The next day.

Kate woke up early at 7:00 in the morning and prepared breakfast in the kitchen because she had a guest in the house.

She made a fire, steam the rice, and went to the vegetable garden to pick up some ripe tomatoes, onions, red bell pepper, and scallion leaves.

Satisfied with her harvest from the vegetable garden, she goes back inside the house and went straight to the kitchen. She put the herbs and spices on the plate and washed them in the sink. She picked up the knife, went to the table, and began peeling, slicing, and preparing the herbs for her dish.

Finished slicing...

She rose to her feet and took two cans of sardines from the cupboard and opened them with the can opener.

A few minutes later, the rice was already cooked. She replaced the pot with a frying pan made of clay and put a small amount of oil on it...when the oil is already heated...she put the onions, red bell pepper, tomatoes and added the sardines...she sprinkled the scallion leaves...covered the fan and let the dish simmer.

Julia, the neighbor's daughter appeared in the kitchen. She got shoulder-length curly hair, the same height as Ella, and has a bubbly personality. "Hmm...what is that smell? So delicious!"

Ella looked at her friend and smiled. "Oh, you're awake! Thank you for accompanying me last night, Julia," she said.

"It's okay, you don't have to thank me. I'll do it anytime for you," Julia responded.

"Take your seat, let's have breakfast," she said and arranged the utensils in the table. She transferred the rice in the serving platter and the sardines in the bowl.

"Wow, breakfast time! I feel hungry all of a sudden." Julia lowered herself on the wooden chair and put rice and sardines on her plate.

The girls devoured their meals in silence.

"After breakfast, I'll go home to do laundry and then come back to keep you company until Aunt Margie returns," Julia offered.

"Thank you, Julia, so nice of you! But if your mother needs you in the house, don't bother to return, besides its already daytime," she refused politely. She doesn't want to impose on her friend anymore.

Julia grinned. "It's okay. I'll return after launch to check on you..."

Ella rose to her feet and prepared two mugs of corn coffee for the two of them.

Finished drinking coffee, Julia bid goodbye. "See you later, Ella! I'll take my leave," she said.

Ella smiled and waved at her friend outside the door.

She went back inside the house to wash the dishes in the kitchen.

Hours went by.

Lunchtime.

Ella eats her meal alone, waiting eagerly for her aunt's return.

After finishing lunch and done cleaning the kitchen, she exited the house wanting to relax on the wooden bench under the shade of the tree.

She looked at the plants in the garden, she will water them later when the sun will set on the horizon.

She was enjoying the breeze, thinking about her sisters when she saw several village people approaching her direction... then her attention was drawn to the wooden cart carried by a horse.

Huh? What's going on?

She saw Julia runs to her side. "Ella! Ella! Your aunt suffered an accident!"

Ella's face turned white, her heart was beating faster in her rib cage. She was rooted on the spot, unable to move due to extreme shock. "Whaaat? How is my Aunt?" she asked worriedly.

Julia rubbed Ella's back gently. "I'm so sorry, your Aunt died..."

Fresh tears shimmered in Ella's eyes. "No! It's not true!" she refused to believe the shocking news.

The villagers and the horse that carries the wooden cart stopped in front of Ella, and there lies her Aunt Margie no longer moving, no longer breathing, her body was purple in color, her eyes closed.

"Aunt! Aunt! Get up! What happened to you!?" Ella was about to make her aunt sit down but she was prevented by the men. "What happened to my Aunt? Why she suddenly died?" she was asking the people gathering around them in a frantic voice.

The people are murmuring to each other.

Julia holds her friend's arms firmly.

One man from the crowd starts talking...

"Margie and the women went behind the bushes in the forest to relieve themselves. Then they heard a scream, they found Margie collapsing in the ground with a snake bite in her ankle. She must have accidentally stepped into a venomous snake. The venom of the snake is deadly, she died on the way home. We tried our best to save her but her body refused to cooperate. She was no longer breathing," one of the men said sadly.

Fat tears rolled down Ella's face. "Aunt! Aunt! Aunt! Please wake up! Don't leave me alone!" she screamed hysterically.

