While they were already on the bus, Thalia was looking at the surroundings they were passing through. She was amusing herself with what had happened earlier with Ruth. She turned to her companion. Ruth remained silent, as if deep in thought.
Is this incident connected to what Sister said earlier? She wondered in her mind.
Another thing Thalia is worried about right now is her sister Jenny, who was very anxious when she left earlier. She doesn't know what's happening to her sister. Jenny was just saying random things before they left, as if everything her older sister said was warning them about whatever might happen to them.
She didn't believe that a person had psychic abilities; for her, it was all just human imagination. This belief stemmed from the vast imagination of a person who claimed to have the ability to see or foresee the future. She didn't immediately believe in that.
But what did I see earlier? Was that just my imagination? Was it just an illusion that Ruth was floating earlier? Her hair stood on end when she remembered that.
Did I not get enough sleep last night to see something like that? Or am I just succumbing to my intuition and fear again? Questioning in her mind.
In the world Thalia inhabits, no ghost, no elemental, and no fairy will believe in this time. This belief is based solely on mere conjecture. In the reality of life, the people you encounter every day are more frightening.
She only just sighed; she really didn't want to hear things that weren't based on the reality of human life.
Maybe it's just my imagination. You need to take a nap for a while, Thalia. She couldn't help but say it and closed her eyes.
She hears the soft conversations of her classmates, the sound of vehicles, and the sound of laughter and chatter as they happily recount stories while heading to their destination now.
After a while, the surroundings suddenly fell silent; she noticed an unusual silence, so she opened her eyes.
She was suddenly surprised to find herself in a dense forest. She was puzzled.
This is just a dream. It was just a thought in her mind back then.
When all of a sudden she found herself on a lengthy road that appeared to see little traffic, she was still walking through the dense forest. She scanned her surroundings.
For her, the place was familiar. After a while, she heard a faint crying.
Thalia searched for it, tracing the owner of a crying voice. She saw a woman crying; she couldn't make out her face, so she frowned to get a clearer view of the crying woman's face.
She was about to approach when a man came up to the crying woman.
"Stop crying; you'll get caught because of your noise." A man in a hooded jacket spoke, his face still hidden.
"My sister, my sister. Help my sister." Said the crying woman, as if she were asking the man for help.
"I can only save one. But…" He stopped speaking when they heard a rustling sound coming from around them.
He immediately pulled the woman and quickly hid in a large hole there.
"Don't make a sound." The man spoke softly while covering the woman's mouth. The crying woman only nodded in response.
Thalia saw that the two men wearing black jackets were like the man she saw helping the crying woman. She saw that the men were armed. It seems they are looking for something.
"Where does that woman go? When I see her, I'll blow her brains out with this gun." That's what she heard him say, and the man's voice was annoyed.
"Just calm down; she won't be able to come home right away because it's far from the town. She might be able to come home if she's lucky enough to get out of here alive." He responded to his companion, who was carefully observing the surrounding area.
"Where is that man already?" An irritated man asked in disbelief.
"Just stay here. Save yourself." He said softly.
Thalia saw the man who was with the woman earlier leave; he slowly went up so he wouldn't notice him.
Suddenly, what she was seeing changed. She saw a woman sitting, her body covered in blood, as if she were being tortured.
The woman was in a room where no light could enter; only the light from the bulb illuminated the surroundings.
She can clearly see the woman. She was wearing a uniform, a uniform just like the one she was wearing.
Thalia was startled to find herself sitting on a chair, her hands bound, her body aching as if it were being whipped. She was writhing in pain, wanting to cry, but she couldn't cry or scream because her mouth was stuffed with many handkerchiefs.
She felt someone walking, saw the man who was staring at her sharply, and violently pulled her hair.
"Where is your twin?" he asked.
"Your sibling outside is also missing, and your other sibling managed to escape. Speak up!" He said
"You really don't want to talk; you'll be the one to feel my anger!"
A strong slap met Thalia, one she felt as if she had never experienced in her entire life, and tears streamed down her face.
He wanted to scream that she didn't know what was happening.
"I will take you all down one by one! I will eliminate all obstacles to my plans! I will kill all of you!" He muttered.
Thalia suddenly woke up, gasping for breath, and felt the slap, so she touched her cheek. It seemed like she woke up from a nightmare.
She noticed that someone was looking at her. So she turned to her; it was Ruth who was looking at her silently.
"It seems like you had a bad dream." Ruth couldn't help but say it to her.
Thalia didn't answer and adjusted her sitting position. She rubbed her forehead then.
What is it this time? She asked herself back then.
She looked around, shrugged at what she saw; the path they were now taking had been in her dream earlier. The state of the dense forest, the concrete road that vehicles rarely travel on, and the path where they passed by the spot where the two siblings' bodies were found.
Thalia recalls hearing on the news that they were tortured before they were killed, as shown by the many bruises on their body. It was not raped; the abductors had no interest in raping it. All it wants is to kill them repeatedly.
Her hair stood on end. She suddenly turned when she saw two women standing as if they were watching the bus that passed by.
That's what she sees in her dream: the feeling of the whip, the gagging of the handkerchief in her mouth, and the suffering she felt.
Thalia just wanted to go home, but they were all there, and there was no turning back no matter what happened to her at the campsite.
She also noticed that Ruth was restless, as her brow was furrowed while looking around.
Their classmates also started making noise; their excitement was evident in their voices and how they were laughing so much.
She didn't pay any more attention to it; she had a bad feeling. It seemed to her that her life would never return to normal after their camp trip.
She noticed that the bus they were riding had stopped now. Due to the possible events, she didn't notice that they had already reached their destination.
They stopped in a vast forest then; upon their descent, their tent was already set up. The other sections were with them.
Before they entered their respective tents, their teacher gave them instructions.
Her tentmate was from a different section so they could get to know their classmates better, according to their teacher. Good thing she and Ruth are not separated, so she can also keep an eye on Ruth's actions, because her sister Jenny entrusted her to her.
Thalia doesn't know why, but she believes in her sister. She knows her sister; she doesn't joke around when such things happen.
There is only one Ruth in the Pilot section, and her companion is in a different section. They are accompanied by all the women in the tent. However, when they have an activity, they will have a male companion.
The men were separated from the women in the tent. This was done to prevent any unpleasant accidents. She already knows the accident implied by their teacher.
The teacher also has a patrol that takes place every night. There are also rules they must follow, and if they violate them, each side will receive a punishment.
They were already packing their things then. There was still some awkwardness with their companions. The tent had a wall clock above it. She didn't know what would happen to their team.
They heard someone sigh.
"Ericka Xyre Fuente, section B; with me is Della Jasmin Cuerdo." One of her colleagues introduced herself.
"Kim Beverly Taño, section C."
"Gaia Christine Luisma, section C."
"Thalia Janeth Blanco." She introduced herself.
"Ruth Dalia Dionson." Ruth said, "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you." They both said it at the same time.
Thereafter, they fell silent again, organizing their things.