St.

Scholastica’s Academy
City of San Fernando, Pampanga
School Year 2018 – 2019

Green Girl
By Cyan Abad-Jugo

Group 5

#6 Clomera, Heumice B.
#5 Cayanan, Alyssa Faith R.
#16 Ignacio, Mary Louise T.
#17 Lacanlale, Cielo Andrei G.
#20 Lulu, Shielney G.
# 43 Villena, Angela Bettina C.

12 – St. Amalberga

Mrs. Sharon Templonuevo

November 15, 2018
 They say the apartment next door has always been haunted. That it was first owned by a
secretive and solitary woman who had woven one too many spells or cooked up one too many
schemes, and that the darkness which grew in one of its corners had eaten her alive. That since
then, soon after moving in, its owners would be awakened by murmurings in the kitchen or
bubbling laughter in the sala. That when the last occupants had borne a child, its opaque front
windows had cast a greenish hue upon her, and as she grew, her skin went from a melon-tinged
green to a rich, uneven avocado color. The distraught parents had tried everything to remedy the
situation, from exorcism to a house blessing to breaking the thick, dull glass of the front windows,
but nothing worked. And then they moved away.
At an early age, I had been warned many times and without explanation against playing
too close to the wall that our garden shared with the apartment next door. Just as many times, I had
nightmares of shadowy trees leaning over the wall to scoop me up in their leafy arms and smother
me. Then one day, my aunt, who had come from the province to study at the college nearby, told
me the story of the green girl.
She told me about the haunted apartment next to us, about other haunted houses elsewhere,
and about other elsewheres containing creatures that either ate or befriended humans. Often the
unusual friendships brought demands or sacrifices beyond what I thought I could endure.
“Stop scaring the boy, Hilda,” my mother would chide her.
But when no one was looking, I leaned on our living room wall and listened to the silence
next door. Sometimes, I could almost hear something: a muffled scrape as if a chair were being
moved, a sudden hiss as if fish were being fried, a girlish laugh right at my ear, as if I had been
secret sharing. I began to talk to that sound of laughing. “Hello” or “What are you doing?”
Outside, by the garden wall, there were sounds other than the wind in the fraying leaves of
mango, banana, and coconut trees, or the piercing screak of crickets at night. I would hear
something moving in the grass, from shrubbery to shrubbery, breaking the stalks of plants,
crunching the gravel, and then withdrawing, scampering away. “Come back,” I would call, just
above a whisper. “I am a friend. My name is Milton.”
And then one day, my new friend stopped to listen, and I, finding a captive audience, could
not stop talking. “I don’t have to go to school now, the teachers need a break from us kids. My
aunt has gone back to the province. I thought I would go with her but my mother changed her
mind. She keeps saying my father is abroad, but abroad is not on any map I have looked in. He has
not come back. My mother always pinches me—”
And then suddenly, there stood my mother, pinching me. “What is the matter with you,
Milton? Why are you talking to the wall? Did I not say there might be snakes next door that might
bite you if you stand too close to the wall?”
“My mother is a witch,” I whispered behind the sofa, where my mother had told me to sit
down, while she prepared lunch. My new friend giggled.
After lunch, my mother lay down for siesta. The heat seeped into every corner of our room,
through the mesh of our windows, through the electric fan that churned the air hopelessly, into the
weave of the mat where I pretended to nap. I watched my mother’s prone body, the rise and fall of
the hand on her chest, and when she began to snore softly, I crept out of the house.
Everything outside was so bright I had to blink several times. The dry, packed soil of our
garden oozed a hot vapor, and the air above the brown, sparse grass growing near the wall wobbled
in a haze. It reminded me of jelly, though it seemed barely visible, and when I tried to touch it, my
hand went right through and touched the wall. The wall itself shimmered; it swallowed my hand,
my arm, my head, and I found myself tumbling into the garden next door.
I tried to tumble backwards the way I had come, but the wall had turned solid again behind
me. Something scaly brushed against my arm and nipped my ear, saying in a scraping voice, “You
are smaller than I thought, Milton.” Its fiery whisper burned my ear and the side of my face. I
whirled around to face the wall and saw nothing, no snake, no bird, no monster, nothing but the
moss drying and scorched upon it.
“I’m not small!” I cried.
A shadow darkened upon the wall and laughed. “Too small to be a tasty morsel.”
I recognized the laugh at once–the low chuckle, the girlish giggle. I had heard them come
from the same creature I had tried to befriend all summer. I did not want to look at its shadow, the
horns on its head, the ridges down its spine, the curve of its maw near my ear. My ear–and
everything attached to it–was as good as lost.
I looked away, at the apartment that shared a wall with ours, at the huge broken windows
in front and the weathered door below it. Its paint had peeled, its wood was scratched and
splintered, its doorknob was askew. I wondered if I could run and hide inside. And then I did. My
heels pushed, my knees unbent, and I sprang like a cat towards the door. My feet did the running,
while I listened for sounds of pursuit behind me, the rustling of grass, the leap from crackling bush
