Once Upon A Sailor

Three

Chapter 3

"LET'S NOT STAY for long here. We need to go back to Sir Brann's headquarters and help them with the rescue," Joe said, and I couldn't agree with him more.

We've been settled in our private beach house for almost an hour now, and instead of clearing the rooms and fixing my things in the empty cabinets waiting for my arrival, my mind was still unclear about the scene that I witnessed on the shore and my body was more than willing to help anyone who knew how to fix it.

"Aren't we going to wait for our rental?" Alex asked her husband.

"It's already at the front garage."

"What?" A loud gasped before she vanished from the room.

Alfred sighed and sat at the edge of my bed. He just gone checking all the electrical wirings inside the house to make sure that there were no broken ones that could cause fire. It was hard for us to monitor the safetiness of this house especially that we're not supposed to stay in here aside from sleeping at night. But if we couldn't leave the site for some unknown reasons, then we needed to build our tents outside the PCG's headquarter so we have somewhere to rest on.

"Hindi pa naman tayo bumili ng stocks, pero ang dami nang laman ng fridge sa kusina," Lorrane said as she joined us inside my room. I didn't even know why we're here in the first place.

"Baka alam ng mga kapitbahay na dadating tayo ngayon kaya bumili na sila," Alfred replied.

Lorrane raised her brows at him. "Gano'n?"

"Oo kaya. Gano'n dito sa probinsya. Lalo na kapag nasa sitio ka nakatira. Parang lahat ng tao kamag-anak mo." He laughed.

I caught Joe's gaze. "What's sitio?" he asked.

"A hamlet," I replied.

He nodded. "If Alfred is right, then this place is more welcoming than I thought."

Alfred's eyes glowed with pride. I often forgot that he grew up in the province and away from the intimidating cities we've been stepping our foot for years. It must've been good for him to feel the same security and coziness he once had when he was young in this place. My place.

I pursed my lips and let them talk about how good the neighborhood was, even though we hadn't met the people living nearby since we arrived. I should take note of giving my team a short introduction to the people around us, since we were going to be with them for a long while.

When Alexandria came back from outside, we gathered our things that we thought might help the rescuers and cleaners and went out to ride our rental. It was a plain white SUV with heavy tinted windows. Joe took the driver's seat while the rest of us helped ourselves in the backseats.

"Ready, set, go!" Isla shouted gleefully from her mother's lap as the engine roared to life. She's already awake and been so attentive with her surroundings.

"Is it safe to bring Isla to the site?" Lorrane asked from my left. Isla tilted her head when she heard her name mentioned.

"Honestly, no. But what can we do? Wala naman tayong pag-iiwanan sa kanya rito," Alex answered with a sigh.

"Sa ngayon, wala pa. Pero baka puwede tayong maki-usap sa mga kapitbahay natin. We can pay them for babysitting her," Lorrane said, giving me a glance after.

"No. As much as I am thankful for them for stocking our fridge with foods and supplies, I still won't entrust my daughter with people I don't personally know," Joe said, his voice tight.

I blinked at Lorrane and smiled apologetically at her. I knew she was expecting me to agree with her idea, but I was into Joe's with this one. Although I was aware of the peoples' capability to help us through simple and thoughtful acts, and that I was familiar with some of them, I wouldn't still give them my full trust when it comes to taking care of Isla. That kid was dear to me, and I would definitely doubt everyone whom she haven't seen or met since she was born.