Consciousness

Chapter four - The treehouse

I sometimes feel as if my whole world is spinning in fast circles around me and I'm the only thing still. I used to hate this about the world. I now realize that I'm the only one not moving. I've come to hate this about myself.

I walked into the ice cream shop the next day completely distraught. My hair was sticking up in every which way and I didn't even bother to brush my teeth. I was still wearing the same clothes that I went to the cave in.

"Olive"

I blinked and looked over for who was calling my name. It was Matt.

"Yes?" I asked.

"What's going on with you? I've barely seen you lately and you look as if you haven't gotten sleep in days" he said with a worried look on his face.

I walked behind the counter and into the back of the shop to look for my apron, Matt followed right behind me.

"Olive, please tell me what's going on!" he begged.

"Nothing" I lied.

"He sighed. "Maybe I'll just asked your new boyfriend. What's his name again?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" I shouted.

"All I know is that you've been acting different ever since he showed up" he shouted back as he crossed his arms in front of his body.

I ignored his comment and began to quickly stock the shelves of the new supplies we got in yesterday.

If only he knew.

"I miss you" he whispered.

I frowned. "I'm sorry"

He began to walk to the door and just when I thought he was gone, he turned around to speak again.

"Do you want to hang out after work? We can go to our old treehouse."

"But Micah said he was going to stop by after..." I began.

He frowned.

"But I can give him a rain check" I smiled.

"Excellent" he grinned back.

He is so worried about me, while he is the real one who is worth worrying about right now.

When Micah finally showed up later that night, he was not happy about the change of plans.

"But you said we were suppose to study at the library, you know for that thing" he gestured in a secretive way.

"I know" I strained my eyes to signal not to bring up the subject of the cave around Matt.

"Why do you want to hang out with him anyway? We have more important things to do" Micah gritted through his teeth.

"We can deal with that later" I motioned to stop talking about it with my hands. "He's my best friend Micah, of course I want to spend time with him."

Micah looked very displeased. That was strange for him. Well for in the short amount of time I've known him anyway. He was normally very understanding.

"Study for what? It's summer" Matt narrowed his eyes as he joined us in the front of the shop.

"Nothing" I answered flatly.

"Okay weirdos...anyway are you ready Olive?" he smiled and pointed down the road to his car.

"Yes...I'll see you tomorrow okay? Library, same time!" I shouted to Micah as I walked away with Matt.

The car ride was short and before I knew it I was at my childhood treehouse. The memories came flooding back like a river. When I opened the car door to exit, the smell of pine and lavender filled the air. I looked up and saw a small wooden house up at the top of a nearby tree with a rope and ladder dangling from it.

"Wow" Matt breathed. "I've missed this place."

"Me too" I agreed.

We climbed to the tippy top and began to chat about the shop and his parents who would be back in a couple of weeks. His art school was brought up a couple of time as he kept announcing how nervous he was about his final scores.

"You'll do fine Matty" I assured him.

We propped up a movie on my laptop and devoured some buttered popcorn.

"So you and that Micah are pretty friendly" he grinned.

"I suppose" I answered as I kept my eyes on the laptop.

"I think he likes you" he stated.

"No way" I laughed but my cheeks turned slightly red.

"Does too" he rolled his eyes.

I didn't smile. "Doesn't matter because I don't like him"

He turned to look at me with a serious look in his eyes. "You don't?"

"No...he's not my type"

"Well what's your type then?" he asked as he ate a bite of popcorn.

"I guess artistic...like me" I shrugged as I glared out of the window to avoid eye contact.

"And like me?" he winked.

I threw a popcorn kernel at his face and it bounce back at me.

"Hey! Not nice" he shouted and he threw one back. "I don't know Ol, something just seems off about him."

A tiny piece of me couldn't stop wondering why Matt was so curious about Micah. Why did he care? Micah was so different than Matt. Matt made me feel safe.

"Really? He's been helping me with a lot lately. He's seemed so nice so far... except for..." I stopped myself from saying the rest.

"For what?" Matt asked curiously as he leaned closer to get a better listen.

"Well when I gave him a rain check earlier, he acted very strange, he was mad." I spit the words out like a bad piece of candy.

It felt wrong to talk ill of my friend, especially when he had done so much for me.

"I did see him the other night in the park" Matt said casually.

My eyes widened. "What? What was he doing?"

I was with Micah last night, that means he went to the park after we left the cave? For what? I wondered.

"He was just sitting in the flowers, it looked like maybe he was planting a new one. He had a shovel and everything" Matt shrugged and plopped more popcorn into his mouth.

How strange.

I didn't ask any further questions. It was better for Matt to think everything was normal. Tomorrow I would have to figure out what the vision meant and how to stop it from actually happening. Who was behind Matt's terrible future? How was I suppose to stop the future from happening? I had to try. I love him.

A tear streamed down my face.

The sky soon darkened and before we knew it, the moon was the only thing lighting the tiny tree house.