I am Darling

My Friend to Foe

I am Darling and I was Invincible. Despite of what happened I managed to stay alive. Maybe my mission has yet to be accomplished and I wasn’t finished yet. Both Daniel and I were home from the hospital and we were glad we survived. After months of rest and after those ghastly tortures he suffered still I could say he was improving fast though he was using cane due to broken legs. In my case, I was on my way to having a better health. I was so excited when doctors told me that I would be ok soon and would be back on my feet. I could do whatever I wanted after those health issues and abduction. At home, we had time to converse together about what happened. This could be the right time to ask Daniel. He shared, “I went to that place we’d been going hoping to see Jessy and the old woman again. I never told Isabel and Christina about the plan because I didn’t want them to be in trouble. I was planning to follow and confront Jessy on what I heard from her and the old woman. I was waiting on the same spot I’d been hiding when I saw Isabel from few meters away. I didn’t want her to get caught so I signaled her to stay where she was and gestured at her to hide. Then I felt a sudden struck on my head from behind and I regained myself on a dark place where I was already blindfolded and tied up. They’d been heating me all over my body. They just kept on saying I should stop following or I would regret everything. How many times I got unconscious and back again. I heard you screaming my name then I already lost it. I woke up in the hospital.” I asked Daniel if he had recognized anyone. He replied, “No.. I couldn’t see them. I was blindfolded all the time and hadn’t had the chance to recognize anyone. I haven’t even seen Jessy. I didn’t even know how many they were. Two… three.. One thing I remembered I heard a voice of a girl I thought was Jessy. Then I heard a man’s voice. They moved so fast. If only I was quick enough to recognize the danger, I could have fought.” It made me more anxious to know who were with Gab. I asked myself who were with Gab and who was this accomplice. If it was more than one, it made my search even harder. But I was worried telling it to my family about what I discovered. They were not yet prepared to know that Gab was the one we’d been looking for eversince. Then Aunt Gracie shared, “After you haven’t back for a night we decided to report again to the police what happened. And after few days we received a call that Daniel was found in front of the Emergency Room of the hospital lying on the ground. We were hoping that he was fine and thank God He answered our prayers.” All that happened really happened for a reason. Whatever it was, I still had to make my first move and I had to be careful this time. I had been so sloppy at times. Opponents could always take advantage because of my sloppiness.

“I’m back”. I announced to everyone in the family. I could feel the adrenaline that has been gone a long time. “I’m totally back.” I said to them joyfully. I was being told by my doctor to eat everyday healthier meals and not to skip a meal to regain my strength totally. “Good to have you back my dear but you should eat dinner first.” Mom told jokingly while patting me at the back and pushing me to the dining seat. Everyone laughed and it was good feeling having your family by your side through thick and thin. I was so proud of my family, we may not be perfect but we were united and fighting for each other. I just hope Uncle Tim was still alive so he could witness how wonderful the family he had left. “Time is of the essence” as the saying goes, so as long as you are with your family you should cherish every moment and tell them you love them in your most special way. Isabel was emotional and she shared to us her piece. She said “We don’t know how long we would stay here in this world but as long as I have you all guys, I would never regret every single moment I shared with you all. Though I missed Dad so much (tears were rolling down on her face) but your presence is enough to make me feel complete and couldn’t ask for more.” I was so touched by what Isabel said. I stand up from my seat and went to her and hugged her so saying “I love you cuz and so happy to be with you all too. We will fight for each other for Uncle Tim.” “Yes, Darling.. we will be and those who get in our way will go through hell.” Daniel said in his most loving and heated piece. “A Big Yes to that brother.” Christina concurred. Mom and Aunt Gracie couldn’t stop crying. “Ok, everyone listen, I would like to propose a toast.” Dad stood up and said his own piece saying, “This family had been through so many trials and pains (tears were flowing from his eyes) and we all witnessed how terrible life had become to us this past year and up to the time when Daniel and Darling were abducted just recently. I don’t know how we made it through but we made it. Others could have admitted defeat but we are not backing down on them that wanted us to be defeated. I propose that we will remain strong and fighting for each other as long as we live and this family will always be in tact no matter what life has to offer in the future. We will keep holding on. A toast for our victory from trials and pains. A toast for everlasting happiness to everyone in here… shout Victory.” Everyone lifted their glasses of water and followed Dad shouting “Victory.” We all had a happy dinner and temporarily forgetting every bad experience we’d been through.

