CHAPTER 17

I stared at the dead black screen in silence. I heard nothing but the chants of the devotees from behind and the crashing of waves against the rocks far ahead of the Holy Hill.

She was alive.

She called me.

She connected with me.

She-

“She is in Malden Islands,” I repeated breathlessly to myself, feeling as if I was going to pass out anytime now. Tavin took me by the shoulders and guided me to sit on a rock surface. “Have some water,” he said as he handed me the gourd of water from the bag and I downed it in seconds.

Tavin pensively took a sip from the bottle, “Well, I didn’t think she actually reached out to you. Now that we know your friend is safe and have the modes to get out of that Island, we have to think about how we are going to leave too.”

“She is alive, Tavin. I am-” I took a deep breath trying not to feel so overwhelmed by the fact that she was really alive. “I am so happy and relieved,” I said and slumped against him in exhaustion. “I feel like I could sleep restlessly for days now.”

“Rest until Lysander comes. We have to climb down the hill again. For two hours,” he reminded me as positioned my head between his neck and shoulder, creating a comfortable resting place. I smiled to myself, “You sure you don’t care?”

In an instant, my head descended like a falling boulder, as Tavin withdrew his shoulder away. “I don’t want to carry you down the hill, so that is why you should rest! It’s not because I care! I rather not break my back by carrying you!” he scowled and I returned the action twofold. “You are terrible. Then lend me your shoulder. It was comfortable,” I said and he huffed, offering his shoulder while I contently laid my head on it.

That walk up the hill really did tire me out. Therefore, in no time, I drifted off to sleep.

° ° °

Despite my surroundings, the reassurance of Larisa's well-being allowed me to catch some z’s and refill my energy with that well-needed power nap. The same could not be said about Tavin who groaned while clutching and circling his shoulder, “I can’t feel my shoulder no more. Your head is heavy. What is it filled with? Damn, I don’t feel my whole arm!”

“You could’ve woken me up or something,” I mumbled defensively, feeling obliged to massage his shoulder for a while.

“I see you are well rested!” Lysander came up to us. “Come, let us go before it gets too dark.”

We updated Lysander about Larisa’s voicemail while we climbed down the hill. Fortunately, the descent down was eventless, but we considerably got to the village faster than we climbed the hill. We witnessed the beautiful sunset from the beach while the villagers packed their harvest, and closed their shops to retreat to their families for the day.

Martha was waiting for us at the entrance with Charlotte in her arms. “Papa!” she greeted enthusiastically and ran to his arms. He lifted the little girl into his arms with ease, “There’s my favorite girl! Were you a good girl to your Mama?”

“Because she was sleeping like a log, she gave me no trouble,” Martha claimed before turning to us with a smile. “Reggie just came back from the town next to us and brought dinner for us with his mother.”

“How did he travel so quickly between two places?” Tavin asked questionably, probably sharing the same doubts as me since didn’t Lysander say that it took a day to reach the nearest market on foot?

“You forget that Reggie is in the military. One of the jeeps came and took him to his base, and brought him back,” Lysander explained and gestured to the kitchen. “Come inside and eat with us.”

“We are so sorry for troubling you like this,” I apologized guiltily, my stomach twisting in discomfort despite the smiles they cast at us affirmingly. “Please, don’t think about it. You need all the help you can get and we love helping people. We wouldn’t want to make you feel lost and helpless, especially regarding your situation.”

“There must be something we could do to repay your kindness. We cannot keep troubling you until we leave, please let us help you with anything…” Tavin said enthusiastically and the couple looked at each other.

“Ah, let’s think about it later!” Lysander dismissed, “Let me introduce you to Mrs. Grace, Reggie’s mother.”

Inside, sitting on a wooden stool was a woman, her posture hunched and the skin under her droopy eyes sagging like the rest of her body. At the mention of her name, Mrs. Grace looked up at us, and immediately, a smile made its way known onto her face, eliminating any traces of weariness. “Hello, you must be the survivors,” she greeted so softly that we had to unconsciously crane our necks to hear better, but we reciprocated her smile with ones of our own.

“Hello, Mrs. Gracie. It’s lovely to meet you.”

“My, my, you were right, Martha! This couple IS pleasing to look at! When will you bring home a lady, son?” Mrs. Gracie turned to Reggie before we could correct the general misunderstanding.

