Red String

The sun rises from the east illuminating the dark and isolated small island on a small country, Philippines. Bantayan Island is an island located in the Visayan Sea, Philippines. It is situated to the west of the northern end of Cebu island, across the Tañon Strait. The island is administratively divided into three municipalities: Bantayan, Madridejos, and Santa Fe.

Bantayan the largest municipality, covering the central part and it was also named after the island. Madridejos covers northern portion while Santa Fe covers the eastern portion. The island area is 108.77 square kilometres (42.00 sq mi). The island is mostly covered with coconut palms; the elevation is mostly below 10 metres (30 ft), with only one taller hill, at 26 metres (90 ft).

It means that it was an island on it's developing stage and there are almost no physical records nor evidence to indicate when the first people came to Bantayan, nor their places of origin. Some believe they can be traced back to Panay, others believe that the bulk of them were of Cebuano origin, and still others say they came from Leyte and Bohol.

Natives of the island lived a simple life of either a farmer or a fisherman, since the island was rich in natural resources this was the main source of their living. But there are also some that are not accustomed to a simple life so they decided to explore a little bit.

Little by little the island developed from a small village to a bustling town full of activities everyday. Not long after that the island attracted quite a large number of tourist or foreigners as what they call here. It was all thanks to the natural beauty of the island that this tourist bothered to take a look at this small yet wonderful place.

While business minded people started running their own resorts on the munacipality of Santa Fe, located at the eastern region of the island. And was soon made the main tourist spot on the island due to the various kinds of resorts built in the municipality.

Some tourist or foreigners had also considered living in Bantayan because of the peaceful and pollution free environment. Going here for the first time and you will be coming back again and again like your an addict taking drugs. So instead of wasting money on the trip why not settle down here and lived a good life.

In every municipality there are a lot of barangay because of the distance between each others the natives here started to form their own hierarchy. Barangay Putian, one of the barangays under the municipality of Bantayan, situated in between the border of Bantayan and Madridejos.

Waking up at 5 in the morning, Kristian began to prepare to go to school even though most of his time in the morning will be wasted with him reading some novels. He followed his usual schedule of drinking his coffee or "pamainit", ironing his school uniform, cooking rice, waking up his siblings, and then taking a bath. [1]

This was basically what he does every morning when there is class, well even though there are no class he might even do this out of habit. He was the eldest son of Roberto a tricycle driver and Rosanna a simple store owner. His siblings are Kathleen Camile, 14 years old and Kim Angelo, 11 years old.

After he finished taking a bath, Kristian looked at the wall clock and found out that it was already 6:34 it was almost 7 in the morning which is the busiest time of the day. He hurriedly put on his uniform while he eat his breakfast lightning fast.

Kristian was a student at Saint Paul Academy one of the most prestigious school on Bantayan Island. Although he completed his junior high school on Madridejos National High School, he decided to study on Saint Paul Academy on his senior year.

"Mom I'm heading out" he picked up his red backpack and putting it on his back the instant he picked it while running towards the street.

Everyday he would wake up early because he needed to wait for the jeepney, their kind of transportation on the island. He was always afraid of getting late especially when he had to start praying from the beginning if he gets late. After all, Saint Paul Academy was a religious school so they gave emphasis on things related to God. [2]

Standing near the street, looking at the north, he waited for the jeepney to pass by while he was holding a notebook on his left hand while his right hand covers his eyes.

"Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy."

He started memorizing the content of his notebook while he stayed on guard waiting for the jeepney.

*Beep* * Beep*

Kristian stopped memorizing as soon as he heard the sound, he looked at the direction where the sound came and not far from a distance he saw a vehicle going this way and undoubtedly this was the jeepney he was waiting for.

"Finally . ." he said softly while he looked at the watch on his wrist which shows that the time is already 7:13.

"I hope I can still make it there."

[1]: The Bantayanon language is mostly a mixture of different neighbouring Visayan languages: The principally native Cebuano (from Cebu and Eastern Negros) and Hiligaynon (from Western Negros and Iloilo), Boholano (from Bohol), Masbateño (from Masbate) and Waray-Waray (from Leyte and Samar). However it has its own words such as "kakyop" (yesterday), "sara" (today) and "buwas" (tomorrow).

[2]: Jeepneys (Filipino: Dyipne), sometimes called simply jeeps (Filipino: dyip), are buses and the most popular means of public transportation ubiquitous in the Philippines.[3] They are known for their crowded vis-à-vis seating and kitsch decorations, which have become a wide spread symbol of Philippine culture and art.[4] A Sarao jeepney was exhibited at the Philippine pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair as a national image for the Filipinos.