The In Between

Chapter ten

• I Gain More Responsibilities •

James

• October 31•

The wolf was overtop of me. Frick.

I didn't have my scythe or sword. Or Ricky, who was really just a last resort.

"James... a little help?" I turned my head around. He was unable to get off the ground and the other 2 wolves were cornering him, just a knife—no that was Dave— in front of him.

"If you haven't noticed, I'm about to die,"

"I'll leave you to it,"

"Thank you," the wolf snarled down at me. I scrunched my nose at it. Honestly I was ready to die.

The wolf opened its mouth, probably to eat me, and I winced, closing my eyes. but it stopped halfway through. It collapsed, falling off of me. Rude. I wanted to die.

"What the—" I started.

"Hey," a voice said. I scrambled up and looked towards the cliffs.

A girl slid down. She looked a bit older than me, reddish hair that was tied up, and brown eyes. She wore a long brown skirt, brown boots, a button up shirt and a waistcoat, a jacket tied around her waist. And a bow and arrow. That minor detail.

She tucked a hair behind her ear, walking towards me.

"Hey... uh thanks?" I said, picking up my sword.

"My pleasure. My name is Scarlet, by the way,"

"I'm James,"

"Nice to meet you," she kicked over the wolf and pushed the arrow in deeper. I grimaced. She pulled it out, and pushed some hair back.

"Are you a— ohh you look like one. Gideon looked just like you,"

"Thanks... I think. What are you—"

"You're an angel aren't you," she had the tone of voice that made everything sound like a statement, not a question.

"Yeah, I am,"

"That's wonderful." She said. And then leaned over, looking around me. "Is that your sequitur?" She had a weird expression on her face, something mixed In Between amusement and confusion. I couldn't blame her. Ricky was making another flower crown out of dandelions, humming the tune of "Happy Together". The two wolves were nowhere to be seen. 

"Yeah, that's Ricky," I said through a sigh. "I'm guiding him."

"That sounds..." she looked like she was choosing her words very carefully. "Fun."

"Tell me about it."

"Hi." Ricky said.

"Hello."

"Sorry if I'm being rude, but what year are you from?" I asked her.

"nineteen eight, why?" I blinked.

"Nineteen eight? As in one-nine-zero-eight?" Ricky asked.

"That's... what I said. Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

"Nothings wrong," I reassured her. "Wonderful year. I'll tell you later."

Scarlet threw some sticks into the fire and sat down.

"Thank you for letting me stay with you," she said, taking the tie out of her hair and brushing her fingers through it.

"No problem, I'm kinda dying for company other than Ricky,"

"Hey!"

Scarlet smiled.

"Do you mind telling me what year it is on earth now? I haven't seen anyone in... some time."

"We're in the two thousands." Ricky said.

"Ricky—!" I started.

"I beg your pardon? The... two thousands?"

"Actually twenty-twenty, but yeah," I added.

"It's only felt like... a few months..." she said, blinking slowly.

"Time works differently in the in-between," I explained. "It's actually been about 112 years, but it only feels like a few months for you,"

"That's..." she chose her words again. "Interesting,"

"Yeah, uh, but in Tamir, nobody really cares, people have been in your situation before,"

"Where their Guide dies?" She asked.

"Scarlet, I'm so sorry,"

"It's okay, it was a while— it was a century ago, i mean, I'm going to sleep,"

She layed down and turned away from me, about as much privacy we could get.

As soon as Ricky was sure she was asleep, he started talking.

"How come you're nice to Scarlet and not me?"

"Because she had to go through thinking she was in the nineteen hundreds for months on end, and you tell her bluntly that it's actually the twenty-twenty's, and she killed a wolf that was going to kill me. And she wasn't mean to me for years on end, so yeah," also, you're really freaking annoying.

"Jeez okay, I am sorry, though,"

"That doesn't really make up for it though," I said truthfully. "It's not like I want to not like you for that, but every time I look at you... it's weird. I don't know."

"Take your time," he said, and laid down, leaving me to wonder what he meant by that.

"Thanks for pulling me into the river though, I was being stupid and stubborn and, yeah. Just a full fledged idiot. Aaaand I'm sorry for slapping you. I was drowning though soooo, " Even though he was turned away from me, I could basically feel his smirk.

After a few minutes his breathing slowed, and I knew he was asleep. I brushed some hair off his forehead and then pulled my hand back and slapped it. Why why whyyyy was I doing this. What is my deal?

The next morning everyone was in a better mood. Scarlet avoided Ricky like the plague, which was not very good.

"Hey Scar," I started. She turned to me. "Would you want to be my other sequitur?" Her eyes lit up. Ricky looked... less than happy.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "That's double the responsibility, and—"

"Yes, I'm sure, Scarlet,"

"Wonderful! That's amazing, thank you,"

"Welcome aboard the team," I said. Ricky mumbled an agreement.

We started walking early, the sun just getting into the sky.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you die?" I asked Scarlet.

"Scarlet fever, and I do not want any jokes from either of you. Ever."

"Oookay, point taken," Ricky said, shrugging.

Scarlet hopped onto a log and walked down on it, balancing.

Ricky tripped on a rock. "Hell" he muttered under his breath.

"Language?" Scarlet said, shooting Ricky a glare.

"What?" Ricky asked. I sighed.

"The sun is setting. We should probably go to sleep, aaaannd you're kinda dying," I said to Ricky, noticing that his legs were giving out on him.

He nodded, his face relaxing.