FF5: Glimpses of Her Past

"I'm trying to let go of your memories but you keep coming back in some special way." - FF5

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Yrrah and her friends went up to Mt. Banahaw the next day to hike, with a hired tour guide.

She's not an adventurous person. Her late father was very protective of her and he didn't allow her to hike before. Yet, she was blown away that the place seems so familiar. It seemed that she'd been there before.

Aeron volunteers to carry her bag though he's carrying his own mountaineer backpack. He was also very supportive of her on their journey. From time to time, she would pause and some blurry glimpses passed on her mind.

"Wait, Caz, I gonna mark this tree," a boy said.

"Wow! Is that our initial, Kuya?" a young girl asked full of admiration and excitement in her tone and her half-moon eyes widens.

Yrrah couldn't see their faces, only voices. He called her Caz, that's her nickname, meaning she was that little girl? But who was that boy that she called Kuya?

"Hey, are you okay?" Aeron asked her as she was staring at one particular huge tree. It's bigger than most of the other trees there.

"Wait," she said. Her feet involuntarily stepped towards the tree. She scanned its old barks and found two letters; C and Z. It was curved deeply on the tree, the sized of her tiny palm. She traced her fingers into it, trying to remember more.

"Did you mark that?" Aeron asked her.

"No," she replied.

"You've been here before?" he asked again.

Yrrah looked at him puzzledly. "I actually don't remember."

Their friends, who were ahead of them, yelled to them to stay closer so, they followed them at once.

IT TOOK them a few hours to reach the safe campground for hikers. The boys built the tents, one for them, one for the girls, and their guide has his own tent. While the girls watched the sun bidding it daily goodbye on the cliff near to their campsite. The sky was painted with beautiful mixed colors of purple, orange, pink, and darker shade of grey. The wind was gently kissing their skin as the leaves on the trees danced as it blows.

"The sunset is so amazing. Can we come back here again, Daddy?" the little girl asked.

"You can watch the sunset again tomorrow, Sweetie. We're staying here for three days," the man told her daughter.

"Kuya, let's race to the camp!" the girl yelled and ran away giggling, as the boy running behind her, chuckling.

"Run faster, Caz! Or the Tickle Monster will attack you!" the teenage boy said in his baritone voice.

Yrrah held her head as she could still hear their joyous laugh. 'Who are they? Why do I need to hear their voices?'

"Hey, bestie. Are you okay?" Neisha, who sat beside her asked.

"I just have a little headache," she replied.

They decided to go back to the campsite. They prepared their dinner. They lit up a bonfire and gathered around it as they eat. Some barbeque pork, barbeque chicken, hotdogs, and corn on the cob. They even have some marshmallows on the metal stick that they heated on the fire, sandwich it on the Graham crackers and chocolate. A smores for dessert.

They decided to play two lies and one truth after dinner as they drink some beer in the can. Barbie volunteered to go first. Beside her on her left is Princess, then Lucas, Neisha, Aeron, and Yrrah.

"One, I was born as a female. Two, my father is very supportive of me being gay. Three, I am in love right now." He giggled like a teenage girl who just received a smile from her crush for the first time while looking intently at Aeron in front of him.

"Three," they replied in chorus. They knew that she's always in love with every handsome man.

"No thrill at all, baklush," Neisha mocked Barbie, she pouted as she squinted her eyes, "your turn, bestie," she told Yrrah.

"Okay. One, I can sing. Two, I love hiking, and three, I'm married to an ice-cold man," she said, then ate her melted marshmallow.

Her friends became quiet as all their puzzled eyes landed on her. Princess broke the silence, "we knew that you have an ear-drum breaking voice. Then, you kept on complaining earlier that you don't like hiking, and we're certain that you're still single. Those are all lies."

Yrrah seems to be awakened. Of course, her friends didn't know about her ex-husband. She gestured her hand with a peace sign and smiled as she couldn't talk yet. She swallowed the marshmallow first, then said, "My bad. What I mean is... I like to marry an ice-cold man."

"Oh? Don't you like to marry a hot but cool man?" Aeron asked her in a flirty tone and winked at her.