Reggie sighed heavily, “I have no time for women.”

Well, that’s the first time I heard Reggie speak more than one word.

“Son, I need to be reassured that you have someone to rely on when I’m gone,” Gracie told her son in a weak voice before looking at us who were awkwardly shifting in our feet, having no clue about the topic spoken at hand.

Martha placed a steaming plate of buns in front of us. “Help yourselves, Candace, Tavin,” then she looked at the woman who was codling her grown son, “Martha, no amount of pressurizing will make him find a daughter-in-law for you. Give him time, he might just surprise you.”

“I will be dead when he decides to surprise me!” huffed the woman. “This cancer is not going to wait until he finds a wife!”

We sat stiffly in our seats, not uttering a word to anyone as I processed what was happening in my head.

“You have cancer?” came Tavin’s voice from beside me. I pinched his thigh instinctively, to which Gracie gave a gentle chuckle, “Yes, been having it for two years.”

“Now we don’t have constant doctors here as we did before. Reggie brings medicine from the city whenever he comes back from the Army,” Lysander cut in, placing another plate of handmade snacks I haven’t seen before in front of us. “It is unfortunate that we don’t have someone to treat us when we are a picture of ill health. When my Martha caught up with a nasty flu last year, there was no one to cure her and we had to lean on herbs and whatever plants we could find in the forests. It took ages for her to heal.”

I felt deeply concerned about the lack of facilities and services here. I will never be able to survive another day if I were them, I thought, feeling a deep sense of respect for these people who went about their days even with nothing on their hands.

“When will you go back, son?” inquired Gracie while Reggie fed her dinner.

“Friday morning.”

“Oh? Will you go back to base?” inquired Lysander.

“No. We will get on the next ship to Malden with our tanks.”

My body straightened as if it was suddenly downed in ice-cold water, and I looked up at them with eyes as large as saucers.

“Don’t worry,” whispered Tavin from beside me, “She’ll escape.”

I don’t know how he did it, but his strong unwavering belief in my friend whom he has never seen before had me calming a bit, but only barely.

“Please help yourselves,” Martha cut in again, changing the subject as she asked about our trek up the Holy Hill, probably having seen my distressed expression. “Did you get hold of your friend?”

“Yes, she had left a voicemail from an unknown number. She said that was on Malden Island- I couldn’t believe it… She said that she could escape, though,” I said, warily eyeing Reggie who was silent, remembering a second late of his presence, “…We were listening to her voicemail when she suddenly called us too and-” I was relaying when I was cut off.

“Did you answer her call?”

You could hear the pin-drop silence that followed the tense words that Reggie pierced through the air. Surprised that he had diverted the question at me; anything at me for that matter, it took a few seconds for me to answer him. “Yeah…I answered the call. But it disconnected when my phone died down…”

I sat upright when he abruptly stood up. I couldn’t help that reaction; maybe because he was a military officer, but his rigid posture and unyielding expression commanded attention and no-nonsense from everyone. I fidgeted in my seat as I watched Reggie cleaning up his and Gracie’s dinner. All our eyes followed Reggie as he made his way towards me. He came to a stop in front of me and held his palm out.

“May I see your phone, please?”

I leaned away from his with unblinking eyes, cautiously looking at Tavin who suspiciously narrowed his eyes at the soldier. “For what purpose do you need it? It’s dead. The power is off,” he said.

Reggie didn’t waver from his position. It was the intensity of his eyes that made me place my phone on his outstretched palm before I even knew it. With a nod, he enclosed his thick fingers over my phone and left the house through the entrance without a word.

Tavin immediately jumped to his feet and followed after him, “Hey! Where are you going?”

I almost tangled my legs and tripped in my haste to get up. Tavin was already ahead of me when I ran outside with the others at my heels. The breeze pelted my face as I kept my eyes fixed on Tavin’s broad back, Reggie nowhere to be seen. Damn, that man is fast even when he was just walking.

“What is he going to do?” I inquired worriedly from Lysander who stepped in beside me, our bare feet sinking into the silky sand. “I have no idea,” he mused, “he does random stuff at times though.”

We passed dimly lit huts and overturned boats as we hurried behind Tavin’s figure, the dusky sky darkening the bath before us. Martha called from behind us, “I will go back home! Gracie is alone and Charlotte will wake up anytime now! Be careful!”

