CHAPTER SEVEN - The death of Sinag in her hands
1608 Words
Hiraya
The anguish in Bughaw’s voice resonated with my soul. I remembered his lecture about protecting the environment and the adverse effects of mining. No one in the tribe believed him because Calixto convinced us more with the flashy promises of progress and how we could share the gift of goddess' healing to the world.
I stomped my foot. “I just wanted to help other people and our tribe as well. You were the one who was saying that the tribe must be educated and we are being left out. Well, allowing the mining company to operate is my own way of opening Sinag to the world. We need their help to build schools and we can have infrastructures.”
“Yes, you care for Sinag when you believe the lies your husband fed you. You care for the tribe when you let them plunder the land and poison its people. Yes, you are living a great life now so it is easy to believe whatever lies they tell you, right? Even if the Sinags die, you will still believe their fake and glossy stories. I don’t know if I should call you blind or stupid, or naive or all of the above.”
“No need to be insulting, Bughaw. This is so hard for me to take. I-I’m confused.” And hurting. I really don’t understand how everything has come to this. I palmed my own forehead as tears ran down my face.
It can’t be happening. The goddess won’t allow it.
“Do you still believe that this is what the goddess wants for you? For Sinag? Hiraya, you must be the favored one but the death of Sinag and its people is in your hands.”
I shook my head and covered my ears. “This is not my fault.”
He opened his arms. “You let these greedy people into our lives. That is your responsibility. But you opened the gates of hell to these abusers. Now, Sinag is worse than hell.”
No matter how much I covered my ears, it couldn’t protect me from the onslaught of attack from Bughaw. I was responsible for convincing my father and the whole Sinag to sign over our indigenous rights. I promised them progress and protection.
I looked up at him. “I will make it right. Calixto will fix this. I promise.”
Bughaw clucked his tongue. “You are hopeless, Hiraya. You are still hoping that he can fix it when his family has already destroyed the Sinag.”
“H-He is my husband.”
I was confused. I didn’t know what to do or who to run to. All I knew was that my husband was my partner. He loved me and would make things right for me.
"I wouldn't expect anything from him or his family if I were you. I won't expect anything from you either. I think you should know before I tell the media about it and post it on social media. It is time that the world will know how much Sinag is suffering and it is caused by your husband's mining company. This will affect you one way or another. I'm sorry that I can't protect you from the truth."
He still cared for me even if he was blaming me for what happened in Sinag. "This is too much to take in. If you expose this, it will ruin my husband and his company. Maybe we can solve this peacefully…"
"Hiraya, this is something that can't be settled peacefully. I know you are too sheltered and trusting. Exposing their lies in public is the only way to save our people. For once, open your eyes. Your husband is keeping you in the dark. Don't trust him." He put the phone in my hand. "Maybe you don't trust me but keep the phone. My number is there. Whether you believe me or not, I will do everything to save our people. That’s up to you if you want to help Sinag or not.”
He pulled his hand away but I held it tight. "I-Is your life in danger?"
"Yes. Those people have no qualms in killing those who would reveal their evil doings. They are powerful but I have to risk it. The world needs to know what's happening in Sinag. I have to save them." He patted my head the way he used to when we were younger. "I'm sorry that you have to know the truth like this. Take care of yourself. If you have to get away from here, you can contact me."
For a moment, I wanted to get away from there and ask him to take me to Sinag. If he was telling the truth, taking his side was the only way to go back to Sinag and help my tribesmen. I had to block off my heart that wanted to keep on trusting Calixto.
But I heard my husband's voice echo in the greenhouse. “Hey! What are you doing with my wife?”
Calixto was standing at the entrance in full fury. Bughaw pulled his hand away and suddenly took off. Calixto called the head of security with his phone and waved his hand as he commanded. “Catch the intruder! Yes, he pretended to be a waiter and he is harassing my wife…”
I was in awe as I listened to my husband describe Bughaw. How could he conclude that Bughaw was harassing me when we were just talking? I noticed how easy it is for him to spout lies without asking me first. I won’t let him hurt someone who didn’t do anything wrong.
I took a step near Calixto and spoke firmly to cut off his conversation with his bodyguard, “Let him be. He's not doing anything wrong. We just talked. He's my childhood friend and…"
"Your childhood friend? Have you forgotten that he is our enemy and he protests the mining activity?" He held my shoulders and shook them. "Why is he bothering you? Why are you crying if he didn't hurt you? And why are you here when Papa told you to go to the suite?”
I closed my eyes tightly. Calixto's twenty questions were giving me a headache. I felt like I was being attacked all of a sudden.
My head was filled with images of my land and my people; their sufferings that I was not aware of. The reality that was kept from me. I still haven't come to terms that a kind elder I treated as a parent was dead. My people were denied the use of bahaghari stones. They had nothing to eat. They were dying. And the children were enslaved and hurt. Even my own father was powerless.
I prided myself as a haliya that my people and the goddess would be proud of. That I will bring progress to our tribe so we won't be left behind and we will share kindness to the chaotic world. But why is everything getting worse?
I wanted to question Calixto about it when I heard some whispers at the entrance of the greenhouse. Some women guests were standing there with Etherea. They were pretending to whisper at each other but their voices were able to reach my ears.
"Who is that guy? Is that the other man?” asked a matron who was the third wife of a politician.
“I never thought she had it in her to have a man on the side.” A former beauty queen who had a sexually transmitted disease from having an affair with a married actor smirked at me. So quick of her to judge me and mock me when she was not squeaky clean herself.
“He looks manly and delectable, by the way. I would love to keep him on the side as well," said the married daughter of a popular religious group followed by a giggle. This woman had no morals really. He wanted an affair with Bughaw.
I’m glad that my tribesman escaped from this woman’s claws. Bughaw was forced to marry and have a kid with the woman he didn’t want. I would never get involved with a married man. I was a married woman myself. I love my husband.
And knowing these rich people who always get what they want, they didn’t care if the person is married or not. Bughaw already had enough problems to face.
So do I. Being gossiped about having an “affair” was the least of my concerns. I had a bigger problem to confront. It was a matter of life and death.
“Don’t make a scene, Calixto,” Etherea warned and looked at the women who were watching them. ”Ladies, let’s take a picture. You will feel like you are in the mountains of Sinag where the bahaghari gems came from.”
I tried to hold my emotions but hearing about my tribe was like a burst of water from the dam. I wasn't able to hold a sob when I remembered how the Sinag was ruined now. The land was poisoned. The people I pledged to protect and take care of were dying.
I was a failure as a haliya.
The matron gasped. "Must be really an affair."
Calixto's jaw clenched. He held my arm tightly. "Let's go to our room and stop crying."
I nearly tripped when he started walking and pulled my arm. His words didn't penetrate my brain because I kept on crying. Louder.
I was mourning for Sinag and I felt my soul slowly dying.
- Writer