to crackling bush, the breaking of dry twigs, the skittering of tiny stones, the thump of a huge,
ungainly tail. I stopped with my hand in mid-air, sure the creature was right behind me, breathing
down my neck. Its tail had opened the door.
I had no choice but to step inside. It had planned this all along, to get me inside, spread me
on the kitchen table, slice me up and devour me within hearing of my mother on the other side of
the living room wall. And did she not wake and notice me gone? If I screamed, would she be able
to save me?
Then I realized there was no sound behind me, no rustling, no wind, just a vacuum of
summer stillness. When I peeked over my shoulder, there was nothing, just the wild, tangled-up
garden. It was as forsaken as the rooms before me. And the house beckoned: search me, search my
emptiness, fill me.
Despite my fright the temptation was too great. Was I not on the other side of the wall at
last? There was little to look at, in every room, just more dirt-crusted floors, broken chairs, dun-
stained walls, cobwebs as snarled as the shrubbery outside. Still, I wanted to see, and up the stairs
I went, to inspect more of the same rooms, with their thick carpets of dust and waterlogged ceilings.
At the very end of the upstairs hallway was the smallest room, and there I found a little
bed, a tiny desk, a wooden seat by a window too high for a child sitting to look out. The old and
filthy mattress on the bed had been chewed on by rats. The desk, though battered and covered in
dust, still looked useable. When I lifted its sloping flap, I found a dead mouse and photographs too
faded and watermarked to view. I stood up on the seat and looked out the window. And I saw my
mother a flutter, looking for me in her garden, where the sparse grass was trimmed and sometimes
watered despite the ration laws.
It was easy enough to climb the rusty, padlocked gate and bang on ours so that my mother
could let me in. It was not easy explaining what I was doing out in the street, or why my knees
were scabbed and my hands and face grimy. In fact I couldn’t, and for my silence, she marched
me to the bathroom and then to bed. To make up for the siesta I had not taken, she said. But she
also punished me by not giving me any supper.
 I was hungry by midnight, so I crept down the stairs to our kitchen in search of a bite to
eat. The creature was waiting for me there. I could see the huge triangular shape it cast upon the
kitchen table as I opened the refrigerator door.
“How did you get in?” I asked, still too sleepy to be surprised, as if I had walked into a
dream.
“The same way you got into my garden,” it said, and one shadowy talon pointed towards
the wall we shared with the apartment next door.
“Why did you not do so before?”
“Because you would run from me, like you did, this afternoon.”
“You wanted to eat me,” I said, pulling out a plate of cold fried chicken and putting this on
the table. I wondered whether I was offering the chicken in my stead, or if I really did intend to eat
it.
“I might have been made whole then. Maybe. Perhaps. But you are so small, how would
you contain me?”
This did not make any sense. I took out a fork and knife from the kitchen drawer, making
sure nothing clattered that would awaken my mother. I turned to the chicken, thinking I would feel
better after I ate. And perhaps this dream would go away.
“Let me continue your Aunt Hilda’s story,” it said.
“Which one?” I asked, for she had told me many.
“The one about the green girl. She lived until she was nine years old. They succeeded, you
know, I washing away the green from her.”
I forgot about the chicken. “They did? How?”
“An old woman helped them. She had brought many candles, a bag of ash, a washcloth she
wiped the girl with, and a basin of clay where the water slowly turned green as it drained away
from the girl.
“And that basin of green, they emptied in the garden. The garden grew the most splendid
plants, fat, juicy tomatoes and eggplants; rare, one-of-a-kind ferns; beautiful sunflowers,
chrysanthemums, roses, and orchids. But as the garden grew, the girl weakened. She grew paler,
more transparent, and when they could barely see her outline, she breathed her last and disappeared
altogether.
“Her parents moved away, but they burned the garden first, using most of their furniture.
Why did they want to change her—what was so wrong with her lovely green skin?”
I could not answer that; I did not think green such a lovely color. I tried to peel away the
brown skin of the chicken; it was my favorite part, though it was cold, wafer-thin, and flaccid. I
could not eat it.
It was still sitting there. “I am the green that had been washed out of her, and I am no longer
green.
I have grown wild and unwieldy, hungry and unloved. Will you love me, Milton?” It was
asking for friendship. It was promising adventure. Like all the stories my Aunt Hilda told. It was
tempting. Then I remembered what sacrifices the hero would have to make to remain friends with
such strangeness.
Summer vacation was almost over. I did not love school, but I cared about what my
classmates thought of me. “No!” I said.
The creature, its shadow, dissolved before my very eyes.
By school time, I believed it was a dream, a dream I had dreamed because I was so hungry,
and could not eat cold chicken.
 Outside my room’s window, just across it, an old, murky window leers at me, and below,
a jungle has grown, trees linking branches to mask the underbrush, keeping me out. When I sleep,
I stumble into this jungle, where I glimpse something completely green, except where it is dappled
golden by the sunlight. It moves, always ahead of me, promising adventure, but I am never able to
touch it.

