Chapter Text
It was a moonless, freezing night. The woven leaf mat that was covering the wooden bedframe that she was lying on did nothing to cushion her back, and it kept her wide awake. The chilling, biting air of the room did not help, either. If anything, it only made her airway to become dry, causing her breaths to turn into wheezes each time she inhaled and exhaled. She tossed and turned to no avail, and her legs gradually stiffened. She faced the wall and sighed, finding the texture of mosquito net against her face irritating.
The window made of bamboo rattled as the wind outside blew hard. The small gaps of the walls let the air enter, making her feel much colder that she already did.
The door creaked, and she stiffened. Light of yellow color casted a soft glow behind her, creating dim shadows of her form.
"Where's the document?" a voice whispered.
A minute or so has passed when the person sighed, and the door creaked again.
"It's too dark, hijo. Look for it when the sun's risen," a woman said, her voice carelessly loud.
When she heard them exit the room she was in together with her things, she checked her bags if they were opened. None of them were, as the zippers remained closed when she touched them.
"What the hell?" she whispered, contemplating whether it was a dream, hallucination, or something else.
Peeking through the space of the door, she could see their almost imperceptible faces contorted in an expression of displeasure.
"Tiyo's still not here?"
"He's at the spring."
Who are they? Did the two break in? If yes, what for?
Thoughts overflowed her mind, but she knew she needs to find her uncle, now.
Taking her things as quiet as a mouse, she made her way back to the window and opened it just enough for her to easily pass through. Carefully, she climbed it and she squinted her eyes to scrutinize to ground she would be stepping on once she jumped down from the seemingly low window. When she was finally out of the house, she paced toward the forests, hoping that she would see her uncle there. Her footfall were loud to a fault, but she hoped that they were not loud enough to be heard.
"Where's she?"
That made her freeze. She heard the main door creak again along with the loud sound of rummaging.
"Mama! Mama, she's gone with her things!"
Without any delay, she ran for her life and did not dare trip.
Her heart pumped with blood like a mad animal filled with fear. Her feet felt as though it never made contact with the ground that she was sprinting on. Without any light in hand or from the moon itself to aid her escape, she leaped blindly, the branches and leaves slapping and scratching her. Her things were heavy against her shoulders, but she knew leaving them behind will be worse.
Shouting and screaming filled her ears, and words of, "How did you not hear her escape?" and "How would I know?!" reached her ears.
A hand grabbed her by her hair and yanked her down. The darkness of the woods was more than enough to terrify her to her wit's end, and she knew that she needs to free herself as soon as she humanly could. In desperation to get away, she clawed the earth beneath her and scrubbed the soil to what she assumed was the person's eyes. Onto her feet once more, she ran again before that person could even recover.
With each lungful of air she inhaled, a lungful of air was also expelled repeatedly in such a short duration. Her head felt light, and she was aware that if she were to walk a little slanted, she would fall to the ground.
"[Nickname]!"
The voice made her stop like an animal caught in a trap. That voice...that voice was her goddamned uncle's.
"[Nickname], let's not make this more difficult than it should be." His voice was loud and agitated. "Just give it to me, and we ain't gonna have trouble!"
Something snap inside her, likely realizing what was actually happening. All the talk he had with her earlier about being unable to hurt her was a bluff she almost believed due to how sincere his eyes were. Not that she trusted him fully, but she still felt so betrayed she could cry.
"Ah, shit!" that same younger man's voice shouted. "You shoulda ask for her things before letting her in!"
"Son, ya think he didn't?"
"I swear to fuck—I'm going home, old man!"
"Come on, child. Let your tiyo have this!" he pleaded, coughing. "There's so much debt to pay, and I really need the paper, okay?!"
Without her answering, he finally stopped talking, which only made her much more nervous. At that moment, she concluded that he was attempting to find where she was, and with him being far more used to the forest than her, she knew he would locate where she was. With quivering legs, she squeezed herself to a tree trunk while actively listening to any sound—rustling of the leaves, chirping of the insects, nocturnal animals hunting for food the same way her uncle was with her. Her body was stiff as a log, and her breaths were shallow in fear of him hearing it. The absence of his voice in the air was driving her crazy.
"You selfish bitch!"
A sharp pull dragged her by the hair once more, causing her to scream on top of her lungs in pain.
"Let me go!"
"Give me the title! Ya hear me? Give me it!"
His hand bashed her head into the trunk, each shove filled with malice and intention of ending just there and then. Her nails were clawing his skin and her feet were kicking his legs, but it did nothing to deter him. She felt a hand against her neck, and before she knew it, he was strangling her with full force.
"All I asked of him was to give his part! I didn't ask for anything else!"
"Sto—ack!"
Not even managing to finish her words, he pushed her head again, pressing it down so violently.
"Shut your mou—"
Without any warning, she heard something shoot, fast, and her uncle stopped gripping her hair and assaulting her neck. She heard a thud—he fell. When she looked down, she saw her uncle's head pierced with something slender—an arrow—exactly at the temple. It was so deeply embedded that there was no blood that was gushing out of the wound.
Vision full of dancing black dots and mind foggy—not entirely registering the situation—she stood there confused, looking at his twitching eyes. When she the cogs turned at last, she immediately got up to her feet and grabbed her things, preparing herself for the worse danger that lurked the dark...ness.
No.
It was not dark.
Nothing was dark anymore.
The environment was illuminated with gold, and when she gazed upwards, she saw that it was day. The branched, stout, fruit-bearing trees were no more, and instead she was surrounded with trees that seemed stretched upto the heavens. The grasses and weeds that grew like mat over the roots of trees changed, too. They were not like what she remembered from yesterday, and even the birds' singing became rickety cries of creatures that she was not knowledgeable of.
A man—no. The human-like being she saw approximately half a day ago has showed himself in front of her again, this time wearing a different set of clothing but his hair still had the same way of being tied. With him being only a meter or two away from her, she saw how he glowed brightly like the sun, blinding.
"It is you again."