Silver Souls [ON HOLD]

Chapter Three: Not Quite Ready

I was woken up with a rough shove. Paul was stomping around the cave with the darkest look in his eyes. A bucket of fish lay next to the bed.

“Did you get my things?” I asked, sitting up. He didn’t reply. 

“Hello? Earth to Paul? What’s the matter?” Still, not a word.

“Did I do something wrong?” Paul rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Okay... Can I please have my things now?”

He threw my book onto my bed, causing me to flinch in pain. He pulled my box out of his pocket and I reached out to grab it, but he pulled back quickly. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. He opened the lid and pulled out my locket between finger and thumb. He looked at it in disgust as if it was diseased.

“When did you get this?” his voice was so serious.

“I’ve had it ever since I can remember. It’s not yours, I swear! I just have one similar. Though I can’t imagine why...” I tried to convince him I was telling the truth. He pulled his chain out from under his shirt and I breathed a sigh of relief. He knew it wasn’t his. But that didn’t mean he was going to give it back to me any time soon.

“Do you know who gave it to you?”

“No, I never asked, and I was too young to remember,” why was it so important to him? Did he think we were somehow related? Unlikely. Our relatives probably just went to the same store. Why was he freaking out?

“We need to go,” he said.

“Where? When? Now? I don’t think I can do that,” I pointed to my   bandages.

“I’ll carry you if I have to. We’re visiting... some old... friends,” he sounded desperate and I could tell he was hiding something.

But the pleading look in his emerald-green eyes forced me to sigh and say, “Fine. Just get me two large forked branches.” He seemed relieved and ran to get them right away. While he was gone I wondered who his old friends were and why he was so desperate for me to meet them. He came back a moment later with scruffy hair and scratches on his arms and legs. His clothes were covered in dirt and a grin spread across his face as he saw mine. His eyes crinkled at the corners and tiny dimples appeared on his cheeks. It was the first time I had seen him smile. Everything about him reminded me of a messy child. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he just climbed a tree.

“I had to climb a tree to get these,” he said with a grin. I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. He laughed too. It was the first time I heard him laugh. It was deep and throaty. Like his smile, I hoped to experience it more often. For the first time in two years, this strange boy has made me smile and laugh and actually feel happy. I wish I hadn’t treated him so bad before.

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She seemed unsure at first, when I told her we were leaving, but she said yes anyway. She asked me to get her two large forked branches so I climbed the nearest tree and broke them off, ridding them of their leaved and sticking-out twigs. I ignored the pain it brought me to up and down the tree and rushed back, messing up my hair in the wind. When I got back she was sitting there waiting for me, her blue eyes met mine.

“I had to climb a tree to get these,” I grinned. She looked me up and down and burst into glorious laughter. It was light and hearty and I couldn’t help but join her. It was the first time I’d seen her smile, let alone laugh, for two years and it made me happy for the first time in over a century. I wanted this moment to last forever and I began to miss it as soon as it ended.