About The Author

Cyan Abad-Jugo took her master's in Children's Literature at Simmons College, Boston,
and her PhD in English Studies: Creative Writing and Anglo-American Literature at UP Diliman.
Her books include: Father and Daughter, with Gémino H Abad; Sweet Summer and Other Stories;
Leaf and Shadow; and Salingkit: A 1986 Diary.
Cyan Abad-Jugo, PhD graduated from Ateneo at the age of 19. Growing up, Cyan was
very shy and tongue-tied, and for her the best outlet she had was to listen to the songs on the radio.
Now, she is married to Mike Jugo and a mother of two children, Megan and Colin.
According to Javison T. Guzman, an author from The Guidon, Cyan Abad-Jugo is nothing
out of the ordinary. She is usually described as being incapable of hurting a fly. As Martin
Villanueva of the Fine Arts Department says, “She’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet. And she
doesn’t get outwardly rattled. She’s a calming, playful presence.”
Having studied under renowned teachers such as Fr. Joseph Galdon, a Jesuit priest who
worked on Philippine studies and authored a number of inspirational books: Mustard Seed, Chain
of Love, Jubilee and More Mustard Seed, and Dr. Edna Manlapaz, a doctor on Philippine Literature
in English, for her writing classes, Abad-Jugo says that her stay in the Ateneo further developed
her passion for literature. However, she still considers studying in Boston as “The Golden Age” of
her life.
Her exposure to the multicultural landscape of the United States further developed her
writing style, as did her study under literary behemoths such as the bestselling author Lois Lowry,
who authored the novel “The Giver”, who was her thesis adviser.
In 1996, Abad-Jugo finally released her first novel, Father and Daughter: The Figures of
Our Speech, alongside her father, the renowned poet Gémino Abad. Gemino Abad, the son of
Antonio Abad who is one of the foremost Filipino novelists in Spanish during the first half of the
20th century, co-founded the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) which published Caracoa,
a poetry journal in English. In 2009, he became the first Filipino to receive the coveted Premio
Feronia in Rome, Italy under the foreign author category. Cyan Abad-Jugo evidently comes from
the family of writers.
Cyan Abad-Jugo claims that her style has changed numerous times. Many of earlier pieces
were in the form of poetry. It was her classes with legendary Filipino writer NVM Gonzales, a
Filipino novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet and conferred as the National Artist of the
Philippines for Literature in 1997 that convinced her to make the switch to fiction.
Abad-Jugo considers that most of her work can be categorized as realist fiction. Despite
this, she says that she has also dabbled in fantasy. Quite noticeably, many of her works cater to a
relatively young audience.
 Last July 2012, Abad-Jugo released yet another novel, entitled Salingkit: A 1986 Diary.
Set during the end of the Marcos regime in the late 1980s, Salingkit details the state of Philippine
society through the eyes of its pubescent protagonist, Kitty. But beyond the drama of 1986, Abad-
Jugo reveals that Salingkit is also about the much more complicated drama of teenage life.
Elements of a Short Story
Characters
 Milton – He is the main character in the story. He is the nephew of Hilda. He can see or
imagine and is able in interact with the Green Girl.

