CHAPTER 16

“Hey! Hey! Knock it off! Let her go!” Tavin's voice pierced through the chaos as I struggled to free myself from the woman's suffocating grasp. Lysander grabbed the woman by her waist while Tavin forcefully pushed her hands away from me and guided me protectively against his chest. I leaned against him breathing heavily, shaken and confused at the woman who was still lashing out.

“What in the world happened? What is with you, woman? Come to your senses!” Lysander yelled over her frantic screams.

“The Gods spoke to me! We will die! We will die! Pack your things! Take your children away! They will come!”

“What-what are you talking about?” I asked breathlessly, still taken aback by the woman’s actions and words.

“Escape! Survive! We will all die, oh, we will all die! The Gods are never wrong!” she struggled against Lysander’s grip and escaped his clutches, scampering away with a cry, demanding the other passers to listen to her outcries.

“Lysander, where have you brought us to?” Tavin inquired, huddling me close as I caught my breath. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know what is with the events today. I certainly didn’t expect people to jump on us on the way, although I have to say, bandits ARE common in this area,” Lysander disclosed pensively.

“What was she talking about?” I wondered and Lysander looked ahead into the distance with a contemplative look in his eyes.

“You shouldn’t think about what she said. People like that are common here. Forget it ever happened. Come, let’s go. We are almost there,” Lysander averted his gaze to the front before he began his ascent up the hill.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion and I quickly confronted him, “Lysander, you are not possibly believing her, are you?”

He let out a deep sigh as if exhaling the burdens of the day, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she was right.”

This time, it was Tavin who spoke up in perplexity, “What do you mean? How could you think that way?”

“News reached us after you slept; Malden Island has begun to attack Efate in return. They have started with the nearest coastal areas. They will strike the rural areas before getting into the main city. If our village is fortunate, we will be spared, but I won’t keep my hopes up.”

My heart and body literally turned into stone at his statement. “But that might not be the case either! The war might stop; one side will have to surrender soon. Our military troops will face them head-on! They will do everything they can to stop this!” Lysander hurried to ease my concerns, although it did nothing to soothe me.

Tavin and I exchanged anxious and worried glances. I didn’t know what to think. I wanted to get out of this country as soon as possible. I began to feel guilty for my emotions, realizing that the real victims in this situation were the villagers here.

“I’m sorry this is happening to you. It feels wrong that we are demanding so much, Lysander,” Tavin expressed remorsefully.

“You had no control over this. You didn’t ask to be here. That is why as the one who brought you here, I have to make sure that you two can return home safely.”

It didn’t make me feel any better and I could say that Tavin was feeling the same thing. Us leaving while they remain here? But deep inside, I knew that what Lysander said was rational. Innocent villages that become victims of war despite not being involved evoked a great deal of sympathy and compassion in my heart. Their lives were disrupted. What could they do? Leave their villages and jobs? Flee the country and be lost amidst the throes of unfamiliar surroundings and people? What if their escape led them to an even worse situation than before?

Curiosity brimmed within Tavin as we continued walking along the rocky path, "How do you stay informed about what's happening?" Tavin sought to know.

Lysander smiled, “Reggie. As I said before, he works in the military. He came home for two weeks to look after his sick mother, but he will have to report to duty this Friday.”

“I would’ve never pictured him as a soldier,” I stated in awe, pausing midway to catch my breath.

Lysander nodded with a small chuckle, “He is a man with little words. He has been in the job for four years.”

“He seems to be a very down to Earth person,” Tavin added while he waited for me to join him.

After that, we were lost in our own thoughts. I desperately wanted to divert my attention from the daunting thoughts of the possible situations I could face during the war, so I looked at the men beside me to start a conversation. My parted lips shut closed when I saw that the two other men were in their own heads, probably thinking about the same topic as I had been thinking of, even though we agreed not to do so.

My shoulders sagged as I concentrated on my walk up the hill without bothering the men who were wandering through the corridors in their minds. Instead, I resorted to naming the plants and flowers I recognized in my head.

I recognized none.

“And there you have it! We have finally reached the summit!”

At Lysander’s declaration, all the tiredness in my body was replaced by inexplainable eagerness and relief. My body sagged against a tree as I stopped to catch my wind before looking around.

We were truly at the hill's peak. We were greeted with a breathtaking view of the vast blue ocean ahead of us, including the whole village from which we had climbed up. A majestic Willow tree stood in the heart of the hill surrounded by other trees decorated with little colorful flags (which I later got to know were wishes and prayers). Its drooping branches gently swayed in the breeze with its long, narrow, green leaves kissing the ground. It almost created an image of a weeping person.

“Wow,” Tavin breathed out from beside me as I felt my artistic senses awakening within me. Oh, to etch this scene onto a canvas! My fingers were itching to grab a paintbrush or even a pencil to sketch this masterpiece of a scenery!

“To me, this spot is undeniably the most beautiful. The Willow Tree is over 100 years old. It holds a special significance in our village. We believe that our deities reside within its branches, looking over our village from above, granting and listening to our wishes and hopes,” Lysander related as we watched a group of people under the looming tree. “I suggest you quickly make that phone call while I go to the Willow tree to make my prayers and give offerings.”

At the mention of the reason for my visit here, I jolted out of my trance and quickened to grab my phone out of the bag.

Lysander left us to join some other people who stood in reverence, their hands clasped in prayer beneath the looming leaves of the Willow tree. Beside them, another group respectfully laid their tributes at the base of the tree's roots.

I powered on my phone and waited on tenterhooks, my heart pounding with anticipation as I watched the screen light up. The battery percentage glowered back at me, mocking my dwindling hopes and with wobbly hands, I lifted the device, desperately seeking a signal, only to find empty signal bars.

