Connectors of the Two Worlds

Chapter 20

Eva scoffed silently as soon as she heard Mantra's final announcement. They all gathered in the living room of their house. It was 4 in the morning and they all gathered to talk about their plans for the next days to come. She sat next to Alfred and Cassandra in their separate swivel chairs. Her two siblings were too calm. She couldn't even notice if they're excited or sad about their mother's new announcement. Eva frowned.

"Anything else?" Mantra asked them suddenly after a brief silence. They were talking about their moves against De Evos who plan to ruin their goal in collecting their Dion Connectors.

Alfred is tasked to continue being a student in Saint Claire. Cassandra is tasked to look out around the neighborhood and assist her younger brother in protecting me, Alfred's connector. Lastly, Eva is tasked to foresee events by asking particular persons that are connected to me. She must not be seen nor call big attention for the De Evos are aware of her existence and her capabilities.

Alfred just sat silently without any complaint. Cassandra, on the other hand, just cleared her throat and looked at Eva.

Eva arched her eyebrow while pointing at herself innocently. "Me?" she asked.

Cassandra smirked. "I don't know. You're not so good at hiding your thoughts, Eva. Why don't you tell Mother about your side of coin? She'd probably like to hear more about it. What do you think?" she challenged her.

Eva pouted her lips even more and looked a little childish. She's used to doing that even though they've been raised to be professional and precise. It's her new personality that she must do, since they started to change their identities with this new neighborhood. "Hmm... not much of what you have in mind. You know... I'm used to being just a shadow. I'm actually good with the decision," she dramatically said.

Mantra smiled. "Is that so, my dear? Aren't you going to ask me why I didn't let you enroll in Saint Claire Academy?" she asked her.

Eva's eyes widened and jumped on her seat. Her seat automatically moved a little closer as she looked closely at her mother. "Really, Mother? Will you let me?" she eagerly asked. She started to smile as if she's looking forward for a good news.

"Nope," Mantra blandly answered. "That's not your role. You'll just let others notice our motives. You should be in hiding," she instructed Eva.

Eva frowned. "Aw, that's not fair!"

Cassandra chuckled silently, while Alfred just looked at them without any expression to show. "I told you to just stay put. You have the most difficult role, Eva. I don't even have the chance to enroll, too, you know..." Cassandra commented.

Eva scoffed at her. "As if Mother would let you. You look too older than Alfred!" she teased her sister.

"W-what did you just say?!"

"Hey, cut it out you two!" Mantra scolded them. "This is not the right time to argue with the enrollment. We're not here to learn things that we already knew. We're only here to acquire the keys we need. Those keys back to our world. Understood?"

The both of them lowered their heads and submissively looked at the ground. "Yes, Mother..." they said in chorus.

They stayed silent. At that moment, they all thought about me. At this very moment, I am the only priority that they need to take care of. For the sake of Alfred...

****

I was reading at the middle page of the thick Mathematics Book when I suddenly felt cold. I suddenly shivered. I held my forehead and found it was very hot.

I've read a lot today and never noticed that my body is almost giving up. I pressured myself into giving my time in reviewing for the contest. But I should not stop. The contest is eight hours, eleven minutes, and twenty seconds away from me. I should not fail my school to this contest. No matter how I hate Math, I still have to do this.

The beat of my heart was pounding erratically as the butterflies started to fly inside my stomach.

I closed my eyes and wished that this will end at this instance. But instead of putting out the burnt out inside my head, my mind has put me somewhere else...

I opened up my eyes and saw the beautiful field of Gindo. I lived here and loved the peaceful breeze in the summer. The green grass were moving flawlessly with the wind's will. I sat on the grass for a long while and let my skin experience the environment surrounding me.

Suddenly, a man came out of the clearing.

Alfred... My Alfred.

I smiled and got to my feet as I ran towards him. I embracing him tightly. I giggled and he twirled me around as he swayed me with his perfect smile. When he stopped, he suddenly kissed me. It was a passionate kiss that we shared. It almost took my breath away.

Afterwards, we parted our lips. We looked at each other lovingly.

"How's the trip to Gibbon?" I asked him excitedly.

"It was fantastic! I wish I could take you there," he said in a happy sigh.

I laughed and looked at him. "My dear Alfred... That won't be such a good idea. You know that the eyes of the Salomars are not friendly for El Zallers like me. They wouldn't be happy seeing us lurking around their country. They could know. We are cursed, remember?" I said, frowning.

He smiled wryly at my words. "I know..."

"And if they'd know that your family is helping us, you won't ever see the beauty of Gibbon again, ever. Because of the treaty they've made against my family," I added.

"Tell me... why did they do it? Hating you and your family?" he asked as he hadn't recall the history of that curse. Some of the Daemons didn't know how serious it is, not until an El Zaller was killed.

I sighed and began telling my story. "Eight hundred and thirty-six years ago, in the late spring near the great horizon of the country of Zaiborn, there lived a beautiful native but an elegant flower bloomer named Christina El Zaller. Everybody loves to buy the flowers that she grows. The smell of them was the joyous of spring in that country. A man was an alien, traveled very far from the country of Gibbon, named Frederick Salem Salomar. He was mesmerized by her enchanting beauty. They were in love with each other until one day, he had gone back to Gibbon without saying goodbye to his love. Christina was depressed and her blooming and lovely flowers were in a sudden gloom and died as she had forgotten to grow them again.