My cousins were also hooked to martial arts training. They got their enthusiasm from me. They saw my frustrations and disappointments. That gave them inspiration to at least know the basics of defending oneself. Our parents supported us in all our endeavors. Daniel was improving his motion on the legs and who could tell he got beaten on that part of his body. He was trying his best to be in perfect form and our instructor was so amazed on his improvements. Isabel and Christina were also learning with us. And as for me, I was doing great. I could say, I was prepared body and mind. But I forgot that my suspected perpetrator was Gab. It made me anxious to know how cruel life was when you yourself had been cruel too. It was just giving you what you had sown. I was torn between my feelings and my search for justice. How I hoped it wasn’t him after all. How I hoped someone else was doing the dirty works. Sometimes I wished these never happened. I didn’t know if I could still see Gab after he said that I should try to forget him forever but my heart felt that I would and whatever the outcome I was praying that it would be the best for both of us.

After our hectic schedule on the training Dad decided to take us all to a vacation in another city. I knew Dad’s purpose. He was keeping us away from trouble that may again occur any moment. He knew that we had the fire in us to look for the enemy but we had to take a break and meditate on what we were doing. He wanted us to defend ourselves when trouble come our way and not being the source of trouble. He said, “Let the enemy find you and not you looking for the enemy. It is more peaceful if you are not the one looking for trouble and you can defend yourself more.” Dad shared again his wisdom.

But deep in me I was having second thoughts about the trip. My intuition again was sensing a feeling of fear. I didn’t know where it was coming from and what was in store but I couldn’t stop the bad sensation. I wanted to say to Dad that I wasn’t feeling good about the trip, but I didn’t want to destroy the excitement I saw on my family’s eyes. I didn’t want them to feel that I was being a killjoy. Dad had been preparing this for weeks. I didn’t want to dishearten him just because of my bad feelings. All I could do was hope and pray that nothing awful would happen and just be ready for whatever circumstance that may arise.

We were riding in a car to our destination when there was a bus trying to overtake us. While they were alongside I thought I saw someone familiar. “It was Rhea.. Rhea.. RHHEEEEAAAA!” I shouted at her but she never heard me. Though she was wearing shades on her eyes and a mantle on the head, I knew it was her. I tried calling Rhea before and after school graduation but she was already busy. We had talked for just few minutes on the phone but we never had this chance to have intimate conversations as bestfriends. She was always on the move. “Maybe it wasn’t her.” Christina said. “Maybe.” I replied. But deep inside I knew it was her. I just tried to forget about it and enjoy our trip. Anyway I have my family with me and I couldn’t ask for more.

When we reached our destination we got so excited. It was a wonderful place owned by Dad’s bestfriends. My Dad is a good man and he earned his bestfriends. He deserved all good friends in the world. The place was a very wide resort. There was a pool area, beach and cottages. There were some diners too. Many people come and go to rent the place and stay on cottages and houses. What we had was a big house suited for our big family. We were allowed to stay there forever for free if we wanted. I could stay there. It was being managed by the sons and daughters of the owners. In fact my cousins and I were offered to work there but in the meantime we just enjoy our lives away from all the stress.

