both of you are smiling upon me right now." Tears started pouring out of his dark chocolate eyes like a broken faucet and it seems that it washed away all the impurities that blinded him in seeing the world.

As the great sun is starting to prepare his bed, Ino is now headed to store her loots in their home. With dirt now acting as her slippers, she started her journey once again. While traversing the roads, she couldn't help it but once gain ponder about his father being a superhero. The first time that she told it, everyone thought that she was joking and the next one that heard her father's tales had doubts written on his face.

Ino was bombarded with these thoughts in her mind and all of it faded to one question: "Is my father really a superhero?"

Doubts poured onto her until her feet landed on the grounds of their grand house and her emerald eyes tinted with hints of brown hue locked their sights towards the accumulated dirt in the greyish walls that have their own translucent faded green windows and the huge vehicles constantly arriving and leaving their garage.

There is a gigantic man with a terrifying black baton in his waist guarding the entrance of her home. He always asks Ino to sign a piece of paper before entering that’s why she always did, even though she has no clue on why she’s required to do that.

Inside was a mix abomination of the intense stagnant reeks of disinfectant and bleach that invades the nostrils and injects a nauseous and murky taste in the mouth. Eerie howls reverberate throughout the hallways that were colored like the gradient orange pigment of an autumn leaf. Gut-wrenching mysterious wails and groans of pain and agony coming from places covered with a phlegmatic green curtains instill terror and thrill to the visitors as though there was an ongoing shooting for a horror-flick scene.

Ino’s home never runs out of guest. They are being swarmed by the serious-looking people wearing starch white immaculate uniform while holding a pen and a folder and they treat them as if they are the queen that is being attended by their bee. Most of the time, the visitors would grit their teeth, fling their arms upward, and argue with the workers there but in some cases, they would just get down to their knees and burst forth a cascade of tears, only stopping their screaming sobs to draw breath. Ino continued walking until she finally entered a dim-lighted pavilion where she saw a plastic sign with a monochrome lettering of the words, “Dravelo Komiko”.

Inside the dark-infested room, Ino was greeted with an enigmatic variety of bleeps and blips that resonated back and forth to the bland walls while a bone-chilling air kissed her skin. The light coming from the cloudy glass of the small-iron barred window served as a spotlight which illuminated Mr. Komiko. His frail body has bones thicker than his flesh. Like a rotting vegetable, he was siphoned of energy and nourishment, only waiting to be scythed by the Grim Reaper.

Ino’s presence caught the morose eyes of his father as she walked towards him. Each step sends shivers down Mr. Komiko’s spine, implanting disturbances within his bloodstream. When the distance between the two vanished into thin air, his heart went to a frenzied mode almost as if it was trying to break his chest inside out.

“Daddy, are you a superhero yet?” Ino’s sweet and mellow voice brought back the senses of Mr. Komiko.

A lone tear graced down his disheveled cheeks and just like that the flood gates opened. Tears burst forth from his puffing eyes like hurricane and created a flood that streamed to his trembling chin. His head is violently quivering while a throbbing burning sensation formed down his throat that made him scream silence. As he wept his eyes out, the benzoin-smelled crisp linen bed sheets became drench as though it just came out of a washing machine.

After rousing the deep slumber of his intestinal fortitude, Mr. Komiko subdued the downpour, brushed the snot running down his nose, and swiveled his gaze at her innocent daughter.

“I’m trying, honey.”