Not like Us

Chapter 24

"Let us roam around," Lamang suggested. He stood up and stuck his hand out.

Bella looked at it. She reached at it. He helped her get up. What more does this forest offer? Bella thought to herself.

Bella looked at his wrist. She saw the golden bracelet. It really complemented his fair skin. It must had stood out when he was talking to another human like herself.

"How did you found out about this place?" she asked.

He looked at her and thought for a moment. "Hmmm," he thought. "I saw this before I met you. I heard the flowers sang and I found them," he said with a smile.

Bella looked at him smile. She noticed that Lamang was always smiling. She remembered last time that he could not even give her a look. What change?

They stopped on a falls. Butterflies and birds where still flying around. There had been other insects that  went out and wanted to show how good they fly. The scenery was really good if she drew this. One's eyes would be surely captivated. How could be something so beautiful be hidden like this?

"Look," Lamang pointed at something. "You," he said.

Bella looked at it. He was referring to a flower on the water. It was dancing with the current. It did not look lonely. It looked happy. It was just letting the current decide what it should do. It did not work against it. Does she need to do it as well? She asked to herself. "See how your name really means. It is beautiful." Lamang commented. They looked at it until it vanished on their sight.

Bella took a deep breath. He realized she forgot how to breathe for a second.  “That was indeed beautiful.”

Lamang smiled. “I am glad you like it,” he said.

Bella looked at him. She stared at him.  “Yours is Lamang. You told me it means ‘alone’.”

Lamang just smiled. “Are you alone?” Bella asked.

“Hmm,” Lamang looked around. “Am I?”

Bella shook her head. “I am here.”

Lamang smiled. “You are.”

Bella’s eyes went towards his bracelet when the sun light from the sun hit it. She was so curious about it.

“You have a nice bracelet there.” She said as she went to the banks and squatted. She extended her hand to the water. It was cold.

Lamang looked at it. He hid it with his left hand. “Oh, is it?”

Bella nodded. She felt the cold air hugged her.

‘Bella’, someone whispered.

Lamang sighed and saw a log. He sat there. “It was a gift,” he said.

Bella did not looked at her but instead she looked around.

Lamang noticed it. “What is wrong?”

‘Bella’, she heard another whisper.

“I heard something,” she said while looking around.

“Bella,” Lamang called. It was soft and almost a whisper.

She looked at him, “Hmm?”

“Get-”

But before Lamang could finished his sentence, Bella was pulled to the water. She shouted, “Lamang!”

Lamang immediately ran to her but she was pulled faster by a creature faster than him.

“Let go of her!” Lamang shouted.

Bella float into the air. Water floating around her. The water around her gathered at her back and formed into a creature.  It was half human and a half-fish, Sirena. Some of the water wrapped around her neck and her body to keep her still. She was struggling to breathe. She wanted to scream but she couls not. “L-Lamang,” she called, struggling.

Lamang immediately charged into the water. He changed his form. His eyes went back to being slightly slanted and his ears became pointy. A white aura formed around him.

There was a women’s laugh echoing throughout the surrounding.

“Let go of her,” he said with an authority.

The creature unwrapped the water from Bella’s neck but the water wrapped around her body stayed. Bella caught her breath.

“Who is this girl, Gat Lamang? Why are you associated with a human?” The sirena said.

Lamang did not answered. “Let go of her.”

The sirena smirked at threw Bella into the water.

Bella fell into the bed of water. She could not move. Her arms and feet were still being wrapped with water, itself. She was slowly sinking down. She tried to paddle her feet but it did not give her any help.  She heard laughs from both of her ears and the she noticed there was a swift of  water movements encircling.

She felt her heart was already on its peak. It was already looking for an oxygen. Fear took over her body. She closed her eyes. Lamang, she thought.

She felt there were arms wrapped around her and they were already coming out from the water. She took a deep breath when she felt she was already on land. She felt a tap on her face.

“Bella,” Lamang called. She opened her eyes, sat up, and coughed water.

“Why did you have to save her, Gat Lamang?”

Bella looked at the creature. She could not believe that a sirena could be true.  It was staring at her.

Lamang assisted Bella to get up. “Let us go,” he said in a whisper.

The sirena laughed. “Bella,” the sirena called her name.

Her voice was soothing. It sent chills to Bella’s spine.

“Do not listen to her,” Lamang directed but Bella could not take her eyes off her.

The sirena smirked as she noticed.

“Come on,” Lamang said. He said as he directed Bella to face the other way.

The sirena laughed. “Have you forgotten your destiny, Gat Lamang?”

Bella heard what the sirena said. As she looked back, they were already tons of Sirena looking at them. A variety of  men and women sirenas pierced their stare to both of them. Bella noticed that the sirena who was talking had a little crown on her head. She was their ruler. And what about Lamang’s destiny? Bella asked to herself.

Bella looked at Lamang, “What destiny?”

“Nothing, let us go.” Lamang answered.

Bella heard the sirena laughed again. “It looks like you did not know, Bella.”

Lamang looked at the sirenas with a deadly stare.

“I am not afraid of that, Gat Lamang. If your kingdom knows about this. I do not know what would happen,” the sirena said and stared back.

“I am not defying my destiny,” Lamang answered back.

The sirenas laughed. “Eyes do not lie, Gat Lamang. We have been observing both of you and the way you looked at her is how your father looked at your mom.”

Lamang’s jaw clenched. “You saw wrong.”

The sirena smirked. “I lived longer than you, Gat Lamang, and I already had witness a lot of people and especially your kind fell in love. I cannot be wrong. But, I wonder, even if you have defied your destiny and she did not know about it. Does she know you already have a wife?”

Bella looked at Lamang. “Wife?”

Lamang looked at her. He did not answer.

“Based from the reaction of both of you, I conclude you did not tell her.”

Bella still stared at him. She slowly unwrapped his hold. She stepped back.

The sirena laughed and looked her other kind. “This kind of scene is what I actually liked most.”

Bella turned her back and started walking away. Back to the path that they passed. She could not believe that she had associated herself with a married man. She hated it. She hated herself.

 She heard the sirenas laughed as she walked away.