Juan Ramon Sereno: The Wise Slave

Chapter 9: Weapons for a Dashing Youth

“This is just a dream,” I thought to myself, “this is just a realistic dream. When I open my eyes, I’ll see that I’m in the clinic and is currently being treated because of what happened to me. It’s natural that I don’t feel any pain right now because the doctor probably gave me some anesthetics to lessen my suffering. This is just a dream.”

I’ve been awake for a long while now but I refrained opening my eyes. What happened to me yesterday didn’t feel real at all. There’s only one explanation for what happened yesterday: this is just a dream. I couldn’t just accept that I’d be able to enter a story without even reading anything. It was really impossible.

I heard someone snore beside me. “Gosh, Toby can snore so loud. It’s good that he’s unconscious right now. Maybe his foot hurts so much so the doctor needed to sedate him,” I thought.

I couldn’t keep on imagining stuff. I finally opened my eyes and I was extremely disappointed with what I saw.

I’m inside a room where many other servants were with me; many of them were also bought yesterday. Joseph and I slept beside each other because I had to listen to all his stories all night about his family and how he was sold in Egypt. I didn’t tell him any stories last night because he knows that I have lost my memories. But this isn’t true at all. I still know that I have left Mom, Dad, Chuck and Ice, Mang Gido, Nanny Imang, Andre, Ash, Michelle, and Martin in the real world. I suddenly missed all of them because I realized that it’ll be many years before I could return to the real world. I have no idea how I could possibly make time go faster and I had no choice but to wait. My eyes are becoming watery, but I had to hold back tears. I couldn’t express any emotions in front of the others because they’ll find out about my real situation.

I got up and went out of the servants’ quarters. I planned to go back to the backyard where no one can see me. But as I was going out, I was met by another soldier.

“Kid! It’s still too early to start cleaning the backyard,” he said loudly. “You still need to have some breakfast because there are still bulkloads of work for you to do today.”

“Ah, I’m done eating,” I lied. “I’ll just go to the backyard now. I think there’s a lot of work there.”

“Okay, okay, good luck, kid!” he called while I was getting out.

He wasn’t really that smart, in my opinion. He didn’t even notice that I wasn’t carrying anything to clean the yard. As I arrived there, I heard the soldier’s voice again. I think he was talking to someone else this time, so I hurried to my spot yesterday where no one can see me. There I lay and pondered on things.

This wasn’t a dream, after all. Everything that happened yesterday was really true. What’s worse is that I didn’t know how it happened. The last thing I can remember is falling on top of Toby while my stomach hit Toby’s elbow. That happened because his foot was in no fit state because of that bruise. Toby was my sparring partner on the duration of my training in judo.

I heaved a big sigh and sobbed once, but I was able to control myself, preventing myself from crying entirely. I looked up the still dark sky and told myself that I need to endure my loneliness if I want to reach the end of this story. If I was able to go through Rizal’s life story, I’d endure this one better. If I’m not mistaken, I’ll have to stay in this story for at least sixteen years. If you compare it to my first experience, this is nothing compared to twenty years in staying in Rizal’s story.

“If I need to endure sixteen years, then let’s get started,” I told myself.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again, but something hard fell on my forehead. I looked around and saw a rotten fig rolling away from me. I also noticed several leaves falling from the tree where I’m lying under.