The Viking Journal

Loose Ends

Griffon swore colourfully.

"Every single time," he grumbled.

I was quite disappointed myself. We had been so close! And now we were being attacked again.

Myself and Griffon stood and braced ourselves. But nothing came. The banging stopped. An eerie quiet filled the space we were in.

The little wooden door opened slowly. I couldn't find the energy to act surprised as our local librarian walked in, followed by several other people. They were all old and looked very out of place in the dirt of the basement.

We kind of just stared at each other. Griffon had placed himself ever so slightly in front of me. His entire back was tensed with anticipation. What was going on?

"I'm glad you two are alright. You've been through a lot, haven't you?" the librarian smiled.

Griffon decided that he would take charge.

"I'll be asking the questions. First, how'd you find us?"

"I thought you would want to know what was happening."

"We'll get to that. Answer my question."

"We followed you."

I started taking mental notes. If they had followed us there had to be three groups after us?

"Next question. Who's the dude with the birds?"

"That's me," a deep voiced man claimed. He had the right build and with a hoodie on you couldn't tell the difference. "And the birds. Right so the dead birds were meant to symbolise the end."

"So you threw hundreds of the at Amy's window?"

"I did get a little carried away," blushed deep voice man.

"Of course you did. Next question. Who were the delightful people shooting at us before?"

"That was us," ten people stepped forward. All of them were carrying BB guns.

"We had these and rocks pelting at the door."

Griffon scowled.

"Next question. What about the picture of the library in that book."

"Planted," said the librarian.

"Next question. Who are you all? And I don't want names."

"We're a group of Viking Enthusiasts. Known as VE. We study Vikings, believe in their Gods and only recently, we see if young people can do the same."

"So this was all a game? To see if we were better than other teenagers?"

"Yes. And you are! You passed! You didn't get caught or give up."

They all smiled at us.

Griffon was lost for words, so it was my turn to speak.

"So, here's what I understand. You are all member of VE, short for Viking Enthusiasts. You wanted to test the younger generations IQ or faith in Vikings by setting up a test. You planted the picture in the book to scare people away from the test or, in our case, see how far we would go to find out what was happening. Then you made it seem like I was getting stalked. We were attacked by dead birds that were meant to symbolise the end. I'm guessing that all the books have bird pictures was a happy coincident. Then you shot out my house with BB guns and rocks, causing us to flee dramatically. And all the while this was a game to you! We didn't sign up for this!"

"Well, no you didn't but wasn't it fun!"

"Fun!?! I'll show you fun!"

Griffon started to prepare to hit someone. I slid my hand over his back.

"Grif don't."

He settled, but not much. He grabbed my hand and started at our game makers.

"I want all the damage to Amy's house paid for and I don't want any of you coming close to us ever again."

They all started muttering.

"Just leave."

They all grumbled but they left.

I sighed.

Griffon spun me around.

"Do you think they'll beat down the door again?"

"No, I think we're good."

"Good that," Griffon smirked.

Amy and Griffon recovered from the mental stress quickly. The town however didn't. People were in shock. How could that be classified as being a game? However the town started to change. Lawns began to look like lawns and not plastic. People wore clothes they liked, not what their mothers told them to. People smiled properly. It was a small change but it was something.

Amy and Griffon charged out of their English class, assignments in hand. Upon reaching their lockers, Griffon grabbed Amy's arm and swung her to face him. He planted a kiss soundly on her lips.

"No PDA!" yelled a student.

Griffon flipped them off.

"What mark did you get?" Amy asked once their lips were apart.

"19 out of 20 with a comment of 'surprisingly good'. What about you?"

"20 out of 20. Comment saying 'another wonderful display of your knowledge.'"

"Of course you little nerd."

"No one is offended by that any more."

"Fine, I'll use it as a compliment then."

"You do that then."

The next bell for classes rang.

Amy turned to walk to her next class.

"Hey! No kiss!" called Griffon.

"Go to class!" Amy replied.