Donsal Road

"You have to move faster than that, Drake, we'll be late in 5 minutes." Teo's adrenalized voice summoned Drake while packing their things on their way to the bus that will bring them to the Camp Area of Donsal Hill. After their hectic schedule as outstanding students of their class, they decided to go camping together with friends and acquaintances to build their camaraderie to new found friends. "We deserve a break" Teo added. To be away from all the pressures and intimidations brought by activities and requirements as graduating students was their idea of rejuvenating. "Is Jam coming? Drake asked. "Hope she would, this is going to be fun". Jam is Drake's love interest for so long now and he's planning to make his feelings known to her at the camp. He loved that girl so much because she looked at her as a female version of Teo in terms of character. She is definitely a good person not counting the lovely face she already possessed. Teo, on the other hand, didn't have time for any relationship. He's just being supportive to his bestfriend's decisions. Teo and Drake are more than friends. They shared same room in the house owned by Drake's aunt, his mother's cousin. Teo got separated from his parents a year ago when their family moved to another town due to his father's job assignments and he has to be left alone while in school. He stayed at Drake's house while studying. Drake's parents had an accident when he was a month old and he was taken cared of by relatives. He had an uncanny relationship with his Aunt Mida because she was rumored having mysterious characters in some way. He would see Aunt Mida staying up late at night as if talking to someone in the kitchen or in the hallway. He would find pieces of hair strands in her cup of tea and paper dolls hanging in her dark room. He would tell stories of Aunt Mida's strange personality to Teo every night they go to bed but Teo would just shrugged off his shoulders and jokingly say "Don't worry Drake, whatever happens, I got your back." then both of them will laugh and forget about what they had talked about. No one paid attention to Aunt Mida's weirdness. On their way to the bus Teo saw something strange up on a tree hanging on a rope. "Look Drake, who on a clear state of mind would hang a cat on a tree and leave it to die horribly." Teo with a harsh voice told Drake and pointed his finger to where the cat was hanging. Everyone lifted their head and was so shocked of what they saw. Jam was beginning to feel anxious. "Is this a bad omen? She agitatedly asked. "Please, please.. May we all calm down and forget about what we saw. It will just ruin our plans today. Remember, we're on our way to have fun." Drake's words eased down the tension of some of the eighteen teenagers who for a while had doubted the safety of their travel. Teo couldn't stop but think about Jam saying that what they saw could be a bad omen. Then he remembers Aunt Mida's strange qualities. She always mentioned about bad omens, premonitions and all same stuff that give them goosebumps all the time. A cat will always be her object of strangeness and bizarre psychic intuition. She would warn them all the time that something odd will come their way, something will happen beyond their control. In fact before they rushed to today's trip, Aunt Mida told them "Stop what you do or prepare for the worse". As usual they never gave attention to what she's been uttering. They were busy packing and had no time for negativities. They have been waiting for this trip and nobody can stop them especially Drake who has special plans for Jam. While on the bus waiting for their driver, they took their time talking and knowing some new friends who traveled with them. "Drake and I are best friends since 5th grade, we shared same ideas and opinions, love adventures. It's very hard to compete against friends because either way, you will get affected from the outcome of your achievements or misfortunes." Teo shared his story and thoughts to Luke, a new friend who just wanted to have some fun with them . Drake was seated beside the doorway of the bus talking to some other friends. Teo and Drake were both outstanding students of their class and without Teo's knowing, Drake would consider him as his biggest competitor. Sometimes he would envy Teo's achievements especially when he got higher scores than him. He is also more popular than him, if not the most popular. Drake had kept that envy eversince because he didnt want to affect their closeness, after all, his love for him as a brother was incomparable and though he was just always behind Teo's popularity. One of the many things fellow students admired about Teo is that, he is the most kind hearted young man they know. He always joins outreach programs of their school and being a working student, teachers and staff definitely know how helpful he is to all the school's activities. While enjoying the views from where they were seated, Johnny, one of their friends noticed a certain girl away from the crowd sitting at the far corner of the bus and was alone. He also noticed that the girl seemed like crying and afraid of something. He immediately came to her and ask, "Hey Miss.. why are you seated here alone and why are you crying? Is there anything I can do ? Did you lost something? Do you want a companion or someone to talk to ? The girl straightaway stared at Johnny and with a commanding tone replied "Leave me alone, stay away or else..", Johnny saw fire in her eyes and in a chilling mode began to walk away from her and