perhapspo3try - Tumblr blog

perhapspo3try · 3 months

Text

Chapter 1

I am an educated girl. I know my rights. Freedom is something I have the moment I was born. Yet, growing up, I realized this freedom I knew was nothing but an illusion. All my decisions up to now was heavily influenced by the society I grew up. My culture dictates what I should wear, what I should eat, how I should greet the elders, that I have to greet these elders, and that I should never love a man outside our tribe.

Well, guess what, I still conform to this rule!

So, I got married to someone I thought I love. Only to realize now that it's what my family loves for me. Realizing this part is good news; however, I can't just get out of this marriage because I want to. Because the bad news is, I am a Luna: one of the gentle and peace-loving woman of the Gabi Tribe. We are obsessed of protecting the earth; we emulate the behaviors of nature. Hence, we should be as gentle as the breeze and as peaceful as the night.

Just because my situation seemed hopeless, I can't just stay still and do nothing with this illuminating realizations. I had to do something about this or else I would go mad!

There's nothing I love about this man, and I don't even know what love is! If this listing helps me discern my love for him, I will oblige. They are the following:

I don't care when he is sick. I tend to him because the elders are expecting me to do it.

Physical touch between a man and a woman creates fire that can burn even the whole continent, says the elders. Yet, I only feel [negative] shivers whenever he touches me.

I support his endeavors and is happy with his achievements in the tribe because that's what I see with the married women in the community. Deep inside, I could care lesser than the stones in the ground.

A love from a man will give you a lifetime of happiness: words from the elders. However, I only feel happy when I'm not beside him and is doing my own interests.

I could probably list a few more, but I'll stop. The point is, even though I abhor this situation, I cannot carelessly stir up this calm lake. And not a day has passed when an opportunity presented itself to me. The elders from the Gabi Tribe are supposed to hike down the mountain and meet the other elders for a very important summit. They are to bring with them two trusted members of the tribe to help them get by. Of course, i volunteered.

Luna women are not allowed to go outside our land and meet the other tribes, especially married women. We've always been told how dangerous they are. Hence, we stayed.

I knew I will be turned down, so I prepared myself. I know traditional medicine. I know every herbs, flowers, and weeds that are good and harmful to the body, except those plants that are endemic to places outside the tribe. I know the weather so well that I can predict a rain in two days. (I'm on the process of extending it to three days.) Aside from that, I know how to cook. Taking out the first two reasons, they can't resist the third one. Luna's are very suspicious people. They only trust their tribeswomen and men, especially the food they eat.

Eventually, I still got turned down. But I still achieved my goal. It was never to be chosen in the first place. It was to make them choose my husband. He is better than me in healing wounds and illnesses. He is more reliable than me in predicting the weather, and he beats me in cooking even though I am a house woman. Above all, he is a man.

The last thing that they did to make my plan successful was their departure. Since the eyes in the community was gone, I get to discretely go out as well.

I'm still debating whether I regretted this decision or not.

#perhapspoetry #story #fictionnotfiction

0 notes