Back home, the family of Dexter found themselves the need to move. Three months have passed, no news, no clues, no explanation why he was lost without trace.
“Let us offer a mass for the soul of Dexter” the mother of Dexter said.
“That is good, this the third moths he was lost” his father replied
“Make a call to Annie, she has the right to know our plan” the brother of Dexter batt in.
Annie is the girlfriend of Dexter, they have been engaged for more than two years. They are planning to get marriage, in the month of June, that exactly three months to come, after Dexter was declared lost in the forest. Their longing was beyond words can describe, most especially, it is case that was not put into closure, no one can tell, what actually happened, and if Dexter is actually dead, why the extensive rescue mission found nothing, in their more than a week operation.
There are so many opinions that the people around come out. Some say, possibly his own companion, murdered him, and his remain was buried carefully in the hidden part of the forest, to conceal the crime. Some believe, possibly, wild animal had possibly killed him, and his remains was keep hidden in the thick greenery of the forest floor. Wild speculation said he was become prey of the unknown entities in the forest, enslaved him and he is no longer allowed to leave. The people always have something to say in any event, that happened without explanation and closure.
“ What is your plan Ate Annie” Jessie ask
“I don’t have any plan, I still don’t know what to do” she answered.
They are on the way going to the church that day. They have agreed upon to offer a mass for the for the rest of the soul of Dexter. All of them are now convince, he was dead, no person can stay in the forest, together with the wild animals, to remain alive that long, and if he still alive, why then he has return back to his family.
The homily of the priest centered to the bereaved family of the dead.
“We are sad because our loved one was taken away from us. But everything has a reason. Who knows, God may have a good reason unknown to any one of us why he was taken away. Let us just pray for the repose of his soul in heaven, let us move on, our normal life must go on. Dexter will not be happy, if you will stop living your life because of his death. Each one of us has the right to live our life, even in face of the lost of our love one”
The priest then, blessed them with holy water at the end of the mass.
Annie is the most affected among them, she too emotional and cannot stop crying the whole time the mass is going on. She was deeply depressed by the lost of Dexter. She become widow before their marriage. All their plan is all now in vain. Together they have inquired in one particular subdivision on their place for the purchase of a residential unit, the down payment was settled down, and it will be turn over to them, a month before their weeding. Their preparation is almost in the full force. Everything was taken care of. But not the unexpected event of the lost of Dexter. It is so painful in the side of Annie. She almost cannot bear it. She cannot understand why this thing need to happen.
Dexter was very sad, he expected that his companion will going to rescue him, that day, but all of them failed to see him. It is already dark, he can move a little but he still weak, he cannot come down to the hut. It is good thing, his host, is giving him everything he needed. He cannot complain with the food offered to him, it is a good one, and sure in short time he can regain his full strength. Most of the time, they are wild fruits taken from the forest, like banana, jack fruits and the like. He wonders who gathered them all for him, it must be done by a man, and in that whole day, he can observe and see Shayne is alone.After dinner, Dexter wonders where Shayne will be going to take rest. The hut is small, and there is only one bamboo bed, how the two of them occupy it? He is planning to sleep in the floor and offer the bed to Shayne.“You may sleep on the bed, I will lay down on the floor, I will behave well”“No, you take the bed,
Dexter has gain strength, and he walk around the place trying to familiar himself with it. Shayne is still busy with the deer, the two seems inseparable to each other, while the birds are still around them. If he has not talk to Shayne and seen her before, he will immediately presume that the woman is a fairy tending the animals in the forest. But he is now starting asking himself, that question, is she a fairy or or just an ordinary woman who has tame the wild animals around, because she just here on this place every day seeing, interacting and communicating with the them. She is actually one of them. One thing he is sure, Shayne is beautiful, very beautiful and kind. She did not doubt helping him, someone she does not know, suppose, he is an evil man, she will put herself in a terrible danger and she will be terribly sorry for helping him later. Shayne is a woman who have a heart for the needy. He adores her for that, more than her beauty, he has seen and meet severa
Dexter reach the hut, he sit down in the chair near the window. He hopes those people who are looking for him, may pass again near the hut, as what have happened in the past day. He can now shout louder than before to them and he can even walk towards them, even he is not totally recovered his strength After an hour of more Shayne, come back, she is so fresh and her hair lay down at her back, wet. She is wearing light green blouse and dark blue skirt. It makes her a fine woman. It makes her an adorably attractive woman with pure feminine looks. It makes her very attractive to the eyes of any man
