Tinted Memories

7

The two Brits sat down for a break. Sally had led the two down a remote path, and explained that there would be a cave at the end where they could stay the night.

They've been walking for a few minutes since Sally left them, and agreed to take a break. It was a calm day, the birds were chirping, and the trees swayed slightly with the wind. Wilbur hummed a tune as he got out his guitar.

"We've walked a long way from Eret's house, how bout I play a short song?"

Tommy shrugged "I don't care. Do what you want."

Last night was still bothering him. He swore he was angry at something. At someone. But he just couldn't remember who.

Wilbur turned his guitar, before letting out a deep breath. As he strummed the strings, he mumbled a few lyrics to go along with the song.

Maybe one day I'll live in La Jolla
Drinking cocktails out over the water

Tommy turned his back to Wilbur. "Maybe I should just forget about it. Maybe it wasn't that important after all."

My own personal sunset
To give each day its own diploma

Tommy closed his eyes. Wilbur's song seemed to calm his nerves.

And you know it's funny
Amid my backseat taxi jaunts

The song was calming, yet Wilbur sang it with such a pained voice.

I'm trying to ignore the skyline
So I don't figure out where you

Tommy looked up as the song came to a finish. "Hey Wilbur... you okay?"

Wilbur looked slightly shocked at the sudden question. He gave a comforting smile. "I'm okay. Let's get back to walking. I want to be inside before it gets dark."

The two reached the cave after another half an hour of walking. The sun was setting, and it was getting a little colder.

Tommy barged in, and was surprised to see it was fully furnished, with a half eaten breakfast at the table.

"Someone's been living here."

Wilbur nodded in agreement. "I don't think it's Eret. He would've told us before."

Tommy looked around the cramped cave. It was about the size of a bathroom and had a bed, a small coffee table, a stove with various instant food packs on the side, and a desk with papers scattered over it.

Tommy looked for clues on the desk, while Wilbur inspected the food.

"Pancakes with no syrup? AND WITH ORANGE JUICE?! This guy has no taste."

The pancakes were half cooked, but were still soft. Whoever had cooked them was here very recently.

Tommy picked up a random paper from the desk. The handwriting was illegible. It looked like a failed attempt at fancy cursive. He was able to make out a couple words. It looked to be a letter.

Dear DrbUn,
     I am SVppT fgr what happened ljsq nfghj. Yns, Gnspn, and Sapmwl can mrbj me in sfx daus. Yns promisjsd. Please hwlq me. The pjll yns gauw me is not helping. Help me forget.

Slpncrey Sdjlal.

Tommy got more and more confused the longer he looked at the paper. "Is that T? No is it a L? Maybe a J?" After a few minutes of trying, he eventually gave up and took a look at the other pages.

There was more illegible writing, along with a couple photos. There were three photos. One was of what looked like a bottle of pills, another was what looked like a blurry photo of some dark creature with glowing eyes, and the last one was of a tree.

Tommy recognized the tree. It was the one he saw back when Wilbur was looking for the river. The one with the weird carving. Along the sides of the photo had the words "Meet here." In neat square handwriting. The complete opposite compared to the letter.

Lost in thought, Tommy banged his toe against a heavy box beneath the desk.

"OW FUCK-"

The box was filled to the brim with empty liquor bottles. There was also a few wine bottles, along with some cracked shot glasses.

"Alcoholic. Red flag." Tommy said aloud.

Wilbur took out the paper from Eret, expecting some kind of clue. Instead it had the phone numbers of Phil and Techno, along with the words, "Stay safe."

Unknown to Wilbur, the back of the paper had the message, "2 days from now is when we'll strike. The era of Schlatt is over."

Wilbur sighed as he entered the phone numbers into his contacts, then ripped the paper without reading the back.

He walked over to Tommy who was rubbing his stubbed toe. "We need to choose. We can either stay here although it's dangerous, or we can set up camp outside."

Tommy glanced out the door. It was raining now, and the idea of staying out there all night was immediately pushed from Tommy's mind.

"We stay here. Please."

"Glad we're on the same page." Wilbur said as he laid his jacket on the floor. "You can have the bed. I'll sleep here."

"No objections." Tommy said with a smirk. He was exhausted, and desperately wanted to get some shut eye. "Goodnight Wilbur."

"Goodnight Tommy."

"goodnight tommy!"

"Why'd you say goodnight twice?"
"What are you talking about? Go to bed."

Tommy looked around. Was someone else with them? He thought he heard someone else. A gush of cold wind interrupted his thoughts. "Holy shit why is it so cold?!"

"It's not Tommy. You're going crazy. Just go to sleep." Wilbur was getting slightly annoyed.

"listen to wilbur tommy!"

"THERES THAT VOICE AGAIN! I SWEAR TO GOD IM NOT GOING CRAZY!"

"Tommy. If you don't shut the fuck up. I will not hesitate to throw you outside into the cold rain."

"..."
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(A/N)
Sorry! This was kind of a short chapter.

If you're curious about the carving on the tree, it was mentioned back in Ch. 5
(I'll put the paragraph in the comments)

Also I want to rename this story. Anyone have any ideas for a name??

Ty for reading! :]