A Turtle's Heart

Friction

I wake up as soon as the mob in my dream catches me. I notice the environment had changed. Our camp is now at the edge of a cliff. One of the women is sitting on the edge, gazing at the moon. I can't tell who it is. I get up and go over to sit by her. It's Evanora.

The two of us just sit there in comfortable silence. My mind wanders a little. Back to all the years spent alone. Back to all of that... Even back to my childhood. That dream has awoken a few memories that I wanted to stay dormant.

"You know, it's funny. I thought that maybe if Glinda had joined me, if she'd seen my point of view... I thought maybe I'd like her more, that I would maybe love her like I should've... I was wrong." Evanora is the first to break the silence, in a soft tone of voice that I never expected from someone like her. It startles me. Her voice goes cold. "Now I'm stuck in this miserable place."

"Hey, don't complain," I say. "I've spent the last 139 years in a cave, a lot of the time mourning the loss of... of... her..."

"Her?" Evanora asks.

"Nevermind," I say, ending the conversation as quickly as it started.

We sit in the silence for a while, just staring at the moon. The only sound is a gentle breeze ruffling the (fake) leaves and our companions snoring. I take the time to think. There must be a way out of here, right? If it's all virtual, there has to be an end. Right? When we first got here it was just a room.

"I just... My life... I... I just want to throw something... Or hit something... Or... Or..." She stumbles over her words and eventually just ends in a distressed noise.

I've been there before. I just stare at her for a few seconds, debating whether I should help her or not. I suppose while we're all here we should at least try to help each other... Should we? I guess they haven't made me stay with them. I could just leave and find my own way out. But then I think back to that little boy. Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I have to be cruel. I can just imagine them all stumbling around like a lost puppy.

I sigh and go back to camp, searching around for my stuff. Either this isn't a prison or today's prisons are strange; they took some of our stuff with us and let us keep it- clothing, weapons, memorabilia- everything. I look back towards the cliff. Evanora is still sitting there, head in her hands. I search around my stuff and finally find what I'm looking for.

I walk back over to the cliff. Evanora looks up at me. I extend my hand out to her. She takes the object out of it warily. She stands up and gives me an odd look.

"You said you wanted to hit something," I say.

She laughed a humorless laugh. "I'm not going to hit you."

"No," I say, "You're not. But you can try."

Evanora thinks about it for a while. "Okay."

She repositions my sword in her hand. She fiddles with it for a moment before preparing to hit me with it. I dodge the blow. She looks at me in surprise for a moment and then smiles.

We spend the the next half an hour like this- her trying to hit me with the sword, me avoiding it. She seems a little less distressed by the time the virtual sun rises.

"What are you doing?" I turn around to see Lydia.

"Never mind that," Evanora says, retreating back to the camp and putting my sword back in its place. I walk back too. The others are waking up.

Evanora turns to me. "Thank you for that."

I nod in welcome before going around camp and pretending to work. The little boy- Flapjack- is the first to wake up. He looks around, looking somewhat confused.

"Bubbie? K'nuckles?" he calls. Remembrance flashes across his face and he sits up, looking slightly sad.

The Duchess is the next to wake up. Flapjack looks up at her and smiles. The landscape starts changing. It turns into a landscape full of candy and our camp disappears. It's going to be a long day.