Lost in the Wilderness - The Forest of Evergreen Book 1

by Teresa May B. Bandiola

  “Sophia, your grandma wants you downstairs for dinner,” hollered Bea as she knocked on the door.

  Sophia heard it and took a peek, then opened it for her.

  “Why is there a frown on your face?” Bea asked, detecting Sophia’s furrowed forehead.

  Grasping for a lungful of air served as Sophia’s initial answer. Then, she pushed herself to give Bea, at least, a nippy smile. “Nothing, Auntie Bea. I’m just tired. It’s been a long trip.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yup! I’m fine, Auntie Bea. Thanks!” Sophia was obviously forced to say these words, as she stepped out of the room.

  “Okay,” Bea half-smiled.

  Sophia smiled back, wanting to be at her best, to refresh the old connection she used to share with Bea. Then, she initiated a walk.

  Bea went after her and noticed how Sophia changed a lot—physically. Watching her carefully walk down the wooden staircase so as not to create a noise, she remembered the lonely girl always running through it.

  “There you are!” Grandma Lucy looked ecstatically at Sophia.

  “Okay, let’s eat already!” demanded Alex as he clapped his hands once and rubbed them, fixing his eyes on the table that was loaded with a variety of cuisines.

  “All right! Let’s dig in!” Philippe agreed as he began serving himself.

  Sophia watched them in motion. She was not starving at that time. All she ever wanted was to be in her room—alone. She lingered, gawking at them, and noticed that her grandma had not aged that much.

  Although in her mid-seventies, still, Grandma Lucy was able to preserve her white and radiant complexion and thick brunette hair, although some gray hair strands stood up in a cloud around it. Plus, her face had only few of the laugh lines and zero saggy eyelids. To sum it all up, Grandma Lucy’s natural half-American and half-Philipdomian physique was still there.

  “Sweetie, are you not hungry?” Grandma Lucy saw Sophia’s distant gawk at everyone.

  “I’m… I’m just tired, Grandma,” Sophia answered, but in a split second, realized that she must not act that way in front of the food. Her grandma always told her to pay respect to any meal by not refusing it. By some means, she managed to take a nibble of them but she noticed that her grandma gazed from time to time. There was still that persistent feeling that she must be careful with her every move, everytime her grandma was around. Nonetheless, she endured eating with them, not saying anything until she and Grandma Lucy were the only ones left on the table.

  With a mysterious smile, Grandma Lucy kicked off the dialogue by asking if Sophia had a boyfriend.

  Sophia said yes by nodding, with a fixed look at her half-emptied plate.

  “That’s good, sweetie. What’s his name?”

  “Um, Giovanni.”

  “Oh, a charming name.”

  A forced smile was seen from Sophia. She excused herself and went upstairs.

  Watching her granddaughter’s back, Grandma Lucy was overcome with guilt. She realized, too late, she had been too punitive to Sophia, many years ago.

  Sophia locked herself in her room, wishing to be relieved of all the raging emotions that she wanted to end. They had been pulling her down for a very long time now. Then, she noticed the silence of her cell phone.

  There was no signal and Giovanni might be calling her by now.

  And so, she went back to the balcony for a better reception. Then and there, she tried her best to clear her mind.

  The sky over the mountains was peaceful, but she was immensely troubled by the burning memory of her yesterdays with Jericho.

  It was already getting late that night and Sophia was still at the terrace, in-and-out looking for a signal. It was becoming windy and it seemed like it was going to rain. She went for a steam bath when a ring of her cell phone finally seized her awareness.

  At last, a signal popped in, and she loped for her cell phone.

  “Hi, babe! I’ve been trying to reach you for about a hundred times now! I miss you! How’s your trip? I hope you’re enjoying your stay there!” Giovanni talked in an uninterrupted way. He was obviously excited.

  “I—I’m fine. The signal here is difficult. I—I’m really sorry.” Sophia did not know what to answer first.

  “It’s all right now. At last, I’ve heard from you.”

  A sigh echoed from Giovanni, and Sophia barely knew what to say now.

