The room was left after that time. During the past hours, the room remained blank save for the few throttling footsteps and the small giggles and hushed whispers just outside the room. Sal’s stomach growled for it has been more than half a day since she’s eaten. She curled the mattress on herself. At least some sleep will curb off the feeling of lack.  

Heavy rushing footsteps announced the arrival of someone just outside the door. The door burst open. There stood a man who would have been an ogre in human form in his size. How he must tower over Sal’s little frame. The arms in his large frame were muscly and that weird tuft of dark hair like grass forcefully shorn sat on his scalp.  

Sal peeked at the man through the fist-sized space on the mattress wrapped around her head. The man walked around, muttering to himself, loud.  

“Hey, kid. Did you see Lea?”  

The speech was different. The singsong accent is even more stronger than the woman’s, as if he was singing a song himself.Also, there was something different in the way he pronounced some words. 

 “Man, it’s already this late? But come to think of it” The man paused. “It’s almost past lunchtime, aren’t you hungry?”  

Sal remained quiet. Her sight turned away, but she can’t help but stare at the man’s boots then the faded, metal pin by his chest.  

“I know. I know. I may look scary, but this guy in front of you is the best Constable in the whole city. I am the best at catching criminals. Anything you need, you can ask me. Ever heard of the Rock-”  

Sal fixated on the metal badge and his words melted in the air. But then, the man promptly paused and laughed a bit, before taking off his badge and handing it over to her. Sal took it, albeit gingerly.  

Rocco Marasigan

Pd. Constable.

“I’m kuya Ro, and you?” 

 Sal refused to speak. Her stomach growled. The constable further insisted that she join outside in the dining table but it must have took her a dozen refusals. The man had tin for ears.  

“I’ll see you there!” The constable waved at her. “ If you see Lea, tell her, her wonderful son has gone downstairs to eat!”  

Son?  

That was odd. What was odder still was that all the usual chatter was accompanied by a clatter and clang of silverware. As none seemed to guard the room, Sal followed the sound of the noise, braving the picture-less hallways as she went. Instead, she made out pictures from the stains and the patterns on the wood grain of the wall.  

The children sat on a long table in what must be the dining area. They were like little stumps with heads bobbing up and down like birds and pigeons as they scooped up for from their bowls. Their chatter was a mix between birdsong twitter and childish shrieks.  

“Hey! Just in time for second servings.”  

Sal flinched at the arm on her shoulder 

“Oh, sorry. ” The constable said. Sal kept her vision away from him but the smell of newly-cooked rice wafted to her nose. The man was carrying a bowl and a ladle like a serving maid and he was welcomed in the table with cheer.  

Sal’s hunger backed out. The sight and sound of what felt like a hundred children, twittering without a care struck her. As Rocco and the older woman she’s seen before insisted that she eat, an off-putting, uncomfortable silence fell on the crowd of children. They all looked at her. Wide-eyed, gap-mouthed dolls as they are. All staring at her with their brown eyes. She twiddled her hands. Should she bring her mouth to the bowl like they did? How do they eat with their hands? Or do it daintily from a spoon as she was taught?  

“Most behaved kid gets extra rice!” the constable boomed and the table erupted again with noise as the children tattled on each other. She thought she saw the constable wink at her.  

“ Are you not feeling well?” the older woman from before turned at her. Sal did not quite know how to answer as the question stood there hanging. Sal turned away and proceeded to dig into the food, but it was dry, salty fish on undercooked dry rice. A nice serving of hot soup with thyme might’ve made it more palatable. But she tried to push the food to the back of her mouth. That at least, quieted down the older woman.  

“Why are your eyes green?” a child asked. It was followed by a quick shush and incomprehensible whispering between the child and the older one who’d shushed him earlier.  

“Children, she is our guest. You must be kind to her.” The older woman said.  

“Yes, ‘Nay Rosa.” The children said in chorus.  

“Anyway, does it taste good? I cooked that.” 

Eyes looked at her with expectation that she thought she’d shrink from her seat and be eaten up by the very chair she sat on.  

“Do you have thyme?”  

The woman was surprised, but laughed it off.  

Quickly soon, everyone around her was wrapped in the chore of eating. And though her stomach growled and she is deemed well enough to eat, Sal preferred her room where no one would watch her or bother her. They were all like little bees with brown eyes.  

Sal took the serving ladle, the clearest silverware, and glanced at her reflection on it. Green eyes stared back at her. 

 “Are they all your children?” Sal asked the woman.  

The woman smiled. “Well, for now they all are.”  

“They were not before?” 

 “Well, many things happen in life.”  

A child chimed in, “My old man was always angry. I like ‘Nay Rosa more.” 

 Sal cringed. She clasped a hand to her mouth. The dry, salty fish tasted even more gross. Avoiding the constable who stood by the hallway that leads to the room. She left the table and shot straight out of the hall finding herself in the nook behind the grand staircase in the ground floor. 

 At the first sign of noise, Sal ran out of her hiding place and out into the quiet courtyard where the dead fountain stood. Looking above, one would see a wide azotea leading to a smaller staircase. A place where people may stay. Sal wandered the perimeter of the villa, chancing upon the backmost yard where the walls are not lined by doors but only vacant windows. Just a few steps before her, thick brush of trees spread out from left to right. 

It must be nice to disappear then. The wild thicket of trees with yet unknown names enticed her. She walked inside and dried leaves crackled under her bare foot. She looked up the sky. The leaves above wrap around the sky like a hands about to be clasped over her eyes.  

The strange day turned into a familiar night before her eyes so she runs off. Searching across the woods, the clear dirt path before jumbled into zigzags. Numbness took over her sore feet as the wind rushed past her. She caught her breath. She arrived.  

It was not a familiar place but a greater sea. Just beyond the woods was not home. It was a long strip of riverbank with a long bridge connecting it to the other land visible on the horizon. So far away.  

“Well, that was one nice view.” The constable emerged from the woods. “But hey, the river can wait. ‘Nay Rosa is worried.” 

 A row of houses lined the land on the other side of the river like matchboxes.  

“Let’s go back home, shall we?”  

Her feet stayed on the ground. She was disgusted at the cheeriness in the constable’s voice “Can I?”