Lysander waved back at her before we accelerated our pace, and thankfully, I saw that Tavin was beginning to slow down too. “What-what is going on?” I asked once I halted beside Tavin. “I missed him- he is really fast.”

“There he is!” exclaimed Lysander, pointing his finger far at a cliff on which I could see the faint silhouette of Reggie. I was as muddled as a jigsaw puzzle in the wrong box. What was Reggie doing on a cliff with my dead phone? Especially when the day had just turned into the night?

“Reggie! What is the matter?” Lysander asked as we joined Reggie on the cliff, who was looking ahead at the still, calm waters of the ocean. Why did I have a bad feeling about this? He walked further toward the edge of the cliff while I stepped forward in uncertainty.

“R-Reggie? What is- REGGIE!!”

My jaw dropped open as I watched in sheer horror as Reggie extended his hand back, stepped forward, propelled his upper body forward, and like a baseball pitcher, threw my phone into the waters below.

“NO!!” my surprised and appalled cries sliced through the air as I heard the sound of my phone plopping into the waves. I didn’t even know when my feet had taken me to Reggie, but my hands were already grabbing his collar, as I glowered at him with scorching eyes, “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!”

I wanted to strike him. I wanted to push him off the cliff. Who did he think he was? Just because he was some military officer, did it permit him to do anything he desired without reason?

Reggie was taken away from my clutches, but unlike me, Tavin didn’t hesitate; he pummeled Reggie right onto the rocky surface with a harsh shove. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO, YOU SCOUNDREL!” Tavin roared, the veins in his temple and arms protruding and bulging like serpents coiling beneath his skin, his eyes flashing with a penetrating ferocity, like bolts of lightning piercing through the darkness.

“You better let me off before I do something I definitely will NOT regret,” Reggie seethed lowly. If it was not for Lysander who broke them apart forcefully, one of them was sure to have been thrown off the cliff by now.

“Reggie,” I began, standing in front of the man with my eyes narrowed, “Why did you throw my phone away?”

“It had to be done. Especially when you answered a call you received from Malden Islands, our enemy during this time of war,” Reggie stated and my heart thudded in realization.

“You-you don’t mean…”

“Yes, it is a state of emergency. The Signals Intelligence has phone signals and conversations traced for security purposes and monitoring movements of the enemy.”

“What?” Tavin questioned, getting up from the rocks and standing beside me to face Reggie, “Are you telling me that they could’ve traced her phone signal by now, and thinking of her as some…spy or enemy?”

My face froze in utmost terror and a cold chill shuddered up my spine. I felt Tavin place his arm over my stiff shoulders in support.

“Malden has begun to counterattack, so as of today onwards, Efate is on lockdown,” Reggie declared, making me almost lose ground if not for Tavin who was listening to Reggie with unblinking eyes. “Airports are shut down; the city boundaries are closed since Malden is said to be attacking those places soon enough. The Signals Intelligence is a new technology brought into this country, but it would take at least one day for us to get the hang of it. It won’t be long before your phone signal would be tracked. The Intelligence Corps will come to find you.”

“But-but I didn’t even get to talk with Larisa properly! I barely said a sentence-! This-This is ridiculous!” I spouted, tears brimming my eyes at the situation at hand.

“That one word is enough for us to think that you’ve signaled the enemy with a code phrase that carries a specific secret or hidden meaning that could only be understood by the enemy,” Reggie explained as he exhaled and turned to leave from where we came from.

“But- does it mean that we are stuck on this island? When there is a possibility that I am regarded as a target or- or a spy! Will they-” I had to pause to regain my composure and sniff away my tears. “Will they understand if I explain my side of the story- that I am a survivor of ‘The Meredith’? You can be a witness too! You were there when you boarded us into your boat!”

“I have no responsibility for you both. I am here to protect the citizens of my country. All you have to do is to stay quiet and be in hiding,” Reggie finalized as we made our way back through the beach.

“Some military officer you are,” Tavin mumbled from beside me before leaning toward me, “Don’t worry about what he says, Candace. We saved ourselves from the shipwreck, we fought against those b*stards who almost robbed us, we arrived on land safely despite its situation. We got hold of your friend and learned that she is safe. Now you have to forget your phone and we have to blend in with these villages and live on. If the Intelligence or whatever DOES come here in search of us, we can tell them the truth. We did nothing wrong. So-”

“-So, you are telling me that we should stay here without contemplating ways to leave this Island? What if we die, huh?” I inquired and Tavin scowled. “What else do you suggest we do in a country on lockdown? Huh?”

