Stranded in Thoughts

Chapter 16—The Strange, Old Man

It was our second day of being stranded on this island, yet no rescue had come. We didn’t find any locals as well. The sun was at its peak, indicating that it might be noon already. Rico was walking ahead of me, leading the way to the unknown territories. The foliage here was thicker and the coconut-looking trees were much taller compared to the ones at the beach.

Now that I had a good look at them, and for the first time that I ever gave focus and attention to the details of the trees, they looked familiar.

“Jelly, check this out.”

Rico called me out from where he was standing, which I supposed an opening just outside the foliage. I quickened my pace and for the first time since being stranded here, finally found something beautiful and mesmerizing.

We were standing on a wide cliff, wider than the first one Alyssa fell from. The memory struck like lightning and got me sobbing again, but I nodded it off. I needed to always remind myself to move on. I might not be able to forget, but I needed to for the meantime to survive. I couldn’t succumb to depression right now.

In front of us was a gargantuan waterfall—a beauty to behold. I gawked at the wonders of the little oasis that had been hiding here all this time. There was a big, colorful rainbow above it and some fowls circling the top, but the strange thing was that there was no noise that was coming from it. A waterfall this huge should be noisy; in fact, we should have heard it some meters away before we got on this cliff. It was like everything in it had been put in silent mode.

We could see some animals that could be commonly seen in the wild like deer and boars, yet the ones that had caught our attention were the strange-looking beasts. We spotted the butterfly-looking mosquitoes fluttering around a garden of Rafflesia-looking flowers at the corner of the hillside, just beside the falls. Some rhino-looking ones were indifferently grazing, barely giving us any attention at all. I could also make out some big-eared monkeys that were almost as big as an elephant. They were all huddled in a group like what players of volleyball would do before a match to lift each other’s fighting spirit. I hoped we would never have an encounter with them up close.

What surprised me the most was the way I reacted. Rico was in awe with a gaping mouth, and I sure as hell could understand it. If a person’s degree of shock could be vividly shown in his or her action, Rico might have dropped his jaw to the ground already. Everything here was surely something that he would never imagine being true. How I wished I could join him with his overt admiration. But they just couldn’t surprise me even with how I expected myself to be.

Because I found them disturbingly familiar.

Almost everything was familiar—the mosquitoes, rhinos, monkeys, even the furries that were moving to and fro below the chasm, on a grassy hillside just beside the waterfall basin. They were all hazy in my mind, but they were there. The memory existed. The familiarity was unsettling. I couldn’t see them clearly but somehow knew how they would look in detail if I were to get closer. 

Rico grabbed my hand—maybe unconsciously, due to excitement—and pulled me near the edge of the cliff.  In the middle of all of this, floating on the waterfall basin was a building that had a placard “Maximus’ Hotel” on it. It was a two-story structure. 

Now, this thing surprised me.

“What’s that?” Rico started.

“Sure looks a building to me.”

“What is that doing there? Same with all of them. What are all the things here doing on this island? Now, if I may recall, we got hit by a seaquake, got stranded on an unfamiliar shore, and found some strange-looking plants and animals. If this is not something out of fairy tale that indicates we got spirited away into a magical world, then I don’t know what it is.”

“Don’t exaggerate. It’s not scientific at all. Let’s get closer to that building. Maybe someone’s residing there.”

“Alright. Wait here, I’ll find a way down.”

He rushed back to the woods and left me all alone. I wished I had come with him. Amidst the naturally unsettling ambiance and noise of the woods and animals where we came from, the silence of the waterfalls gave me the creeps the most. I found a little mound near the right side of the cliff and settled there, humming a song to keep myself busy in order not to be scared. The monkey beasts were now staring at my location—frozen in their place. I retreated and hid behind the mound. The height of the cliff surely helped in keeping me well hidden.

They surely wouldn’t attack, would they?

I tried to have a little peek down the hillside and found them still staring at the mound where I had previously rested. Thank God, they were not after me. I let out a deep sigh and dropped on my back to gaze at the moving clouds.  When would we be rescued? I hoped everyone was alright at the beach. Just the thought of teacher Norkie returning to the others scared the hell out of me.

And then I heard a rustle in the woods.

