CHAPTER 14

After exploring the area outside for a while with Lysander, I came into our room, not able to bare the glaring sun. I gently shook Tavin awake. “Tavin? Tavin, wake up. It’s already afternoon.” He was still deeply sleeping; everything that had happened must’ve taken a great toll on his body and mind, making me hesitant in disturbing his peaceful slumber.

But finally, Tavin let out a groan, blearily sitting up while wiping his eyes. I helped him drink from the glass of water and folded up the blankets. He took in his surroundings with sleepy eyes. “Where-” he hoarsely started before clearing his throat, “Where are we?”

“Lysander’s home. He brought us here when you passed out, are you okay, now? Feeling better? Did you hit your head with that fall?” I asked, getting up and touching his head to inspect any bumps; I should’ve done it before we went to sleep!

Tavin grabbed my hand and I stilled. He was watching me intently through his disheveled hair. “W-What’s wrong?” No sooner had I asked that, Tavin pulled me down into his arms, hugging me tightly to himself. I held my breath and I froze as Tavin tucked his head into my neck and hugged me tighter.

“Sorry-” I heard him whisper into my shoulder; “-I was just…reminding myself that I am not alone.”

My eyes widened at that before I squeezed them close and returned Tavin’s embrace with the same intensity. I reveled the close contact with him, feeling us breathing and our hearts beating in unison, as we both relaxed into the hug, momentarily sated and letting go of any worries or troubles.

I needed this hug; I hadn’t realized it until now.

After having no contact with anyone I held near to me within a week, not knowing if we would make it alive at the end of this to being embraced securely under the hold of Tavin whom I got to know well despite my initial doubts of him, had me feeling as if everything in the world was okay, that I will be saved, that I have nothing to be worried about.

I felt safe and secure, without worries. We had each other, and that was enough for me at this moment.

With these thoughts, I sank into his embrace even more, my head between his chin and shoulder. Yes, we weren’t alone anymore; it seems that we have to keep reminding ourselves about that fact. Tavin and I have only each other to take comfort from and to lean on at the moment. Especially Tavin.

“Are you awake? We have prepared- oh.”

I immediately pushed Tavin away just as he did the same with startled eyes. Martha peered down at us from the doorway with a smile, “Sorry about that! We prepared a meal for you!”

“W-we will be there soon, thank you,” I thanked her with flushed cheeks and she left with a giggle.

“Who was that?” asked Tavin who was pulling his long fingers through his ash-blond hair in an attempt to fix his bedhead. “That was Martha, Lysander’s wife,” I replied, standing up and putting the blankets away without looking at him as if we hadn’t hugged the shit out of each other the last few seconds.

“Oh. So, we…we really are on Efate Islands?”

Exhaling a deep breath, I turned to look down at Tavin who was slouched on the mat, “Yes, Tavin. We are.”

“Damn,” he laughed humorlessly, dragging his hand through his hair once again, but with shaky fingers this time. I placed my hand on his back and rubbed it lightly, “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here soon. We should consider ourselves fortunate that we are here instead of Malden Islands; I heard Lysander say that the attacks on Malden had significantly grown. With his help, we can plan on what we are to do next.”

Tavin nodded before looking at me with a small smile, “I’m glad you are here with me. I cannot believe I passed out like that…how embarrassing…and you are much more strong-minded and willful. Without you, I would have already passed on and become part of the sea's coral.”

“Don’t say that! Your reactions are valid since you’ve had it harder than me. You don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of a girl,” I winked at him in an attempt to ease the atmosphere. “I know how manly you can be, so you can be yourself with me.”

Tavin chuckled, “That’s good. Please forget all those humiliating incidents and remember my machismo instead. If you happened to be the last person I see before I die, I want to make sure I leave a lasting impression.”

I slapped his arm, “Don’t joke about your death, Tavin! Come on, let’s go. They must be waiting for us.”

Tavin stood up and both of us sported looks of alarm at how his head nearly reached the thatched roof of the house. “Why are you so tall?” I inquired with a scowl, feeling a bit annoyed that I couldn't even reach his chin.