I pulled myself away from him and made my way toward Reggie determinedly. I quickly obstructed his path. Reggie and Lysander broke away from their conversation to look down at me.

I fixed my gaze on Reggie’s.

“Please, take us to Malden Islands with you on Friday.”

Reggie’s eyes enlarged in surprise and so did Lysander’s. Seeing that expression on Reggie was foreign- I must’ve surprised him to a degree. Tavin came from behind with the same startled expression. “Excuse me? What did you just say? Take US to MALDEN?!”

“It seems to me that you should check the state of your girlfriend’s mind right now. She has made enough trouble for the day,” Reggie said once he comes out from his shock.

“I’m not-” I stopped myself from speaking further when I registered the words he said.

‘She has made enough trouble for the day.’

It hasn’t even been a day since I sailed onto this Island, and they’ve done everything I’ve asked for. Despite the protests, they fended me from bandits and took me up the hill to connect with Larisa even if it wasn’t a given.

I faltered in my stance then. I looked into the confused and troubled gray eyes of Tavin. I’m being selfish; we were a team, and yet here I was, making decisions for myself. “It’s-it’s nothing,” I exhaled finally, feeling a little light-headed.

“No, please tell us why you want to go to Malden?” Lysander inquired in a gentle tone. Tavin watched me with inquisitive eyes, looking utterly concerned at why I thought about jumping from the boiling pot to the fire.

“Well, uhm, Larisa gave us her location and if we could find her in time, we can escape in their plane and go back home…” I trailed off, looking between the befuddled expressions of the three men.

“Well, there is no one there to take you to the Malden Islands. And that will definitely NOT be me, either,” Reggie concluded before walking past me. Well, I figured as much. “He is so uptight,” I mumbled to myself, glaring at his figure.

“You come with the most bizarre ideas, Candace. Haven’t I told you to confront me before you speak up? Huh?” Tavin told me with an irritated expression with his arms crossed.

“I’m sorry, I just…it seemed to be a reasonable idea-if Reggie agreed that is. It would be great to join Larisa and her group and escape together in the plane.”

“You don’t belong here,” cut in Lysander pensively. “If I could, I would find you some way to flee this country.”

The three of us walked together at a slow, steady pace. “You’ve done too much for us, Lysander. We couldn’t possibly ask you for more, but I know we will have to lean on you and your family until we go home,” Tavin expressed regrettably.

Lysander just gave out a hearty laugh. “I’ll be glad to help you good folks. You said that there was a group with your friend? Are they survivors too, like you?”

I am reminded of the night of the shipwreck with a shudder, “Yes,” I answered, wracking my brains to remember who I saw with Larisa that day. “There were two men with her and another lady… I remember seeing her somewhere before but I’m not sure anymore. Larisa told me that one of the men died while trying to protect them.” I tightened my arms around me, trying to stop my thoughts from wandering. “There was a little boy too, Oh My God. I wonder how that kid is doing.”

“Larisa’s kid?” Tavin wondered out loud.

“No, no. He was given to us by his parents,” I said, my heart constricting with sadness as the scene of the parents being washed away flooded my mind. “It was so heartbreaking to hear the little kid crying. Tom…No, it was a name I’ve never heard before…I think his name was Tar- ah! Torin, I’m sure. He looked to be about ten years old. I wonder how he is-”

In an instant, I am swirled around to face Tavin as he gripped my shoulder with a bruising strength. “W-What is it?” I inquired with my eyes popping out, startled.

“What- W-What did you just say?” his voice was low and stern. At my lack of response, he tightened his grip and drilled his stare into me with such intensity, that I almost physically felt it on me. “What did you say his name was, Candace!!??”

“Torin! I think that was his name!” I screamed the answer and pushed him away with all the force I could master. “What is wrong with you!?”

But Tavin was on his knees, palms on the sinking into the sand, his head drooping with each harsh breath he took as tears flowed out of his eyes. “T-Tavin? Tavin!”

Both Lysander and I knelt beside instantly and I brought Tavin’s shaking body into my arms without hesitation. “Tavin?”

“T-Torin; he-he is my little brother.”