CHAPTER 3: THE CHILD IN THE BLACK BAG
1248 Words
Aling Trena could not sleep that night. She sat beside their bed, cradling the baby and watching her lips move as though searching for something.
“Are you hungry, my child?” she whispered.
Aling Trena had no idea how to care for a newborn.
She had no experience.
They had never had a child of their own.
Yet instead of fear, she felt a strange kind of courage growing inside her.
As though a part of her heart was telling her that somehow, she would learn.
She would manage.
She had to.
Mang Reno approached carrying a basin of warm water.
“Trena.”
“Yes?”
“You're still awake.”
“I can't sleep.”
“You're going to exhaust yourself.”
“How can I sleep when I keep thinking about how close she came to dying?”
Mang Reno sat beside her.
“You're right.”
He looked at the baby.
Though she had never cared for a newborn, courage grew inside her. Somehow, she would learn.
Mang Reno entered with warm water.
“You’re still awake.”
“I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about how close she came to dying.”
He sat beside her and looked at the baby.
“She’s very lucky.”
“No.”
Mang Reno looked at his wife.
“She isn't the lucky one.”
“No,” Trena said through her tears. “We are.”
The baby began to cry. Trena held and rocked her until she quieted.
“She already seems comfortable with you,” Mang Reno said.
“Maybe she knows I won’t leave her.”
When morning came, they stayed home instead of going to the fields. As they cared for the baby, they wondered what would happen if someone came looking for her.
“What if she was abandoned on purpose?” Mang Reno asked.
“I don’t know who her real family is,” Trena said, brushing the baby’s cheek. “But I know she needs one.”
By noon, Trena noticed a tiny star-shaped mark on the baby’s wrist.
“Don’t show it to anyone yet,” Mang Reno said.
“Why?”
Aling Trena smiled through the tears in her eyes.
“We are.”
Mang Reno fell silent.
After a moment, he smiled faintly.
“Maybe you're right.”
The baby suddenly began to cry.
Aling Trena immediately pulled her closer.
“Shhh…”
She gently rocked her.
Little by little, the crying stopped.
“I don’t know. It feels important.”
They covered the mark with a clean cloth.
“I have a feeling she isn’t an ordinary child,” Trena said.
“Ordinary or not,” Mang Reno replied, taking the baby’s hand, “she’s still our daughter.”
That evening, they chose her name.
“Angel,” Trena said. “Because she feels like one.”
Mang Reno smiled.
“She already seems comfortable with you.”
“Maybe she knows I won't leave her.”
The rest of the night passed that way.
Aling Trena stayed awake beside the baby while Mang Reno remained close by, making sure both of them were safe.
When morning finally came, sunlight spilled over the mountains.
Mang Reno woke early.
Usually, the first thing he did each morning was head to the fields.
But that morning, he could not take his eyes off the baby.
There was something about her presence that made him hesitate.
“Reno,” Aling Trena called.
“Yes?”
“I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“What if someone comes looking for her?”
Mang Reno sighed.
“That’s what I've been thinking about too.”
“What if someone comes here?”
“If someone arrives with enough proof that the baby belongs to them…”
He paused.
“But what if she was abandoned on purpose?”
Aling Trena fell silent.
After a moment, she looked down at the baby.
“I don't know who her real family is.”
Her fingers gently brushed the child's cheek.
“But I know she needs a family.”
Mang Reno nodded.
“You're right.”
That day, they decided not to go to the fields.
They stayed home and cared for the baby.
They fed her.
They cleaned her.
They kept her warm.
They watched her sleep.
And with every passing hour, they found themselves becoming more deeply attached to her.
By noon, Aling Trena noticed something unusual on the baby's wrist.
“Reno.”
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Mang Reno came closer.
“What is that?”
“A mark.”
He carefully examined it.
It looked like a tiny star.
“Perhaps it's a birthmark.”
“It looks like a star.”
“Yes.”
Aling Trena smiled.
“It's beautiful.”
Mang Reno, however, did not smile.
“Don't show it to anyone yet.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
He could not explain the strange feeling that had suddenly settled inside him.
The moment he saw the mark, something deep within him had warned him that it was important.
That they needed to protect it.
“Let's cover it,” he said.
Aling Trena carefully wrapped a clean piece of cloth around the baby's wrist.
“Reno…”
“Hmm?”
“I have a feeling that this isn't an ordinary child.”
Mang Reno smiled gently.
“Ordinary or not…”
He took the baby's tiny hand in his.
“…she's still our daughter.”
Tears filled Aling Trena's eyes.
“Thank you.”
That evening, silence once again settled over the mountains.
The baby slept peacefully between them.
Before they went to bed, Mang Reno spoke.
“Trena.”
“Yes?”
“We need to give her a name.”
A smile appeared on Aling Trena's face.
“I already have one in mind.”
“What is it?”
“Angel.”
“Angel?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked down at the baby.
“Because I feel as though she is an angel.”
Mang Reno studied the little girl's face.
Then he smiled.
“I like it.”
“Angel.”
Aling Trena gently repeated the name.
“Angel…”
There was something warm and tender in the way she said it.
“From this day forward, your name is Angel.”
Outside the house, a powerful gust of wind suddenly swept through the mountains.
The wooden walls of the hut creaked softly.
Far away, deep within the forest, a white bird suddenly took flight.
It soared toward the moon, its wings glowing faintly beneath the silver light.
Neither Mang Reno nor Aling Trena knew why.
They did not know what it meant.
They knew only one thing.
They had a baby to love.
And they were willing to do everything they could to protect her.
Even though they did not know where she had come from.
Even though they did not know who her true parents were.
And even though they had no idea what destiny awaited the child they now called—
Outside, wind swept through the mountains. Deep in the forest, a white bird took flight beneath the moon.
The couple knew only one thing: they had a baby to love and protect, no matter where she came from or what destiny awaited her.
Angel.
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