Their friends teased them. "Whoa! My cousin's Hokage moves!" Princess said joyfully.

She gave Aeron a sheepish smile. He's indeed a hot guy but her husband was sizzling hot especially on their bed. Yrrah felt her cheeks burned as the image of his husband on his birth suit flashed on her mind, with very toned muscles on the right place and his 6-pack abs made her to drools. She hoped that the flames on the bonfire couldn't illuminate enough for them to see her cheeks turned to red delicious apples.

'Why do I keep remembering you when you're supposed to be forgotten?' her inner voice asked.

The group decided to wake up early to greet the sun and bathe on its showering lights, though they slept quite late as they played, sang, shared spooky stories, and endless chatting.

TWO SETS of couples were in front of the bonfire; its fire danced as the mild summer wind blows. They have can of beers on their hands. Big smiles on their faces while they were talking.

"The kids are getting along so well, maybe we should arrange their marriage," one of the men suggested, then his chuckles echoed in the stillness of the night.

"That's insane, they're still too young. My daughter is just 9 years old and your son is 14," the woman in front of him said then laughed.

Their partners were just quiet while they exchanged timid glances with each other.

"I didn't say that they going to get married now, maybe ten years from now. Right, bud?" the man said again and asked the other man in front of him.

"Why not? I'd rather want my daughter to marry my best friend's son." They laughed and tossed their can of beer.

The other lady, beside the man who insisted on the arranged marriage, just shook her head as if she didn't agree on the idea of it.

"What are they talking about, Kuya? Who's going to marry who?" the little girl innocently asked the boy, who's busy playing with his Nintendo DS.

They were inside the tent playing with their DS. Their parents probably didn't know that they can hear them.

"They're talking about us," he replied without glancing at the girl as he continued with his game.

"I want to marry you. When are we going to get married?" the girl asked again.

The boy chuckled. He put down his DS and pitched the girl's chubby cheeks. "You're so cute. You don't even understand it yet," he said.

The girl pouted her reddish lips. "I know it already. You're gonna be the daddy and I gonna be the mommy, and Pinkie will be our baby girl," the girl said and gave him her pink teddy bear, "Don't you want to marry me, Kuya?" She looked at him with cute puppy eyes.

The boy chuckled even more. "I'm too old for you. Before you grow up, I'm probably be married. Besides, you're like a little sister to me."

YRRAH WOKE-UP as someone was shaking her shoulder. "Bestie, I need to pee. Can you go with me to the bathroom?" Neisha asked.

Yrrah though sleepy, nodded. They grabbed their flashlight and went out of their tent. It's only three in the morning. The bathroom on the campsite is just a few meters away from their tent. Her thought was still on her weird dreams. She couldn't comprehend who are those people on her dreams.

Neisha occupied the first cubicle. Yrrah also sat down on one of the toilet bowls to pee as well and closed her eyes.

"The kids shouldn't be arranged. They're siblings," the boy's mom said to the girl's dad. They were talking away from their tent.

"What do you mean by that!" the girl's mom asked in shock, as she overheard them when her daughter asked her to go in the bathroom. They saw them talking suspiciously. The girl's dad and his friend's mom were appalled to see them.

"What do you mean by that? Are you two cheating on us?" the girl's mom repeated her inquiry in a loud voice, almost shouting.

"Let me explain," the girl's dad said to her mom and looked at the little innocent girl.

"Bestie, are you sleeping there?" Yrrah just went back to her senses. Did she fall asleep again and continued her dreams? That was even weirder.

They went back to the tent and she could help but still think about her dreams. She couldn't forget the dumbfounded face of her dad staring at her on her dream. He seemed to be guilty. His eyes were awestricken and at the same time pleaded for understanding.

'Was that dream even real? Am I that little girl on my dream? Who was the other family? Do I have a brother? Who and where is he?' Yrrah's confused inner voice asked herself.

She fell back to sleep thinking those unanswered questions.

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UNEDITED

Kuya means big brother whether to your own blood siblings or another man older than yourself by a few years only; probably by one to ten years only.

Baklush: just an endearment to a gay friend.