The leader of the village went to Ella's side. "Child, we will bring your Aunt inside the house. Don't worry, I already instructed our neighbors to make a wooden coffin for your Aunt. We will hold a vigil tonight, then tomorrow afternoon we will bury her in the cemetery," he said gently.

The villagers brought the dead body in the old woman's room inside the house.

Ella stayed inside the room crying her heart out no longer caring for anything as the women were taking over the house to prepare for the vigil.

Hours went by.

Ella was in complete shock and denial.

Nighttime comes.

The men were able to finish making the simple wooden coffin before the hands of the time strike at 6:00 in the evening. They put Margie's body inside the coffin leaving half of the lid open for public viewing.

The women arranged the candles and flowers beside the coffin in the living room.

Ella was no longer crying, she just stared at her aunt's coffin in silence, her eyes registered a vacant stare.

Julia sighed heavily and rubbed her friend's back. "My mother told me to stay by your side, friend. I'm always here for you," she said.

Ella cried again after realizing that she was now alone on her own.

A woman brought a glass of water and handed it to the crying girl.

Ella accepted the glass and drink the water. "Thank you," she said.

The men brought the extra tables and chairs from their houses and put them in the front yard of Ella's house, as coffee's and biscuits were offered to the people who attended the funeral event. Throughout the night, the villagers come and go to pay their last respect to Margie.

It was a sad occasion for the whole village people who treated each other like family members. Whenever someone dies... sadness blanketed the whole village.

It was a time for mourning. A time for loss.

Ella was awake the whole night, too heartbroken to leave her aunt's side. Her whole body was drained of energy as if her spirit died together with her Aunt. Losing Aunt Margie who she treated like her second mother was too painful, she already loses two sisters and now the only woman standing by her side providing her maternal love and support was also taken away.

She feels like she was a jinx. A person who brings bad luck to anyone who she associated herself with.

She's all alone now.

She feels so utterly lonely and depressed.

She looked around her.

The people who are closest to her Aunt Margie were sleeping on the chairs, she can't bring herself to cry louder, she doesn't want to awaken them. So she cried in silence, her heart was breaking inside.

The night was getting deeper and everyone was already sleeping and retiring for the night.

Hours went by.

Ella stared at the window as the dawn was breaking up on the horizon.

It's another day.

As the sounds of rooster and cows are serenading the new morning, waking everyone up. The women went to the kitchen to boil water to make coffee for everyone and prepared breakfast as well. Some neighbors bought bread, biscuits, vegetables, pork, chicken, and anything they can afford to donate for the food that needs to be prepared during the funeral.

The camaraderie and compassion that her neighbors have extended to her touched Ella's heart deeply. It filled her heart with gladness. She was losing her sanity and was submerged in extreme sorrow and grief and don't know what to do if she was left alone on her own since she was lacking the ability to do anything during her weakest moment.

She lost her zest in life. She just wanted to die and follow her aunt into the other side. If only she can do that, but the villagers will never allow her to do that. For them life is valuable. One must continue living and surviving no matter what.

Then she thinks of her sisters in the castle. They deserved to know the truth that Aunt Margie already passed away.

She needs to go to the castle and find her sisters!

The day after the burial. She will set foot on a journey to find her missing sisters in the castle. Since she's already alone on her own and her life already lost it's meaning, she will use all her energy to uncover what happened to her sisters in the castle.

She was aware of the people coming and going in the house, she stops caring.

The women were working nonstop, they cooked dishes for lunch and food for the people who will attend the funeral.

The coffin will be brought to the cemetery for burial at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Some of the neighbors have already volunteered to dig a grave in the cemetery since yesterday, now it's ready to use. Everyone exerted effort to help organized a proper funeral and laid Margie's remains to its final resting place.

The neighbor lends their all-out support and hospitality to the orphan during her difficult times. It's more than Ella can ask for.

Hours went by.

The rice and dishes were already cooked and transferred into plastic food containers to be bought in the cemetery.

The time for the burial is fast approaching.

Several people wearing white attire began arriving and gathering outside the house to start the funeral procession.