  “I hope you come back soon, babe. I am really missing you right now,” Giovanni expressed sincerely, and that added more fuel to Sophia’s burning chest.

  “It’s just three days, Gio.”

  “I know, but...”

  Another sigh echoed again from Giovanni. This time, a louder one.

  “I’ll call you again tomorrow. I understand you must be exhausted,” Giovanni continued, frustrated.

  “Um, no! Please, keep talking. I miss you too.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” Sophia attempted to enliven her tone and closed the windows that were opened by the harsh wind.

  “Babe, it’s pretty obvious that you’re tired. I can tell it through your voice. Please, get some rest now.” Giovanni’s manner of talking was really earnest to her.

  “Thanks!” Sophia responded with relief. “How understanding of you.”

  “I hope you have a signal tomorrow. I’ll sleep now and I wish to dream of you.” Giovanni managed to conclude it, sweetly.

  After the call, Sophia went back to the shower room, when at a flash of second, she remembered the night when Jericho climbed the terrace, to see her. She was so scared then, that Grandma Lucy might see them.

  Having it all at the back of her mind, made her heart feel like it would burst from her chest. She turned off the shower and wished for more air. And then, she remembered all of Jericho’s efforts, especially during her down times. He was always there to rescue her from loneliness or depression.

  Sophia had no friends back then. People were afraid to touch her. She was a Vabueretti, one of the untouchables of the town; rich, influential, and dangerous. They were the original settlers. But Jericho had all the guts to see her, to be with her! He was such a boy of compassion and the very person Sophia needed during those days.

  Sophia’s thoughts of Jericho were disturbed when Nadine knocked heavily on the door.

  “Sophie, hurry up, I need to pee!” Nadine pleaded with a sound of jumping.

  Sophia hurried and right away opened it, wondering why her sister did not use her own.

  The wind blew stronger and the heavy rain started to fall.

  Nadine was scared of sleeping alone in her spacious bedroom and begged Sophia to sleep with her.

  Touched by her sister’s unusual plea, Sophia granted it, but Nadine asked for another favor.

  “Sophie, please read me some stories.” Again, Nadine appeared like a kitten begging, and it was difficult to resist. And so, Sophia thought of a story, a fable, the one that her Aunt Bea used to tell her always. Gazing through the high ceiling, she began to tell the story of Jack the Boastful Deer and Joe the Meek Snail.

  Once upon a time, by the riverbank of Far Away Land, Jack the Boastful Deer challenged his friend, Joe the Meek Snail, who between them could reach the end of the river faster.

  Joe knew that he would lose the challenge but in spite of his smallness and sluggishness, he accepted it.

  The day of their competition came and Jack checked on Joe if he was ready.

  “Joe, my friend, are you all set?” yelled Jack as he stood by the riverbank.

  Without delay, he heard a response coming from the river water and it was a sign that both of them were ready.

  Then, their race began.

  Jack was running slowly and confidently. He decided to stop for a while and asked Joe if he was with him.

  “Eak, eak!” Jack heard.

  Very much surprised to know that Joe was responding from the water, he ran faster.

  Run after run! Jack checked on Joe if he was still with him
.

  “Eak, eak!” Still a response echoed from the water.

  Put to farthest shock, Jack could not believe that Joe could actually make it. For this, Jack forced himself to speed up until he got drained.

  When he successfully reached the endpoint, he was very much surprised to see Joe already celebrating his victory there.

  “How did you...?” Jack asked Joe while trying to catch his breath.

  “I won, Jack! Who’s faster now?” Joe joked.

  Jack was very much disappointed by his defeat and went home unhappily. He did not know that the snails responding to him during their race were actually Joe’s snail friends, and Joe was already at the endpoint waiting for him.

  Just as Sophia finished the story, Nadine was already sleeping. “She’s tired,” Sophia whispered to herself and kissed her sister goodnight. Then, she turned the lamp off, and also went to bed.

  Chapter 4

  The Treasured Memoirs and the First Encounter

  The sun shone early the ensuing morning and the rain had gone away. The sky was unclouded, perfect enough for the Vabuerettis to spend a picnic at the Bo Lake.

