Wonderer's Wish World 2: Evolutionary Rebirth

The Worst Boat Ever

Day 3

Location: Bottleneck City Outskirts

Time: 3:30 PM

It's said that hindsight is twenty twenty. Darius was starting to see exactly how true that statement was. As Ai and Greg slept soundly beside him, catching up on their sleep, Darius lazily paddled the small rowboat forward, not so much as moving the little vessel forward, but rather to keep it from crashing into either side of the canyon. And as he paddled, all he could think was 'Why didn't we think of this before?'

It was so obvious! A quick, easy way out of Bottleneck that completely avoided anyone who would want to hurt them, and remarkably sneaky, too. And not only that, but as soon as they looked, they found a boathouse, with, lo and behold, a boat. It was just so... so perfect! How could all of them have missed it?!

Well, it doesn't matter now. It all worked out in the end, awayway, but Darius was sure they could have gone without all the trouble and danger that met them.

At least they were here, Darius thought, still miserable. At least they were all still here and alive. That was important, though Darius had to keep reminding himself of that. He couldn't help but feel guilty, for dragging Ai and Greg into danger, and worried about Brooklyn, and the rest of his friends. He just hoped all his heroics wouldn't make him too late...

A beeping suddenly took Darius out of his heavy thoughts. He quicky turned it off, and then turned to wake up Ai. She had technically only been sleeping for an hour, but she had already said that she didn't want to sleep too much, because she was worried about her sleep schedule.

Darius shook her, and Ai groaned, scrunching her eyes closed in tighter in response. Darius felt a little bad; after all, he knew exactly what she was feeling, but also... Darius was really tired, too, and someone needed to make sure they didn't crash and die.

So when Ai tried to turn away and go back to sleep, Darius pushed aside his sympathy, and shook her even harder. "Ai. Ai!"

"Just a minute," Ai mumbled, slapping his hand away.

"You need to get up," Darius told her firmly. "So I can go to sleep."

"Uh huh," Ai replied, in a tone that said she hadn't been listening at all. "Ten more minutes."

And then Ai turned over again, pressing herself against the side of the boat and as far away from Darius as she possibly could be.

Ai seemed tired, too, but while Darius could relate, this wasn't going to stand.

He reached over the side of the boat, flinching and hissing at the feeling of cold water on his palm, and cupped his fingers. Then, he lifted his hand, with the water, and bumped it onto Ai's head.

That worked.

Ai sat up quickly, gasping and spluttering, even though she had basically only got a couple drops of water on her face. Goes to show how cold it really was.

"I-Huh-What?!" Ai cried out.

"Oh, good, you're awake," Darius said, giving her a smile that didn't reach his tired eyes. "Great, because it's your turn to watch the boat. Goodnight!"

Ai gave him a look, but Darius barely registered it before he turned over and layed down.

Despite the hard wood pressing against his face and the sudden, intense fear of splinters, Darius was asleep almost immediately.

...Darius found himself humming. There was... an odd feeling in the air around him, like a weird blanket Darius could see or imagine, but it was pressing down upon him. Was this it? The weight of the world on his shoulders.