Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 53: The Sensitivity of a Cactus

A few hours later that Tuesday, I rode the loneliest road to Angel Rock with all the care in the world. My skin and my ears felt too sensitive to any stimuli. I had felt edgy all day because I couldn't take the idea that I might have got a target on my back from my mind.

I had avoided Dawn's promenade, as suggested by Siegfried. I parked Frankie in Shell's promenade and walked from there.

When I was deep into the woods of Angel Rock, I felt naively safe. Being covered by those thick bushes and huge trees all around me gave me that feeling. I just relished in it, knowing that Siegfried was near, waiting for me.

And there he was.

He was seated on top of the stone trench, giving his back to me and absent-mindedly staring at the sea in silence. He was surrounded by those golden-glowing fireflies I adored. I stopped walking to him all of a sudden, and I stood there taking it all in in silence.

Their amber light was cast on his skin in soft flickers here and there, enhancing his manly features as if he was a caramel statue. His arms were posed on either side of him, revealing his toned muscles. His broad shoulders were flawlessly defined by his workout routines. His hair was being combed by the sea breeze of the night.

I was mesmerised by the sight of him like that. The heart of Angel Rock was breathtaking, but Siegfried was second to no one and nothing in that respect.

All of a sudden, he scared away a firefly that was dancing over his hair like a halo. His hair had glowed in striking, golden hues. And then, his hair went back to that light brown hue under the pale moonlight when the scared firefly fled away from him.

I resumed walking when I realised that ogling him felt nice, but I couldn't wait to start meditating with him again.

He heard me coming behind him. I could tell because he moved his arms a little, and then he coughed to clear his throat.

"Am I late?" I asked him softly, coming behind him.

"No, you're not," he replied as if he was shy. "Are you okay?"

The view of the sea was spectacular from there. I felt like sitting by his side on top of the trench and talking with him about the other rebels and what might've happened in my absence that afternoon, so I squatted down by his left side.

"Do you mind if I sit her-...?" I started to ask, looking at his face when he turned it to look at me, but I couldn't finish my question.

I realised that there was something horribly wrong with him. My brief happiness at seeing him got dethroned by worry.

"What's happened?!" I asked in a hurry while I let my knees fall abruptly to the ground right beside him. I shot my left hand right at the right side of his face.

The far-right part of his right eyebrow had been wounded. He had three stitches there. The area around it looked swollen and bruised.

The millisecond I touched right beside the stitched wound, he shied away from contact.

"It's nothing. It looks worse than it really is," he replied seriously, not daring to face me.

"What's happened?" I asked him whispering while I insisted on making him look at me by putting my left hand on his right cheek. "Siegfried, don't tell me you've gotten into a fight with the guys over me this late afternoon after I went home. Or the girls. Is this some sort of prize for standing up for me?"

That was when he seemed subdued by my touch and words because he seemed to relax all of a sudden. He breathed out softly as he let me guide his face towards mine. The look in his eyes was intense as he stared at me.