 Hilda – She is the aunt of Milton who told him about the story of the Green Girl.

 Mother of Milton – Milton’s mother told him that his father was in abroad. Her concern and
protectiveness as a mother is shown in the story as she constantly reminds his son to stay
away from the haunted house.

 Green Girl – She was cursed since her birth, the reason why her skin is colored green. When
her family attempted to cure her, and was able to wash away the green color from her body,
she slowly weakens and disappears. Her first intention was to eat Milton but suddenly, she
offered him her friendship Milton.
Setting
The whole story took place at the apartment where Milton and his mom live. Some of the
events took place specifically in their kitchen, living room and in the garden of their neighboring
apartment. The story happened during summer.
Conflict
Milton, had been warned several times not to play too near to the wall that their garden shared
with the apartment next door. People believe that the apartment next door has always been haunted.
That it was originally owned by a secretive and solitary woman. The woman was reckoned that
the darkness which grew in one of the corner of the house had eaten her alive. The last occupants
of the house had borne a child, and as she grew, her skin went from melon-tinged green to a rich,
uneven avocado color. Tirelessly, the parents had tried to remedy the situation. They have tried
exorcism to house blessing to breaking the thick, dull glass of the front windows. However, none
of which worked. And then they decided to move away.
One day, Milton's aunt shared the story about the haunted apartment next to their home -
about how creatures either ate or befriend humans and how that unusual friendships brought
demands or sacrifices beyond what one could endure.
Even so, Milton grew much curiosity in that haunted apartment. When no one was looking,
he would lean on their living room wall and listen to the silence next door. Sometimes he would
hear a muffled scrape as if a chair were being moved, sudden hiss as if fish were being fried, and
a girlish laugh right at his ear. Then Milton began to converse to the sound of laughing. Eventually,
he called it as a "new friend."
Plot
Exposition
At the beginning of the story, the setting and the characters, especially the main
character are briefly introduced to the readers as located in the first and second paragraphs.
"They say the apartment next door has always been haunted."
"At an early age, I had been warned many times and without explanation against
playing too close to the wall that our garden shared with the apartment next door."
The sentences from the paragraphs imply that Milton lives in an apartment together
with his family as his protective mother constantly warned him of the haunted apartment
next door which gave him nightmares of shadowy trees as stated in the second paragraph.
"Just as many times, I had nightmares of shadowy trees leaning over the wall to
scoop me up in their leafy arms and smother me."
As the story progresses, Milton was further illustrated as a curious and mischievous
yet friendly little boy for he tends to ignore the warnings given by his mother about playing
too close to the wall that separates them from the haunted apartment.
Rising action
The rising action in the narrative occurs as Milton's aunt, who had come from the
province, told him the story of the green girl. She tells him that the haunted apartment next
door there resides a creature that either ate or befriended humans. Such words sparked the
child's curiosity, and so when no one was looking, Milton would lean on their living room
wall and listen to the silence next door though there are times Milton believes that he could
hear a muffled scrape as if a chair were being moved, a sudden hiss, and a girlish laugh
right at his ear. Thus, prompting Milton to befriend the creature beyond the wall by talking
to the laughing sound of it.

One day the being whom he now refers to as a friend stopped and started to listen
and so, he kept on talking to it. As he was carried away with his conversation, without
realizing it, there stood his mother, pinching him and asking him why is he talking to the
wall and even scare him by saying

"Did I not say there might be snakes next door that might bite you if you stand too
close to the wall?" which made Milton say that his mother is a witch, making his new friend
giggle.

Climax
One afternoon, as Milton's mother finally laid down for her siesta, Milton rose from
his pretend slumber and went outside their apartment to the garden. When suddenly, their
garden oozed a hot vapor that grew near the wall which wobbled in a haze. Milton, out of
his curiosity, touched it and his hand went right through it. Then it swallowed his hand,
arms, head, and he tumbled into the garden next door.
 As Milton was inside the haunted apartment, something scaly brushed against his
arms and nipped his ears. In a scraping voice, the creature described Milton as someone
who is smaller than it thought, too small to be a tasty morsel. As it spoke to him, Milton
looked at the creature's way, yet he was unable to see anything. Everything about the
unknown creature was as good as lost and all of it frightened Milton. He was horrified by
the same thing that he wished to befriend all summer, and so, he rushed to get away from
the haunted apartment.

