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I. An Unlikely MeetingLorin Guinto walks down the stairs and into the waiting area of the LRT2Katipunan Station. He is wearing a polo shirt and slacks, has a green apronslung over his left shoulder, and is carrying a backpack. He looks tired andfamished.

It was past 9PM then. Lorin is all alone in the train station. Lorin looks up at theLED screen displaying Train for Recto arriving in 30 seconds. Lorin staresblankly at it until all the lights in the station begin flickering like crazy, as if holding on for dear life. The station seems to grow darker and darker Lorin feels a cold, stale air slowly touching his right cheek. Someone is breathingon him. Surprisingly, Lorin rolls his eyes and annoyingly glances at thatsomeone a ghost of a corpse-white young woman staring blankly at her withpitch-black eyes.Lorin, tired from work and tired from all this, just stares at the ghost.

II. Who A r e You?

Needless to say, the ghost is surprised . Eh? she replies. Why arent youscared? Lorin thinks: Ive been living with ghosts and monsters, angels and demons,since I was born. Heck, Ive had twin ghosts for nannies when I was a baby. Thefamilys guardian angel tutored me till l graduated from high school. The nuno inour garden taught me how to play guitar. Fate and circumstances conditioned meto not fear them. After all, I come from a clan of people who communicated withbeings from the world beyond. I was raised to see these beings not as oddities,but as equals sort of. Commingling with them is part of my everyday life. Thisis my normalcy. I put the normal in paranormal. The train bound for Recto, boarded by quite a few people, comes roaring to thestation. The lights stop flickering. The trains doors open, and Lorin wordlesslyenters, leaving the ghost floating around. The train resumes its journey, with theghost screaming, I did my best, didnt I?! Inside the train, Lorin thinks, Ive never seen any ghost haunting the stationbefore just who was that girl?Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon, two days after Lorins meeting with theghost. Lorin is seated at the far end of the waiting area, scribbling something ona notebook. Show yourself, I know youre there. The ghost promptly appears before Lorin. She looks a bit angry (parang maytampo ba, lol). She mutters , What?

Look, Lorin writes . Sorry about last Thursday. The ghost, with a slight look of disappointment on her face, replies, It was my

first time scaring someone. I thought I pulled it off nicely! A pparently, I wasntgood enough for Mr. Cest Magnifique here.

Im sure you tried your best. You even manipulated the lights and everything. Imreally sorry, but I was too tired.

Wait really?

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III. ConversationsIV. The Great Escape