Cambiar Las Mareas: The Beginning

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE:

June 11, 1870

"What were you thinking?!" That's the first voice that pulled Jimena towards consciousness. It was deep and broad - a man's voice - and it was filled with fear and a tiny bit of relief. "Don't go running like that again you little señorita. Lest you give me gray hairs before I turn thirty."

Jimena can only blink as she tried to process her brain into something functional. One of the very first things that came into her mind at that time was the fact that she was standing up on the outskirts of a dirt road with a bellowing young man who seemed to be much taller than she was.

"I thought we agreed that if we went out of the house you would be acting as the perfect young lady of the society." The man continued, and it was by then that Jimena realized that he was speaking in Tagalog. "But yet, you did the opposite and went on running like a total barbarian." A sigh. "I loathe the idea of nanay and tatay finding out about this."

Jimena was still out of sorts but she was now capable of taking in her surroundings. Other than the dirt road and the man, she can now see a few kalesas, some carabaos pulling cargoes, and people walking idly wearing the clothes of the old. She can also see a bricked church in the distance, and a huge wooden house polished brilliantly with the words "munisipyo" carved in the front. She can also feel the prickling heat of the sun and the ever-blue sky shining above.

Her heart skipped a beat and her breathing was slowly getting short. Where is she? Why can't she remember anything?

The man beside her was still ranting, saying things such as propriety and decorum, but Jimena couldn't focus. Aside from the strange surroundings, her body also feels weird. Everything seemed shorter, smaller than what she was used to. And as she looked down towards her hands and feet, it was of a child's - chubby and tiny and soft.

All of a sudden, Jimena could not breathe. She felt so confused and scared and she doesn't know what was happening or where she was. She sat down on the road, not at all caring about the strange looks she was garnering; her chest felt tight and she was starting to get light-headed.

"Jimena?" The man stopped his rant and squatted down to face her. He then held her shoulders to make her look at him. "Jimena." He repeated, his face now filled with worry. "You look unnaturally blue."

Jimena looked at him and looked. She knew him. She knew him very well. Brother, one of her brothers, her mind supplied. She was then onslaught by memories of reading by the candlelight, laughter, and some childish arguments that sounded so silly. At the same time, she was also assaulted by a different set of memories in contrast. Loneliness, working in a store as a young assistant to a rather bossy clerk, and painful thoughts of playing only means hunger.

Jimena tried to focus once more for her gasps started to go shorter and much shallower. Two memories of two different people with the same names were slowly trickling inside her body and it was making her feel like her head was bursting.

5-4-3-2-1. Her mind supplied once more. And as if by reflex, she then moved slowly to look for 5 things she can see (the road, the Moreno skin of the man in front of her, the blue sky, and the yellow flowers at the nearby flower beds), hear 4 things she can hear (the sound of horses and kalesas, the sound of chattering people, the church's bell, and the swishing trees), 3 things she can taste (her saliva that strangely tastes like cocoa, mango, and rice), 2 things she can touch (her skirt and the golden notebook), and one thing she can smell (the earthy smell of dirt).

"What happened..." She said gasping slowly while recovering. And then her mind whispered that she should use the proper honorifics and his name. "...kuya Leonardo?"