Falling action

Unable to explain what he was doing out of their street and why his knees are
scabbed, Milton was punished by his mother by not having supper and was forced to the
bathroom and to the bed to make up for the siesta he had not taken. By midnight, Milton
felt the hunger and so he decided to creep down the stairs to find something that will satisfy
his rumbling stomach. To his surprise, the creature was already waiting for him.
As the story progresses, the creature began to continue Aunt Hilda’s story about the
green girl. It was revealed that the parents of the girl moved away, but they burned the
garden first, using most of their furniture. The creature then said:

“I am the green that had been washed out of her, and I am no longer green. I have
grown wild and unwieldy, hungry, and unloved. Will you love me Milton?”

It was asking for friendship. Milton thought it was a promising adventure like all
the stories his aunt told him. It was tempting but he remembered what sacrifices the hero
would have to make to remain friends with such a creature.
“No!” And the creature dissolved before his eyes.
Resolution
The resolution takes place when Milton’s summer vacation finally ends. Milton,
the protagonist, recounts the stories his Aunt Hilda told about the sacrifices the hero would
have to make. He turned down the creature’s offer as he thought of what his classmates
would think of him if he remained friends with such strangeness.
“Summer vacation was almost over. I did not love school, but I cared about what
my classmates thought of me.”
The story ends on an unambiguous note. In a sense, it is a classical resolution that
eliminates any mystery about the house next door. When Milton rejected the creature’s
request, it vanished completely, and all of the puzzle that has propelled the story is released.
There is no longer a question of whether Milton will meet the creature again, or whether
he will reach the jungle outside his room. By the end, we have the answer. The jungle
always moves ahead of him, promising an adventure he will never be able to touch.
 Theme
The novel Green Girl by Cyan Abad Jugo emphasized two characters namely; Milton, the
boy who wants to befriend their neighbor all summer and the green girl that has a purpose on why
she kept on bothering the boy. The theme of the story is about friendship. Summer came and
Milton’s mind is way too focused on how can he befriend his “neighbor” and with that, he leans
on the wall and starts talking. Milton finally had the opportunity to communicate with his neighbor
but with his dismay, the excitement and joy were replaced by fear and dread. There is a passage in
the story that said “will you love me Milton? It was asking for friendship; Then I remembered
what sacrifices the hero would have to make to remain friends with such strangeness.” wherein the
green girl asked Milton to be his friend. Unfortunately, the boy refused her request and she
suddenly disappeared out of Milton’s sight. It did not stop there thus Milton is haunted by the
memoir he had when he was at his neighbor’s place where Green Girl would suddenly appear by
his sight.

Moral of the Story

Relationships are important for people in order to communicate with others and to explore
more on the other side of the world. Different kinds of relationship exists but Friendship is known
for its popularity. It may start during your early or adolescence stage but it is the hardest
relationship the people can have. Since there are lots of factors that may occur in the relationship
with your friend, trust and respect must come first. Trusting them is the important tool to have a
healthy relationship but be careful because he/she can turn his/her back against you. It’s hard to
fully know someone you had just met so you need to can through him in order to get to know that
person better. Go on a friendly date with your colleague, show affection that you truly are sincere
on knowing him/her. Respect your friend and you will gain the respect you will give to your friend
because both of you deserved it. The Green Girl exemplified friendship and Milton trusted his
neighbor in an early manner without seeing this person or knowing it better. When the time had
come, he rejected it and the Green Girl respected Milton in a way that she did not bother him again.

Critical Approaches Used

1. Formalist Criticism - This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human
knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary for
understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the
formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are
found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such
elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers.
- In green girl, the author used a first person point of view. Using this kind of point of
view enables the readers to know the perspective of the main character, Milton.
- The author used a serious tone as the main character tells the story about the Green
Girl.
- Also, the author used a lot of imagery in her story. She was able to give a detailed
narration of the setting and the environment enabling the readers to visualize and
imagine what is happening in the story.
 2. Sociological Criticism - This approach “examines literature in the cultural, economic and
political context in which it is written or received,” exploring the relationships between the
artist and society.
- In the beginning of the story, societal concerns are manifested already. “They say the
apartment next door has always been haunted.” This line shows how gossips or tsimis
are present in our society. Milton believes whatever the elders, especially his aunt
Hilda, tell him without any verification.
- The story depicts not only our belief in gossips, but also how the society sees the true
essence of motherhood. In the story, it is seen how greatly Milton’s mother loves and
cares for him. We, Filipinos are known for being caring and having concern towards
other people, may be family or friends.