  “Good morning, everyone! Yohooo! It’s a lovely day for a picnic! Grandma, Mom, Dad, Alex, Sophie, and Aunt Bea! Please, wake up! The heavy rain had stopped,” screamed Nadine, around the house.

  “Philippe, honey…” Elizabeth prodded Philippe with a sleepy voice while still in bed.

  “Um…?”

  “Nadine’s up already and she’s screaming around the house, waking us all.”

  Philippe sighed heavily and half-opened his eyes. “I guess she’s really excited for the picnic!”

  “Let’s just understand her. It’s her first time to be here,” Elizabeth pointed out.

  They all got up and got ready for the picnic. Moreover the excitement was for Grandma Lucy’s sake, because, at long last, a family-get-together would be happening at the lake house.

  The lake house is fifteen kilometers away from Grandma Lucy’s house and it was never visited for years. Knowing that her grandchildren would visit it, Grandma Lucy instructed her servants to get it cleaned up.

  When they got there, Sophia was surprised that their two-story narra-made lake house was still the same, both outside and inside. It seemed like those almost four years of her absence in Forest Green had not aged every piece of wood and wiped out their shiny appearance. Surely, one could still taste the feeling of comfort there. She explored the first floor. There stood the visual open-shelving divider, between the living area and dining area. But one thing that truly amazed her was the huge pair of deer horns on the wall that faced the main door. The whole of it was still there, still in branches and spine-chilling. It was intentionally placed there to scare anyone who visited the lake house. Then, she remembered the first time she laid her eyes on it; it scared her a lot. She opened the main bedroom across the living area and noticed the same old bed and design of furnishings. Later, she went upstairs. All were the same. One by one, she opened the three bedrooms including the guest room. Sighing, she went to the balcony, and everything from the past came back to her all at once. It always felt like the lake house was forever a home to her. She took a deep and long breath, and busied herself with a view of the lake, just below the wide and green mountains. Although it was almost lunch-time, the rays of the sun felt like it was still dawn. Gasping for another lungful of fresh air, she noticed that her family was already preparing a table outside, a few meters away from the lake water. They wished to have a lunch there, to be under the glowing bright sky, shot with gold.

  Going back downstairs to join her family, Sophia’s mind began to be filled with exclusive things about Jericho. The lake reminded her so much of him. She used to play and swim there with him. It was him who taught her how to swim, how to catch some fish, and how to stay longer in water.

  “Sophia, do you still remember the times when we used to come here?” Grandma Lucy asked her granddaughter as she approached her at the lake bank.

  Sophia quickly grasped for some air. “Yes, Grandma! Very clearly. It seems like it was only yesterday when we were here,” replied Sophia, as her eyes were set on the lake. She already programmed herself to never mention Jericho’s name whenever her grandma was around. She knew that once she uttered his name, an explosion would happen.

  “Um, excuse me for a while.” Grandma Lucy left her, to help Philippe and Elizabeth with the table.

  A full minute passed, and Bea approached her.

  “Remember the old days, Sophia? You used to play here around when you were just a little girl. You tried to climb the trees, you wanted to swim, you wanted to catch some fish... but your grandma never permitted you.” Bea elbowed Sophia.

  “Yes, Auntie Bea! None of them escaped my memory. I remember them so well. It is funny though that I learned them all here with Jericho but grandma never knew about it...” Sophia, all of a sudden, realized that it was a slip of tongue.

  “Ah, Jericho! Yes, that boy. Oh, poor boy! I remember him. You were too young for that puppy love, Sophia. But he’s still in town just in case you’re wondering. I heard he already got married!” Bea detailed.

  “Really, Auntie Bea? He’s now… married?” Sophia confirmed, with a depressed voice.

  “Of course, I’m kidding! He’s a doctor now, a new doctor actually! And he’s in town. He works at the town’s only hospital,” Bea delivered, bright and breezy. She was very much eager to know what would be Sophia’s next reaction.

