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PROLOGUE
"There's gotta be a way to have it expedited." Cassandra Torres was thinking hard about the new account she was trying to lure into the accounting firm she worked for. She has been courting a company of property developers for a month now and it seemed they only needed to wait for a decision from one of the owners before a deal could be pushed through. She was running out of time before the deadline from her manager though.
"Sis, you're not listening!" A smile formed on her lips when she heard Matthew, her beloved baby brother, the source for all her joys and some of her sufferings. She gave a quick glance at the passenger side of her ancient Honda Civic and saw him glaring at her. The smile turned into a chuckle.
"Sorry, baby. Something on my mind." Cass picked her brother up from his university in Sta. Mesa almost an hour ago and with the Monday traffic, they were still along Commonwealth Avenue. She usually came home from work later than him but today, his basketball practice went longer than usual so she decided to pick him up so they could go home together.
"Fine. I said we'll have to get food along the way." Matt said, lying back on the car seat, trying to find a comfortable position for his long legs. "I'm too tired to cook dinner." He added.
"Uhuh, okay. What'd you wanna eat?" Cass asked. Matt has been their designated cook since he started college three years ago because Cass couldn't cook shit. She could bake the most delicious cake and pastries but she was hopeless when it came to dishes.
"Up to you, but I want rice," Mark said, closing his eyes and resting his head on the side window. Cass smiled and gave her brother another glance. He's growing so fast, she thought. Their parents would be proud of them, how they took care of each other and survived. Cass shook away from the direction of her thought and focused on driving. Whenever she remembered her parents, sadness and longing would surely follow. They died in a plane crash during their wedding anniversary trip abroad and left Cass to look after her brother. She was twenty, still in college, and he was nine, still a child.
Cass could not count in her hands the sacrifices and hardships she went through to give Matt the love, protection and normality she wanted for him. She had twenty years of that from their parents but Matt didn't. She gave up thinking that life was unfair a long time ago, that mindset didn't change anything. She couldn't bring her parents back but she could make a life for both of them the happiest she could. They still have each other and that was all the silver lining Cass needed.
Looking back at the last ten years, she thought she did a great job so far. So what if she was still single at thirty? What mattered to her was that Matt was happy and thriving in his studies and basketball team. He was well-adjusted and thoughtful. He can be messy and impatient but he knew his responsibilities and didn't get into fights. That was enough for her.
"When's your road trip to Sagada again?" Cass asked.
"April, second week," Matt answered, eyes still closed. "Jack has to finish some stuff." He added, referring to his high school best friend.
"Right, okay. That's still two weeks away." Cass said, nodding. She'll have to remember to pack them enough food to last the drive. "Will Erica join you guys?" She asked with a grin on her face.
"Hmm, yeah." He replied, trying hard not to smile at the thought.
Cass chuckled. Matt has had a crush on Erica since high school and it seemed he hasn't changed his mind about her yet. She met her a number of times when Matt's friends from high school hung out at their apartment. She liked them all, even though they were loud most of the time.
"Just stay safe, okay?" Cass said in her teasing, nonchalant tone.
"Jeez, sis. Stop." Matt's disgusted look directed at her made her laugh even more. So sex-ed talk was off-limits.
"Okay, okay," Cass said, still grinning. "Go, grab my purse at the back." She said as she switched her left turn signal, waiting for the light to turn green. Matt obediently turned to his side to get her sister's large handbag from the back seat. He placed it on his lap and went through the contents, looking for her small red wallet.
"We can have roasted pork or chicken at the....." Cass suddenly felt a blow on the side of the car. Her airbag hit her face and she could feel the car getting pushed sideways. Despite her vision getting blurry and her head feeling heavy, she turned to check Matt and saw his airbag also deployed but he was slumped to it unconsciously. His side of the window was cracked open and she could make out the red ten-wheeler which T-boned them.
Cass reached for Matt's arm, shaking him awake. "Matt, Matt.. are you okay? Answer me!" She didn't realise it but she was sobbing, shouting and violently shaking her brother's arm. She felt someone open her side of the door, unbuckling her seat belt. "Miss, are you okay? We'll move you out, okay?" She turned to the man's harried, panicky voice, her vision getting hazy. "My brother, get my brother out please!" She heard herself say hysterically before passing out.
Sagada, Road to Home: Text
CHAPTER 1
"Sis, where's my red jacket?" Cass heard her baby brother's shout from outside her bedroom. "I'm going to use it tomorrow!"
"What red jacket? You own like three of them." She replied calmly as she continued re-checking her presentation for tomorrow's quarterly meeting.
"The one you bought last Christmas! The one with a hoodie!" She can hear clearly and loudly the exasperation from Matt's voice and looked up to see him standing at her door. His brows were knitted and his lips were forming a line. Patience was never one of his virtues and coupled with being messy, this was a normal scene Cass had to deal with on a weekly basis.
"Did you look at the clothesline outside?" She asked, brow raised with a mocking smile. She knew he never looked at more than two places before badgering her.
"Oh," Matt said slowly, grinning. Cass just shook her head.
"Are you done packing?" Cass asked. "Don't pack too many jeans, just enough underwear and t-shirts. And don't forget your sweaters." She added. Matt was going on a one-week road trip to Sagada and Baguio with four of his high school friends tomorrow morning. He was excited about it. She was excited for him but also anxious. This was the longest time they would be separated and she couldn't help but worry.
