Gunshots

***
The power was out again.

An electric fan, oscillating with a jittery whir, nudging the stale air from one side of the room to the other

a dirt alleyway

Gunshots

While I lie on the floor, on top of an itchy straw mat called a banig, the sound of rain pounding the ground outdoors roars in my ears. In spite of the rain, the woman beside me, whose name I cannot remember, sleeps soundly.

I turn again and again in the airless room. Sweat swells on my skin, dampens my t-shirt, drenches my hair. The blades of an electric fan on the floor next to the ceramic statue of the Virgin Mary oscillates, gently rattling, but doing little more, really, than nudging the thick heat from one side of the room to the next.

When I roll onto my side, the banig beneath me shifts a little on the wooden floor. I stare at her, this strange woman beside me. Silhouetted in the darkness, her level breaths bring her bare breasts rising and dipping. When I reach over and thumb a nuisance patch of black bangs from out of the front of her eyes, her mouth opens to release a soft moan.

I lean into her and gently touch her forehead with my lips. Then, I rise from the floor and head to the toilet concealed behind the screen.

When I am finished, I am just about to lie down again when I hear voices through the wall. First, an agitated tone through the thrum of the fan, followed by a panicked reply through the hard pounding rain.

Then, while listening, while trying to make out the muffled Tagalog words being hurled back and forth, a loud cracking noise echoes through the walls of the room.

I jolt into a sitting position, start to get up off the banig. But a hand grips my arm, just below the wrist, startling me further.

Awake now, the wide-eyed woman beside me shakes her head. She tugs me close against her naked body.

A few more shots crack the air outside the window.

Floppy slippers slap the wet concrete, then slowly drop away. There is no sound outdoors. There is no sound in the room. There is no sound anywhere.

Later, a vehicle pulls up briefly. While an engine growls, voices again. The woman beside me indicates with both her expression and grip that I need to remain very, very still.

When light comes I creep to the window and peer out through the pulling rain on the glass. I scan the wet puddling road.

Nothing. I see nothing except a couple of bandy-legged chickens hurrying for cover.

***
Possible Edits:

Roused by voices coming through the wall
What made Spinks think she might change all of a sudden?
A hand grabbed my arm, just above the wrist, and gripped tight.

I laid down exhausted but unable to get back to sleep.

I lowered myself onto the banig and after shifting positions several times concluded I would not sleep comfortably tonight.