3. Mythological Criticism - This approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns

underlying most literary works.” Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology,
history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism “explores the artist’s common
humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to
different cultures and epochs.”
- Aside from tsimis, the story also manifest how Filipinos have deep regard and belief in
myths. These myths are either acquired through reading or told by our elders. Even if
most of us are Catholics, we have set of superstitious beliefs about mythological
creatures and practices that we don’t know of the reason for doing it.
- In psychological perspective, the story shows Human Interest stories. Like Milton,
when a story seems so real to us, even if it’s impossible, we tend to believe in it because
of our interest to certain things. Human Interest stories shows a perspective that gives
enjoyment while acquiring information. Moreover, human behaviors like pananakot
and fear of judgment by our peers are also shown in the story.

References:
Ateneo de Manila University. (n.d.) Speakers' Bio and Abstract.
Retrieved from http://www.ateneo.edu/ls/soh/acelt/speakers-bio-and-abstract-0

Ateneo de Manila University. (n.d.). Fr. Joseph Galdon Fund.

Retrieved from https://ateneo.edu/ls/soh/acelt/fr-joseph-galdon-fund

Behind the Books. (n.d.). Meet the Storyteller: Cyan Abad-Jugo’s Musical and
Literary Journeys. Retrieved from http://behindthebooks.gatheringbooks.org/?p=889
Guzman, J. (2013). Cyan Abad-Jugo: Between the lines.
Retrieved from http://www.theguidon.com/1112/main/2013/02/cyan-abad-jugo-between-the-
lines/
Philippine Literature Portal. (2013). Abad-Jugo, Cyan.
Retrieved from https://panitikan.ph/2013/03/03/cyan-abad-jugo/
SCRIPT
Shielney: Milton
Green Girl (GG): Mary
EXPOSITION
Narrator: They say the apartment next door has always been haunted. That it was first owned by a
secretive and solitary woman who had woven one too many spells or cooked up one too many
schemes, and that the darkness which grew in one of its corners had eaten her alive. That since
then, soon after moving in, its owners would be awakened by murmurings in the kitchen
*Kitchen: Lyza cleaning the house- hears the murmurs. Stops and listened, then continued to work.
or bubbling laughter in the sala.
*Sala: Cielo reading the newspaper- hears the laughter and looks around.
That when the last occupants had borne a child,
*Mary hopping happily towards Lyza and Cielo- Happy
its opaque front windows had cast a greenish hue upon her, and as she grew, her skin went from a
melon-tinged green
*Mary is with Lyza and Cielo- shookt
to a rich, uneven avocado color. The distraught parents had tried everything to remedy the
situation, from exorcism to a house blessing to breaking the thick, dull glass of the front windows,
but nothing worked. And they moved away.
*Lyza pulls Mary’s hand and moves away from the center together with Cielo.
*Shie enters: playing happily
At an early age, Milton had been warned many times without explanation
*Cielo warns Shie
to not play too close to the wall that is shared by them with the haunted apartment next door.
RISING ACTION
Narrator: One day, his aunt, who had come from the province to study at the college nearby, told
him the story of the green girl.
Lyza: Alam mo ba, maraming nagsasabi na ang apartamentong katabi natin ay kinakakatakutan
dahil pinamamahayan raw ito ng halimaw na naghahanap ng kaibigan o minsan kumakain ng tao.
*Shie-scared
Lyza- Madalas daw itong humihingi ng mga bagay na higit pa sa iyong inaakala.
Cielo: Tigilan mo nga yan Hilda! Tinatakot mo ang bata.
*Lyza and Cielo- goes inside
*Shie- looks around making sure no one will see him. Leans on the living room wall and listened
to the silence next door. Listening carefully.
Shie: Hello! Anong ginagawa mo dyan?
*Shie- sleeping then wakes up. Looks around
Shie: Sandali! Wag kang matakot. Ako ay isang kaibigan. Ako si Milton.
Narrator: One day the being whom he now refers to as a friend stopped and started to listen and
