Morwittz High

Death #33: For The Second Time

Hayden's POV:

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas."

"Are you really sure that you'll let me borrow your book?" tanong ko sakanya nang may halong pag-tataka na ekspresyon sa mukha ko.

"You left it on the couch, plus, I saw you reading it earlier." paliwanag niya, still not moving away.

"Oh." I looked at my pants to look for a pocket. "But I can't take it at the moment, give it to me when we come back at Morwittz."

He stared at me. "If you say so." tumalikod siya saakin at nilagay ulit ang libro sa loob ng jacket niya.

Nang hindi pa kami nakakalayo ay may nahulog na piraso ng papel na nanggaling sa libro, agad na pinulot ni Nowen 'yon at nilagay ulit sa may jacket niya. Nagpatuloy kami sa pag-lalakad na para bang walang nangyari.

Hindi ko naman na tinanong pa kung ano 'yon. In fact, I'm not really interested knowing it anyway.

"Babalik na tayo sa loob?" I asked.

"Later. We need to fix ourselves first, students shouldn't see us like this."

"Then, saan tayo pupunta?"

"I don't answer too many questions."

"And why is the tree our meet up place? —" I slightly pout when the last thing that he said registered in my head. "Fine." I said, defeated.

"Wanna know the real story?"

Lumiwanag ang mukha ko nang sabihin niya 'yon, tinabihan ko siya sa paglalakad at tumango.

"The Hanging Tree is located near Damnum Iter — the location where Morwittz High was built. Bago pa maipatayo ang paaralan na 'to, the tree is already existing. The founder of Morwittz decided to keep the tree from one of the favors from the locals, they took care of this tree as if it's a human like them." he paused for a second before continuing. "And the rest is history. It's nearly a century since the founding father knew about this tree, maybe the tree is over a century old now."

Tumango-tango nang matapos siyang magsalita. I looked back at the tree for a second before darting an eye at Nowen.

"Where's the rest of the locals now? Mukhang inabandona na nila ang lugar na 'to."

"I don't know." sinalubong niya ang tingin ko. "It's hard to study about this place, it's too secluded."

"Oh." I sounded kind of disappointed as I look at the way that we're taking. I can't blame Nowen, even the rest of the students has no idea about this place. Ever since I read about the Setarñas, I can't help but to be curious sometimes. The founding fathers are the Setarñas, they're the reason why we're here.

My lips thinned. "Buhay pa kaya ang lahi niya?"

"Blood line of who?" nagtatakang tanong ni Nowen at saglit akong tiningnan.

I shrugged. "The Setarñas." I have a gut that's telling me that my family has an idea about them. Nowen told me that the Salvias was the clan who took care of Morwittz after the line of Setarñas ended.