The Forest and The Secret Love (Part Two)

It was in the deepest part of the forest, where their shadows covered by the shadow of the oak and the pine trees, where every little flower bloomed as if they hide their beauty from human's eyes, and the forest's mice slept as if they live in the little universe because their predators did not exist, that the four girls held their important daily chit chat session.

Alma and Laluba found the place by chance, way before Talita's mother getting caught in a scandal. There was a baby deer running around in circle, getting really close to the two girls whom busy gathering the twigs. At first, Alma paid zero attention. Laluba thought it was a rabbit. The next day, the deer came, running around in circle, and getting more closer. Alma was mesmerized when she looked at the deer's eyes. It was round, shiny black and huge. Laluba, in an instant, believed that the deer was a sign for them to explore the deeper part of the forest.

Alma refused to follow.

"I am afraid of getting lost and never found our way back. What if that thing leads us to the demon, the monster, the wolf. Everything that could kill us. What if that thing brings us to Garugewa."

"It is just a little deer. You must be really wicked at heart to accuse an innocent a small animal with all sort of nasty stuff there. Fix your heart!"

"Fix your mind, and get yourself together, Laluba. Do not fall for its cuteness. We never know what might happen."

"I will know, i will follow it."

"No, you dont."

"Fuck!"

Alma cursed like her father ussualy does.

*

The deer walked slowly. Laluba and Alma followed it carefully. Alma kept cursing. She actually wanted to stay, but she could not leave her bestfriend walked alone. To mark their path, Alma draw a huge X at every trees they passes, using the sharpest stone she could find. Sometimes, she grouped the pebbles, and set it as a sign. Laluba kept her eyes on the little deer.

"Do you know how to deal with wolves?"

Laluba asked. There was silence between them.

"Why?"

"Just in case it lured us into the wolf…"

"Shit. You shoul have listened to me."

"Or…not."

All the beauty that could only be found in the depth was mapped in front of them. The light was perfectly filtered by all the trees leaves and branches, leaving a damp land growing green soft grasses in a circle. It was a perfect sanctuary. Laluba could not hidden her excitement.

"I guess the deer wanted to show us the perfect hidden place. Look at the deer family."

There was the father, the mother and a child. A perfect family, Alma thought. A perfect place, and a great idea hit her like an arrow hit its target.

"Do you think we should keep this place to us, or we can tell other girls?"

It felt like finding a golden treasure, and Alma was not ready to share although she realized that it was actually Laluba who had more right to decide. Laluba was the one who chose to follow the deer, anyway. If Laluba ignored that little sign coming from an simple animal, the place would not be found. Laluba streched her body, laid down on the green grasses, took a deep inhale and closed her eyes.

"I don't want to think about anything. I just want to lie down and sleep. Everything else is unworthy of my attention, I am here and now…"

Laluba sounded like an old mystic, those holy men and women who left all their earthly possession behind, and enjoying life as it is, moving from one place to another. But, Alma was not into rest and 'here and now.' The mystic's idea of resting and enjoying life sounded like a bullshit to her. If she got something valuable, she had to profit from it. She got idea. In order to pitch her brilliant thought, she needed to lay down beside Laluba and talked in her heart to heart language.

"How beautiful it is if we shared this with other girls. We could talk, have lunch maybe, and just rest together. What do you think?"

She started with a very loving plan. But, she is Yakota's daughter. Taking advantage of other girls were already in her mind.

"Yes."

"But, everything comes with price. Don't you think so, La?"

"No. All we did was following the deer."

That was exactly the reason Alma had expected to come out from Laluba the simple minded!

"But, it took effort to walk, and leave mark on our path here. I did not mean not to share this fun place, but they also have to put an effort. The elders say, something given freely will create an ungrateful heart."

"Aren't you feeling grateful?"

Laluba had opened her eyes, looking at the leaves up above, her voice sounded transcendental. Something, something really strange was at play, Alma was about to get distracted from her devious plan.

"I am. That's because I did a good job, marking the way to come here, and to come back so we won't get lost."

Laluba laughed in a mocking way.

"Then you are not grateful. You feel good about yourself for doing a work any human being in your situation would do. So, what's you hideous plan, Miss evil?"

"In order to get here, those two girls have to work for us for seven days. Meaning they would be the one who gather the twigs for us, while we could just sit down and enjoy our free time. After a week, they could come here."

"That did not sound right. You sounded like a master who wanted the slaves to do everything for her. I disagree. We came here because the higher power and the ancestor giving us a clue through a deer, and the deer did not force us to give everything. Can't you learn from nature?"

