“Huh?” As soon as the girl emerged from the bushes, she immediately noticed Lumawig on the ground.
“Lola (grandmother)! Der ish shamwan hir!” The girl shouted at the top of her lungs. She also appears to be eating something, causing her speech to be somewhat crooked.
A moment later, an old woman also emerged from the bushes. With a head of mixed black and grey curly hair, the woman called Lola by the young girl does not appear to be that advanced in age as compared to Lolo Gani. Even so, her back is hunched a bit, with her height just a little bit over one and a half meter. Her skin color is the same as the young girl, and even though her eyes are slightly droopy, it cannot hide her beautiful almond shaped eyes. However, the old woman has a peculiar set of eyes. Her left eye looks normal with its dark brown color, but her right eye is covered by a black cloth. Underneath however, is an eye of color yellow, almost golden, and in a dark forest like where they are now, it looks to be glowing. She is also using a cane as she walks to where her apò is. The old woman is wearing two layers of clothing. The outermost layer is a dominantly red hand-woven jacket made from cotton fibers with black and yellow geometric designs on the sleeves. Under the jacket the old woman is wearing a simple white t-shirt printed with words of a known brand of detergent. She was also wearing loose cotton pants, and like her apò was not wearing any footwear.
“Haays, apò! How many times did I tell you to not raise your voice too loud in this forest? There are beings here that you do not want to anger!” As soon as the old woman emerged from the bushes, she reprimanded her apò. Although it was a reprimand, there was no anger in her eyes.
“Hihihi. I only did it because I thought that you are still far away.” Sticking her tongue out, the little girl reasoned with her lola in a mischievous manner.
“I am sorry for disturbing you, my apò is still a small child and she does not know anything. Please accept my apologies.” Helpless with her apò’s behavior, the old woman could only face forward and make a slight bow.
“Lola! Lola! There is someone over here! Look!” The little girl was in an excited mood and hurriedly brought her lola to where Lumawig was lying.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
“Slowly apò. My old bones will not be able to keep up!” implored her apò as she used her cane as support. The stick is made of kamagong wood, around one and a half meters in length. The thickness of the stick is uniform all throughout its body except on its “head part” where it seems to form a bulb and embedded inside the bulb is a white stone.
“You are lying! You are still very strong!” The little girl, however, found her lola’s imploring fun and just laughed it off.
“Hmm? This boy is unconscious.” Upon reaching the spot where Lumawig was lying, the old woman immediately noticed that he was unconscious. She then knelt down to feel his breath and was relieved to know that he was still breathing, albeit weakly.
After saying this, she immediately tapped her cane on the ground. Nothing seemed to change from this action of the old woman. Though if someone else is to come to this place right now and observe from a distance, they would see that there is a fog covering the area where the old woman and the little girl found Lumawig.
“Hmm? What are these?” The old woman was also surprised to find the pasyawan whip and the buntot pagi beside Lumawig’s body. However, she did not touch them and just let them be. She also noticed some more things, but just kept these observations to herself.
“Come apò, let us go back for now. I cannot carry him back to our house so we will need to get some help.” Said the old woman to the little girl.
“Okay!” enthusiastically replied the girl.
After thirty minutes a group of people came to where Lumawig was.
“Is this the place where you found the boy Lola Yma?” Asked one of the men.
“Yes. Let us wait a bit longer for the fog to dissipate.” The old woman who was called Lola Yma by the man answered.
After ten minutes, the fog barrier that Lola Yma put up dissipated. They walked a few more steps and finally found Lumawig.
“My God! This one is only a boy! How did he get here?” Another man exclaimed, evidently surprised to find an unconscious boy in the forest.
“I have no idea. But he needs immediate care. When I found him earlier, his breath was already weak, and with the time needed to come back here, his condition might have worsened.” Lola Yma spoke in an urgent tone.
“Right. Questions later. Let us carry this boy back to the village first!” After hearing the man’s words, the other three men that went with Lola Yma immediately laid down a stretcher made from bamboo and a large piece of cloth. They carefully laid Lumawig on the stretcher and hurriedly carried him out of the forest. Lola Yma, on the other hand, picked up the buntot pagi and pasyawan whip of Lumawig.