Lost in the Wilderness - The Forest of Evergreen Book 1

by Teresa May B. Bandiola

  The Kravenas lived abundantly but there was always that fear—that fear that the Sulabuns would attack them at any moment. Every male Kravena was trained to be a warrior. Learning to fly also meant learning to hold a bolo and hit a bull’s eye with an arrow. Weakness was never accepted. Failures never defined them. Everything must be earned with blood and sweat.

  Abanir was trained to become the bravest, fastest, and strongest Kravena—the perfect warrior that Datu Ilak always wanted him to be, for he would be his successor.

  Abanir, surprised by his mother’s presence, bowed down in respect. Then, he went inside the palasyon to join his siblings.

  Wondering heavily, Reyna Kaya asked Rabel why her son was arguing with him.

  Rabel conveyed that he would explain it, but only in the datu’s presence.

  Abanir joined his siblings in playing sticks, by simultaneously dropping a bundle of them on the floor. Such a game would allow the players to separate the sticks one by one, without moving the others. But his mind was back at the lake house. The face of the bizarre creature persisted in reappearing in his vision. Back to that other world, Abanir had lost track of what they were playing now.

  As for Reyna Kaya, she went to Datu Ilak after his meeting with the kansilos.

  “Rabel has an important message!” Reyna Kaya told the datu.

  “Call Rabel and bring him to me,” Datu Ilak ordered one of his bunjaos.

  In a blast, Rabel came and explained to the regal couple what he learned about his raha’s bosom-encounter with a human.

  “This shall not happen!” Datu Ilak screeched. “This should be a secret to my son! He must not know about the humans. They are enemies,” he shouted louder. “Rabel, I command you to take my son’s attention away from that human! Humans are a threat to our tribe!”

  “Yes, Datu Ilak! I will,” responded Rabel, taken aback by the datu’s unusually enraged reaction.

  “But, my Datu…?” Reyna Kaya intruded. “I think it’s time for our son to know about the humans. We don’t know when they will invade us again,” Reyna Kaya prevailed, with bowed head.

  “In time, my Reyna!”

  Rabel left them and went back to his raha, reminding himself to be quiet.

  Abanir saw him and asked why his parents talked to him, behind closed doors.

  “Oh, my beloved Raha, we’re just planning to improve our planting of sinapoy.” Rabel avoided Abanir’s eyes. “The mang-aanis were complaining that some of the wild birds had eaten their seedlings,” he proceeded, with more tense movements.

  “I see,” said Abanir but he knew he was lying. He knew Rabel well—he was not a good liar.

  Chapter 6

  The Return of the Past

  “Sophia, wake up!” Bea shook Sophia’s shoulders lightly. “It’s already eight! Everyone’s downstairs for breakfast!”

  “I’m still sleepy. I couldn’t go to sleep last night,” Sophia spoke languid.

  “Maybe, you just can’t stop thinking of Jericho,” Bea, in full swing, teased her, not having in mind that it was better to throw a joke on a drunkard person than on someone who had just woken up.

  Sophia, in the twinkling of an eye, thought of what she saw last night.

  “They were beautiful,” she mumbled, unconscious, as her eyes were directed on the ceiling.

  Flippantly, Bea asked, “What do you mean beautiful? Are you pertaining to him? As in Jericho?”

  “No, Auntie Bea! It’s not... him.”

  “Maybe, you’re still sleepy, Sophia. Come on. Off the bed now.” Bea shook Sophia’s shoulders once again and pulled her so she could stand up.

  In a little while, Sophia prepared herself and went downstairs, straight to the dining area to join her family. She saw everyone there, laughing as they enjoyed their breakfast.

  “Come on now, dear! Join us and sit here beside me,” offered Grandma Lucy with delight. “Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

  Sophia obeyed her grandmother and replied, “Yes, Grandma. It was actually terrible to see—”

  “A ghost?” Alex guessed jokingly.

  “Ugh! Please, don’t tell me if it’s true, Sophie!” Nadine was obviously frightened, and Alex just loved watching her in fright.

