Her Tiny World - pt. 2

Chapter 39. The Tent (pt. 1)

Harvey

I was standing inside the tent, my head tilted upward to take in how large the unnatural place was. The weird structure was made of green plastic that surrounded the sides, forming a kind of fabric walls or something in that sort which didn't seem very reliable of a shelter, even to them. The entire floor was a soft surface covered in undulations all over making it somewhat difficult to stand on and walk. There wasn't much to see really, nothing I would call impressive at least. There was a mattress as far as the eye could see with a mountain-like pillow, a lamp hanging from the ceiling, some bags on a corner, and on a relatively low table big bottles of water, mugs, plastic bins boxes and a kind of rectangular thing covered in fabric. Despite being large, at least for us, the place seemed uncomfortable for someone to live, even if it was for a short time. If that was what they called camping, and if that was their definition of fun, I would say they were really creepy creatures. As I looked around I realized that there was no other way to escape other than through the entrance. Very easy to be cornered. I thought mistrustfully.

"We must leave as soon we can." I warned Callel.

"I'm not in a hurry." He said nonchalantly. "Just try to have some fun, can you?"

"Have you forgot that we shouldn't be this far from the village? And that this is the place where the humans are staying?" I reminded him, taken aback by his lack of concern. "I think these are reasons enough for us to worry about being here."

"We are explorers and that's what we are doing. Exploring." He shrugged while moving some trinkets on the floor. "It's not like we're bending the rules."

"Of course we are. You know the risks we're taking as much as I do."

"That sounds like fear to me. I'm not leaving until I see everything there is to see."

Fear? I frowned. Sometimes it was hard to tell when he was joking and when he was being serious. But this wasn't one of those times. Well, I guess I could say I was scared even if I didn't want to admit it even to myself.

"We're just pushing our luck too much." I insisted. "We have to get going."

Then he stood up and faced me firmly.

"I know it, okay? I'm sick and tired of this." As he started I fell silent as I heard him speak in a too solid tone. "Listen, we're doing something really exciting for once here before we go back to our same old dull lives. But right now? Can't you feel all this energy coursing through your veins? Cause I do!" He gave an emphatic pause to his words. "Fear can't stop me."

Words failed me as I looked at him in shock. Was he really capable of crazy determination like that? I don't think I had ever really believed his words until that moment. How could I let this go all these years?

"I can do this with or without you. But I'd rather it to be with you, Harvey." He continued. "So, what do you say? Are you with me?"

Even though he was the same person who used to call me to play tag when we were younger this wasn't like accepting to play games around a safe tree anymore. We weren't kids anymore. Most of us would live our entire lives as frightened preys who knew little about the world in which we lived. We needed to get past that and see the world as it was. A potentially dangerous place, yes, but it didn't mean our lives had to be mediocre. I looked down at my hands and feet, considering the odd idea. I guess we're becoming men, right? So I looked back at him, nodding.

"I am."

So we ventured among the belongings, exploring what we could. We would climb those piles and explore each of those huge things, trying to understand how they worked, going in and out every pocket we found, crawling into openings looking for something that might spark curiosity. One of the lessons we ere taught on how to be fully prepared to go into their giant world was knowing how to identify certain human items we weren't used to if we ever found them available. Mainly because most of them were very useful to our job if we ever found them available such as matches, nails, thin ropes, elastic bands, nail files, hooks, paper clips, toothpicks and others. 'Nothing that a human does or makes is possibly good. But they have the means, and we have the need.' Ellie told us. 'So don't you forget we take from them for survival purposes only.' Even though they were human inventions we could craft ordinary utensils, traps, even weapons with them which was welcome.