The dark veil of darkness slowly covering the forest, together the cool breeze of the wind blowing from the east. In the upper part of the mountain the mist is visible and becoming like cloud bands hanging above the trees up to the peak of the mountain. The place never stops introducing itself as untamed and unconquerable by men, where the unseen hands of nature works and reign forever. Different birds call from all direction fills the air, as they preparing themselves to rest in the branches of trees where they live. Some other noise of some other animals can be heard, making themselves present in the quire of echo reverberating in the slopes of the mountain from one side to the other. This becomes an everyday ritual in the forest after sunset before the night fully conquer the forest. Dex
It is a beautiful day, the sun is rising brightly in the east, the birds and animals in forest started their morning chorus giving off, different sounds reverberating in the mountain slopes through out the forest. Birds of different size and colors flies over the canopy of the trees, coming and going to different directions. The pulse of life is heard, seen, and felt all around. Dexter feels so lazy in rising up, although he is already awake early in that morning. He was troubled by so many thoughts coming up to his mind one after the other, totally uncontrollable, triggered, by what he had seen last night. Is he going to pursue his love to Shayne, beyond their differences, or the right thing to do, is to leave this place, and forget everything about Shayne? Dexter don’t know what to do, but he wants to see Shayne, he cannot explain, the happiness, the enjoyment he has in the pres
The day is still young, feeling bored of doing nothing, Dexter, informed Shayne, he will gather fruits in the forest, so that they may have food to eat. Shayne object but he did not change his mind, as a man, it is the role of him to do this hard work. She wants to come with him, because she knows well the forest, but he wants to be alone, he wants to prove to her, he is a man, she can depend on. There is no path way to follow, in exploring the forest floor, one should simply need to follow his own hunch and judgment where to go and how to go. Dexter just tried to remember, where he came from so that he can return back afterwards. He prays and hopes, he would not encounter fierce wild animals, because he has no weapon to depend himself. Shayne has not given him his gun, possibly she will not give it to him anymore, otherwise, he promised her, she will not hurt any one of her friends. He
They go home together, that is mid-day, Shayne prepares their food for the lunch, in the hut, it is because he is still adamant to enter his castle although she allows him to come inside. Dexter becomes used seeing Shayne doing house hold chores for him, he enjoys it, in the thought that someone is taking care of him. “Launch is ready, let’s eat” the sweet voice of Shayne that he always wants to hear. “Thank you very much, I pray you will not get tired of looking after me” he sincere on it Shayne smiles at him. He reaches her hand and pressed it, the small soft hands that is nice to hold, he always wants to hold this hand, if possible, forever. They eat together, once in a while stopping and having conversation of something not so important,
It is nightfall, and the two of them are inside the hut, they have taken a rest; they are now having a luxury of time for each other. Fresh fruits are on the table, together with the single oil lamp, that gives light inside the hut. Mesmerized by the new found love, the two lovers become inseparable. “Where are we going to sleep now” Shayne asked. “Here in the hut” Dexter answered. “But the bed is not enough for the two of us” she protested. “I think it would be better, if you will come with me in the castle” 
Certain part of the forest area was spared for destruction, for the meantime, when the team of developer leave the area. However, it is not a permanent success, those people, who have able to purchase and titled the forest reserve, will surely try it again, in some other time, in the future. Now the fight for the preservation of this area, rest in the shoulder of the next generation, they should learn how it should be done, for themselves “We should plan for our future; time is running fast” Shayne told Dexter. “I m happy and contented with you I cannot ask for more” Dexter answered “I know, it, but we cannot set aside the truth in between us, I am spirit th
The subdivision developer chief engineer of the forest sends an emissary to Dexter, telling him, his help, is badly needed, begging him to help them, find a way to solve their problem, the forest spirits are intervening their works, and hampered their operation. If they will not able to find ways to solve their problems, they will not meet the deadline, it will mean a big loss to the company. Their CEO cannot allow this to happen, the blame will fall on them, they will force the men working bellow, to do nasty work, to have result, at all cost or else they will lost their jobs. Dexter talks to Shayne and tell her everything, he wants to weigh out everything. “Did you intervene with their works” Dexter asked Shayne. “No, it is some other spirit of my kin