Tavin sheepishly grinned at me before pinching a loose end of a straw from the roof. He grew bewildered and panicked when he accidentally pulled it out. “What kind of living place is this?” he wondered out loud while looking around the room and I quickly slapped my hand over his mouth, “Shh! Be quiet!”

“What?!”

“Apparently, we are in a fishing village. I ventured out for a while after I woke up; I didn’t go far, but I went far enough to know that we are on an extremely rural side of the country. All houses were built the same way if not worse. You should not be rude when we meet our hosts. They were kind enough to bring us here, to look after you and give us a place to stay for the time being.”

“I see. I’ve never been to such a place before. I feel well-rested after a long time too. Let’s go out and meet the others then,” Tavin suggested, bowing his head under the doorway when we left the room. Martha and Lysander immediately turned their heads toward our direction from the kitchen floor.

“Hello, hope you had a good sleep. Were the mats uncomfortable?” Lysander asked and we immediately shook our heads.

“That was the best sleep I’ve ever had for as long as I can remember,” Tavin stated before going crouching down in front of Martha. I choked on air when he elegantly took her hand and kissed the top of it, “I heard you were the woman who nursed me while I was out. I heartily thank you, Madam. My name is Tavin, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

What? Did? He? Just? Do?

Martha blinked at him in surprise before awkwardly taking her hand away, “Uhm, hello…please sit and have this meal with the lady. I’m afraid you will have to wash your hands from that pot first.” Then she went back to what she was doing before, to the task of cleaning out fish.

How Martha tried to discreetly wipe her hand over her long skirt didn’t go unnoticed by me, Lysander and Tavin.

I snickered at Tavin’s frozen expression and leaned toward him, “Please, your charms won’t work on older women. Remember where you are, silly. Women here are down to Earth.”

Lysander softly shook his head with a slight smile, “My wife will never entertain advances from other men, Tavin.”

I giggled and took Tavin’s hand and led him outside to get him out of his embarrassment. “I think I’ve forgotten your ‘machismo’ moments now, Tavin,” I laughed and Tavin scowled, his face flaming and lips jutting out into a pout.

“Haha, very funny,” he said, having no comebacks or words left to say back.

There was a pot filled with water under a tree which was filled to the brim. As per Lysander's instructions, I spotted an empty half of a coconut shell lying next to it and filled it with water from the pot. I looked expectantly at Tavin who was watching what I was doing with attentive eyes.

“Hold your hands out,” I instructed and he slowly held his palms while I poured the water onto them.

After he washed his hands, I washed mine too. “There is no tap?” Tavin whispered in question, looking at his surroundings as if a tap would magically appear somewhere in front of us.

“No Tavin,” I matched his volume, “No regular water, no electricity; this is not Canada. When I said we were in a rural area, I meant…it’s much worse than what you thought.”

Tavin appeared to look stunned; he was really a rich boy- However, I couldn't judge him too harshly since I, myself had never been to a rural area like this before- so who was I to criticize? “Then this is an experience…well, this month’s been all about the unexpected… This is definitely a step up from the lifeboat though; I would rather stay here than on the boat," he remarked, and I agreed with him.

“You are certainly right about that. Now, you be polite to Martha when we go inside,” I warned him, raising onto my tiptoes and lightly smacking the back of his head.

“You surely have become comfortable with me, have you?” he mocked dauntingly and I stuck my tongue out at him as we made our way inside.

We were served ready-made meals consisting of cooked sea-fish and rice, along with two slices of potato, all in large lotus leaves. We sat down on the mats where we had slept earlier, looking at each other with dubious expressions before peering down at the food in front of us.

It was real, wasn’t it?

With my shaky hand, I took a handful of rice mixed with mashed potatoes and fish and brought it to my mouth. The food just sat on my tongue at first. But then I slowly began to eat and swallow, savoring the taste. Soon enough, I found myself devouring the food, tears streaming down my face without me even realizing it.

