A Tale Beyond Destiny

Chapter 2: Eclipse of the Moon (Caleb)

I was currently in a park near my house because of the eclipse that would happen any time from now. Many people were also in this park because they wanted to witness the phenomenon too.

Luckily, the weather right now was good enough for us to clearly see the eclipse, and that’s also the reason why this park was full of people. Some were together with their family, some were with their friends, some were together with their lover, and some were just like me, all alone while patiently waiting for the eclipse to occur.

Though I think that it was too early because the report had said that the eclipse would come in an hour from now, the whole place was already packed, and some were even struggling to find a place for them to move freely.

I chose to stay on the spot near a river because first, I think that it’s a good place for me to clearly see the eclipse, and second, the other people in this park were on different sides, so this place had fewer people than the other places.

I don’t usually go to this kind of place for this, and I am not usually interested in this kind of thing, but I really wanted to clear my mind, because it’s full of worry. The employees at my company always pointed out that I was always in a bad mood, though they never really said that in front of me because they were somewhat afraid of me, even though I had never really done anything to them.

I thought that this would be the best choice for me to have a rest, even if it’s already late at night and even though I don’t usually watch this kind of phenomenon. Or maybe, I just wanted to try something new for a change, because I also thought that I had been easily irritated these past few weeks and I wanted to go back to my not-so stressful life.

“Look, Mom!” I looked at my side because I heard a kid shouting those words and I smiled a little because I saw that a young boy was showing something to his mother. “I drew the moon before we got here. It’s good, right?” he asked excitedly.

His mom looked at him and said, “You’re really good at this!” and that made me smile even more.

I remember that I was like that also when I was a kid, and my Mom would always say ‘good job!’ even if I did something too little, and she would always compliment me on all the things that I'd done all by myself.

I smiled at myself again because I remembered my mom, before I moved to a quieter place.

As much as I wanted to watch the mother and son that were at my side earlier, I really wanted to have peace right now, that’s why I decided to move on different part of the riverside where there were no people.

I heard a shout and an awe not so far from me as soon as I found a perfect spot to witness the eclipse, so I immediately looked up at the sky and I let out a sigh because of how beautiful the scene was.

I never really got to witness this kind of thing with my own eyes, and I could just see it because of the reports that I saw on television or in a movie and dramas. This feels so magical because I got to witness it with my own eyes and not an edited one.

I let out a sigh again as I saw how the moon was slowly turning into the color of red. I didn’t know why, but it somehow calmed me, even though I was just watching it turning slowly into a reddish one.

I sighed again as I finished watching the eclipse and started to walk back to the center of the park, but I was stopped when I heard a sudden splash of water as if something, or rather someone, fell from it.

I immediately turned my head towards the river, and my eyes widened because I saw a woman in the middle of it, and it looked like she was struggling to get out of the water. She was flailing her hands on her side as she tried as hard as she could to float in the water.

“Help me!” I heard her shout and I could hear the panic in her voice as she said that. “Someone! Please, help me!”

I looked around the place to see if someone was also there, but to my disappointment, I was the only person on that side of the river. I heard her scream again. That’s why I turned to look in her direction again.

I panicked and didn’t know what to do. I tried to shout to ask for someone’s help, but it seemed like no one was close to where we were. That’s why I had no choice but to move closer to the river as I looked around again to see for the last time if someone was around.

I cursed to myself when I heard nothing but the splashing sound of the water because that woman kept on flailing her hands as if she didn’t know how to swim.

I let out a loud sigh as I took off the blazer that I was wearing, and I started to dive into the water so that I could save that woman who was still struggling to make herself float in the water.

“Help me!” I heard her shout again, but this time, it seemed like she was already losing her breath.

Her voice was getting weaker and weaker as a minute passed by, and I knew that she was already struggling to catch her breath because of how long she was in the water.

I shivered when I felt how cold the water was, but I did not stop myself from going to her side so that I could save her.

Even though no one told me to save her, I could not imagine the guilt that I would feel if I would just leave her in this cold river without doing anything. At least I could save her, right? I could live peacefully without the guilt of turning my back on her when she needed help.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I couldn’t hear anything anymore. It seemed like the woman who was just struggling to make herself float earlier got really quiet, and that made my heart raised.

Did she already lose consciousness? Did she already lose all her strength in a short span of time? Was it my fault because I started to think unnecessary thoughts before I could even save her?

Great. Now, it seems like the guilt that I was thinking about earlier will come true any minute from now. Not that I wished that something like that would happen though.

I shook my head as I scolded myself for thinking something like that, and started to make myself swim from where she was earlier, but my heart beat faster again when she was really nowhere to be found.

I cursed myself again as I took a deep breath before I dived deeper into that river. I did not even bother to worry about myself, because it really felt like I wanted to save her at all costs. Even though I didn’t really know her, the urge to want to help her was too strong, that’s why I did not even think twice about every move that I made.

Even if the river was too dark because of the time, I still did not give up on finding her. Even if I was already losing my breath, I did not stop to swim deeper into the river just to find that woman who fell from it.

I was struggling to see clearly in the water, and I did not know if my eyes were playing tricks on me or not, but it felt so real when I saw a hand that looked like it was trying to grab something, or rather someone, just to save the owner of that hand.