She would have filed a leave from work and come with them if they let her. Just to make sure they don't get into trouble or get lost. They were still kids after all. They'd remind them they were already nineteen but that didn't matter to Cass one bit. She was sure the parents of Matt's friends also agreed with her.
"Yeah, yeah," Matt said, walking towards her bed, collapsing on it. "You've told me that twice now. I'm good, just looking for that jacket to wear tomorrow." He got his phone out and scrolled through it.
"Look at this sis, these mountain roads are sick!" He said excitedly.
"That doesn't reassure me," Cass said, moving her swivel chair towards the bed to look at the photos. "I'll have to remind Jack and Henry to drive carefully." She said, frowning while scrolling through the article her brother was showing her.
"I wish I could drive now too!" Matt said, grinning at her. He just got permission from her to have driving lessons after their road trip. Cass looked at her brother, his eyes looked determined and excited, his smile was wide, his face bright and hopeful.
Cass woke with a start. She sat up from her bed in the dark room and felt the gush of tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't help the sudden guttural shriek of pain, anguish, longing and loneliness that came out of her throat.
It was a beautiful dream, it was not supposed to be a dream.
It was supposed to be her future, the life she was supposed to be living. The world has taken everything from her. Her parents, her baby brother — everyone's gone. She was alone, she was in pain, and every day for more than a year, she wanted to die. A body could only take so much pain, a mind could only take so much torture, a heart can only take so much grief and loss.
Cass stayed in the same position for the past hours, she didn't know how long. She didn't care. The sunlight passing through her dark curtains were offensively bright. She was staring at her wall, she was staring into space. She heard her mobile phone ring. It was offensively noisy. She fumbled to get it from her bedside table. She knew it was the alarm. No one called her that early. No one called her at all. The friends she had a year ago were gone, pushed aside, ignored. They didn't matter, they would never understand. No one can break the wall of grief and anger she built so high.
She slowly got out of her bed. She didn't usually bother to make her bed, the room was a mess, the apartment was a dump. But that would change now. She would take a shower, clean herself up, clean her apartment, dump all her unwashed clothes and dishes. She might even go to the hairdresser and the wax salon. She would look her best, her apartment would look its best. After all, this would be the last time.
Sagada, Road to Home: Text
CHAPTER 2
Daniel Andrada hated public transportation. He especially hated the buses which travelled from Manila to Sagada with the air conditioning slowly suffocating him during the twelve-hour trip. There was no other way around it after his three-year-old pick up suddenly acting up just before he left the small town.
He hated obligatory, unplanned travels. But there was also no way around it. His father underwent routine surgery and his mother insisted that all her children must be there or she won't speak to them again. His mum must have not gotten the memo that he was Kamanbaneng Peak's recluse and travelling to the city was out of the description. He would have gotten away with it if it weren't for his intermittent phone signal deciding to work the moment her mother called to inform him of his familial obligation.
He was the last one to get on board the bus. Unfortunately, he was not able to get a window seat. He didn't want to get bumped again and again while people arranged their things or settled down in their seats. He reached his patience when it came to the noise and pollution of the crowded, bustling city he once called home and as soon as he was certain his dad was going to be fine, he packed his bags and hit the road. Everything in the city was irritating him and he knew he was being unfair. He just needed to suffer a little more before he could go back to his cabin in the woods, beautiful vegetable garden, magnificent trees and fresh air.
He almost found himself smiling at the thought of coming home but he instead found himself raising his brow at the person blocking the light above him. He lifted his eyes to see a woman in an oversized red jacket trying to reach the bag above his head. She was struggling to wriggle the small black bag out but he did not reach out to help. What crazy woman would wear sunglasses inside a bus, at night even, he thought in compounded annoyance.
The woman was able to get the bag out with one final pull which left her off-balance. "Hey!" Daniel yelped, instinctively, raising both his hands. She gave him a look, her lips tightening to a line. He realised where his hands were and immediately removed them. ''Uh, sorry.'' He managed to say, removing his hands from her chest as if stung. Without saying anything back, the woman went back to her seat.
Daniel wasn't sure if she heard him apologise. He realised she never made a sound of surprise or even anger, no sound at all. Her sunglasses and silence were mildly curious to him but he couldn't be bothered to figure her out. He put his earphones on and was asleep after a few minutes.
He saw the woman alone in the dimly lit part of the bus stop’s parking area. Her back was on him. Daniel walked towards her, deciding on apologising to her again. He didn't want to be labelled a pervert. The woman turned before he could reach her. Her sunglasses were still on but he could sense she was surprised to see him as she stopped in her tracks. He noticed her lips were pale and her hands were trembling. She immediately put her hands inside the pockets of her oversized jacket. Before he could say anything, she walked past him without saying anything.
Daniel was holding two big bottles of cold water when he got into the bus, which was already manoeuvring out of the bus stop parking. He walked towards where the woman was seated but stopped when he saw her toss her head and drink from a similar water bottle. He was not sure if she noticed him but he went back to his chair and settled down. So much for a peace offering, he thought.
Sagada, Road to Home: Text
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