We had been enjoying our stay at the resort. Isabel, Christina and I were swimming at the pool. Daniel was sitting on the bench enjoying the view. There were some teenagers with us and it was nice knowing them and chatting with them. But wherever we go trouble always followed us but I remember what Dad said let the trouble come to you and not you looking for trouble so you could defend yourself better. There would be bullies everywhere. I noticed just not far away from us one of the teenagers were so drunk and were doing vicious stuff to his fellow teenager who was a female. I didn’t know Daniel also saw what he’d been doing. He came to him and called his attention but he never listened. He was too drunk. Then he was throwing everywhere glasses of liquors. Unfortunately Christina was stricken by one of the glasses he threw, directly on the face and that made us so angry. Isabel and I went out of the pool with Christina and brought her immediately to the clinic inside the resort. Daniel was left on the poolside. “Stay put.. wait for us.. do not try anything stupid!” I told Daniel. We went back right away with Christina having bandage on her face. We saw them laughing and taunting Daniel even more. Daniel was just listening to them trying to be calm but so fervent to make his move. We agitatedly confront that young man but Daniel stopped us whispering, “They are too many!” That drunken teenager was just laughing and another man, maybe his friend, threw again one more glass in front of us. That time it was on purpose. Daniel already reacted and yelled to the man. “HEY! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?” The man replied, “WHAT’S WRONG.. WE ARE PAYING TO ENJOY HERE.. NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” Daniel was beginning to be fiery and yelled again. “THAT IS MY SISTER YOU HURT, OF COURSE IT IS MY BUSINESS!!” The drunken replied, “WHY YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT? We were just behind Daniel preparing for whatever disorder that will happen. Then we noticed these bunch of wasted teenagers were beginning to encircle us. “OOH I SEE, YOU WANTED TROUBLE FROM THE START..” Isabel said angrily. My patience grew thinner and I shouted, “I could squeeze all your balls and let you eat it in front of that girl (pointing to the one they were taunting).” “Uuuuh really.. try it.. start it with me.” The drunk teased. I punched him in the face and kicked his balls. He knelt in pain and kissed the ground. DANIEL PUNCHED another student IN THE FACE AND KICKED ANOTHER BEHIND HIM. Two MORE WERE ABOUT TO COME TO HIM BUT THEY MADE THEM ALL KISSED THE GROUND too. ISABEL AND CHRISTINA HAD ALSO THREW PUNCHES TO SOME OF THEM AND I SAW THEM TWISTING IN PAIN. More guys were coming to us and I was preparing but to my surprise they were all walking away from us. Then I saw Rhea running in our direction shouting, “You drunk students.. STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I will deal with you later.” She screamed to the boys. “RHEA? IS THAT YOU ?” I asked surprisingly. What are you doing here?” Daniel added. “Why is it everytime I am in trouble you are always there coming to the rescue? Good to see you Rhe.. What a coincidence that we are on the same resort.” I told her. “Yeah.. a very awesome coincidence.” She replied to me. “Who are those guys that they were so afraid of you?” I asked wondering. “I am already an officer of our school and they were all under my watch. I warned them for any trouble they will create before this recreation and when they saw me they ran away.” Rhea told. “Hey I remember now.. you said you saw Rhea on the bus as we travel down here.. you were right, it was Rhea.” Isabel shared. “Yeah.. I knew it was her. She just didn’t hear me calling her name.” I said. “What happened here?” Rhea asked. “Those bunch of idiots were looking for trouble.. one of your student was so drunk.. he threw glasses everywhere and unfortunately we were at the pool when he hit Christina by that glass. “Those silly little monsters, they keep on doing those things. Sometimes some of the well to do students are really pain in the ass. Remember those old days Darling?” Rhea recalled. “Yeah.. We’d been together like forever. I hope good memories would stay until we grow old.” I said. “Yeah.. I was just sad that we had to part ways because of our busy schedules.. have you heard about Jessy? Rhea asked. What was I gonna answer when I knew exactly now who Jessy was. She was Gab’s cousin. Does she know everything about Gab’s identity? I have to be careful in giving out information to her, she may know from the very beginning. I had to lie. “No.. I haven’t heard about her, have you?” I asked back. Isabel just stared at me and she understood why I had to lie. “No, it has been years and I wonder where she is now.” She responded. “Didn’t she get in touched with you.. what has been happening to her life? I added. Rhea made no actions or reactions to all of my questions. She just replied, “No, I was too busy from work.” I have no reason to doubt her though. I just have to be cautious knowing that Gab is her cousin. I didn’t know what was on her mind. I just looked at her and changed the topic and said, “I am glad that you’re a part of the school now. You had worked so hard to earn that position and respect from everyone. You truly deserve what you have now after years of untiring works.” I said to her. “Thank you so much Darling.. you’re such a wonderful friend. I am so glad to see you again.” She responded. “Good to see you too.” I said. They would be staying for few days and I was hoping I could have a chance and be brave enough to ask her about Gab.