I did not hesitate to swim as I tried as hard as I could to reach the hand that I saw. In no time, I finally grabbed her hand and I immediately went to swim upwards so that she would be able to breathe.

I gasped and gasped as soon as we finally reached the top of the river. I did not bother to look at the woman that I saved, because I immediately swam towards the land where I had been earlier.

I let her out of that cold water, and I started to get out of it too. I immediately felt the cold breeze of the night. That’s why I did not hesitate to wear my blazer that I threw earlier, as her blanket, because I knew that as soon as she woke up, she would immediately feel the cold breeze of the night.

That was the time when I managed to look at her, and I frowned because of how weird her dress was; or did it look more like a gown from the past? I could not really explain because I was not really fond of looking at the style of dresses that a woman wore.

I shook my head because I started to think of unnecessary things again, even if I really should not because of the situation.

I sighed as I kneeled down beside that woman as I started to shake her shoulder to wake her up, but it seemed like she really lost consciousness because of what happened earlier.

I rushed another sigh again as I shook my head, for I don’t know how many times I did in a span of an hour.

“It looks like the only way is to perform CPR now,” I mumbled to myself.

I tried it a long time ago, and this is an emergency situation, so I don’t really have a choice but to perform CPR. After all, I needed to save her at all costs, or else, just like what I had said earlier, I might regret it in the future.

“Please, wake up,” I mumbled as I started to pump her chest.

I didn’t know how many minutes I was doing that, compressing her chest and performing rescue breaths, because I was so focused on saving her. I did not even give any single care about our surroundings because I was determined to make her safe.

Then finally, I heard her breathing, which made me let out a sigh of relief. I even patted her back when she coughed the water that she accidentally drank earlier while she was drowning in the river.

“Are you alright now?” I asked her, as I tried to breathe normally because I felt really tired after what I did earlier.

She waved her hands as if to say that she was alright, but she still kept on coughing and I really didn’t know what to do anymore. Everything that had happened in the span of an hour made me feel tired like I never had before.

“Do you want me to call for help?” I asked her, concerned, because she still kept on coughing and was taking a deep breath from time to time.

“I’m fine now,” she said in a weak voice that made me doubt.

“Are you sure?” I asked her, and she just nodded her head, weakly, that made me even more worried. “I can call for help right now.”

I reached out for my phone in my pocket, but I immediately cursed myself because it looked like I had forgotten to remove it from my pants and now, it looks like I dropped it on the river when I tried to save her.

“I already said that I’m alright!” she said, which made me so shocked. “Don’t you understand...?” She did not finish her words as soon as she turned her gaze at me.

Her mouth gaped because of shock as she looked at me. I stopped moving too because of the sudden beating of my heart as if I just finished running a one-kilometer marathon, and I was sure that it was not because of what happened earlier; it was all because of her.

“Are you an angel?” That was the first question that left her mouth as soon as she recovered from her shock.

I, on the other hand, scoffed because of how weird her question was as I started to ask myself if it was really alright for me that I saved her, because I was starting to have a second thought right now; and it was all because of what she asked.

“You got drowned,” I said as I pointed at the river beside us. She looked at it, then she turned her attention to me again, which made me let out a sigh. “And I was the one who saved you.” I went near her but she moved herself away from me, and that made me shake my head. “I am not an angel, alright? You are still alive, that’s why you cannot meet an angel.”

She frowned at me as if she was trying to figure out something. “Then who are you?” she asked, confused, that made me let out a loud sigh again.

“Just like what I said earlier, I was the one who saved you and nothing else, alright?” I told her because I was starting to be impatient because it looked like she could not figure out what was happening.

She looked in the direction of the river, then she looked at me, and then again, and I frowned because of how weird she was acting right now.

It seemed as if she was trying to figure something out as she was turning her gaze at the river, then at me, for a whole minute. It was like she was trying to know what just happened to her, and after a few minutes, her eyes widened because of realization.

“Did I manage to get away from them?” she asked me, excitedly, which made me frown.

“What are you talking about?” This woman in front of me really confused me for real. “Are you running away from someone and you just got drowned out of nowhere?”

I knew that it sounded so nonsense, but I could not think of any reason why she was acting so weird right now. I mean, she thought of me as an angel at first, then now, she was talking about someone who was chasing her, when I could not really see anyone that was near where we were.

“Am I already free?” I stopped because of what she said.

I looked at her and I could see that she was really excited because of that thought that she was already ‘free’ from something, or rather someone. Her eyes were full of hope, as if finally, finally she could finally feel the true meaning behind the word ‘free.’

“I really did it,” she said, and she even clasped her hands as if she was thanking God because of something I really didn’t know. “I can live the life that I wanted without anyone controlling me.” I saw a lone tear fall from her eyes.

I got shocked, and I really didn’t know what to do. It was as if this woman in front of me kept on surprising me with her words. It was as if what she was saying was genuine, and somehow, I knew that she was happy that, finally, she could find her happiness.

She looked at me and made me snap out of my thoughts, and I could see the same excitement in her eyes as earlier, as she said, “Can you help me with something?”

My mind went blank as soon as she said that, and all I could say was, “What?”