Escaping The Tragedies Of This Family!

Act 6 - The boy of the forest

I climbed one of the trees deep within the Lovelace forest and sat on the thickest branch, leaning against the crown with my notebook in hand. It had been two days since I sold all of Tila's possessions, two days since the chase, two days since seeing Kedric for the first time and two days since the dramatic fight between Danielle and I.

Holding the notebook close I sighed to myself as I began monologuing.

"Accused her of stealing huh?" I recalled back to what Danielle had said.

(Tila accusing her one and only maid of stealing wasn't shocking in the slightest, she was the type of character to do that so it was justified to feel upset about that.)

"I mean like I get it, but, is it really that deep?"

"To see her with such expression.." I leaned forward, thinking, "It makes me uncomfortable."

"Ok but like, at the end of the day, I'm literally stuck in a novel world with fictional characters so what is there to be uncomfortable about?"

"This isn't even my real world, I don't even belong here, when I leave I won't have to worry about these characters anymore."

Then a pang of guilt hit me as if my subconscious was trying to tell me something I couldn't make out. "Right, when I figure out how to leave this I won't see anyone again, this is all just another reality, another obstacle... they're all characters in a novel who mean nothing to me, Danielle, Louche.."

There was a weird feeling in my stomach that nearly made my skin crawl. Even as I continued, I couldn't pinpoint why I felt this way. I felt extremely uncomfortable and my surroundings grew foggy, and before I knew it, my arm was hovering in the air, as if I were trying to reach for something.

"What the hell am I doing?" I muttered getting second hand embarrassment, pausing as I suddenly became aware of the state I was in. I retracted my hand and took a deep breath, flipping open my notebook and started doing what I was supposed to do the moment I entered the forest–document everything that had happened over the past two weeks. As I scribbled notes, my fingers slipped, causing the pen to drop.

"Damn it."

I glanced down from the tree, squinting as I tried to spot the pen among the lush green grass below. Just then, someone familiar stepped into view with a loud, deliberate "ahem."

I shifted my gaze and was startled to see Alexander standing beneath me, a sack of nuts in one hand, cheeks stuffed full. "Oh, Jookyu-I mean Alexander!" I smiled ignoring my slip up, I was relieved to see him. Maybe he could toss the pen back up instead of me having to climb down.

Pointing to the ground, I asked, "I dropped my pen. Could you find it and pass it up to me, please?"

He looked up at me with a mixture of disdain and indifference. He didn't move, nor did he make any effort to help. Instead, he just stood there, staring at me like I was some kind of zoo animal in an enclosure. And then, he finally spoke. "You get weirder every time I see you."

"Erm–"

He cut me off, "When have you ever climbed trees? I thought you hated getting your fingers dirty."

"I do, it's just... I wanted to see what all the hype was about with climbing trees, haha," I chuckled awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck, hoping he'd believe me.

But he didn't.

Instead, he furrowed his brows, narrowing his eyes at me as if he were trying to read my thoughts, figure me out. Alexander shook his head and clicked his tongue, "Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying, when have I ever lied?!" I interjected, appalled by how shameless he was on calling me out on my bullshit.

"You broke Mother's favourite vase and blamed it on older brother Keith."