Chapter 9

2015.12.21

We didn't meet up as we planned. All of us gave excuses. I knew it was not going to happen anyways. But they had made video calls to each other without me. I saw in their stories uploaded, perhaps they forgot to mute me in their stories for time being or just didn't mind at all. I was sad at first but I was okay because I was on a trip with my family and mom's brothers and their family.

In the early morning around 5.00 p.m. One of my Uncle picked us all up at our own residences. He had hired a family bus for us. Because it would be easier to travel and there won't be too much of vehicles and we can chat as we go along. In our trip there were 4 female adults, 5 male adults, 3 elder brothers, my aged cousin bro, 3 younger brothers, 2 elder sisters, me and 3 younger sisters. The elder bros were talking about their guy stuff. I, the sisters and younger bros were talking about movies, history, school and gossips. We arrived at the camp at 4.00 p.m. We had packed breakfast and bought the lunch in a restaurant that was on our way to the camp. The camp breath-taking. I loved how the trees made the canopies. At the middle of the camp base, there was no canopy. You could see the blue sky very clearly. The air smelled fresh and pure. Under the open sky there were several bonfire pits. We had booked the whole place for us because there were 22 of us. The adults, the youngster had our own bonfires. We started preparing for the night. We children got to go to the forest to pick up dried sticks and branches. We saw mushrooms perking under large trees, mosses, wild flowers. "Shall we take some these wild flowers too? We can make some flower crowns with it" Engel suggested. I nodded. She and one of my younger cousins picked up flowers and some small thin wines.

We came back to the bonfire place and loaded up the sticks. My uncles and dad was impressed and started to show us how to lay the sticks and how to start the bonfire. My mom and aunties were seasoning the chicken and the beef for barbeque. I was crushing the aluminum foil to make like a bowl to put on top of the grill. It was around 11.00 p.m. when we finished having our dinner. We sat around the bonfire and talked about ghost stories and new releases. And the adults as usual politics, business and stuff. We went to bed at around 12.20 p.m. but the boys and some the girls stayed up night and watched an action movie.

2015.12.22

I woke up early than the others. The boys were knocked out from yesterday's night movie. I left a note to mom saying 'I am in the woods not too far.' Because I didn't want her to wake up and find me gone missing. She becomes a bit panicked but still manages to hide that. There was ashes from yesterday's bonfire and the air smelled of morning dews. I went into the woods and sat on a log. I had bought along a small bag of nuts with me to munch on. The top canopy was slightly covered with mist. The leaves were heavy with dew. The birds chirped about the new day. I lost myself in the thoughts of the woods and munching. While I was looking somewhere a wild squirrel slowly came up to me. I watched him. It seemed to be familiar with people. They might have fed him/her while they were here camping. I laid some nuts a bit far away from me. I wasn't familiar with wild squirrel and I didn't want them to get wild and my hair their nest. It picked up the nut with its' both hands carefully and started munching with his two sharp front teeth. You never get to see this close a squirrel having your snack. I loved the way his fur stuck out and also it's' eyes that was on alert. I slowly took my leave back to the camp.

All my aunts and mom were awake. They were preparing breakfast. "Had a walk?" One of my aunts asked me. "Yeah! I even saw a wild squirrel and I handed him some. He ate them." "Be careful. They are still wild animals dear." "Yes aunty. That is why I came back soon." She laughed. I helped her with the breakfast. We had grilled meat from yesterday and some tortillas. After we had our breakfast we played 'run and catcher'. We had falls down the hill, mud on our trousers and shirts, branches sticking to our hairs making us ultimate jungle kids.

"I am out of breath." one of my cousin brother said in a distorted voice. We all sat down for a while to catch our breath. "How about we play Robin-Hood and the Sherwood?" I asked them. "We can find curved branches, what about the elastic cords?" my aged cousin bro asked me. "Did you think I would come unprepared?" I took out a roll of elastic cord. I bought the elastic cord from Masha and my friend who ate my chocolate. I said it was unfair and wrong to take something of mine without asking. I know you would say we are friends and everything could be shared and should be shared; I am totally against it. They paid me in cash for the chocolate, although it costed even more. I took the money, I regret it but again I am happy because I was able to buy the elastic cord for the trip. I am absurd. I know.

We got 12 curved branches for the bows and some straight ones for arrows. The elder bros had pocket knives. They shaved the bark and made pointy ends for the arrows. I and my sisters attached the elastic cords. "Now for the roles. We will write on pieces of paper the characters. And then I will throw it on the ground." the eldest cousin sister told us. Robin-Hood was a girl, Little John was little cousin bro and I was Marian. Other characters were a perfect fit. We played till afternoon 3.30 p.m. and had lunch at 4.00 pm. with all the sweat and muddy clothes. Around 5.30 we had a bath down a stream and we packed at 6.30 p.m. to head back to home.

We came to a family restaurant. There wasn't a long table for 22 of us. The maximum is 10 people per table. The staff in the restaurant joined two tables in the middle of the restaurant with a couch on one end. If anyone comes into the restaurant first thing they will notice is us. We are loud, funny and high in number. We ordered around 30 dishes and 22 drinks. The moms sat on the couch, Dads on the other corner, boys and girls on either side. I was having submarine, I am not a huge eater although I love to eat but I get hungry every 1 hour after having a meal. "Are you eating that part also?" My cousin bro who is same age as me; I should have said his name by now right?! He is Riordan, we call him in short Rio. "Yeah Rio. Go ahead." I handed him my plate and started sipping my mango lassie. I watched him eat and Engel eating the whole burger and asking for food around. Both of them are big eaters and are hungry 24/7. My dad handed over some sandwiches to Engel and Rio robbed one from her successfully. My uncle dropped all of us to our homes and left to his.

2025.05.16

It was almost 13 hours I have printed out the article. I sat with the article for 6 hours straight, reading it over and over again. I am scared. I didn't want to make a mistake or say something out of rage. I was calming myself with a hot chocolate with floating marshmallows. The article was on the table. The sunset rays was falling on the paper as if it is my new path for a better me. There was paper balls in the bin, around the bin, on the table and on the couch. I was stressing out to write a reply, I shouldn't make a mistake. I shouldn't reveal something that is not in the article or something that will harm me and also something that she will be traumatized from. Because I know. I know how it feels. I know how it feels to be dead. I know how it feels to be dead even when you are alive. The doorbell rang. I zapped back to reality and screamed putting down the mug in a hurry. I dint realize that I was burning my tongue this whole time.