  “Sweetie, don’t believe in ghosts! Your brother’s joking, okay?” Elizabeth pointed out to take Nadine’s horror away.

  “Honey, what did you see?” Grandma Lucy cut the joke and inquired Sophia.

  “Oh, never mind, Gran.” Sophia diverted the topic and served herself a slice of freshly-cooked omelet.

  “Maybe, it was just your imagination.” Philippe joined their talking. “Here! Take a glass of this juice!” He handed Sophia a glass of fresh calamansi juice.

  To change the subject matter, Sophia praised Nadine for suggesting the game that they played last night.

  “What’s the name of that game again?” Elizabeth asked as she passed Sophia a bottle of distilled water.

  “I’ll Act, You’ll Guess Game, Mom, like a charade,” responded Nadine with glee, her head dancing from side to side as she crunched her choco flakes.

  “Okay, I’ll remember that from now on.”

  “Yes, Mom. You should because we will frequently play that game from now on.” Nadine glared at Sophia piercingly, trying to make a hint that she was not yet done with their defeat.

  Sophia beamed and refreshed herself with a gulp of calamansi juice.

  As soon as their breakfast ended, Elizabeth reminded them to get ready right away, for they would be leaving in an hour.

  “What’s with the rush?” Alex asked in wonder, disappointed that his plan of fishing wasn’t about to happen.

  “It’s just that… it might rain. The road to the town is, you know, steep and dangerous,” Philippe explained on Elizabeth’s behalf.

  “All right!”

  Almost immediately, they began packing. Bea and Grandma Lucy were already prepared to leave, so they did the dishes.

  Before long, the Vabuerettis were all now putting their baggages into the trunk but Sophia was, somehow, bothered. She wanted to look at the place once more where she saw those beautiful white wings, hoping that she might see them again to clarify her vague thoughts.

  Unknowingly, someone who was not from the lake house was watching her. This time, his heart pounded heavier as his eyes strained, following her every move.

  As the Vabuerettis left, Abanir watched them from afar but the eagerness to know more about such creatures and the bizarre moving metallic objects that could transport them unremittingly disturbed him.

  Sophia took a glance at the lake house once again. There was this aching inside of her… it was like something was missing, something that she must uncover, before she could leave.

  On the way, Sophia could still sight the lake house from the cliffy road. Around it were the thick green mountains.

  “Beautiful! God’s nature is really beautiful!” Elizabeth was overwhelmed while surveying the green surroundings. “I hope the thickness of the mountains will not fascinate the illegal loggers,” she added, sardonically.

  “You’re right, honey!” Philippe was of the same mind, and continued to follow the truck of Grandma Lucy and Bea, which was driven by one of their workers.

  The family lingered while appraising the mountains, until they were all approaching the town proper. The chatting was, all of a sudden, turned onto Philippe and Sophia, and to their adventurous childhood days at Forest Green.

  They finally arrived at Grandma Lucy’s house and it was past twelve when they got there.

  Sophia suddenly realized that she must look for a signal, for Giovanni might be calling her. It had been a day since they had talked to each other.

  Alex wanted to see the entire town before they could leave the next day, so he asked Grandma Lucy if they could have a stroll. Also, he requested Sophia to come along but Sophia did not want it, at first. She was convinced, when their father asked Bea to tour with them.

  The three then got
into the car and Alex was permitted to drive.

  Nadine wanted to join them but a heavy headache quickly overcame her.

  On the road, Alex asked Sophia where she studied, what church she attended, and who her friends were, so they could all visit them there.

  In shame, Sophia revealed that she actually had no friends back then.

  “No friends! Are you kidding me? I mean... why is that so?” Alex’s feedback showed he was bursting with curiosity.

  Seated with Sophia, at the backseat, Bea chose to remain quiet, and she just listened in.

  “Alex, does it seem like I am joking?” Sophia’s tone was defensive.

  “Okay! So who’s that Jericho you were talking about, yesterday?” Alex passed her a stare through the rearview mirror. “Is he...?” Then Alex looked at her again with a dawning knowledge, realizing that Jericho might be Sophia’s old flame.

