√ | 𝑷𝑰𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬𝑺 𝑶𝑭 𝑼𝑺 ; 𝒌𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒖

9: Separated

Nagising si Xyla dahil sa alog sa kanya ni Macy at Chloe na kasama niya dito sa tent. Dahan-dahan niyang minulat ang mga mata niya at umayos ng tayo sabay yawn.

"Xyla, gumising ka na, big day today." sabi ni Macy. Tumango si Xyla and get herself ready. Today she'll be wearing just random SIMPLE attire of course.

*ring ring ring!* breakfast alert. Dali-daling lumabas ang tatlo and made their way gitna ng camp.

"Xyla, kayo na ba ni Rowan?" Biglang naitanong ni Macy habbang naglalakad sila. Of course mapapansin niya na medyo nagkakamabutihan sila Xyla at Rowan. OBVIOUS naman kasi masyado.

"No." Simple pero tensed na sagot ni Xyla kay Macy. Nahalata naman ni Macy ang pagkatense kaya OK nalang muna siya.

___________________________
XYLA CAMILLE MADRIGAL

Magkatabi kami ni Macy at Chloe umupo. Sa kanan ko si Macy, sa kaliwa ko si Chloe. Everyone's eating breakfast. Ineenjoy ko ang pagkain ko nang bigla ako inepal ni Macy.

"Psst! Xyla, may magnanakaw ka." banggit niya sakin. Napakunot agad ang noo ko. Magnanakaw? "Magnanakaw ng tingin." she added. Marahas akong napalunok ng pagkain ko and glared at her. "Ayun o, katapat mo lang huehuehue" she said. Dahan-dahan akong napatingin sa tapat ko and saw Rowan stealing glances at me. Nung nahuli ko ang mata niya agad kaming napatingin sa pagkain namin. My blood ran up to my cheeks. Fvck! Wth! Ito ba yung feeling ng kilig???

Matapos ng pagkain ay in-orient kami ni Ms Ong sa gagawin namin. We'll be playing something kind of like hide and seek pero not exactly it. Pag nakita ka ng Seeker kailangan tumakbo ka para hindi ka makuha and try hiding again. I think it's gonna be so fun!!

"But for one golden rule." Ms Ong trailled off. Everyone looked at her, nervous "NO TEAMING AND NO HIDING IN TENTS" she said that everyone grunted.

"What?!" Macy scowled beside me, "That was suppose to be my plan, gooossh!" I stared at her while she was mumbling. Haha!!

"Please do a quick rock paper and scissors with everyone please" Ms Ong told us and we did do it. Katrina's the Seeker. Yes. KATRINA

She was glaring at me the whole time we get an eye contact. Well, I gotta be careful this time. She started counting to 50 and everyone started running away from her sight. I went deep into the forest next to camp and found some pile of deep bushes and hide myself there. Just then I felt a thing on my shoulder that made me look at it.

"Ah---" it covered my mouth with it's hand.

"Shhhh... It's me, Keyleth" I heard him. I sighed in relief. Gosh he almost gave me a heart attack. He swat his hand away from my mouth and continued to scan the place outside. "Good thing you dyed your hair black" He retorted, I glared at him "para hindi obvious."

I saw a girl, rather Katrina passed us. I sighed in relief. Then suddenly she ran to her right side, baka may nakita na. Until she was out of our sight. I went out the bushes. "Where are you going?" Keyleth asked me.

" Diyan ka lang, I don't want to involve you pagnahuli ako, saying that we're teaming." I farewelled and ran pass lots of trees and found a pretty tall and thick tree, not balete tree some kinda like palm tree I guess. I quickly climbed up, higher as possible until I reach my limit voz' may phobia ako sa matataas remember? But my hiding place is not that HIGH. I took a seat on the branch and scanned the view below. No signs of Katrina.

"Psst!"

I looked at my left and right when I heard the voice. Huh??

