To the Land of Green

Chapter Five

"Hey, I'm back." Leticia says. "Nando, what did you do to Marie?"
"I did nothing. She asked what the year it was, and I told her. She's been silent since."

I stand up, still feeling a little wobbly. "I--I need to talk to Andres. Do you guys know where he might be right now?"

Leticia reaches out her hand to support me. "I just saw them go to Fredo's tent. Nando, can you take Marie there?"

"Ok, follow me."

Walking out of the tent. Nando and I walk toward Fredo's small tent. As we get closer, I can hear laughter and chatter.

"Hey, Fredo!" Nando calls into the structure. 

"What?!" replies a man from inside.

"Is José and Andres inside? Can I come in?" 

"Yes, they are. Come in!"

Going inside the tent, I see bamboo poles holding sheets of fabric draped over them. It's like the other tent I was in earlier except this one is smaller. The floor is dirt. There's six chairs and a long rectangle table that is made out of wood. A sheet of material hangs in the middle to separate this portion from another part of the tent.

Fredo, Andres and José sit next to each other in front of two unfamiliar male faces. One has wavy long hair that touches his shoulder and the other one has short straight hair.

"Hello, I'm Manoy," says Manoy, breaking the awkward silent. 

"My name is Marie."

"Marie. A beautiful name. By the way, this is Eman," Manoy says. 

"Thank you, and nice to meet all of you."

Facing Andres, I ask him if I can talk to him. We go to a secluded area not too far from the group but not too near either for what I am about to tell him will shock him to the bones. I don't trust any of them, but from what I learned, in the past, not sharing what bothers me will only create a vast amount of emotions inside me and will eventually explode. Right now, Andres is the only one I think I can trust, based on my observations.

"I don't know how to say this, but I was talking to Nando earlier. He told me that the year right now is 1898. 1898, Andres! When I left our condo, it was the year 2059! I don't know what is going on or what that thing is, but I need to get back to my time as soon as possible!"

"What is a con . . . condo?" He says then shakes his head. "Nevermind, we will get you back to the place you came from as soon as we also know how it works. So far, we only know that the Lobo can bring people in from different time zones. Wait, different time zone!? You were in the year 2059?! How is that possible?!"

"Shhh. People might hear you!"
"Wow. I-We have to back and tell this to the rest of the group. This is serious."

"What? No! I don't know those people and they might harm me. You can't know for sure."

"Marie, you trusted me by telling me all of these things. I trust them with my life so they are people you can trust."

"Not José, I don't think he likes my presence," I whisper. "What was that?"
"Nothing."

We walk to the tent and rejoin the rest of the group. Andres turns to me and says that he should tell them instead of me. He says that it will be better for me since I just got here, and it will be easier for him to ease the tension inside Fredo's tent.

He explains to them about what I told him. Even though I don't trust any of them, I don't have a choice. I need to get back to my siblings as soon as possible. In order to do that, I will need their help.