“This-this is delicious- it’s…it’s the best meal I’ve ever had,” Tavin stated in a wobbly voice; I could tell that he was holding back his own emotions- trying to hang on to the last of his ‘machismo’ unlike me who was close to bawling. The couple watched us with small smiles and Martha kindly asked Tavin, “Son, do you need some more?”

“Have-have you all not eaten, yet? Please, don’t waste all your food on us. This is more than enough!” he said and I nodded through my tears.

“Our hunger is sated, child. We can see the look in your eyes…after weeks of going without real food, I believe you deserve this…you deserve even more, but if I had known we were having guests, I could’ve prepared more,” Martha said regrettably.

“As we said before, this is more than enough. Really. You’ve outdone yourselves, it’s our fault to have barged in so suddenly. Getting to eat this feast has been the highlight of this month,” Tavin said and Martha smiled bashfully which made a smile make its way into my tear-stricken face.

After we gobbled our meals and washed up, we sat on a bench outside and discussed our next step while eating some fruits.

Lysander and Tavin talked amongst themselves while Martha went inside to check in on her sleeping daughter. I powered my phone on after staring at it nervously for a minute. I held it tightly in my hand, my eyes fixed on the screen as it lit up to display my lock screen wallpaper; it was a picture of me smiling with Larisa and a few of my other friends at a concert that we went to at the start of this year. But before I could unlock it, my heart nearly dropped dead when I saw the battery percentage.

It was 2%.

“Shit!” I exclaimed harshly and quickly checked the signal bars -they were empty.

I don't have enough battery and there's no signal.

“Candace! What’s wrong?” Tavin asked me urgently with concern, and even Lysander looked at me with worry.

“Why, why, why, why, WHY did I have to use up all the battery by taking pictures as if I was on some vacation! I should’ve just sucked it up and waited patiently, and now- now there’s almost no hope!” I cried out, clutching the phone where the wallpaper of my smiling face stared right back at me. Tavin took my phone and turned its power off, “Are you trying to connect to your friend?”

“Y-yes! I told her to call me on the last night on the ship. I think her phone drowned with the ship, so I have to wait until she finds herself a way to call me.”

“You do realize you are making a gamble here, don’t you?” Tavin affirmed sternly, crossing his arms.

“What do you mean by that?” I cut my eyes onto him and he looked closely at me. “You do realize that you are waiting for a phone call that may or may NOT reach you? WE barely survived in the sea, Candace. We know nothing of the other survivors, what if they had a worse situation than us, huh? I’m sorry to say this but what if that call never comes, Candace?”

My hackles rose as I stood up and glared at him, “What did you just say? Are you implying that Larisa is DEAD?”

Tavin took a deep breath, “I don’t know, but you cannot wait for a phone call that won’t come!”

“Well then, what if she IS alive and finds a way to connect to me?” I shot back, my anger increasing by the second.

“Good for you! You have no signal, you have no battery, wait days and nights staring at that phone until you get a call then! What if we had other ways to escape while you waited? Why waste time waiting for a phone call that may never come? Use that time to do something worthwhile for the time being, we should think of ourselves first, isn’t that what we agreed on?” he questioned with his eyebrows raised and arms crossed.

“Larisa is my best friend! Who knows what she is going through? What if this one phone call could change something? Save someone’s life?” I asked hysterically to which Tavin threw his hands up in the air, “You are being irrational, Candace!”

“-Excuse me, if I could ease your worries, Candace, Miss,” cut in Lysander from the side making me remember that he was here all along, “unfortunately, our village is not... technologically developed. The marketplace which is a day away from foot is the place where you could easily gain access to signal…”

“A-A day? It takes a day to go to find any service? What- how, I mean…are there no other faster modes of transport?” I asked in a baffled tone. A DAY to the marketplace…? By FOOT? How far is it actually?

Lysander shook his head sympathetically, “Trucks come once a week to carry our supply to the marketplace…but that is on Friday, which is the day after tomorrow.”

