I put on my most comfortable, but safest clothes. I avoided wearing something 'police manly' because today, I don't want anyone to notice me. I went out and headed to the flower shop on the neighborhood. The flowershop is a simple tent beside a house, owned by a nice young lady who goes by the name of Alice. I went to say hello and bought another red rose to, I don't know, look at it for a while?
"I must say, you are investing for someone." Alice smiled.
It reminded me of something. I could ask Alice about it. "Alice, do you remember when I bought my first flower?"
"Well, it was four days ago. Why?"
"Did I tell you something else? About where am I going or to whom am I giving it?" I asked again.
"Well, no. You only mentioned about... oh yeah, you asked me if a guy could appreciate a rose. I said yes, of course, if it's for love, but if it's for friendship, Carnation or Dandelion is the best."
"But I took the rose anyway? And for a guy?" I raised my eyebrow.
"Yep. I never knew you were gay, good thing it's to Geddie whom I have crush on. But you were blushing so hard. I think it's cute." She giggles. "Wait? Why are you asking me as if you don't remember?"
"No. I perfectly remember, I just dropped something here that day, so I'm getting back on my tracks. I guess that's all?" I begin to move along, but then Alice called for me.
"Wait, is this the thing you dropped?" Alice held me a small bag of... Ginger Powder? I would have said it's not mine, but I remembered Geddie carrying one of these, and also the tons of stocks we have in the basement.
"Yeah. Where did you get it?" I took the bag then put it in my pocket. I could verify it later on.
"Just on the way. A rabbit was fumbling on it, I was about to pet the rabbit, then it ran away and left this thing. I thought it could be yours because I saw you carrying one."
"Wow." Just wow. Alice is such a miracle worker, like the universe is helping me solve this case quickly than it should be. It feels like I'm only some steps away from the answer. "Did I tell you why I was carrying such thing?"
"Nope."
"But what's with ginger powder, though?" I asked myself.
"Don't you know?" Alice cocked her head to the side. "It's a natural repellant against Tree Demons. It's just a folklore because people in this area loved ginger flavored soup. That's all I know."
Hansel sense is tingling.
It's been tingling a lot, lately, but with no reason whatsoever.
"What are Tree Demons?" I asked.
"Hun, seriously, you've been acting so weird, asking me questions you should have known."
"But I don't know about Tree Demons. I'm not a local. I'm from Manila." I asked innocently.
"It sound stupid." She retorted.
"Stupid is fun." I giggled.
"Fine." She sighed. "Well, don't laugh at me, it's not my story. It's from my gramma's."
"Okay." I went further inside her shop and took at chair, looking intently on hearing till the end. Alice sat on her counter, facing me.
"Not too long ago, 15 years ago, to be exact, a lot of tall and demonic looking humans were making appearances. They were sighted to get out of this specific Balete tree in the middle of the forest, and people thought they were up to no good. A brave unit of Police officers said they were Demons, and if they're not, they are not citizens of this country and are probably undocumented. The Priests from a local Seminary said they are not Demons, and cannot be exorcized. They also don't want to take action. But a certain head of the police thought it was a good idea to destroy the tree. Since then, the Tree Demons were wildly attacking people. The Demons killed the head police by twisting his body into half."
"O my God." This is getting more familiar, as the story goes. "What's the name of the Officer?"
"SPO1 Cesar Dick."
"Cesar Dick?" I asked again, almost laughing at the fitting name.
"Yes."
"Not um, Detective Jerry Karait?" I carefully followed.
"No hun. Not that innocent and handsome and cute detective. If you're a local of this country, you should know how that man mysteriously died. He died during the 'mysterious deaths' in this province while investigating about it."
"But you people still don't believe that there are Tree Demons? With these... these horrible deaths?"
"No hun. That year was also the start of the Dutereiman Administration. You know, the remarkable president who made this country into a developed country? He kills criminals, though. Extra judicial. That's why he was impeached. So, yeah, we thought those deaths were just a part of his "justified" killings, besides, the dead people were almost criminals. They said. But that Detective was just investigating, hun. For that period, a lot of people left this place. Most are the people who believed they were the doings of the Tree Demons."
"And Alice, what does this people looked like?" I asked again.
"Tall. They said. Grey skin. Red Veins. Long horns. Black eyes. Robes."
I took out my doodle from the other day. "This?"
She looked at it in shock. She took something from a drawer nearby, and showed it to me. "This." She gave a picture of a man in robes, grey skin, red veins, black eyes, and long horns. For some reasons, my heart skipped and hitched. This is definitely not the person I am feeling, but for some reasons, my memory is going wild.
The moment I went to see a... rabbit?
The moment when our window was destroyed by a... thief?
My dream when Geddie was visited by a tree branch with a beautiful midnight flower?
The rose that I definitely gave to the... rabbit?
See, that does not make sense. And to think that my memory is messing me up like this, I have a feeling it's a supernatural's doing. I don't know what, though, but my main choice for now is to go to the forest.
I took a picture of the photo using my phone, gave it to Alice, payed respects, and went on my way. Before I go, though, I told Alice not to tell anyone my questions. I merely told her that I was actually under investigation of my Uncle's death, and that it's a national secret. She was thrilled, that young lady, and promised me that she will never tell anyone.
I took a bicycle to the forest, as the new wide road is a very long walk. I remembered when Geddie and I crashed here together with the criminals and I feel on the forest cliff then got rescued afterwards. But looking back, the police car was not even that destroyed. Just a few scratches and some twigs and leaves.
Like, my memory was completely altered to forget something.
But whoever altered my memory, he sucks at playing with logic. If it was Geddie, I doubt I would wonder about anything. That guy is fool proof and would be a headache if he decides to be a criminal.
Putting the bicycle on the ground, I immediately ran down the safe slope of the cliff. I was doing it carefully, but being as the clumsy police officer I am, I tripped on the wet mud and cascaded down the slope. I saw a sharp rock ahead of me, and thought, oh god, this is why father gives me physically capable partners. This is why Geddie told me I will die before starting my investigations by simply being weak. My partners have kept me alive all this time, I admit that.
Before my head slams the rock, I closed my eyes and thought about the possible headlines of my death.
"Stupid police officer, died by tripping on the mud." Geddie will not investigate further because he knows it's true, and my father will face palm on my funeral together with my past partners.
Good bye, universe. And fuck you, stupid mud and cruel sharp rock.
My ribs hit a hard and rough thing, and my breathing hitched, anticipating my funny death. But when I opened my eyes, I saw a tree branch that was not there before. Maybe I got blind and did not see it? Whatever, but thank you, tree branch.
I stood up, supporting myself using the tree branch. I laughed at the circumstance, clapped my palms together to remove the dirt, and then continued on my way.
I looked at the forest, the big wide forest, and shit I don't know where to start.
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