" Sr. Sibal had a very loyal servant named Lolita who took good care of the house while he told her he"ll be going back to Manila with some friends." " Wait...Lolita, that"s Ina."
" Shh...quiet..." Albrecht jokily slapped her hand again.
" What...why you keep on slapping. What"s your problem, ha?" Magee was irritated with Albrecht as she resort her mood to just randomly pick out and had some bite with the sweet potatoes that Albrecht gave her.
" Uh...ho...I will not continue, I need focus, please keep silent." George interfered.
Then the thin air invaded their silence following the breathtaking excitement.
" At first, the entrance of the cave was creepy and even creepier when Captain saw the dark semi-curtains on top of the entrance that resembled into live bats during nighttime and looks like curtains on daytime. I actually saw the place, its foggy and there were wild dogs around. There"s that river in front of it where leeches live and waits for bloods to suck. Above the river were hundreds of plants like morning glories and were said to he hallucinogens. So any one who can survive from the slaying dogs, leeches and bats could hardly survive from their hallucinations when they smell those weird flowers. No one can see the inside part of the cave from the top, even the planes since even if it"s summer, fogs won"t go. The place is always covered with fogs. But Sr. Sibal was indeed a genius. He had his secret ways on how to safely draw closer to the cave; taming all the dogs and prevented the leeches to attack them while sailing the boat, heading to the cave"s entrance. He put a lot of animal oils to all of their bodies, including that with the Captain. There, grandpa Sibal gave a temporary potion to the wild dogs as they all fell asleep. In so doing, they went inside the cave while all the sacks were tied with ropes as they crawled going inside. But before that, they destroyed the boat as it sank in the river while covered with big stones and logs. It took them for one hour to reach inside. Finally, they arrived there in the morning of April 1, 1918, it was, when the world had this Spanish flu pandemic. Inside was a Paradise. They never knew that the hiding place they thought creepy in all sorts was a beautiful place. They saw a lot of berries, fruit-bearing trees and a great haven. The inside part of it looks like a well surrounded by steep mountains with century old trees and estimated a hectare land inside. The Captain, who decided to save the family felt the blessings of G.o.d upon seeing the islet of paradise. He thought that despite a deadly situation still led them into that beautiful place. Days turned out a couple of joy when the Captain fell in love with the widow and took good care of the children as his own. In 1919, Magee was born and her mother died for a risky labor. Desperate yet the Captain took good care of the little baby girl....."
" Stop." Albrecht embraced her and they were both in tears.
" Magee was just very still and sobbing.
" No need to worry now. We"re reunited. You don"t need to resent because not even a week that we visit in Sr. Sibal"s place just to check you.
George just pause for a while and bowed his head.
" Can"t imagine how this story would go. So what happened next to my mother"s death, how I was sent away and separated from my brothers." She was sobbing as she urged George to continue.
" You were sickly so the Captain and Sr. Sibal decided to send you to Lolita or else something bad could have happened. Lolita that time was still single and she secretly took good care of you while Sr. Sibal got back to the cave. Appallingly, the captain would sometimes check you by himself and came back to the cave telling to his brothers your progress in growing up. Lolita fed you with enough maternal care and love. Time came the Captain has to leave you for good on her care and brought your brothers in the US, back then, he trained them both to become soldiers. Knowing about this war, he urged your brothers to grab the opportunity of seeing you around. However, they could not get back to the opening of the cave anymore, its already close. The captain just wondered because the rocks that fits to the cave"s opening has naturally locked itself. It sounds like it was a live rock and grew and filled out the entire entrance. To make the story short, we were batchmates with your siblings back there. Even if they have not finished proper schooling but because of Sr. Sibal"s tutorial, they compete with the rest. Three months ago we arrived to this place. I began to like everything in here despite this war." Then he smiled.
Baldur approached them bringing a bigger candle.
" What happened to our little sister, you"ve given her enough baggage to think about this time, but anyway, thanks George." Baldur joined them as he winked an eye to George.
Baldur was 22 years old and obviously the middle child. It was his first time to touch her head smooched by his hand.
" When we first saw you after several years, we felt guilty. So we just watched you from afar and it started three months ago till the time you fell into the abyss. We didn"t even have any plans of giving you to Hakanori. That"s something you never knew that these guys in front are updating your life from time to time. Especially this handsome guy here who kept on checking ..." Baldur"s revelation was cutoff.
"Whoah! the storytelling was transfered on me now, haha. But it isn"t funny. Magee, it"s a pure mission. I was only task to guard you."
" Dad did not even tell you to secretly gather, collect and provide some firewood everyday so that Magee could easily get some. But anyway, yeah, it"s part of the secret mission." Albrecht looked to George with sarcasm.
Magee was smilingly staring to George who was placed under interrogation.
It"s different, there must be no misunderstanding here. It"s a plain service, it"s part of my career." Then he left, giving s.p.a.ce between the siblings so that they can properly talk, reminisce things and plan out together.
He could hear them chatting joyously and sharing issues and experiences. Finally, the siblings were reunited after long years of being strangers. It made him smile while leaning on his hands at the back of his head, looking up on a dark ceiling of rocks, following the shadows coming from the candle that the siblings are using.
" She"s like sunlight, no matter how dark this world is, she shines in my heart like no other. She perfectly impressed my soul and brought me to heavens and makes me the happiest. Ironically, I"m just helpless on what to do with my feelings but this must not also supercede with my job. Their values here is a total reverse to ours and even if I get the approval of the brothers, her...her temper seems so cruel on men. She may probably like me in the future but I know it would take me to a dungeon of a longer process...gosh! by now, I will just be enjoying with her company, act like a real strict head around, otherwise she"ll notice me or...fire me immediately. It shouldn"t be. I can"t bear it. I liked her a lot, even most of the times she"s talking to the waters at the well while being alone, yelling at the "bagons" hanging, smiling to the flowers in the woods, crazily cried in front of the tree where I was trapped at the back of it as she released her anger to the j.a.panese soldiers, especially to Hakanori. Her innocence is killing me so softly..." He gallantly smiled and fortunately had slept while seeing her again in her dreams.