said, "Hey, hey, I did nothing, was just trying to help.. ok, ok.. I'm going now". He could hardly walk his feet that moment and when he had that chance he ran to his fellow students with fear. "Her eyes are burning, her eyes are burning". He repeatedly uttered. He never thought he would see such fiery eyes. He was catching his breath when Teo came to him wondering what happened. He calmed him down and let him ease a while. Everybody surrounded him and was very curious of what he saw. "Get away from him, you.. All, get away. Give him space, he needs enough air to breathe." Luke reminded them. Johnny began to mumble his words, "the girl,.. The gg. .I saw fire in her eyes, there.. There. . She's sitting there..the. . Oh my.. God .. gone.. She's gone. Where did she go? " "What girl ? What's her name? Drake asked with concern. "We didn't saw no one," he added. "You are frightening me, you are frightening everybody, tell us what you saw." Luke convinced Johnny. Their supposed to be safe and fun travel now turning to be a one phantom ride. When Johnny's back to his feet he then told everyone what he saw. They could hardly believe him because no girl in the bus fitted his description. "Are you out of your mind Johnny?" "No girl wears black here and we definitely has no fire in our eyes" Solenn mockingly said to him. "Come on Solenn, give him a break", the guy is afraid can't you see?" Jam rectified Solenn's attitude. Solenn is a friend of Jam and she sometimes gets into the nerves of people around her. While everybody was getting tired and scared, she still finds time to joke around and tease. For her everything should not be taken seriously. One thing she's serious about is, her admiration to Teo, but unfortunately for her, her flirting with him doesn't work. Teo might be a perfect gentleman but most of the time he is irritated by Solenn's moves. On their way now to the camp, or so they thought, they heard a big explosion from outside and the bus rolled over and over on the road for how many times and suddenly found themselves thrown out far away from the bus, some crumpled and hanging from the hill along that road of Donsal. That road is filled alongside with hills, trees and mountains on top. Few people and vehicles are passing in that area because it has no electricity and is very dark during night time. Drivers of vehicles should also pass there with extreme caution because the zigzag road is very prone to accidents. "Help,.. help..," Drake shouted as he found himself hanging on that hill. Now everyone is filled with fear. Everyone's now crying for help. Some of them are left on the bus that was turned upside down, some thrown away on the road and some hanging on the hill. Teo has been looking for Drake. He crawled out from the bus to look for his bestfriend. He has scratches all over his body and a broken knee. He couldn't walk straight so he crawled through some dead bodies on the road just to find Drake. it was a horrible sight. Deaths were everywhere. He first found Jam through the doorway of the bus filled with her own blood. He didnt know if Jam is still alive but he saw her hand reaching for something and could hardly move. He was very terrified that moment and didn't know what to do, he knew it would take so many hours after help would come and all of them are running out of time. He started saving one by one those he could, because he was the only one in a very conscious state. He then hears someone shouting for help on the hill of the road. It was Drake's voice. He did his very best to get to that hill and he saw Drake indeed, hanging on that hill, beside him were 3 to 4 more people hanging in there to ask for his help. He came to Drake and tried very hard to reach his hand. "Pull me up Teo, pull me up". His hand reached for that stick on the road and let Drake reach it, but it was hard for him to be pulled out because he got stucked into the trees. Teo's painful broken knee also was adding to the hardships of getting Drake out of that hill. Please Teo, pull me up, pull me uuuuup. ..' Draaaake. ..Draaake. .. He shouted as hard as he can but no Drake could hear him anymore. He never thought Drake would let go. He slided down that hill and Teo couldn't save him. He was devastated by what happened to his bestfriend. Jam was alive and witnessed how Teo tried his best to save his bestfriend's life. But after all fate has brought Drake to such circumstance. Rescuers came after 40 minutes and luckily for Teo, Jam, Johnny, Luke and Solenn were five of the 9 rescued students. 7 declared dead including the driver and 3 were missing including Drake. His body was not found. There's hope for Teo that there will be a chance Drake is alive but He still have sleepless nights and nightmares and he will be dreaming of Drake blaming him for what happened." You didn't pull me up, Teo,". "How could you do that to me" ? I'm your friend, your bestfriend.." He can still hear Drake's voice and the echoes of those voices shouting for help. If only he could have saved them all, he would. Some reports say that there was a foul play in that accident but police never entertained that reports and pursue their own investigation to no avail. Teo had suspected Aunt Mida had something to do with the accident but had no idea how and why. He would always find himself in the middle of the night stucked -up along that road near the accident site. It maybe hard, but he has to do something to stop the nightmares and shed light to what really happened.. but where to start was more difficult to pursue.