The five Paranormal students come out of the forest with half bake work, they have encountered the unknown but they have not able to have video tapes about what actually happened and transpired inside the forest during faithful night of their observation. All of their equipment are functioning well, but all of them failed to record anything worthy to support their theory, that extra-ordinary things actually happened, that mythical creatures actually exist and it is not just a fictitious characters in the folk tales. But how they can prove it, in the scientific way acceptable to the academic community, where they belong? They should able to cast all doubts and questions about supernatural phenomena, the reason why they come, to this forest reported to have thrive with extra ordinary stories, but they have failed. The old belief and saying that you can’t take pictures or videos with dwarfs, nymph and fairy, seems true based on their own experience. Possibly it is the reason, why
The mystical story about the bouncing ball of fire, the procession of candles by themselves, and the mystical voice in the forest, turn to be a big story in the place, because the ten young men who become the victim of this phenomena, tell this endlessly and it transpired from the word of mouth from one community, to the next community nearby .To make the story, more interesting they add some more things none existent in the original version, they say, the phenomena of bouncing ball of fire can be always seen near the entrance of the forest every first Friday of the month, and if the observer is lucky enough, he can also witness the parade of the candles in the mountain slopes few kilometers inside the forest, after sunset third night after the last quarter. A big news like this, no matter how strange it may be, will not go on, unnoticed by the reporters who are always looking for anything to report. Some news outfit carry this story, in their news reports, reviving th
Joana makes a frequent call to her brother, informing him about the condition of their mother. Dexter is very thankful that Joana is taking good care of their mother. The doctor attending their mother, was also surprised by the fast recovery of his patient, he expects, in normal rate, the old woman would recuperate in a week time, but here it is now, she doing well beyond his expectation, beyond what medically happened in normal phase of medication. “It is good, your mother is recovering fast than normal” the doctor said to Joana. “Thanks God, we will able to go home early” Joana replied. “You can settle down all your remaining bills and by tomorrow, you can go hom
After the hold dupers was apprehended by the authorities, a thorough tactical investigation, was done, and all of it was focused to the lone forest ranger, who flush out them out of the forest, without a single fire of gun. He only used the spirit of the forest and the wild animals to force those hold dupers and gun for hire, out of the forest. Dexter become headline again in the local newspaper, radio and TV, with following title, DEXTER DONE ANOTHER MIRACLE; THE HERMIT FOREST RANGER DEFEATED 5 DANGEROUS MEN; DEXTER FLUSH OUT FIVE WANTED FROM THE FOREST; DEXTER HAD TAME THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST. All of these again awaken the meticulous minds of people, who are tired of political news, and violent news that had become the everyday topic of all news outfit. Here it comes a different news portraying a heroic deed of a man in extra-ordinary way, no one has done before.The reporters also had interviewed Alice, who gave them rich materials for their news report, she gave th
The LGU and the local police force had discussed the protocols how they are going to address the problem, and catch the lawless men, who had escape in the forest. They agreed to mobilize three teams, each team composed of ten men, to track and run after hold dupers. Their order is plain and simple, catch those men, dead or alive and bring them out in forest to the fold of law. They should practice extra precaution, all of those men, are killers, they are all armed and dangerous. They were violent and kill without remorse.They coordinate with the forest ranger’s office, to sketch the way and terrain of the area, as well the assignment of each team, covering five square kilometers each, and the rapid deployment of reinforcement once an engagement occurred. They have a good plan, in papers, the only problem, most common, the execution of it, in real life.Before they enter the forest, the forest ranger main office, told them, to wait, for the report of their sole r
Half awake, Dexter walks outside the castle of Shayne contemplating whether he now exist in human flesh or in pure spirit, as what his, dream had induced to his mind a while ago. He is still confused of everything. What he is sure, Shayne is spirit appearing before him in human flesh, so that he can see and touch her. That is how mythological creature exist, that is how Shayne exist. However, it does not change his feeling to Shayne, he still loves her, in spite the truth, that are living in different world. He loves Shayne, that is why he needed Shayne in his life, even it is against all odds. “Do you want to go back to your shelter” it is Shayne. “Yes, I need to report, to our head station” his short answer.&n
The construction of the forest ranger shelter started immediately. Dexter is the one who chooses the site for its construction. He consults Shane for the proper place for the construction. She suggests to put it in the upper part of the forest in the top of the hills, overlooking the mountain ranges in both sides. It gives a good view, a good observation in a larger part of the forest “You have a good choice” remark by the chief forest ranger. “Anyone who will stay here will have a great view of the forest” remark by another. “Anyone who will stay here, will become cut-off from the life outside”&n