  Sophia was put to silence.

  “Aunt Bea, where does this Jericho live and then we’ll visit him?” Alex shot a silly laugh.

  “Oh! Maybe, he’s in the hospital today.”

  “What do you mean hospital, Aunt Bea?”

  “He’s a doctor, Alex.”

  “A doctor?” Alex almost lost control of the wheels. “Soph, he’s much older than you?” he asked Sophia with louder laughs, almost insulting her. “I didn’t know you’re into old men!”

  “No, Alex! He’s just five years ahead of your sister. Maybe, he was accelerated that’s why he finished med school that fast,” Bea explained for Sophia.

  Sophia’s stillness lingered.

  “Okay, I see!” Alex waned.

  Then, they passed by a coffee shop and decided to pull over.

  Entering the shop, they noticed the short line.

  “I’ll just wait for you there.” Alex pointed a vacant table near the coffee shop’s glass wall. “Espresso, by the way.”

  “All right,” Sophia responded and fell in line with Bea.

  While Bea was ordering, Sophia happened to see Beatrice and her friends through the open door, the people who used to bully her back in grade school; the usual type of girls who were unhappy at home and bullied others, too, to cover up their misery.

  Unfortunately, Beatrice was also a Vabueretti, an illegitimate one who descended from Cleorita, the mistress of Arturo Vabueretti, Philippe’s grandfather, but no one in town knew about it. It had been a secret for years now.

  Her fright elevating up, Sophia informed Bea about their presence, and that they needed to leave.

  Bea retaliated, while ordering. “Why would we leave? You have not done anything wrong to them.”

  “I know but… we have to go.” Sophia’s voice ricocheted with more tension.

  “Honey, just let them see how much more beautiful you’ve become.” Bea stayed put.

  “Auntie Bea, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let’s just leave,” Sophia insisted, like a cat on a hot tin roof.

  Beatrice and the other girls were already entering the coffee bar when they saw Alex on a table for three. Without them knowing that he was Sophia’s brother, they talked of him, as they fell in line, behind Sophia and Bea.

  “Who’s that handsome guy there?” Beatrice pointed Alex.

  “Um, I think he’s new here,” one of Beatrice’s friends answered.

  “He’s hot,” Beatrice supplemented.

  “So true!” Then they laughed altogether.

  Stirred, Sophia brusquely turned around and proudly said, “Excuse me, I think it’s my brother whom you’re talking about.”

  “Excuse me, too! And who are you?” Beatrice faced Sophia arrogantly.

  “Oh! Don’t you remember the girl you always bullied back in grade school?” Sophia dared as her height made them step back.

  Dumbfounded, they now knew she was Sophia.

  “Are you surprised that the girl you used to make fun of is here?” Sophia kept on, making sure her voice was relax and pervading.

  “And that girl now is even more gorgeous and way prettier than you are,” Bea said with a rolling of eyeballs.

  Beatrice and her companions were stunned speechless, hardly disbelieving Sophia’s drop-dead gorgeousness.

  “Oh! By the way, he’s my brother!” Sophia pointed to Alex who was entirely clueless about what was going on. “And he’s just out of your league,” she stressed, and grabbed their orders. Then, they went to Alex saying that their interest to stay at the coffee bar already washed out. Still, Sophia and Bea sternly looked at the girls as they went back to the car.

  Alex roared the engine back to life and rolled driving with no directions until they happened to pass by the town’s small hospital.

  All of a sudden, Sophia saw a tall guy leaving the building.

  Bea also saw him and conveyed that he was actually Jericho.

  Sophia’s heart immediately leaped out from her chest. She could hardly believe that it was Jericho, that he turned into a very respectable person, even manlier and sharper.

  “I heard the name Jericho again. Did you see him?” Alex was intrigued. “Shall I pull over?”

  “Yes, Alex. I think you should pull over,” Bea requested and convinced Sophia to talk to Jericho, at least, to say hi.

  Sophia did not agree to it and begged Alex to continue driving.

  Bea objected to it and stressed that it could be the last time she would see him.

