Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 11: Crack

Shockingly, Reela slept actually pretty well despite the everything factoring in that should have made her night extremely uncomfortable. She just wants one night in a real bed. Just one. That's all she's asking for at this point. Leave survival and moving forward to impractical cowards who ignore basic needs of comfort.

Turns out crying does wonders for a good night of sleep.

After she woke up, she immediately started packing up camp. Todo was on her case about having breakfast first and taking it easy, but he's one of those impractical cowards. She can eat on the road and she just got all the rest she needs to keep going until they find Ceelyaer, which is objective number one.

Objective number two: find help for Corb.

Number three: Take the hardest fucking nap she's ever had.

Number four... Profit?

Once Reela finished packing all her things and breaking down camp, she stopped to see that Todo is over with Corb, also getting his things together while also checking on the state of his brother.

Reela makes her way over to see that Todo has his fingers pressed to the inside of Corb's wrist, but a glower look on his face. Turning her focus onto Corb, she sees that his tannish skin is looking more pale and the circles under his eyes are darker. His freckled face appears sickly, and he's panting weakly in his sleep.

"Sorry I couldn't do more to help last night," Reela says with a sigh. "How are you doing?"

Todo glances back at her over his shoulder. He also has those dark circles under his eyes. "Tired... And hey, don't worry about it. You helped plenty to keep him stable. If you hadn't, I doubt he'd even still be..." he stops himself and bites his lip before looking back down at his brother. "Thank you, Reela."

Reela wants to accuse him of only saying that because of her little tantrum last night, but he's got enough shit to deal with right now so she lets it slide. She knows she didn't help as much as she wished she did, but if Todo wants to pretend that's the case, she might as well humor him. So long as he doesn't take it to giving her straight-up pity, she guesses it's fine.

He doesn't say anything else as he gets up and reverts himself back to his centaur form. Reela looks away from the bright light that glows from his legs and keeps her eyes on the surrounding forest, cautiously watching for anything that could be lurking in the shadows. At least the daylight helps blend in the light of Todo returning to his natural form. If it were still night, that would basically be a beacon for any potential enemies to find them.

She's honestly part surprised and part grateful that they weren't attacked in the night by Avinalyn or anymore of their lackies. But another part of her is starting to grow concerned. Avinalyn is insane, that much is clear. They went through all of those lengths to find and keep her, but they're not still pursuing her now that she got away? Corb is dying, Todo is still walking around with a limp and now sleep loss, and Reela's currently weaponless. This would be the perfect time to strike.

So what's stopping them? Sure, they burned the abandoned tavern down while they were still inside, but fire doesn't seem to hurt them like it does normal people. All Reela really did was cut their face and stab their shoulder with a pocket knife. Maybe they're planning their next move. Or waiting for her and her friends to tire themselves out. It has to be something.

Reela helped lift Corb up onto Todo's back so they could start their search for the town again.

As they've been walking for about an hour, Reela can't help but feel like she's forgetting something. She grabbed all of her things; her phone, her snacks, her Toya. But there's something else. Unable to set the feeling aside, she pulls off her bag to start rummaging through it.