“Rico? What took you so long? Next time, don’t just leave me behind like that!” I shouted. He should have gotten me some food for reconciliation.

The rustle ceased.

The queer stoppage sharpened my senses that led to the edge of my wits and fears. There were only two possibilities: one was, it was Rico, and he was just trying to pull my leg; second was, it was entirely someone else. It could be a strange beast for all I knew.

Nevertheless, something was there.

I gathered my strength and tiptoed toward the left side of the cliff, just near the berry shrubs. Just when I almost reached it, a huge shadow lurched outside the bushes and a hand grabbed my collar, lifting me a meter high from the cliff.

“Where is the Gregorio!” the intruder screamed at my face.

From my vantage point, I could make out an old man straddled on a rhino beast. His hair was impeccably combed and as white as snow. With drooping eyes and coal eye-bags, he surely looked intimidating and scary. His lips were quivering for some reason, like the mere action of spitting that grammatically substandard question sucked some life out of him. The unkempt stubble on his chin made him look like some more years older, even with the evident wrinkles he already got. With his built, he looked like someone who played sports during his younger years. His muscles were bulging from the black tuxedo he was wearing—which was strange—that looked as impeccable as his hair. I remembered when my father had told me once that I could tell a person’s personality by the way he or she would dress.

This one looked like a gentleman who was about to eat me. He looked hostile.

If anything, the mere fact that there was someone else other than us here had surely surprised me. Much more the way he was dressed and straddling the beast. Did he tame it?

The flame of my dwindling hope had now started blazing again.

He loosened his black tie with his other hand and hopped off the beast while still holding me by my collar with his other hand, and once again spat some saliva on my face. “Is you deaf? Again, where is the Gregorio?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you,” I said and wiped my face with great effort.

“You is playing dumb is to me! Me is can tell you is the lying!”

The way he spoke had made me remember Ritchelle and Vhina. I could feel my icy tears glide down my cheeks. I wiped them off along with the saliva on my face, thankful that they somehow camouflaged. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about!”

He glared at me and once again asked, but this time in a calm manner and a different question, “You is not a Young Blood. Who is the you?”

Should I introduce myself to a stranger? I guessed it wouldn’t hurt. “Me is Je—I mean, I’m Jelly. We got stranded on this island and we were on our way of finding some locals. Luckily, I found you. Unluckily, in this manner.”

He maintained his grave stare after he set me down. The sudden release of strength from his grip alone got me down on my butt. This grandpa could be as strong as a gorilla. He kept his steely gaze when he helped me on my feet. “What you mean?”

“We were supposed to have a retreat in Bantayan, but a seaquake hit us.”

“You is the telling truth?”

“I can’t afford to lie now. We are desperate to find a local, and here you are. Please, help us,” I unconsciously begged and started crying in front of him. Everything that had happened had just been accumulating without an opportunity to air them out—save for this. All at once, they resurfaced.

I broke down. Then everything went black.

† † †

I woke up on a comfy bed.

The room was dimly lit and covered with flower-patterned wallpapers. There was a huge, vintage ceiling fan in the middle and a closet beside the large double-framed windows on the left wall. I walked to the door, just adjacent to my bed, and was about to touch the doorknob when it was yanked by someone outside. It budged, but it didn’t open. Maybe it could only be swung toward the room, so I did it myself without worrying who was doing it. I just had a feeling that it was someone who was not hostile.

It was Rico.

“Jelly, how are you? I apolog—” he swiveled his head the other way. “What are you wearing? Geez, put some pants on!”

I blushed and slammed the door in his face. It made me remember Molly. My upper was also crumpled and it smelled weird: better to change it before Rico would notice the smell. It would be the death of me.

It took me a couple of minutes before I got out of the closet. I returned to the door with a pair of loose jeans and a purple shirt with a petrified Bulbasaur print. Did the manang stay here before? I wondered what she was doing now.

“Where are we?” I asked. The fact that he was fine and even had changed to a navy-blue shirt with khaki shorts assured me that we were somewhere safe.

“We are in Maximus’ Hotel. Remember the strange building that seems floating on the waterfall basin? Well, guess what, it really is!”

I was not amazed. “Wait, I’ve met an old man. Where is he? Did you see him?”

