Moreover, she closed her eyes so as to not give her emotions any path to inundate on to her cheeks and become visible to her parents.
Nonetheless, a couple of tears did make it through her eyes which she promptly wiped off before either of her parents could notice.
Yet her mother was able to witness those tears coming out of her blue sapphire- like eyes which she blamed herself for. Her mother felt really bad and she reconsidered her decision of today's trip which she had convinced Benjamin for.
"We were happily living there. I don't think if I took a right decision to take up the task we're currently ventured out for. No Cindy.
Do not let our emotions predominate you. Pragmatically, everything would be well and fine after a year.
Martha too will understand what made me do this if I would attempt to put her under my shoes. She will understand.
After all, I am doing it for the welfare of the entire family" Cindy tried consoling herself as a tear escaped through her eyes no matter how hard she sought to hold it back.
Cindy opened up her side of the window and the moment she rolled the glass down, an instance from today's memory flashed in front of her where she asked Martha to shut the window down few hours ago in the morning.
"I am sorry dear. I am sorry for objecting to your every opinion you voiced today, for every question you raised today and for whatever is going to happen soon" thought Cindy.
After another half an hour of drive, it had gotten pitch black and the weather was chilling. There were so many trees around.
"We'd soon be reaching our destination" said Benjamin in so low a tone as his voice could reach the ears of both the ladies and no one else beyond that range cold hear it.
Martha looked up as the moment she has been waiting for the entire day is soon going to happen. It was cold inside the car.
It was colder than it should have been since Cindy hadn't shut her window down as the temperature fell even lower. She sat still and didn't take notice of what Benjamin had just said. She had become insensitive towards the cold as the physical bother had no effect on the mental bother she carried along in her mind. Martha wrapped her arms around herself which came into notice of Benjamin as she kept shivering.
To this, Benjamin, without asking or seeking request from Cindy, bent to his wife's side and extended his hand to shut the window himself as she didn't want to get into unnecessary conversations and was limited to sharing the most significant of the significant details, even if those unnecessary conversations would have lasted to a mere 5-or-6 word request from his end.
Upon observing Benjamin's hand blocking coming into her view, she got off from her train of thoughts and came back to reality. She sensed the interior of the car had gotten a bit too cold since she forgot to shut the window back. She felt her hand to the side of the window felt extremely cold and therefore rubbed on to that part to get some relief.
Martha rubber both her hands against their opposite arms to get some relief as it was too cold for a human body to survive without any winter cloth which she hadn't put off. "Daddy said we are about to reach that place. What sort of people can survive in such weather except for wild animals like bears and wolves?"
They traveled for some more time until her father took an unexpected turn into the woods. It was a pensive move by Benjamin as the area where he made a turn into the woods was a bit different from the other areas of the jungle.
There were neither any signs to guide in that direction nor there was a road for a motor car to drive upon.
However, what made this path stand out of all the other areas of the jungle was there was less number of trees surrounding that area when compared to the rest of the forest where Martha had herself witnessed so many trees making it difficult to peep through the jungle.
It was like the path was intended to be treated upon to reach somewhere; her father's friend's place in this very case. "I am still not convinced if someone really lives there.
Everything was silent except the sound of the crickets which had no plans to stop until the sun shines the next morning. Benjamin had slowed down the speed since they entered into the jungle.
Looking out of the window, it seemed like multiple frames of some scene are passing by as they drove along that accumulate into a story that the forest had to tell its three visitors.
Martha was surprisingly very composed. She was herself surprised how she just didn't care to think of anything but just stare the trees as she moved along in the motor car.
"This is serene and wild at the same time" she thought. Albeit very calm, she was deep down afraid as she believed of the peculiar silence in the woods as the harbinger of something unfortunate. It even felt to her someone was keeping an eye at the three of them as they drove deeper into the jungle.
"And this is why the jungle is so calm so to not give any hint that somewhere is stalking us" Martha thought, unknowingly if this is indeed true or not.
The forest kept getting darker and darker as they kept on discovering the depth of it. Only Benjamin and presumably Cindy knew the whereabouts of that location. Since both of them remained silent even as the forest grew more silent than they were.
"Otherwise how could they manage to not utter even a word despite the forest manifesting as if the time has come to a standstill.