The Efate Island; The Island that wanted to bring Malden Island under their rule. Efate Island, being more developed than Malden Island, was the stronger of the two and initiated the conflict…but an Island said to be like this…THIS was the condition of such a country? No transport, no electricity, no water supply, no communication signals…is this the condition of a country that is considered the main driver of a conflict?

Lysander knew exactly what I was thinking by looking at the pensive and confused expression I was wearing. “It is unfortunate that you had to land directly onto the rural parts of the Island. The much more developed cities and towns are at the opposite, far end of the Island. I went there once and some buildings soared up high; I had to crane my neck far back to see its top- yet I couldn’t see it!” his eyes twinkled with child-like wonder before their light went out quickly as it had come, “But I never wanted to go back to the cities ever again. As much as it scared me, this is where we belong. This is our familiar place, where we feel safe and sound. You must feel the same way about your home, which is why I understand that we must find a faster way to return you to your home.

“According to what Reggie said yesterday, with the declaration of war, we rural villages might be the first to be attacked, especially with Malden Island quickly rising to fight back. Therefore, you must do your best to go home. I also bare the guilt and responsibility for bringing you here and getting you mixed up with a war that has nothing to do with you.”

“Lysander, what are you talking about? Please don’t feel guilty about this. We survived because you found us. We didn’t lose hope because you brought us back to civilization,” I immediately retorted, taking the man’s rugged hands and clasping them, gratefulness oozing out of me in waves.

“Yes, Lysander. We owe our lives to you and your wife. If not for you, who knows where we would’ve ended up by now?” Tavin added as Lysander cast a sad smile at us, “If that phone call is the way you could get back to where you came from, then I can help you. Not far away from here is a hill where we worship our deities. We call it the ‘Holy Hill’. It takes approximately two hours to go there. None of us have phones, so I have no way of knowing whether that place would grant any signal or communication. But it is unarguably the highest place in the village.”

“I’ll take my chances!” I determinedly said. “Please take me there. This is the last help I ask from you Lysander.”

“Candace, what are you thinking?!” Tavin blared in disbelief.

“Don’t come with me if you don’t want to. But I will do anything to get hold of Larisa.”

“You should call your parents instead! Ask them to send some help! Then we can get hold of your friend!”

“But she might be in trouble! My parents aren’t going anywhere, but I need to know where my best friend is! I cannot rest until I hear from her!”

The glare Tavin sent my way rooted my whole body onto the ground. He towered over me, his aggressive aura almost having me in a chokehold, “If I were you, I would contact my parents seeing how I never got the chance to talk or see them at their last moment. Have a reality check, Candace. Your precious friend might be dead or drowned for all I care. Do whatever you want. Stay up on that hill for days until you get a phone call that may NEVER come. I will NOT accompany you. I will stay here and do everything I can to find a way to save ourselves. Do whatever you please.” And with that, he stormed back into the house with my jaw dropped like a trapdoor as I watched him disappear.

“Uhm…well, it is normal for couples to fight like that! I remember when I was pursuing my dear Martha. The number of fights we got into could rival that of a mongoose and snake!”

Next to my family, Larisa was the most precious person in my life, ever since middle school. We had gone through so much and knew everything about each other. She was my rock, my best friend, my sister. If she was really gone…then I needed the affirmation at least. I knew Tavin was right. I was taking a gamble by waiting for a phone call.

But what if she was really alive and had called me somehow? Tavin mentioned that he would’ve called my parents instead; since you never knew whether that would be the last you’ll hear from them; WHICH is why I HAD to do this.

What if I was the only way of surviving for Larisa? What if that one phone call could change everything? What if I believed she was gone forever, only to miss a phone call that could be her final lifeline?

I had to do this, with or without Tavin.

My heart ached for some reason as Tavin disappeared into the little house. Despite our vow to stick together through thick and thin, this would be the first time I would move forward without Tavin since the shipwreck. But what needed to be done, has to be done.

Taking a deep breath and clutching my dying phone tightly, I turned to Lysander.

“Please take me to the Holy Hill.”