Chapter 1 Under the Ballet Tree

Chapter 1

"Please mother. Tell us now what happened next. In the story about Princess Dana."

They have the same request as their mother. As they are wanting to hear the continuation of the story that their mother started telling them.

"Yes, I may start the storytelling again but wash the dishes first. And clean yourselves before we go off to bed," their mother answered.

So they wanted to finish washing the dishes right away. They hastened their moves and thus cleaned themselves too before going to enter the bedroom. The place of their house where their mother often tell them stories while they were all lying on the pallet. At that moment a slight gust of wind in the woods began. They could hear it pounding on the leaves of the tree that were also just a few meters away from their home. In the woods where their father just disappeared like a thin bubble. It was only a few months ago that Mang Ulay didn't come home. He used to pick branches from the big trees in the middle of the woods that day. But one day he didn't come home. Nobody of his acquaintances had seen him at all.

"Haaa Aaah Aaah! Haaa Aaah Aaah! Haaa Aaah Aaah. Aaah! .....

They began to fold their arms close to their chest. Their mother's cold voice made them startled. Felt strangely cold.

"Does that sound like how it was, mother? It seems real. My hair stood on end," Layin said. She also turned to see the reactions of her sisters too. They both have the same facial expression.

"Mother, what is that sound?" Shanese asked.

"It is a sweet melody again that he hears. But maybe he was just drunk so it was louder as before," her mother answered.

"Then what did he do?"

Renchen asked while her eyes slowly open wide and rolled. But still interested to hear what happened next.

"He ignored it like soundless. Ulysses had fallen asleep in extreme intoxication under the old ballet tree. It shaded the spring of water that probably also comes from a nearby hill. He parked his car instead of driving because his eyes rolled from dizziness. Though he was close to their house he couldn't drive anymore. He came from the house of a friend who had just arrived from another country. Because he doesn't drink alcohol very often, it hit him hard. It made him drunk so easily. The bitter and delicious taste of Johnnie Walker's wine was so strange that he liked it even though he didn't taste it before. He slept long and deep in the cold night. Like drunk people who don't care about their surroundings. Others are afraid to linger in that area. Many wonders stories they said that happened under that old ballet tree.

"Why couldn't he see who is singing mother?"

"They are in a different world, Shanese," their mother explained.

"Where is Dana while she is singing? Is she around Ulysses?"

"The spring water is cold. She bathes in water all the way nothing on her body. This is what she used to do in the morning at six o'clock with other fairies. No one could see them because no one often comes to the spring at such a time. And if there is one, nobody can't see like them in their strange world. She was often guarded by her maid fairies too even when she was just around the palace. Dana is a princess in their kingdom. Kingdom of invisible creatures that humans couldn't see, in the world of fairies in their fairyland. The chirping of the birds above seemed to be exercising as well while singing. Dana was also with the hummingbirds. She loves to do the singing. Especially when she's at the spring."

"Haaa Aaah Aaah! Haaa Aaah Aaah! Haaa Aaah Aaah Aaah Aaah!" Her mother sings the soundless lullaby again.

"Aaaaaaahhh!" says Ulysses while stretching up his hands and yawning.

His head ached but he knew the reason was the alcohol. His body also ached because he fell asleep in the sitting position. Woke up in a cold voice humming. He diligently examined the surroundings with his eyes rolling. His one right eyebrow got up while trying to hear the sound. He remembered he was under the old ballet tree. It must have been six in the morning but he still felt his hair stand on end. How nice to hear the murmur of water in the spring while listening to the beautiful melody humming.

A woman's voice humming he hears made him remember the voice he heard before he had fallen asleep. With the coldness of the voice, his spirit was pushed even more into drowsiness and he completely forgot everything.

"Who could that be," he asked himself.

"Huh, because maybe I'm just drunk."

He also answered his question.

But he heard the voice again. It was a woman's voice but there was no one else there aside from him. A cold breeze passed again. So he locked the car and drove slowly away from the area.

"Why do I hear something like those sounds?"

"Son, where are you from?" Aling Yolly asked.

"Good morning mother."

Ulysses greeted his mother with a smile knowing he is going to be interrogated but he is used to it.

You didn't come home last night," his mother asked worriedly.

It came closer to where he is. When his mother saw him in the car in the nearby old ballet tree.

"George just got home, mother. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before going to his house. I was supposed to be home but I slept.

Ulysses apologized to his mother. He did not mention that he had fallen asleep under the ballet tree. Otherwise, he just might be scolded like a little kid.

"Let's have breakfast son."

His mother knew that he will get hurry to leave. And he might not eat breakfast again like he used to do. So his mother hurries to put food on the table.

"All right mom. I'll just take a shower for a while. I will make it fast."

While he is in the shower and letting the water pour over his body the voice of the woman he heard under the ballet tree enters again into his memory. He thought maybe he was just drunk. It was the only reason he had to convince himself that there is nothing to think of. Even it made him wonder. He hurried to take a bath as if he could hear it again. And it was as if his hair were starting to stand again. Even in memory, the voice was very mysterious in his ears.

"Oh! Did you rinse properly? You almost just went into the bathroom," his mother said in astonishment.

"I'm really in a hurried mother. Tito Manuel called me last night. His car broke down, but he said he was close to my shop."

They ate breakfast together. And Ulysses said goodbye to his mother And moves a bit fast because he running out of time. He started his car engine and slowly drive away. As he saw his uncle's number on his phone screen calling.

Ulysses was a mechanic in his shop in town. He has had the shop for a year since graduating from college in a Bussiness Administration course. He decided to make grow his father's shop before got died. Mang Ador passed away just a few months after he graduated. Ulysses was a good son. He is the second child of Aling Yolly and Mand Ador. At the age of twenty-two, he was able to live on his own. With his income from the shop. He was able to support a family. But getting married is not yet in his vocabulary. It is okay for him not to have a girlfriend because for him, finding a woman is a preparation for a peaceful situation having a family and besides he's also too young. Ulysses is very handsome wearing his shirt and jeans. He is leaving to go to Tito Manuel's car. Simple as he is wearing but very noticeable because of his height almost six feet. Ulysses had a strange whiteness that seemed to have blue blood. He was the only one with that color in their family. Her sister Riza is also tall but she is a smooth brunette that got the color of their parents. He turned his head to the old ballet tree as he passed. The wind gently caresses its leaves. The water flowing in the spring is also clear. He felt something different than he had seen before in the tree. It seemed even more tempting if he stopped. The tree is old according to the locals. There are many mysteries in the tree. Ulysses was one according to his grandfather when he was alive. He asks his mother what Grandpa Andrew means.

"Don't mind it son. There are such stories. But everything is just a story. Left unsaid. No one has ever seen a creature other than us humans.

That was his mother's only answer. And told him that his grandfather Andres was just telling a children's story. His grandfather Andres liked to tell stories to the children in their area back then. His peers even visited him just to listen to stories.

"Wow, mother I love it. Can you stop it for now? I don't wanna miss even a little part of the story. I'm sleepy now," Layin requested.

"Huh but I still want to," Shanese complained.

"Okay, mother. You can continue it tomorrow," Renchen agreed.

Shanese could do nothing but went to sleep too. They slept soundly. It was morning when they all woke up almost at the same time.