Simon and Marcy; before the crazy

Chapter 8

I wake up to a strange rustling sound echoing through our small clearing. I don't notice anything when I open my eyes, but my vision is still adjusting to the daylight.

Daylight!

I try to dive for cover, before I start to burn, but I stop myself. Wouldn't I have already burnt? I look up. There is a moth-eaten umbrella propped up over my mat. I smile and grab emmett in my arms before reaching out and tapping Simon.

"What? Who?" he says, abruptly sitting up. "Simon, I heard a noise."

"A noise? Oh dear, are you okay?" He immediately shows concern. "Yes, I'm okay." "Well, we better check it out, just to be safe," he says as he gets up. "You just stay in your protective shadow." I do as he says and hold emmett to my chest. He squirms but doesn't protest.

"Come out from the undergrowth, beast!" Simon crows to seemingly no one. The bushes rustle once more. Suddenly the beast bursts forth, one I had never seen before. It was a large rat, with grotesque orange teeth and a large clublike tail, most likely for bludgeoning.

I almost scream, but Simon seems unperturbed. He kneels down towards the animal, and says calmly to it, "Oh hello, young beaver. You're a long way from the river, aren't you?"

Before I can yell to him in warning he reaches out to pat it's head. Luckily my friend is fast because the beaver leaps up like a cat right at Simons face. He dodges this attack, but the beaver lands steadily and turns before stalking towards him. He must be another mutant, his teeth seem too carnivorous to be a docile creature as Simon portrayed him to be, and he had claws growing out of his seemingly soft feet.

Simon seems panicked. After the monster leaps again, he hurriedly gestures to me. "Marcy, the crown!" I look around me. It's lying a few feet away in the sunlight, but I have to help my friend, so I steel myself to make a break for it. I lunge into the light, at the same time scooping the crown up in my hand and hurling it towards Simon. My awkward balance when I threw it causes it to go off course slightly and it landed a few feet away from him. And the animal was approaching fast.

I had dropped Emmett when I went for the crown, and when I lunge back in the shadow of the umbrella, he's not there anymore. He had scurried to the crown, and was now pulling the crown faster than I would have thought possible towards Simon, over his shoes and up his legs, right to his hand, where he stealthily leaps off.

All this happens in a matter of seconds. Simon places the crown on his head and closes his eyes.

I wait for something to happen. Nothing seems to change, but when Simon opens his eyes, they seem farther away than usual, more....crazy.

He laughs, and waits as the beaver gets closer before holding out his hands and blasting a ray of sleet that comes from nowhere right at his face. I've never seen this side of Simon, but I now see why Simon doesn't put the crown on.

Even though the beaver must already be dead, he won't stop blasting it. I get scared, and reach for hambo as I slip down further into my shadow. I feel sorry for that beaver, I don't know why. I wish he would stop. Before I know what i'm doing, I throw hambo at Simons head. It hits the crown and sends it flying. Simon slips out of whatever trance he was in, and he looks towards me.

"Marcy, i'm sorry, It normally doesn't last that long.."

I say nothing. At that moment a cloud covers the sun and I promptly stand up. I stare at Simon for a millisecond before turning on my heel and walking away, head held high.

I don't know what got into him, but that's not my Simon.