  Sophia still doubted. She knew how hard she broke his heart when she left Forest Green without telling him.

  “I know how devastated he was when I left,” Sophia explained quietly. “I don’t have the nerve to face him and talk to him like I hadn’t done anything wrong.”

  “It’s been years. Maybe, time has healed everything! Just try, honey.”

  “I just can’t, Auntie Bea. What if he has changed?” Sophia bared, even more.

  “I understand,” Bea sighed. “All right, if that’s your decision... let’s just go, then.”

  “Okay, we’ll go,” Alex agreed and was about to restart the car, when Sophia suddenly changed her mind. She went out, to Jericho, and said his name—softly and cautiously.

  Jericho was putting all his stuff in his car when he heard a female voice calling his name. It was so very familiar that it made his heart drum in his ears.

  For a while, Sophia wondered what forced her to open the car and talk to him. Her heart was racing, for he was about to look at her already.

  Jericho stood stock-still and couldn’t identify if the girl he had always loved was really standing right in front of him, or it was all just a product of his long-time hallucination.

  But as she came closer to him, at a snail’s pace, he had finally realized it was actually her, even taller, yet still frail and soft.

  “Sophia... is that… you?” he asked in a faltering voice.

  “Yes, Jericho. It’s... me,” Sophia barely replied.

  They hardly said something. They were hesitant to ask each other’s lives but were patient enough, for their dialogue to keep on.

  “My family and I—” Sophia’s voice suddenly trembled. It took her a while before she found the courage again. “Um, we’re here for a short vacation,” she finally said, reddened and pierced by his probing look. “We were passing by when Auntie Bea saw you. I mean, when I saw you, too, and Auntie Bea told me that it was actually… you.” Sophia felt she passed through thorns, to say those words.

  For a minute, he was wordless, gazing through those oceanic eyes that reflected the depths of her very apologetic soul. It was as if his fixed look bypassed the length of her spine and blew up straight to her mind, stimulating all the memory impulses of their young love.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Sophia,” Jericho finally spoke, after epochs. Then, he noticed a guy in the car with Bea. “Is he your boyfriend?” He strove, adding some false liveliness to his voice.

  “Oh, no!” Sophia palmed her forehead and took a glimpse at Alex in the car. “He’s Alex, my brother. He drives the car and… Auntie Bea is
also with me.”

  Yet again, Jericho turned quiet and unwittingly examined her.

  Sophia stood frozen, already feeling like collapsing, as Jericho’s stare turned more powerfully, making her uncomfortable, from head to toe.

  “How long would you stay in town?” Jericho continued, still with that lethal stare that now made Sophia’s eyes gaze in different directions.

  “Um, not that long. We’re actually... leaving tomorrow.” She bowed her head uneasily.

  “Tomorrow?” Jericho’s eyes revealed crying disappointment.

  A massive wave of torture washed over her, and it felt like she was drowned by those gloomy sea-green eyes of his. She tilted her chin up and said, “Auntie Bea told me that you’re now a doctor. I am really, really happy for you.”

  Jericho’s eyes narrowed then. “I promised you that I would be a doctor, remember?”

  A blast from the past!

  Sophia looked down, hiding her face with her long brown hair, and remembered the day when Jericho was aiding her bruises. She was bullied in school that day and was also sick. Then and there, Jericho promised her that he would be a doctor, to be always there for her every time she was wounded or sick.

  Sophia could not talk too much at that very moment. She could not believe that he actually kept his promises—and in return, she could never pay it back. She hardly stopped a tear from flowing and came to realize that crying would only add up to all the pain she brought into Jericho’s life.

  “I think I should go,” Sophia managed to whisper, wishing she could look him in the eye. “I’m sorry.” She turned around and went back to the car, wiping those aching tears with her bare hands.

  Standing mutely, Jericho lingered while watching her, but he felt completely melted by the flames of his ceaseless love for her. Shattered, he had nothing else to do but watch her leave again.

  Sophia entered the car and continued wiping her stinging tears.

  Alex and Bea did not know what to do. But to her surprise, Bea then asked Alex to restart the car.