"Up here!" It whispered. I looked up at me and almost squeled but I stopped myself.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" I whispered back at him. He was hanging upside down. "And what are you doing up there? I didn't see you when I was climbing my way up here"

"Hiding apparently. And I was way higher than where you are now. But trust me, I actually saw you climbing up here. Hindi ka na nagoatuloy pa kasi may phobia ka." He said and sit next to me.

"Do you think makikita tayo ni Katrina from up here?" I asked him.

"No I guess, she's blind and a bloody coward" he said and chuckled. "Do you wanna do something funny when she's down there?"

I looked at him curious. "We'll scare her. That way she'll back away this area and we're ping! SAFE" he said.

"I don't agree on doing this but, I'll give it a try." I said at him. I stood up from my place while holding some branches to keep me balanced.

The moment I stood up, Katrina came in. Rowan started throwing braches at her. Katrina was startled and didn't even dared to look up, pretty stupid of her seriously. Rowan continued on throwing branches at her until she ran away screeching. I was seriously stopping my laughter while Rowan did the same.

"See? Told 'ya." He said. "But let's get outta this tree before they find out we're teaming. You climbed down first and after a while I'll go next." He said and I did as what he said. After I went down, I quickly ran towards to who knows where.

I can smell saltwater towards me. I ran towards the scent and I found myself ended up in a beach. What?! I didn't even know there's a beach around here..? But whatever is this I'll have to go back.

I ran towards the way where I came in. And stopped at my own tracks. Wait, I remembered I take a turn in here..wait..did I or I didn't?? And I remember taking a left turn here and...WAIT...I CAN'T REMEMBER. I was somewhat panicking while I was on my way. AM..I..LOST?! NOOOOOO!!! I need to contact Macy..o-or Chloe..o-or Keyleth ---WAIT--I DON'T HAVE HIS NUMBER SO WHY WOULD I!? I NEED SOMEWHAT TO CONTACT TO EVEN IF I ENDED UP DIALING ROWAN'S NUMBER. I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! WHY DID I EVEN SEPARATED WITH ROWAN?! UGH! I WISHED KATRINA JUST CATCHED ME BEFORE THIS COULD HAPPENED......---Okay---Chill, Xyla chill. Nothing's gonna happen. You just need to grab your phone and dial Macy's number or Chloe's. NO SERVICE ..Okay--now stay calmed Xyla..stay calmed..AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! HOW AM I GONNA STAY CALM??!!!

I was the so-called "Finding For Phone Service". Whatt?! I can't do anything now. I tried to call evryone on my contacts list but it's all rejected because I got no service. Ugh!! HELP ME!

"Come on Phone Service, don't be too harsh on me!" I retorted to myself. I am hopeless now! Then my battery life becomes lower and lower that I decided to stop using it. It's actually getting dark now. My eyes went teary and I bursted out crying. I don't wanna end up lonely. PLEASE SOMEBODY....help me...Macy, Chloe, Keneth o-or Rowan, please, kahit si Katrina ang makakita sakin, ayos lang. Help me!!

"Xyla?"

I turn around when I heard a voice. That. Familiar. Voice. I saw his figure getting closer to me and I finally saw his face. My face brighten and I quickly run to him and hugged him tightly as possible. Then I started kissing his cheek in happiness. I don't care what I'm doing as soon as I realized it. Gosh! So EMBARASSING. I cleared my throat and looked at him. "Sorry, nadala lang masyado." I said.

"Ayos lang." He said. "Everyone's looking for you do you know that?" he said and grabbed my wrist for a walk but I kinda passed out coz' of hunger and fatigue. Fortunately he catched me. "Ayos ka lang?" He asked me and I give him a slow nod. But he suddenly turned his back at me. "Piggyback Ride." he said and I hop on him as he started walking.

"How did you find me?" tanong ko sa kanya.

"Hello, I'm the last person that saw you. And we're together a while a go right?" he said. I smiled as I rested my chin on his shoulder and started to admire his face. His really handsome, I must admit. He hides signature features on his face. He got a thin checkbone that can't ALMOST be seen. He's perfect----Wait what??

"Are you done fantasizing my face?" he said that made me turn back to my senses. I giggled.

TO BE CONTINUED