The House1

The House in Alabang (by Lallie) With her newfound work at one of the call centers in Alabang, Janina decided to relocate. At first, her mother wouldn’t hear of it. “Mag-uwian ka na lang,” her mother suggested. “Baka mamahay ka.” She had always been stubborn more so now that she already earned a degree from a prestigious university and landed a job as a call center agent in her very first try. In the end her stubbornness prevailed. “I’ll pay for the house,” she told her mother. “I hate to travel. That would be too tiring.” It was a small apartment. For six thousand pesos monthly rental, the up and down twobedroom apartment unit was a bargain for Janina. “Why it’s so cheap,” she exclaimed at the landlady. The landlady just smiled and said, “Sign this contract. For one year, even if you don’t live here, you still have to pay rent. I’m sick of fickle minded tenants. They’ll stay here for a week or two then will just leave, sometimes without even informing me. This is an apartment. I’m not running a hotel business for crying out loud.” Janina gladly signed the contract. In her mind, she was already computing how much she could save from her monthly salary. “I’ll let Nick stay her,” she told herself. “For free. Or I could even let Rand, Lester, and Deo stay here. Anyway, I have two bedrooms.” Oh yes, the boys in Janina’s life, the real reason why she wanted to stay in Alabang, far from their house in Cavite, far from her mother’s rigid Catholic beliefs. “You will only entertain a boy if you’re to marry him,” her mother categorically told her as Janina was growing up. She’d

follow this with Bible verses especially the one stating that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But early on, in college, her mother’s litany could not rival Janina’s raging hormones. She felt libidinal desires rising on a daily scale. She had boyfriends, one after another, almost on a semester basis. She didn’t feel guilty, the lies she told her mother about her long gone virginity didn’t bother her. To be a virgin in college would cause Janina’s friends to laugh and mock. After having decorated her apartment, she texted Nick, “punta k r2 new haus.” The reply was immediate, “sori baby, nid mg ovrtym work.” She wasn’t disheartened. She texted Rand with the same one she texted Nick. She got an almost similar reply, “sori luv, me pinagawa bos q e.” She then texted Lester and Deo. She didn’t receive any reply at all. With boredom dawning on her, she started smoking, another thing she lied about to her mother. She got herself a can of beer. “My mother will certainly go berserk, her only daughter, smoking and drinking beer while thinking about sex.” She hasn’t had sex for two months after having graduated. “Tigang na tigang na ako,” she told herself. After having graduated, she moved out of the dorm and moved back with her mother. Her mother insisted on sharing her room, told her she missed her so much after four years of only being with her during the weekends. She wanted to sleep with her daughter, embrace her in bed, the way she usually did when Janina was growing up. At first it was all right with Janina, but the urges pulsating within her became almost unbearable especially since she could not even tone down those urges on her own. She went to one of the bedrooms in the apartment, the one she thought of maintaining as her own. “The other, I’ll make it my guest room,” she thought.

She lied in bed, listening to soft music. She started to fondle herself. The delight she felt was so intense that she was making these little noises. As the delight slowly started to build up, her little noises became more frequent and louder. With her final sound, she felt relieved, but she also heard another sound. It was more deep than hers, a little louder than hers, overlapping the sound her mouth gave out. She kept still for a while. Then she smiled as she hugged her pillow. “My neighbors may all be doing it at the same time,” she thought. Morning came and she was visited by her landlady. She already paid her the deposit and the advance the day before that she was touched by her visit, thought that the landlady just wanted to know how her first night at the apartment went out. “I just wanted to remind you,” the landlady said, “that you have a one year contract so even if you leave now, you still have to pay me for the rest of the year.” She guaranteed the landlady that she’s full aware of the terms of the contract which she signed and that she won’t be leaving the apartment. “How foolish of her,” Janina told herself, “to think I’ll leave this apartment when I got a good bargain.” She spent the rest of the day, decorating more. A little flower vase here, a little chime there, a little scrubbing here, a little dusting there. She was with the graveyard shift that she had almost the whole day all for the house. Midday came and she felt the urge once more after having cleaned the guest room. She satisfied herself in the guest room. And like the night before, there was another sound, overlapping with the sound she made. “My neighbors are as horny as I am,” she thought with a giggle.

The thought of having horny neighbors excited Janina. She went out and knocked as the next apartment unit. She was surprised to find the landlady there. “You’re my neighbor?” she asked. “No,” said the landlady, “I just came to fix some things. Actually I have just entered when you knocked.” Janina’s eyebrows met, “You mean, I don’t have any neighbors?” “Is it a problem? You signed the one-year contract, remember?” Inside her bedroom, Janina thought of the sound that she’s heard twice. “Oh well,” she thought. “Maybe I was just imagining it. It did sound like Nick, anyway. Oh Nick, why can’t we have sex soon.” She started calling the boys in her life, even offering an orgy, but everyone just seemed to be so tied to their respective works lately. Early evening, she finally gave up. Before preparing to go to work, she satisfied herself once more. This time around, the sound overlapping with her own was more loud and intense. She shuddered with fear as she shuddered with delight. She rushed downstairs, sped off to the main door. It was locked. She tried to force open the door, but every time she would turn the knob, it would turn back. She was stunned. She grabbed her cell phone but she had no signal. She hurried to the backdoor. She saw it slightly open, her pounding heart was racing with her quick steps. The door shut on its own. Janina screamed. She went to the living room, tried opening the windows. Everything was locked. “This can’t be happening,” she muttered.

She heard a voice. “Janina! Janina!” She wailed back. “Nick!” “I wanted to surprise you,” said Nick. “I’m trapped! I can’t go out!” Nick kicked the door, slammed the knob with the wrench he had in his car. But nothing happened. He did the same to the back door, still, nothing happened. Finally, he decided to slam one of the windows. He got a piece in his eye, he was bleeding profusely. Janina was able to squeeze herself out of the window. She was able to get out of the house. Her first night at work was spent in the hospital. She called her landlady to report about the incident. “What’s wrong with those locks?” she kept on asking the landlady. She wasn’t given any answers at all but a promise that the landlady would visit them in the hospital. “It’s not the locks,” the landlady said immediately after having found Janina in Nick’s hospital room. “It’s the whole house. It’s alive, I think, or all of the previous tenants think. It senses desires. Maybe you have lots of desires. It starts desiring you. And it’s a very jealous house.” “Why didn’t you inform me?” asked Janina. “What for? You already signed the contract.” Janina moved back to her mother’s house. “Malapit lang naman ang Alabang sa Cavite,” she told her. “Maybe I’ll enjoy travelling daily.” ***

Tin was inspecting the house in Alabang, with her hands marveling at the wall in the living room. “Where do I sign?” she asked the landlady. “I think I’ll love this house.” END