“Oh, you mean the owner? He was in the reception below, tending his mate. It’s a beast that looks like a rhino.”

“How did I end up here?”

“You were already here before I returned to the cliff. I searched for you for almost thirty minutes somewhere else before having the idea that you might be here.”

“It took you that long to realize?”

“Well—sorry. Anyway, when I barged in, I found that old man with the beast and was immediately amazed by them. We had had a bit of introduction and conversation before he said that you’re here. Though he speaks weird, he seems like a good guy.”

“Did he say anything else?”

“Anything?”

“Like, what we’ve—never mind. Come on, let’s go down!” I couldn’t share with him that I lost myself and broke down.

The old man was still dressed impeccably while sitting across the bar of the reception with his beast. He was petting it like how someone would do to a dog or cat. Everything in the lounge was old and, say, musty and dusty. The only couch was stained with, how should I say it, blood? I didn’t know what it was but rest assured, it was stained. We said our greetings—it was already dark outside—and dove onto the couch.

This building was small and cramped to be a hotel.

“How is you the feeling, small girl?” the old man asked.

“I’m fine. Thank you for the help,” I replied, somewhat ashamed of my short episode of unbecoming. Though we, teachers, were already used to breaking down because of school works and students, everything that just happened here overlapped my twenty-year worth of stress.

“Me is the sorry for what me is the done early this in the afternoon.”

“It’s okay. Who was it that you’re finding, anyway?”

He stopped petting the beast and let out a deep sigh. He stood and stretched both his arms, displaying his magnificent built and height, then sat again. If I were to say, he looked like a seven-footer basketball player. And that was not normal for Filipinos. Maybe he got some Caucasian blood, or what.

“It’s me other mate, Gregorio. He is the also same creature like this one with is the me. Its name is the Prell. So, Gregorio is the run away from me and is the lost.”

“Oh, well, yeah. Sorry to hear that.”

The fact that I couldn’t understand him well surprised me even with how we always had done it at school.

“You is the say earlier that you is the stranded here. Correct?”

“Yes. And thank you very much for accepting us. We have a lot of people camping at one of the beaches of this island and we would like you to help us. Please.”

He stared at me for some time, maybe deliberating if I was saying the truth. However, the way that he was gazing at me was different from giving someone the benefit of a doubt. “You say you is stranded because of the seaquake?”

“Yes. You see, we were on this barge with our students to have a retreat when the quake hit us.”

“How many is the you?”

I told him our numbers. He kept on asking questions regarding the passengers of the barge that I couldn’t understand as to why he was curious about them. He occasionally rubbed his chin as if thinking if my answers were passable as truth. The beast beside him yawned and laid its big head on the floor. The old man smiled and stroked its under-chin.

He got serious again in just a moment. He then asked, but to nobody in particular, “But why is the all of you chosen? Is the all of you carrying is the creator?”

I was not sure how to answer him but all the same, still answered, “You know, um, mister, I’m not really sure about everything around here but please, you need to help us as soon as possible. There’s a—”

I broke down again. Rico comforted me with his words while supporting me from falling off the couch. Everything was coming back. The killings. The betrayal. And also the fact about teacher Norkie.

I couldn’t even think about it.

“Sir, someone’s killing us,” Rico said. He did it for me. “If there’s a police station or anything on this island that can help us in catching the murderer, please tell us the way. We need their help.”

I forced myself to calm down. I noticed the old man shuddering. Somehow, Rico’s words brought a shock to him.

“What is the killer is the like?” the old man asked.

“Well, he’s a teacher. Her co-teacher, to be precise. He has killed two of us already, and he’s bound to kill more once he returns to the beach, and I suspect that he was already there by this time. I just hope that the men there will be able to apprehend him.”

“Did he is the killed them with is the touch only?”

This got me a bit mad somehow. I answered the old man instead. “We don’t know. Why would we be concerned about that when our friend was being killed in front of us?”

He rubbed his stubbled chin once again, indifferent to what I shared with him. Then, he added, “Well, it is the much better if you is the made sure that the killer is the touched or not his victims. Since they is the getting killed and no hope to be saved, you is the should have known for me is to help.”

And there it went. Just like that and I already loathed him.