  Sophia was shocked, a little bit confused of how she was going to react. Jericho was only five years ahead of him. Why would he become a doctor that fast?

  “Really? A doctor? But... he’s too young to be a doctor,” Sophia pondered heavily.

  “That’s what I asked too at first. You know, Jericho is a genius. Maybe, he got accelerated,” Bea illuminated, with a shrugging of shoulders.

  Sophia paused, running things in her mind, as Bea directed her own black eyes at her.

  “When we were passing by the Belfast Street yesterday, I noticed that Jericho’s house was not there anymore. I wanna know what happened,” Sophia spoke again.

  “Actually… here is one thing that you should know. He’s rich now, Sophia.”

  “Really? How come? I mean, since when?” Sophia continued to get puzzled.

  “You really missed a lot of things here, ever since you left.” Bea’s voice waned. “You know Mount Kalban, the one that we passed by earlier? It’s his family’s and it was found out that there was gold there. Jericho’s grandfather sold it to a mining company,” Bea supplemented.

  “So, that started it all?”

  “Yes, Sophia. Don’t you know many girls run after Jericho? He’s like the cocaine of every girl here, even of the oldies.” Bea told her in an exaggerated way to play along with Sophia’s changing facial expressions. “Do you want to see him, Sophia? Because if you do... I can find a way,” Bea offered, laughing.

  Sophia smiled and brought up the topic that she was in a relationship now with Giovanni. She told her that Giovanni was a good boyfriend and he was her brother’s best friend too.

  Bea also smiled but she had always known… always known Sophia’s feelings, for Jericho.

  “Okay, people! Lunch is ready!” Grandma Lucy announced excitedly.

  “Everybody, find your own seat now. As for me, I will bring out the barbecue,” Bea chimed in.

  “Do you need some help, Auntie?” Sophia offered.

  “No, honey. Just sit there and turn your flat tummy into a hump.”

  Sophia stretched her lips sideways, still impressed by Bea’s good-humored nature.

  Elizabeth noticed the closeness of her daughter to Bea. She knew that it was she who stood up as Sophia’s mother, when she was still a child. Because of it, regrets troubled Elizabeth again.

  “Sophia, tell us something about the lake,” Alex asked, as they gathered around the table for lunch. “I’m sure you have a lot of stories to tell.”

 
“Yeah, Sophie! Tell us some stories, but not with a Jericho!” Nadine overlapped, kiddingly.

  Grandma Lucy’s eyes, at once, dilated, and looked at Sophia penetratingly.

  “Jericho? So, you’ve been mentioning him to your sister, huh?” Grandma Lucy delved Sophia, even more penetratingly.

  Sophia flushed severely and acted as if she never heard a thing. The name Jericho was always poison ivy to her grandma. Thus, she fared better to just stay, close-mouthed.

  “Okay, enough with that guy! And who’s that guy anyway, huh?” Alex protested.

  “He’s no one,” replied Grandma Lucy and guzzled a glass of water.

  The moment Sophia heard it, she asked herself why her grandmother never liked Jericho, and mulled over the fact that if Grandma Lucy already knew that he had now a profession, as a doctor, just like what grandma had always wanted for every male member of the family… What, then, would Grandma Lucy think of Jericho, now?

  “Here’s the barbecue!” Bea announced delightedly as she neared them.

  “I super-like barbecue, Auntie Bea. I’m glad you had them prepared,” admitted Nadine, extending both hands to grab one stick of it.

  “So, you call her auntie too?” Alex asked, just to provoke his sister, a bit.

  “Why? Is it prohibited to call her auntie too? Is that word exclusive for Sophie?” Nadine retorted, always in a childish way.

  The Vabuerettis laughed at Nadine’s behavior, and her humor had caught everyone’s attention, including Sophie’s.

  Throughout the chattering after the meal, Philippe’s eyes were entirely engrossed by the lake. He missed it so much so he offered his family a swim.

  “Dad, I am really glad you thought of that.” Alex released his boredom, waiting for his father to finally ask it.

  “Honey, see to it that you don’t go to the deep part!” Elizabeth warned them uneasily.