Seeing my face that resembled a shattered mirror, Tavin grabbed my phone with a weary sigh and hoisted it high above his head. He walked in circles around me, making his way toward the cliff that offered a spectacular view of the village below and the sea beyond. I followed him anxiously, my mind swirling with doubts and questions.

What do I do if there was no word from Larisa?

What do I do after my phone shuts down completely?

Calm down, Candace. We are in a rural village, but that doesn’t mean that there is no power outlet out there somewhere. All I have to do is to reach the city, where they DO have their resources, electricity and mobile signal.

Yes! All we have to do is to reach the city and aware the relevant authorities of our survival so that they could send us home!

But the war; THE WAR!

I resisted the urge to clutch my head and unleash a scream of frustration.

“GOT IT!”

My feet were rushing me to Tavin in a second. I snatched my phone from his grasp and looked at the lone signal bar at the top corner of the screen with my hair standing on end and my pulse racing. I watched with hopeful, teary eyes and quick breaths as my phone dinged with notifications, missed calls and messages that mourned my supposed death and questioned my existence.

Deep down, I knew that I should be ready for disappointment and distress if I had no trace of my best friend’s being.

Does she have her phone with her at the moment like me? She had her phone while we were having the last meal on the ship, but did she have it while we were running to save our lives? Her dress had no pockets like mine, the possibility was slim to none.

But what IF?

Somehow?

In any way?

What if she REALLY had her phone with her like me while she sailed away in that lifeboat? If so, she must’ve sent something to me from her number, at least?

I was going to take my chances. I knew it was wishful and desperate hoping, but with quick fingers and harsh breaths, I dialed Larisa’s number.

And I waited.

Only silence greeted me from the other side.

Tears blurring my vision, I scanned the phone screen, desperately seeking any trace of Larisa's presence by violently swiping my finger over the sea of notifications.

Tavin guided me a little towards the right when the signal was momentarily lost, but then, there it was, lo and behold, a missed call from an unknown number. While there were other missed calls from people from my contacts, this seemed to be the only missed call from an unsaved number. Without any hesitation, I immediately rang the unknown number.

“It’s ringing!” I exclaimed to Tavin, but my excitement gradually died down when seconds went by without any signs of picking up.

I brought my phone down and stared at the screen with blurred vision.

“Hey, look. Candace, isn’t that a voicemail? From that same number?” Tavin probed, peeking into my phone. I wiped my tears and checked my phone to confirm his words. True enough, there was a solitary voicemail sent to me from that same unknown number.

It was sent yesterday.

“Go on,” Tavin softly encouraged from beside me and I played the voicemail with a shaky finger.

As soon as I heard her voice, my hand instinctively flew to my chest, as if to stop the steadfast pounding of my heart. It was as though I had finally found my bearings after being lost at sea for far too long. No pun intended, but that was exactly how it felt upon hearing Larisa's voice. Tavin appeared to be taken aback as well as if he didn’t expect her to actually reach out, while all I could think was that Larisa was alive; that she had survived.

Her voice crackled through the speaker as a result of the poor signal, but I hung onto her every word and made out what she was saying. Her voice quivered, a blend of tearfulness in her shaky voice;

“Candace! It’s me, Larisa. I hope and pray that I reached out to you. If you are listening to this, that means we are alive! I cannot talk much but you wouldn’t believe where I am right now, Candance,” she paused to let out a little sob, sniffing into the phone while my heart thudded in fear against my chest.

“Candace, we…we -oh my god, We...we're in Malden Islands, Candace!" Her words hung in the air like a death knell while my phone almost dropped onto the ground.

All strength left my legs. If it was not for Tavin who held on to me, I would’ve fallen off the cliff. “No way I heard that right,” Tavin whispered into the still air as my eyes filled with tears.

“Candace, it’s- it’s terrible out here! ThPeople are DYINGpeople are being KILLED! I- I cannot wrap my head around what’s happening. One of the men who helped me get into the boat that day of the shipwreck- he died, Candace! He died trying to protect the rest of us!” Larisa was now sobbing uncontrollably into the phone, her words were barely getting through. Tears surged from my own eyes like gushing waterfalls.

"But," she sniffed as she fought to regain control of her voice. “There is a plane leaving led by the Army, for people who are escaping the country. I don’t know when, but it may be next week. We are trying our best to reach the plane with the others. Where ever you are, Candace, I hope to God- even though I’m not a religious person- that you’ll make it.”

My phone dinged suddenly, stating that it will power off completely within thirty seconds. My heart raced against my chest in fear, my mind having no stable thoughts of what I should do now as Larisa continued. “If you somehow decided to come to Malden Islands, we are in a city called- wait, where are we again?” I heard her ask someone off the line as her voice momentarily faded away before coming back on. “Right, we are in a city called ‘Anvers’, we are in hiding with some other citizens in an apartment complex- Resident Gulf; I think it’s called. I don’t know, if you are miraculously in Malden, this is where we are.

“The roads are closed but the soldiers have found a way to leave this place for the airport on Saturday afternoon despite the fact we don’t know when we’ll take off yet. The plane will leave for another safer island. Candace, I- I didn’t even call my family; I didn’t want to give them hope of my survival. What if I died along the way? I am in a country with war for God’s sake. I really, really hope you are alive-”

We were startled by the sudden sheer ringing of my phone. It’s been so long since I heard my ringtone that I almost thought that it was not mine. We peered at the flashing screen with inquisitive and wide eyes and a gasp caught in my throat, causing a momentary loss of breath in me when I saw that it was a phone call from the same unknown number that Larisa had conveyed her voicemail from.

The phone was shaking in my hands and Tavin took the liberty to quickly accept the call. “Hello?”

“Candace? Candace! Oh-"

She barely got a chance to get a word in before the phone shut down, silencing my best friend with a final, despairing beep.