Chapter XVII
1037 Words
"Excuse me, Granny..." Rosette stood up. She could not uphold the weight of just listening to the words thrown by the elders to them. "What happened to Trinity has nothing to do with your myths," she said as she was pointing the girl. "You have to wake up that not every one who died in this island, committed suicide or a soul took it as a compensation." Her mouth moved with firmness in every word that came out from it.
"What do you know about the mysteries that wrapped around in this island?" Lydia spoke up. Her lips quivered as she lost her sense of calmness. "You are just a mere tourist who knew nothing!" the old woman yelled at her.
Ruby started to feel edgy as she listened to their arguments. She approached Rosette and tried to cease her from talking back to the elders.
"That's enough. You can't win over them," Ruby whispered to her ear while patting her back.
Rosette ignored her and went on. "Well, I knew nothing in your beliefs." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled bitterly. "But one thing is for sure... that Trinity was strangled. Someone tried to kill her. And that is the fact." She sneered before she crouched back.
"Who? You are with her last night so you could have done it," Mang Rolly butted in.
Collin froze from what he was doing and signaled Marcus to replace him. He could not just let the islanders gang up on her girl. He stood in between Rosette and the elders.
"Stop it!" he snapped. "You can accuse everyone of us who were with her last night," Collin said and held out his palm to the people around him. "But that is not what we need to do right now. We have to transfer Trinity to a hospital for her to survive. Her throat might be swollen. So, she badly needs a ventilator, not your judgement," Collin blurted out.
All the people who were with him when it happened agreed with what he said and nodded. They formed a barricade in front of Trinity. And it caused a stir to the pride of the elders.
"We will do that," the other old man concurred to the majority, but then pointed his forefinger to Collin and Rosette. "However, the two of you will remain. You are not allowed to leave this island unless Trinity could speak up the truth."
"No problem, sir," Rosette acceded without second thought. "We have a clean conscience, anyway," she added confidently.
"Jude, kindly get the manual resuscitator at Tammy's house." The old man demanded Jude and then turned to Ruby. "And you, Ruby, tell Victor to ready his boat."
"Alright, Mang Paul," answered Ruby. She and Jude ran in different directions.
When Trinidad arrived with clothes in her hand, Rosette helped the woman in dressing her daughter. They just left the upper cloth untouched and only put a piece underneath the wet one.
Minutes later, Jude came back with the manual resuscitator bag. And Ruby followed after. She was with a guy who was carrying a folding bed.
They attached the resuscitator to Trinity before transferring her to the bed. Jude and Marcus were assigned to carry it while Ruby was the one in charged with the manual resuscitation.
Rosette and Collin had no choice but to just stay with Mang Rolly and watch as they all walked away.
"Let us now go back to the hostel. No more fun time outside for the two of you." The old man gloated over their misfortune.
"Yah, right," she muttered. Rosette sighed, feeling despondent of the aftermath of the last night's event.
Collin patted her shoulder and smiled at her, encouraging her to go on. They arrived at the hostel at exactly nine hours after midnight. Collin went directly to the kitchen to get their breakfast while Rosette climbed up to her room and took a bath.
Rosette let loose of all her worries as the cold water cascaded down on her naked body. She felt relaxed with the help of the scented candle that she lighted before she begun bathing. She was having her time when she heard the slamming of the door. Rosette jolted.
"Collin, is that you?" she called out but only silence answered back. She dropped the dipper into the drum of water and reached out for the towel. She covered it on her body before she stepped out of the bathroom.
"Babe?" Her eyes wandered around the room, looking for some movements inside.
Is he trying to prank me again?
She shook her head and walked again to the bathroom, but froze midway. She stared back at the door of her room when it opened up and she waited for a figure to come in.
Rosette sighed in relief when Collin entered the room with a tray of foods on his hand. He paused upon seeing her with just a towel.
"Hey there, my gorgeous babe." Collin playfully winked at her and drew his lower lip between his teeth.
Rosette rolled her eyes and halted when she noticed the coffee on the tray was steaming hot. "Did you just arrive?" she asked Collin.
"Isn't it obvious?" Collin ambled towards the bedside table and put down the tray. He frowned spun around and spotted her in daze. "Why? Did something happened?" His expression hardened.
Rosette blinked. "Someone was slamming the door when I was inside the bathroom," she informed him.
"What!?" Collin strode towards the door and locked it. He then examined the whole room and searched for a burglar. "You should not went out like that." His brows were knitted when he glanced at her.
"Well, I thought it was you." Rosette scratched the back of her neck.
"What if there's a burglar inside? You could have risk your safety." Collin squeezed his eyes shut. He can't imagine what could have happened if they were in the city. "The next time something happened like this, never come out, okay? Unless you heard my voice."
"Okay, babe." Rosette nodded in agreement.
His long legs strode and stopped in front of her. "You worried me," whispered Collin as he wrapped her in his tight embrace.
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