Chapter 2
1199 Words
CHAPTER 2: Stranger in Silk
Pain. That was the first thing she felt.
A heavy, dull ache in her chest.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, blinking against the soft glow of candlelight. The ceiling above her was wood—old, polished, carved.
Not a hospital ceiling.
Not even close.
“Aray… bakit parang nabangga ako ng tren?” she groaned, trying to move.
She winced. Her ribs felt like they’d been stepped on by a stampede. Her chest throbbed. But still, she pushed herself up. Matigas ang ulo. Sanay masaktan, pero hindi sumusuko.
Napalingon siya sa paligid. The room was too big to be a clinic. Too fancy. Silk drapes. Wooden floors. Antique everything. A girl in hanbok quietly poured tea in the corner. An old man with a long white beard leaned over a scroll. And nearby…
The boy.
(Siya ‘yon… ‘yung batang niligtas ko—)
Then her breath caught.
(Teka… teka lang. Ano ba'ng nangyari? Binaril ako, ‘di ba?)
She scanned herself the way she was trained—quick, methodical. Head. Chest. Limbs. No wounds. No blood. Just that weird purple mark.
She grabbed at her chest, gasping. Hinanap niya ang sugat. Dapat may dugo. Dapat may bendang makapal. But instead…
Walang bandage.
Walang tama ng bala.
Just smooth, unmarred skin beneath her loose robes. But her fingers brushed against something strange—something faint and pale. Like marks trailing just below her collarbone. Not veins. Not bruises. A purplish pattern that looked almost unnatural.
She froze.
(Anong meron dito? Lason ba ‘to?! Pero… bakit lason? Diba… diba binaril ako?)
Allyssa’s heartbeat spiked.
And that’s when she noticed.
Flat. As in, wala. Walang bra.
Napamulat siya.
“OH MY GOD. Wala akong bra?!” she gasped, scrambling to peek inside her robe. “Sino'ng demonyong nagtanggal nito?!”
Thankfully, she found something—her lace underwear. At least half of it.
“At least hindi ‘to ninakaw ng multo… o kung sino mang kaluluwa dito.”
Pero kahit nagpapatawa siya sa sarili niya, may nanlalamig sa dibdib niya. Because she remembered.
She remembered the bridge.
The van.
The child falling.
The bullet.
Her blood.
The river swallowing her whole.
(Hindi ba dapat… patay na ‘ko, ‘di ba?)
Her breath quickened. “Sandali—ilang araw na ba akong nakaratay dito? Nasa’n ako?!”
A soft gasp came from the corner. “She’s awake!” said a young servant, in Korean.
Allyssa snapped her gaze toward the voice.
(Korean? Teka—anong sinasabi nila? Saan ba ‘ko?!)
She tried to sit up straighter. “Lady Ali, please—don’t move yet!” a servant rushed toward her.
“Lady Ali?” she echoed. “Wait lang, sino ‘yung Lady na ‘yon? Bakit ako ‘yung tinatawag n’yo?”
“Nasaan ang uniporme ko? Yung baril ko?! Wallet ko, ID?!” She patted herself down. “Bawal mawala ‘yun! Nasa’n ang badge ko?!”
"Lady Ali!" the physician called, rushing to her side.
"Ali?" she echoed, confused. "Sino'ng Ali ba 'yan? Allyssa Manalo ang pangalan ko—Officer Allyssa, PNP. Check niyo sa database kung may signal kayo."
The boy stepped forward. His voice was soft. “You… saved me. Do you remember, Lady?”
Her breath caught again.
“Lady?” she repeated under her breath. “Ako na naman ‘yon? Bakit parang pinalitan na pangalan ko? Hindi ako celebrity, hindi ko kailangan ng screen name!”
Allyssa blinked at him. That’s when she realized she was clean, dressed in an elegant hanbok. No mud, no bruises. She looked like someone who’d never rolled in dirt or fallen off a bridge.
(Sandali. Gabi? Ilang gabi na ba ang lumipas?)
"How long have I been here?" she asked, the words slipping from her tongue before she could even think about it.
The old physician bowed low. “You have been unconscious for three days, my lady. We feared you would never wake.”
Tatlong araw.
Tatlong araw?!
“But I was shot,” she muttered. “Binaril ako. Dugo. Baril. Bridge—”
“You were found floating on the edge of the Silver River,” the physician explained gently. “With the young prince in your arms. The currents should have taken you both. But somehow, you were… glowing.”
“Glowing?” she echoed. “What do you mean glowing?”
The servant girl added, “The Silver River is cursed, my lady. No one survives it. But you… you came out alive. Carrying His Highness like he weighed nothing. And then… that mark appeared on your skin.”
Allyssa touched the purplish trail again.
“It’s not from any blade or weapon we know of,” the physician said solemnly. “There were no wounds—only strange toxins left in your bloodstream. Something poisonous. Ancient.”
“Poison?” she echoed, dazed. “But… I was shot. I know I was shot.”
The boy looked down. “You saved me. You didn’t even hesitate.”
Allyssa’s mind raced. Hindi pwede ‘to. Ano ‘to—dream? Delirium? Hallucination dahil sa trauma?
She stood abruptly and stumbled toward the door.
“Lady Ali, please!” the maid called. “You must not—”
She made one last attempt at the door—locked.
“Ah. Ganon? Kinulong ako sa bahay ni Kuya?”
She huffed and grabbed a decorative vase nearby, trying to pry the lock. It didn’t budge.
She moved to the window and pulled the curtain.
Only to see a courtyard below. Stone paths. Dozens of armored guards patrolling with long spears and serious faces.
“Ay. ‘Yung tipong kahit ipasa ko ang NBI clearance ko, hindi nila i-aallow ‘to. Level: maximum security.”
She stepped back.
A servant gasped. "Lady Ali!"
Allyssa smiled sheepishly. “Ah, warm-up lang po. Stretching. Sa Makati po kasi, morning yoga bago mag-trabaho.”
The old physician approached again. “Please, rest. You have barely recovered.”
“No. No no no. This doesn’t make sense,” Allyssa muttered. “Wala akong sugat. Pero may poison. I was shot, not poisoned! Tapos ngayon, tinatawag akong ‘Lady Ali’? At ‘to?”—she gestured to the hanbok—“Costume party ba ‘to?! Anong taon na ba ngayon?!”
Her hands were shaking.
She looked at the boy.
He just smiled at her, so soft, so calm. “You’re safe now.”
(Kung totoo ‘to… then where the hell am I? What kind of place lets a girl fall into a river, glow, and live?)
But Allyssa didn’t feel safe.
She felt trapped. Disoriented. Haunted.
And just like that, her plan to escape faded—for now.
Allyssa shuffled back to the bed with a groan. “Okay. Fine. I’ll sit still. But someone better explain all this when I wake up.”
She glared at the ceiling. “At ikaw ha, batang prince-wannabe… ‘wag kang pa-cute d’yan. I need answers.”
She closed her eyes again.
With that, she let the world blur—still in denial, still confused, still stubbornly her.
But alive.
Somehow.
- Writer
