Love, Carmen

Chapter 3:

"We're going to the woods." 

Jac looked confused with Carmen's request. It was more of a command, really. "What are we gonna do there?" He asked. Carmen on the other hand was on the way to open the front door, not even looking at her brother who was puzzled.

"I have things I need to find out," opening the door, she added, "and you're gonna come with me." Pointing at her brother.

She waited for him to get out before closing the door. She then pointed at the wide forest a mile away behind the cottage house. She's guessing that something in there can tell her at least a bit of what was happening the past two days.

They both walked to the back of the cottage and just when they were a few meters away from the house, Jac protested. "Can you at least tell me what all of this is about?" Carmen glanced at him, saying, "You'll know once we get there."

Contrary to her statement, she is also clueless herself. She doesn't know what they were going to find, more so what they might find. Despite the lack of knowledge of the situation, she felt a certain familiarity just by looking at the wide woods. It seemed dark and scary but she didn't feel scared. She was curious, above anything.  While she was lost in her thoughts, her brother was leading the tracks. A thought suddenly came to her mind, her eyes finding their way to his brother, "Jac, have you been here?" 

He looked back at his sister, "I told you, we went here once during winter," continuing his tracks, he added, "I kinda explored the place when I was bored." 

She asked, "Then do you know where the heart of the forest is?" 

"You mean the center of this?" he almost laughed after that, he found it unusual for his sister to address the place as "the heart of the forest". Nevertheless, he answered, "That's way deep into the forest. I haven't been there,"  

Carmen's shoulder was about to drop in disappointment until he added, "but I think I know someone who does."

Carmen caught up with her brother and asked him right away who that person is but he didn't say anything and instead, kept on walking a path that seems to be only visible to him. While he was busy walking, Carmen was distracted by the beauty of the forest. She looked here and there, stopping when she finally looked up. Amazed by how the leaves harmoniously grew at the top of each tree, she tried to reach out despite the height of it. In her eyes, she was touching the leaves, tracing the line where the light from the sun seems to pass through. It was a peaceful moment and somehow, she felt a sense of comfort causing her to close her eyes and breathe in the clean air provided by the trees. 

Opening her eyes, she also found her way out of the trance she was in. Just as she looked ahead, the place looked much more bright than it was earlier but that wasn't her concern. Heck, it was far from her concern. Her brother was nowhere to be found. She tried looking around to see if Jac was there, but to no avail, he wasn't. There wasn't much of a problem other than the fact that the forest is vast enough to get her lost for a whole week. Not a problem at all.

She couldn't blame the forest for being beautiful to the point that she lost her brother while she was admiring every bit of it.  She breathed in as much as she can to calm herself. She was also worried about her brother at the same time. Despite being lost, she knew she had to go forward.  She had already gone a long way far from where they were earlier, it would be a waste of time to go back now. Besides, her brother is also here, she can't just leave him.

She started walking, going further into the woods. She didn't have a clue where she should go, she just walked and walked towards the direction her body took her. As she was walking, she noticed how quiet the forest was. It was peaceful, she imagined how fun it must be to spend time in this forest and enjoy the company of nature. As she was dreaming of how she could spend some peaceful days in this forest, she didn't notice how long she's been walking until she ended up in an open space. The trees formed a perfect circle around the open ground, the sunshine directly hitting the ground. The entire place looked like a massive diamond shining in the broad daylight, it looked fascinating. She couldn't help but mutter a 'wow'.

"Enchanting, isn't it?" a feeble voice of a man from behind her said.

She turned around in shock only to be greeted by an old man with a long beard and a noticeable raven bird in his arm. He was dressed like a lumberjack, but he didn't look like it due to his scrawny figure. Carmen, who didn't know who the man was, kept her silence. She was shocked that someone actually lived in the forest. 

"Need not worry. No one will harm you, little one." He said, noticing Carmen's agitated expression. As her hands shook in anxiety, the man started taking small steps towards her, making her take a step back. 

Carmen started thinking of whether she should scream and disturb the silence of the forest so that her brother could come for her. Or maybe just run away as far as she can, by the looks of the old man, he won't be able to catch up with her. Even with these thoughts running in her head, her feet stayed rooted to where she was, not a single muscle moving.

"Sir, stay where you are, please." She ended up pleading, scared of the unknown man.  To her comfort, the man stopped immediately, taken aback by her statement, "Little one, I mean no harm," he clarified, trying to ease the nervousness seen in the girl he considers as the "little one". 

She stood still, glued in the middle of the open area while the man examined her. She noticed how the raven copied the man, scanning her figure from head to toe. Surprisingly, the raven flew in her direction, making her flinch but she gained composure just right after. The bird was flying in circles above her while the man continued looking. It was an odd experience, a very odd one.

"You look precisely just as her." the man suddenly said after seconds of silence. Carmen, dumbfounded, asked, "Her? Who is her?" She seemed to forget the fear she had earlier. Right then, the man started walking again but she didn't back down, unlike the first time.  When the man was just a few steps away from her, he stopped. Looking directly into her eyes, he said, "You look like Carmen."