"But the MI's are only giving us, like, thirty minutes? What if they will leave us if we can't come back there on time? What about our clothes? What if they will bring them too?" Zara had started to breathe heavily. She was gasping for air the moment she stopped talking.
"Dios Mio...I think she was having a panic attack," Yden commented, and Ella abruptly ran over Zara.
"Zara, listen to me… follow my breathing, okay?" Ella brushed her hands on Zara's back while she led her to breathe steadily. " Inhale… exhale.. inhale.." While helping Zara do the breathing exercise, she can't help but shed tears as the memories of his brother came back.
*****
"Inhale… exhale… inhale…." Ella said, guiding his little brother on a breathing exercise. He was just four years old, and Ella was just nine. Their mom was not in the house at that time, and their mom left them with their aunt, her mom's sister, who only visited their place once a year.
She was a single lady, gorgeous and sexy. She looked so young at her age, and she was working in the City. Ella's mother said that she was working in a school, and one of the few things that Ella knew about her was that she was in a sorority.
The moment his brother regained his normal breathing, she asked. "What happened this time again? Why did you have a panic attack?"
Her brother continued crying. However, at least he was already breathing normally.
"There's a monster lady upstairs." He uttered cutely, but he was crying and scared. Mon had been telling Ella no to talk about monsters or any scary things to her brother, so she never did. She just wondered where he got stuff about monsters, and she suspected her aunt. Even though she never saw her talking or playing with his brother or even to her, she still didn't know if she was showing him something scary that could cause his little brother a panic attack.
He never had that for almost a year. However, recently, when they had a visitor, which is her aunt, it became constant—everyday and sometimes several times a day.
He was in his room when he started screaming. His room was in between her room and the guest room where her aunt sleeps. Ella was even scared that her aunt might get mad at her brother for screaming, which was dusk. She noticed her aunt awake during that time and will go at night most of the time, to party.
That was the time that she felt like she didn't like her aunt that much. She never helps when her brother has panic attacks. Every time that happened, her aunt was always there. But she never cared.
Just like when her father died, it was only him and her aunt in the house. She said a bear got inside the house and took a chunk out of my father. Even in Ella's innocent mind, she still couldn't understand why her aunt was not able to call '911' or any help to get rid of the bear. The autopsy said that he was struggling, fighting with a beast, and it took him a while to die, and he died because of external hemorrhage, but what Ella heard from the elders, they saw her father's neck got ripped. If her aunt only asked for help, maybe her father was still alive.
That was the first death of her family.
Ella's mother's source of earning was not that stable. Her aunt offered to take care of her brother and brought him to the city. She didn't have any idea about her aunt's work.. and that was the last time they heard about them. They went missing. She told her that she was with a sorority, and she was accusing the sorority, the reason why they are lost. Even the authorities couldn't trace their whereabouts until the present.
Even until that moment, she was still hoping that maybe someday, she will cross paths with her brother or aunt again.
*****
Ella got back to her senses after feeling mournful to the memory of her lost brother.
"I think I'm feeling better now. Thank you, Ella'" Zara said.
"Gracias, she is fine now, but what will we do next? Should we just stay here until the other sorority girls drive away with our clothes?" Yden, it made sense.
Leira tilted her head in deep thought, and she was worried too. She knew there must be something they could do. However, at that moment, all of her ideas seemed flushed away to that river.
"Para," Yden, raised her hand to stop them and get their attention. As soon as everyone looked over her, she continued her suggestion. "Why don't we just cross back the river?"
"No!" Dennise and Zara exclaimed to disagree in unison.
"No, no, no, no, no, no... I will never get back to the water again," Zara, took a step back while waving her hands and shaking her heads.
"We won't be crossing again to the river if I had to choose shame over life. I rather choose life, and I don't care being, being cyberbullied by the netizens or seeing my photo taken out from the billboard. I don't care if I have to lose all my fans or all my endorsements. I just can't pass that river again," she fidgeted.
"Okay, none of us will be coming back to that river again. Maybe we'll just have to wait for a little and may find another way out from here," Leira commanded, making everyone nod, and they listened to her, like little children who silenced after being mediated by a mom or a teacher.
All of them pecked again over the bushes and saw that the police car had picked the other naked girls on the road.
Not long after, they saw the car dashed off. They are probably bringing the other girls to the station, and it will take them some time to be back.
"This is our chance; we need to run fast, back to the other side of the river," Leira said, and without stalling, they all got out of the bushes and ran their way to the bridge.