"Another man came, an extremely sophisticated, gorgeous man named Rico. Christina fell in love with him also, until he asked her to come to his country and marry him. She did. She came to Gibbon, loving the peaceful land and the villagers there. Rico introduced her to his family. The Salomars. She was in shock to see her first love in her soon-to-be-husband's family. Frederick. It turns out that Rico is Frederick's younger brother. No matter she had forgotten about Frederick, there's no way she could forget all of the beautiful memories they had made together. She's still in love with her.

"One night, they met in a dark old cottage outside the castle of Salomar. Christina thought Frederick will save her from her miseries, but to her mistake, Frederick hated her so much for loving his own younger brother. He planned his vengeance on seducing her. He succeeded and owned her the whole night they were alone. Rico found out about the painful truth and cursed Christina out of his life, but the woman was bearing his child. She gave birth to a beautiful child she named Elizabeth. Frederick, as a Daemon he was, has an ability to know the person's origin and knew that Elizabeth wasn't his child. He was furious about it. He hated his brother so much that they fought each other to death.

"The Salomar family grieved and barred Christina and her child from ever entering Gibbon again. They cast a curse for the whole El Zaller family, starting from Christina's family up until the future generations to never ever step into the country. Anyone from their family to defy the curse will be punished by the gods. And so the hatred began and was very impossible to end..."

****

The crazy tick, the noisy music and the repeated thudding were making my ears ache from their irritating sounds. My face was broken in irritation as I covered my ears with my big pillow covering my whole head.

I growled in irritation under it. Kyla was messing with the DVD player again!

"Kyla!" I shouted loud enough to make her hear my angry voice. It echoed through the whole place and overcame the loud music from downstairs.

I heard some footsteps ascending from the stairs. Then there appeared Kyla in her slouchy apron full of brown spots. "Good morning, Miss Grumpy! How's your sleep?" She was obviously doing it on purpose. I knew it!

I blew an air sarcastically and eyed her in a spiteful look. "Isn't it obvious? Would you mind if I say stop your stupid music and let me sleep peacefully?" I yelled at her as I sat on the bedside. I grunted. My eyebags must be so obvious now that I woke up unexpectedly with the sound.

She tightened her figure. "Yes, I do mind. It's already five in the morning. You're not allowed to ask me to stop. Get up and get ready for school. It's your Math Contest today, remember?" she reminded me, then she grabbed my laundry basket and came downstairs without batting her eyelash.

I grunted. "Just one more minute, please!" I pleaded.

"No more one more minute, young lady. Get up!" Her voice echoed all over the house. "Now!"

****

I came to the school an hour early to stop by the school library and continued my reviews.

"You're very active and have a lot of perseverance in you..." I almost jumped on my seat when someone suddenly said that. I turned and saw that is was Alfred, smiling in a sunny attitude. What's with him today?

"Stop popping out of nowhere. Gosh..." I wanted to scold him, but I just quietly hissed at him and continued on reading.

"Are you serious?" He was laughing silently. He sat beside me. He showed his arrogant and humorous looks on me.

"Of what exactly?" I sarcastically asked back.

"Of me... popping out of nowhere...?"

I scoffed. "It's just my idiom, duh! Don't get too smart on me, old thinking guy. Why are you even here? You're just here to punish me. After what you did back at Physics class, I'm definitely okay with everything. I don't plan on making things complicated, you know... So stop being rude..."

"Me? Being rude to you? No, of course not!" he whispered.

"Please, children. Observe silence..." the librarian scolded us. She must've notice Alfred's hissing.

I just ate my bursting laughter as I saw how he was humiliated at that moment.

"Stop that. What are you laughing at? Is there anything funny, Miss Sanchez?" he asked his innocent question. He was already confused.

"How come a Californian guy like you couldn't even know how to be funny in modern way?Are you that old to understand things in this country? Tell me... are you really from California or just around the universe some kind of place?"

"I'm a native Californian guy. I leave in a contryside kind of neighborhood," he said.

"Oh, really?" I was already tempting him, trying to interrogate him with my questions. "Well, just don't let my nose bleed for barely understanding your language, okay?" I laughed silently as my eyes were joining with a smile.

"Can I ask you something?" he suddenly asked politely.

"Shoot..."

"Do you believe in eternity?" That question suddenly twisted my mind.

I was practically thinking right now. Not thinking about weird things like my sudden steadfast nightmares in a forest. I had to stay away from them for a while since I have to focus on the contest. But here is Alfred askong me such a weird question. I blinked unexpectedly. "Why are you asking me that?"

"Just answer it with your own idea," he insisted.

I breathed deeply. "Well... this so called eternity, one can say that it is true. But when they get to realize how many troubles this world has offered them, they might think twice. The thought of asking me such a question is a little off. Because right now, I feel like living for eternity. Eternally living with endless troubles. Like Mathematics..." I chuckled.

"So, you're saying that you don't believe that there's someone in this world that has eternal curse of living endlessly?" I was confused of his words.

I opened my mouth in disbelief. "Are you a buddhist or something?"

He smiled a little then looked at the empty space at the table. "For me, I don't believe that eternity is a gift. To me, it's a curse. Don't you agree?" he asked.

It left me hanging for a moment.

The next thing is, he was blank and silent while sitting on the bench with me. He rested his arms against the peach-painted wooden table, often looking at me as I read my Math Book.

This man beside me is really weird. It's like I'm talking to someone I know inside my dreams. But my dreams and my reality aren't parallel to each other. Not even meeting at an intersection.

He must be a lonely kid like me. But he thinks deeper than any of the kid I mostly know. He must be something.

Something out of ordinary.