so, he kept on talking to it.
Shie: Hindi ko kailangan pumasok sa eskwelahan dahil nangangailangan ng pahinga ang aming
mga guro dahil saming mga bata. Bumalik na nga pala ang tita ko sa probinsiya. Akala ko nga
isasama niya ako, kaso kinausap siya ni nanay. Lagi nga sinasabi ni mama na nasa abroad daw si
daddy, kaso tuwing tumitingin ako sa mapa, hindi ko makita kung saan ba ang abroad. Hindi pa
nga siya bumabalik eh.
*Cielo looks at Shie without Shie even notices then she pinches Shie.
Cielo: Ikaw bata ka! Ano ba ang problem mo? Bakit mo kinakausap yang dingding? Hindi ba
sinabi ko sayo na baka may ahas dyan na puwede tumuklaw sayo kung napakalapit mo dyan?
Shie: Mangkukulam ata ang nanay ko. (whisper)
GG: *giggles
CLIMAX
Narrator: One afternoon, as Milton's mother finally laid down for her siesta, Milton rose from his
pretend slumber and went outside their apartment to the garden. When suddenly, their garden
oozed a hot vapor that grew near the wall which wobbled in a haze. Milton, out of his curiosity,
touched it and his hand went right through it. Then it swallowed his hand, arms, head, and he
tumbled into the garden next door.
Narrator: As Milton was inside the haunted apartment, something scaly brushed against his arms
and nipped his ears.
Mary: Maliit ka kumpara sa inaakala ko, Milton.
Shie: Hindi ako maliit ah!
Mary: laughs. Masyadong maliit para maging masarap na morsel.
Narrator: Milton looked at the creature's way, yet he was unable to see anything. Everything about
the unknown creature was as good as lost and all of it frightened Milton. He was horrified by the
same thing that he wished to befriend all summer, and so, he rushed to get away from the haunted
apartment.
FALLING ACTION
NARRATOR: Unable to explain what he was doing out of their street and why his knees are
scabbed, Milton was punished by his mother by not having supper and was forced to the bathroom
and to the bed to make up for the siesta he had not taken.
By midnight, Milton felt the hunger and so he decided to creep down the stairs to find something
that will satisfy his rumbling stomach. To his surprise, the creature was already waiting for him.
*Shie- confused
Shie: Paano ka nakapasok dito?
GG: Parehas lang kung papaano ka nakapunta sa aking hardin.
Shie: Eh bakit hindi mo ginawa yan noon pa?
GG: Dahil alam kong tatakbuhan mo lamang ako katulad ng ginawa mo kanina.
Shie: Tumakbo lang naman ako dahil gusto mo ako kainin.
GG: Maari kitang kainin ngunit napakaliit mo. Papaano mo ako mabubusog?
Narrator: As the story progresses, the creature began to continue Aunt Hilda’s story about the
green girl. It was revealed that the parents of the girl moved away, but they burned the garden first,
using most of their furniture. The creature then said:
GG: Ako ang berdeng kulay na tinanggal mula sa kanya, at hindi na ako berde. Ako ay lumaking
ligaw at walang kabuluhan, pati na rin gutom at hindi minamahal. Pwede mo ba akong mahalin,
Milton?
Narrator: It was asking for friendship. Milton thought it was a promising adventure like all the
stories his aunt told him. It was tempting but he remembered what sacrifices the hero would have
to make to remain friends with such a creature.
Shie: Ayoko!
Narrator: And the creature dissolved before his eyes.
RESOLUTION
Narrator: The resolution takes place when Milton’s summer vacation finally ends. Milton, the
protagonist, recounts the stories his Aunt Hilda told about the sacrifices the hero would have to
make. He turned down the creature’s offer as he thought of what his classmates would think of
him if he remained friends with such strangeness.
The story ends on an unambiguous note. In a sense, it is a classical resolution that eliminates any
mystery about the house next door. When Milton rejected the creature’s request, it vanished
completely, and all of the puzzle that has propelled the story is released. There is no longer a
question of whether Milton will meet the creature again, or whether he will reach the jungle outside
his room. By the end, we have the answer. The jungle always moves ahead of him,