The young woman further opened another drawer on her table and revealed more stuff. A shiny rectangular shaped flat cover opened up to show another screen on its other side. Most kids these days would call this one of the earliest models of laptop. A keyboard showed underneath but the letters were not of any known alphabet.
She started typing on the keyboard and more numbers and unknown letters kept showing on the screen. When she finished her work, she returned to the same screen with the house still being built. Unable to see more, she pouted and stared at the screen. She waited more but nothing much happened during the day that she got bored and drifted off to sleep while looking at her screen.
When night came, her gently closed lids opened to show her alert and sharp eyes. Never taking her gaze off of the screen, she stared at it as if to bore hole into it. Few more hours pastsed and there still stood an almost finished bungalow on the computer screen. Save for the faint shadow from the moonlight, the screen showed nothing out of the ordinary.
But this stillness made the young woman persist with such intensity that when one had decided to give up, she instead doubled her efforts to scout the place. This repeated for a few more weeks until she saw the house almost complete. The builders did a fast job in completing the house the shortest time possible. Just a few more touches and this house should be livable to the young family.
She clicked on the house and we get to see an enlarged view of it. There are four bedrooms in this house. The living room is wide enough to accommodate a big family and so was a long table in the dining room. The kitchen is hidden from view further along. This progress made her persist even more.
Every morning, she would set her equipment and prepare a meal to last her through the night as she stayed awake to watch over the intriguing bungalow few places from their town then go back to sleep in the morning and be ready again the next night.
Had she decided to forgo checking the house in it's building phase, she would have seen the family who will live in that place wandering around their town.
A young father strolls around carrying a duffel bag over one of his unbelievably wide shoulders while the other strong arm holds onto a large umbrella. Underneath this shade, his pretty wife pushes the cart that ferries their child along the street.
They made small talks to store owners they visit and share laughter as the townspeople adore their child. At night, they stay at a small house being rented out to them by an old lady who lives by herself.
Occasionally, there would be crying baby sounds echoing throughout the house but most of the time, the family lives quietly amongst the neighborhood.
These foreigners became accustomed living with the townspeople that they were treated no differently than the rest of the people living there.
Speaking of foreigners, there were also tourists that visit their place due to its tranquility. But not every person that goes here has this wholesome reason for visiting.
In comes these three brothers of different mothers with their burly bodies. With their frequent smoking of cigars, they could cover the whole town in smoke if they want to. The townspeople, wary of them, tried their best to minimize their interactions with them. Searching around, they found the almost finished bungalow in the not so far distance and decided to ask around about the owners of the house.
Walking like the giants that they are, they wore their sleeveless leather blazers and dark sunglasses under the scorching sun and walked towards the rented house of the family. The young mother who is busy crooning her child to sleep gestured for her husband to welcome them and bowed in respect as she went inside their temporary settlement.
" Hello friends, what brought you to our place?" The young man beamed at them, ready to make new acquaintance with them.
"We heard you own the house towards the eastern side of the town." One of the burly men said while he blew clouds of smoke from his thick cigar which brought the young father to a small coughing fit.
'Cough'
'Cough'
'Cough'
"Yes that's true sir, can I help you in any way?" The young father politely asked after wiping the tears that formed on his eyes when he had the coughing fit.
"Tell me your price and we'll pay you to get the space." The young father was taken aback at their straightforward answer. He fell silent for awhile then put back the smile on his face again.
"My apologies sirs but that place will be our residence and is not for sale." He replied.
The burly men showed a displeased look but the calmest one among the gave his colleagues a look and they stayed silent. He smiled back at the young father and patted his shoulders.
"You'll never know what could happen in a place like that since it's too far from this town but if that is your decision, we can only comply." He grinned.
The young father shuddered and looked at them warily but tried to build his confidence as he smiled back.
"We're a family who prefers the quiet that's why we bought that place. Thank you for considering our situation." The burly man clicked his tongue and gestured for his friends to walk away.
The house construction continued without any problem and soon it was ready to be occupied. The family of three left the rented house where they've been staying for a couple of months and moved their belongings to their new home.
At this time, their baby has started growing milk teeth and chewed on anything those tiny hands can get ahold of. There were occasional baby cries still heard but most of the time, the people hear squeals of laughter which the townspeople enjoy and will miss once they moved to their new home.
On their first night, they slept soundly, tired of moving a lot of stuff around. The young woman from the village who has been watching the construction of the house decided to stop monitoring this house already.
Few days prior, she even left her shabby house, no longer paying attention to the ongoing finishing touches on the house.
Perhaps she's grown tired looking at the house being built and took interest on other things instead. No one knows. She kept her shabby house shut.
However, one thing is known. The burly men are back.
With their bats and few more burly men with them, the approached the newly built house stealthily. As the young family slept through, the burly men wore their masks and began to strike the gates of the house. They ravaged the backyard and everything they can see in the perimeter.
With this much noise, people could wake up to this commotion but their distance from the town reduced the violent noise to sound like rustling leaves and swaying trees.
The burly men and their gang went on while the whole family unbelievably slept through the night.
When morning came, the young father woke up with a smile on his face. He opened his eyes to stare at his beautiful wife before he stood up to check on their child who is still sleeping peacefully.
He walked towards the kitchen and brewed a coffee for himself as he looked up the sky outside. He sighed,
"What a wonderful day." He breathed in fresh air as he blew on his hot coffee and sipped.
"Somebody's in a good mood," he heard a soft voice behind him but he did not look behind. He waited until the person's footstep stopped next to his seat before he adjusted his position and allowed the person to sit beside him, his eyes in smiling curves.
"I am," he said.
"Why so?" his young wife leaned on his body as she asked.
"Well, just look at our little home." He exclaimed and his wife smiled.
With her gaze following his outstretched armed, she looked at their freshly planted garden. The mini-fences of brick walls and their adorable little gate. Everything looks warm.
"We moved here right on time don't you think?" He asked.
"Yes, right before the holidays." She echoed and sipped from her husband's cup of coffee. He looked at her amusedly.
"Did you have a good sleep?" He asked as he saw her stretch her arms and yawn but somebody else answered.
"Of course not. She's laughing happily all night, I doubt she slept at all." A stubborn voice is heard as a young man with jet black hair brought his own stool and sat next to them.
"Good morning, Zari!" The young wife greeted the teenage boy. She reached out to touch his face.
"Hi, Mom." He grinned, lowering his head to let her kiss his head.
"Where are the rest?" She asked but he just shrugged.
"Probably still enjoying themselves somewhere." He bit into an apple he brought with him and chewed noisily.
Somewhere, we hear loud shouts and wails of mourning. When one draws closer, the familiar burly bodies of men can be seen running away. Behind them, a huge golden snake about the size of an adult person's thigh slithers towards the group of scared men.
We see the familiar looking burly guy who is normally calm being smacked by one of his friends.
"I told you to do this on a different day instead but you insisted," he yelled while panting for air as they ran away.
"How would I know a large snake like that lives here!" He retorted as they kept running.
"That's not the point!" He got smacked again. He held his mouth to retort when he saw their angry gazes.
"It's Friday the thirteenth! It's an unlucky day!"