We girls were sitting outside the house, while Daniel and our oldies was inside preparing for dinner, when a young man walked by in front of us carrying an mp3 playing that song again, “She had her Father's eyes, her Father's eyes. Eyes that found the good in things, when good was not around…” I WAS SHOCKED! I remember that day when that music became a nightmare to me. I loved that song so much but these days it was giving me a different feeling. I was getting terrified but trying to calm myself. Christina had noticed me and he called that guy’s attention. “Hey, mister.. why are you playing that song?” She asked the young man. To his surprise, the guy just turned around and run away from us. Christina was about to run after him but Isabel stopped her saying, “You do not know if it was bait. You should think first before taking any actions.” I recognized that guy’s face. He was with Rhea’s group of students. I wonder what he was up to. I was feeling so anxious. I was just glad my cousins were there for me. “Did he meant it or it was just coincidence?” Christina asked. “Whatever it was, we should take precautions always.” Isabel replied. A sudden cry for help was heard all over the resort, “HEEEEEELLLPP!” and we were shaken. We all went to where the cry was coming from. Daniel was coming out from the house running to come to us. “WHAT WAS THAT?” He asked in a shocking voice. It was coming from Rhea’s group cottage. We quickly ran to it. A certain girl came to us in a very horrified voice saying, “Please help us.. Miss Rhea was taken by two guys and we couldn’t do anything for her. They are armed.” Then she signaled to us which way they were going. To my mind.. here we go again.. another misfortune has been happening. When would this end? I wondered. The three of us followed Daniel’s lead. “This time no one’s gonna separate. We should go together.” I told everyone. This was it. This was my intuition. Not that fight against the youngsters but this was it. DANGER AGAIN WAS ABOUT TO ENSUE and it never stopped. “HEEELLLP…!” I listened to it carefully and I knew it was Rhea. We ran and followed where the voice was coming from. Then I saw Rhea meters away struggling hard to let go from her abductors with masks on their faces. She was tied up from her hands to toe and was being blindfolded. I whispered to Daniel, “There she was, we have to follow quietly.” The abductors moved quickly by pushing Rhea to their van and hurriedly drove away. “Let’s go to the car.” Daniel said. We ran to the car and silently followed the van where Rhea was. It was so dark on the road. We couldn’t see the van too well. We couldn’t go near so they couldn’t notice. It was a long ride to eternity, I thought. We’ve been on their tail for so many hours now and still we didn’t know where they were going. They had no plans of stopping and so were we. If our gas could make it we could follow no matter how long the travel, but if not we would be lost on that dark and scary road.

Then we noticed they were already moving gradually. For a moment we saw them entering the tall and steel gate of a deserted structure just like the abandoned building where me and Daniel were kidnapped.. but a lot bigger. We stopped the car and were staring from afar. The van went inside that building and slowly we moved again. The gate of the building automatically closed. We got out of the car and left it just few meters away. We walked down the road. When we reached the place we climbed the gate and through the walls of that edifice. When we were inside I noticed big cans of gasoline were lined in all corners of the building. Tall and Big trees added to its remoteness. Large stones scattered everywhere. Then we heard Rhea again screaming, “Helllp! Somebody helllp me! Pleassssssssssse!” “We should follow Rhea’s voice.” Daniel said. We slowly peeped to every door and windows of that place and tried to see if we could find her but there was none. As we go along, we heard her voice again through a small aisle and we walked through it. We thought it was leading to her. From afar a door was left open and we went inside. No one was there. “What’s going on?” Isabel asked. “We just heard her voice from here.” Christina added. I started to feel something not quite right in there. “Let’s get out from here.. FAST!” I cried. We were all going to the door when somebody closed it from the outside. “Oh my God.. what are you doing.. HEY YOU.. open us. OPEN UUSSSS!” I screamed. “This is a trap, THIS IS A TRAP!” Daniel exclaimed. We’d been banging the door and tried everything to open it but nothing could we do. “Hey you… What do you want from us.. why can’t you just leave us alone you creep.” Christina cried. “I couldn’t believe this!” I called out. “I just told you.. we should have precautions but here we are.. all trapped somewhere.” Isabel said so upset. I was so disappointed. We were trapped in that room trying to save someone’s life and once again we would need another miracle. This time it’s the four of us on same misfortunes we’d been with.