The curiosity that the old man had displayed with the killings brought me to my feet. “And why are you asking that now? Can’t you help us in some ways? Why would you be more curious about how the killer killed my friends?” I couldn’t help raising my voice.

Rico tried to pacify me, but I was as stable as a tree. I couldn’t be moved. I wouldn’t move. My thoughts, my words, my actions. Whatever would happen here, whatever consequences—might it be not earning his trust to help us—I’d embrace it. I wouldn’t let this old man get filthy curious about the deaths of my friends. I wouldn’t let him disrespect them.

We got in a standstill for some more minutes; my face already aching with too much wincing and wrinkling. I’d make sure that he’d get how unhappy I was with my expressions. And then, he sighed deeply and started rubbing the beast’s under-chin again.

“You is the not going to believe is the me, but everything that is the happen here is the not something that is the usually happen in the normal world outside,” he croaked.

“We know. As far as everything here is concerned, we know that it’s not normal. But I couldn’t tolerate how you just casually disrespected my friends as if it’s not a big deal for me, especially seeing their corpses. Have you ever seen a dead body? A headless one, a distorted one? Don’t even try to act as if it’s just nothing at all!”

He averted his gaze down and put on a smile. It was a smile that was not giving off any happiness at all. It somehow resembled nostalgia and melancholy. “Yes. Me is the had. Here in the building, actually.”

The atmosphere now had gone cold. I could hear the hooting of owls outside, which might not be normal owls at all. The breeze of the night went in the windows and caressed my bare skin, giving me enough chill to feel the sadness and pain that the old man radiated. I got embarrassed of what I was doing and finally loosened myself. Rico touched my shoulder and gestured for me to sit down.  I complied. I surveyed the whole area again: everything was ancient—from the design up to the furniture. If the old man was telling the truth about witnessing a murder here, then the stains on the couch might be blood all along.

The old man stood and matter-of-factly said, “You is not in Bantayan, small girl. Well, not anymore.”

And, there, one question answered.

With much enthusiasm to ask him more, I shot off the couch and lurched to the reception bar. I’d not let him go anywhere without providing more answers to my other questions. “Sir, there’s a lot more that I want to ask you, so please help us—”

“Jelly, you dropped something,” Rico interrupted. I turned around and found out that he was holding up my lucky charm. I lurched at him and snatched it from his grasp, and I rushed back to the reception bar for him not to notice how my face was turning as red as a tomato.

“Sorry, sir, never mind tha—” I failed to utter the next word because of the old man’s expression. It was the expression of shock, but it would be an understatement to just say that he was shocked. His eyes widened over its limits; his mouth agape.

“Small girl, where is the find that one you is the holding?” he murmured. It was barely audible, but I somehow still got it.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t mind it. It’s just a lucky charm that my father gave me when I was a kid.”

“Father? Who is the your fa—no, what is the your family name?”

“Ha? Well, it’s Diaz. Why does it matter now?”

It got him good. He looked like his soul left his body, but as quick as the wind, he returned. However, his expression changed into another kind of seriousness. He gave us one gesture that we understood as “follow me”.

“Me is never have thinked that this day is the finally come,” he weakly stated when we had reached the second floor of the building.

“What do you mean? I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t understand what this is about.” I gave Rico a do-you-know-what’s-going-on look. He shrugged.

The old man didn’t answer and just continued his walk in the lobby, leading us somewhere we didn’t know. Finally, he stopped in front of a door. He opened and held it for us to come through. The room design was the same as mine. He then led us to the bed where a person was peacefully sleeping. Was it okay to just barge into someone’s room? Last time I checked, it was rude.

As we got closer, even with my blurry vision, I somehow got focused on who was lying on the bed. I stopped in my tracks once I had recognized him. Rico did likewise. We both looked at each other and gave the old man the same what’s-going-on look. He didn’t seem to understand, though. I turned back to the person peacefully sleeping. No, he was not at peace at all. The old man lifted the blanket, and there he showed us his injury—his left arm was gone. Now, this was surely shocking, but it shocked me more knowing that I knew this person. Even Rico surely knew him in one way or another.

He was no other than the one who helped me a lot with my mental and physical health—Dr. Shawn.