Gold Fever (m×m) ✔

IX: The rest will follow

《 ASPEN GRISWOLD 》

Pierre, the man who according to Lorena knew the woods better than anyone, only took me so far. Before leaving, he taught me how to track someone, and how to use a watch as a compass. He gave me his own golden one. It's funny how much I hate that color now, whereas back in the days it was my favorite. It was so cold and lifeless. Just add that to the things Elian Phoenix has ruined from me.

When I stepped on a stick and it snapped in two, I got so spooked my soul left my body and it took a good while before it dared to return. In a way I was relieved that Pierre was gone; it had been exhausting to pretend I wasn't afraid of the woods.  On the other hand, I wasn't happy to be left there all alone. It was already starting to dusk, and the shadows had grown longer and darker.

Father never tried to take me camping, as he too was perfectly content with spending the little free time he had in the buzz of the city. Mother hated to get dirt under her nails, not to mention having to pee in a bush or accidentally stepping into an Acrobatic Ant nest. My friends had no cabins in the woods either, if the movie didn't count.

I stopped to take a sip from my water bottle and wiped my sweaty forehead with the back of my hand. Spending the night alone in the woods was the last thing I wanted to do, but I couldn't track in the dark and I felt like my legs were about to give in, if I took one more step. With a heavy sigh, I slumped to sit on the ground. I could hear a stream rippling somewhere nearby, but otherwise it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. 

It was almost.. peaceful.

I took in my surroundings, and noticed a blackened spot on the ground with the ashes of a fire. Behind me the moss was sagged like something had been on top of it. Something square like a tent. With a more thorough search I found discarded fish bones, but not a single piece of litter. It made me think of Elian Phoenix and his friends. 

If it were in fact their camp, it meant I was on the right track. Too bad they were already gone, and would have at least a day's head start from me. From that I could only blame myself. Someone would call it procrastination, but the word preparation sounded better to me. I did some scheming with Lorena, Pierre and a group of the other citizens, as well as stuffed my belly with Lorena's cooking and enjoyed having some company. 

It reminded me of how things were before, and how great my life was before Elian Phoenix's intervention.

I was the co-captain of our school's soccer team, NC Lynxes, and it was going to be my golden ticket to the major league. I was no honor student, but I was able to raise my GPA to 3.0 during my junior year. I had a smart, if not pretty girlfriend, Liz, who I was certain I would marry one day. I had a group of friends, mostly my teammates. Mother and father didn't fight too much and my little sisters were only mildly obnoxious. 

Then, one day, all our money disappeared. Mother and father started to scream at each other, and my sisters begged for permission to go to a sleepover at their friends' houses. No doubt having had enough of all the fighting. And then, just as I thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, Gold fever broke and all of a sudden it was just me in the mansion. No soccer, no school, no friends, no girlfriend. 

Even before the telephone network collapsed, she didn't try to contact me. Which led me to the only plausible conclusion: Liz had turned into gold. I had this daydream in which I was going back to Liz as a hero after I had killed Elian Phoenix and thereby reversed the impact of his magic. She would have just woken up from her frozen state and would burst into tears when I appeared at her door.

Then I'd go home, and father would be sitting at the kitchen table reading his newspaper, telling me what a good son I was, and mother would be clearing up the mess I had made of the mansion. They wouldn't fight about money anymore, so my sisters would go back to laughing and chasing each other, paying no heed to mother's orders of not to run inside.