There was silence. Alma could not think of anything better to say. Her witty mind stopped working, and now she could feel the tension. What was wrong with this world is people who got the opportunity to make their life easier did not take it, and those who want to take it were stopped by the silly reason…

"It is not about the deer, or learning from nature but, giving those two girls a sense as if they get into this special place by a hard work, therefore they would be grateful…"

"How do you know they'll be grateful if we make it more difficult for them to find this place? You did a hard work of marking the trees, but…you know. Are you sure it is not your way to show your superiority?"

"Wait, what? What is the problem with make your friends feel like they gaine something, and make our work a little less heavier for just seven days? Come on. Why don't you open your mind? Just grab this opportunity to make everyone happy."

Things escalated very quickly. Laluba looked worried, while Alma herself could hear the sound of frustration coming out from her mouth.

"Let's think about it like this, miss open minded… If you are Talita or Ursula, would you want to do the same work, or would you use your 'i am your bestie, why should i work for you?' card to get this secret?

Alma sighed. Of course she would use every tactics she knew to get the secret without having to work for other. But, she did not want to loose in the argument.

"I am worried about your superiority, and your pride. I understand that it is because you have no siblings. You were so getting used of all tge live and attention from your parents, and your grandmother. I might be a simple minded, and the dumbest one, but i know what i need to know about human… Alma, if you don't learn to work on your superiority and pride, and your trickster nature, love itself will teach you through suffering, and it will be more painful…"

It was later on, when she was on the ship by herself, under the night sky, getting kissed by the cold breeze, sleeping alone with darkness as her own blanket, when the stars were faraway like a everyone whom left her and whom she left behind, Alma realized, Laluba was right. But at that time, she stood up and left Laluba behind. Following the marks that she carved earlier, she went back to their ussual gathering place.

**

"What made you think that Raja had a crush on you, Tal?"

Ursula spoke. She sounded like she had zero interest in romance whatsoever, which was her ussual mode : hating everyone, and always show a disgust when other people show loving gesture of words. In every situation, she demanded nothing but proof.

"Would you believe me if I gave you the proof?"

Alma's heart was beating faster, while Laluba, who sat across from her tried to read her mind.

"You had a really bad records on telling the truth, but this time around, i will give you chance."

"We kissed. Here."

"You, what?"

There was storm in Alma's voice. She could not held her rage inside.

"Here? In our sacred place for years, you let a man in and had a physical contact? How dare you!"

Laluba sounded like an angry mother, but no one needed one angry mother at that time.

"I could tell everyone that me and Raja kissed each other. That's as easy as telling people that I catched a fish that could speak like a human being but the fish disappeared again into the river. What is the proof that it really happened, and it was not the fickle of your imagination, or worse… Your wild fantasy?"

That was that, Ursula thought, she had ended Talita's big mouth by asking a simple question. She was not only ended her but also stood up for Alma who looked overly surprised and upset at the same time, and Laluba who tried so hard not to threw pebbles into Talita's face.

"Oh, that is easy."

Talita pointed her chin up, and smirk a little. She looked like a donkey try to smile in Alma's eyes, but it was because of her jealousy. The minute before she spoke about Raja, Talita looked just like Talita ; her white pale skin made her strikingly more radiant than others, and her dimples set her apart from the rest of the girls. But, she had a cynical eyes, the type of eyes that judged and looked down on everyone else all the time, therefore her presence often intimidated others.

"Oh, you tried to create a proof now, huh?"

"You wish!"

Alma waited for a proof although she could not guess for herself what reaction would stirred inside her chest. She could only wish that it would not felt like somebody stabbed her chest hundreds times using the sharpest blade that could ever existed on earth. Laluba noticed the strangeness in Alma's gaze toward Talita, and it was as if there was an unspoken words was exchanged between her and Alma, Laluba understood it. She just knew.

"If you speak about something like that, a relationship between two person, we could also check on Raja. So, you'd better be honest, which is not your best quality. I still remember how you lied to my mother about us being haunted by half human half snake!"

Laluba tried to neutralize the jealousy, and she made it. Alma stared at her, then smiled.

"Sure. You could go check on him. Why should I give proof to bestfriends that would not trust me?"

Talita gave an annoying tone at the word 'bestfriends.'

"It was not about whether we would trust you or not, but, whether or not you could give us proof."

"And would you trust me if i give you proof?

Ursula took a deep breath. She actually started to question her own motive. Was it jealousy?

"Talita, it is not about the trust, but the proof. If you have a strong proof, who would doubt it. Well, I hate it that it happened here, in our sacred place, but…"

"I have his head scarf. He gave it to me. Smelled like him, for sure. I have been sleeping while kissing it. Here…"

It was a weaving cloth. Men used it as their head scarf, and Alma noticed it, it was Raja's. Her world scattered into ashes. She swallowed her tears, and in a very calm manner said,

"It could be someone else's."