Hours passed and we were all alone in a room so dark and hot. I was sweating all over and so with Daniel, Isabel and Christina. How many times had we tried on banging our bodies to the door but it hasn’t moved a thing. I was so tired and so they were. “What shall we do now?” Christina cried. “Calm down.. tin.. we will find a way.” Daniel told her. “Hey it’s the four of us now.. we can overcome this.” Isabel said. “I wonder what our parents are thinking right now. They could be worrying for us.. They could have gone to the police. I am just so stupid not sensing this danger coming again.” I shared. “We’re all into this now and we are here for each other remember?..” Isabel reminded us all. But as of the moment we couldn’t do anything to the door. We were just staring at it and nothing we could do. I guess we just had to wait for somebody else to open it from the outside.

And the door opened as I wished. IT WAS A CERTAIN MAN WEARING A MASK. He was with Rhea. He was holding a knife barbed directly to her neck in one hand and on the other was a long firearm and rope. He had a backpack on his shoulder loaded with more deadly weapons. I could see it from our view because the bag was open. He was moving forward to us. We slowly moved backwards. “TRY SOMETHING STUPID AND YOUR FRIEND WILL LOSE HER THROAT!” He said to us commandingly. “What do you want?” Daniel asked in fear. I was trying to find out who he was. He wasn’t Gab. I was sure of that. This was a different person and he was trying to kill us all. Was he the accomplice? I asked myself. I COULDN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF THAT MAN. HIS BODY STRUCTURE LOOKED FAMILIAR. “LEAVE RHEA ALONE.. IF it is me you want..TAKE ME!” I told while my eyes were trying to look for anything I could use as a weapon against him. But the room was empty. The man laughed. “NOT SO FAST MY LITTLE RAT.. I have so much time for you.” He replied. Then he pointed his firearm to us and gave the rope to Rhea. He ordered Rhea to tie us up all over. She followed him, made us all sat on the floor. We were always in this same situation!

She tied me up first. “Not so tight Rhea..” I whispered to her while she was doing what the man ordered. Maybe she was too afraid to the man that she didn’t hear me. She was tying me too tight that I couldn’t almost move a finger. “What are you doing Rhea? Loosen a little.” I cried. She was just shedding a tear but as if she hadn’t heard anything. She then went to Daniel and tied him up. Same thing I heard from Daniel and others. I couldn’t understand what Rhea was doing. MY COUSINS AND I LOOKED AT EACH OTHER. WAS RHEA ALSO AN ACCOMPLICE? WAS GAB THEIR BOSS OR LIKE RHEA, WAS ALSO AN ACCOMPLICE? So much pressure on my mind. “What’s on your mind.. Rhea, why so tight?” Isabel asked. “I am sorry but I have to do what he is asking me to. I am sorry Darling. I couldn’t stop him he’s the one in charge. I WANTED TO SAVE YOU from all of the plans but there is nothing I can do. I PRESENTED MYSELF AS BAIT so he could get to you.” She confessed. I was so terrified by what I had been hearing from Rhea. “What are you talking about Rhea.. Rhea!?” Daniel screamed to her. We were all shocked seeing Rhea like that. “MY GOD RHEA.. WE TRUSTED YOU! WE RISKED OUR LIVES just to get you from the abductors.. BUT YOU ARE ONE OF THEM!?” Christina exclaimed. “Sorry.. sorry..” was all Rhea could say. I could see the tears from her eyes and I could feel the sincerity of her sorry but like us she was trapped in a certain situation, not just right now but long ago and she had been hiding everything.. I’d been crying for friends I had lost. Now I could lose another... in a different aspect. Could a friend become a foe? This was the most horrific situation I’d been into. I was so confused of what was I going to do next.