World Of Strangers

World of Strangers:
A One-Shot Story

"Olivia? Olivia!"

Napakamot ako sa aking ulo sabay buga ng hangin. Tumigil muna ako sa paglalakad at sumilong sa lilim ng puno na nasa tapat ko. Saan na naman ba nagpunta ang pusang 'yon?

Napahawak ako sa magkabilang gilid ng aking bewang at inikot ang paningin sa aking paligid. Alam kong masyadong gala ang alaga ko pero unang beses itong nangyari na hindi ko siya nahanap sa loob ng higit apat na oras.

Kadalasan ay nahahanap ko siya sa loob ng isang oras o minsan ay mas mabilis pa roon. Nasaan na siya ngayon?

"Olivia! Olivia! Nagugutom na ako! Kumain na tayo!" Pagmamakaawa kong tawag habang pinagpatuloy ang paglalakad paikot dito sa loob ng gubat. Kung ano-ano na ang nasasanggi at naaapakan kong tinik at matutulis na parte ng kahoy pero tinitiis ko lang ang lahat.

Masyado nang masakit ang paa at binti ko para maglakad pa ulit. Kanina pa akong umaga naghahanap sa pusang 'yon at ayon sa tirik na tirik na araw ngayon, malamang ay tanghali na.

Hindi ko na tinuloy ang paghahanap at umupo na lamang ulit sa ilalim ng pinakamalapit na punong nakita ko. Mabilis ang aking paghinga at tagaktak ang pawis dahil sa pagod. Basang-basa na ang damit ko.

Hindi ko alam ang gagawin ko kapag nawala ang pusang 'yon. I know that cats are like that but this is the first time that Olivia got out of the house for such a long time. Tuluyan akong mababaliw kapag nawala ang isang 'yon. Or, I might light myself on fire.

I, we, are living inside this forest for about 21 years now. I grew up in here with Olivia, my black cat.

She practically became my sister while we are living inside this forest. When both of my parents left me inside here, she stayed beside me. And we started living independently since I was 10 years old.

Maybe, you want to ask.

Why do you live inside a forest? Why don't you live outside? It is much more fun outside than caging yourself inside the woods.

Well, I grew up living inside this forest, thinking how dangerous the world outside here can be.

I don't know if this is the real flow of the story but when I was a young kid, I use to hear this story from my parents everyday.

It is about a curse put inside our world to punish people like us. This curse gave birth to two dimensions. The other one is a dimension which resembles a city. And, the other one resembles a forest.

Which I am living in.

These two dimensions are used to test people's temptations. If a person is tempted to go inside the other dimension, he will automatically forget all of his memories. From the day he's born, to his playmates, to his parents and siblings. All of his memories will be erased and he'll be back to square one.

This is OUR dimension.

And, I've been living inside this game that they call life for 21 years.

We don't live in Mars or Jupiter or in other planets.

We're not aliens.

We're not ghosts or anything.

We also live here in Earth.

We also look like normal humans.

We do live like humans.

Actually, we are humans.

But, we do not live with you.

We live inside another dimension parallel with you.

And, we call our dimension Stranieros.