A Matter Of Choice

Chapter 10: Principessa

Heather’s POV

It has only been weeks since Natalia started staying with Kyle. I admit that I’m amazed that they had been so close to one another after only a short period of time. They are almost inseparable, and even with all the responsibility Darius gave us, everything seemed to be normal. Natural.

I rummaged through my bag, trying to find the last gumdrop I saved. Gumdrops calm me down and set my mind straight. I went through my things, pulling out every paper bag with the sweetshop’s trademark seal on it, but didn’t find any. It had been almost a month since the incident, which means I haven’t gone to Verona for almost a month. I’ve been stuck in the forest, along with Natalia, who was forbidden by Darius to go because she might still be in trauma, and Kyle.

Sucks. I’m tired of the campers.

I felt a small hand poking me from behind. It was Natalia.

“Heather? Can you teach me how to shoot?” She politely asked me, showing me a small bow and a few arrows. It seemed to me that those were especially hand-made by someone. I smiled.

“Sure.” I said. She showed me her bow and arrows. Interested, I looked closer. There were semi-intricate embellishments in the bow. On one end, I saw the initials NICO, which probably stood for Natalia Isabel Conrad-Oakley, which was Natalia’s full name.

Isabel. Isabella.

Memories of my pretend name came back to me as soon as I had thought of it. Everything from my proposal of the game plan up to the incident itself came to my thinking again.

Yes, it has been half a month after the chaos Kyle caused, but I seem to have trouble forgetting it. Nightmares ruined my sleep for the first few nights that I didn’t even bother to try sleeping again. It haunted me whether I was wide awake or in a deep slumber. I had to make a choice, though. It was either I stay up all night every night and be a zombie in the mornings, or I get nightmares during my sleep that could haunt me all throughout the day.

Feeling Kyle’s arm around me snapped me back to reality. I was caught off-guard daydreaming. I pushed his arm off my shoulder and glared at him. He gave me a grin and a cup of hot coffee.

“You look bothered.” He commented, as he stared at the wide horizon. He was holding a cup of coffee of his own. He wore a simple, thin-clothed shirt, which looked rather peculiar and a pair of brown shorts.

I felt my cheek heat up in embarrassment and tried to hide the blush. Clearing my throat, I began to think of an answer. “Um, no, I’m not. I guess…”

Gosh! What the hell is happening to me? Oh, right! Gumdrops! Maybe this is only an effect of my gumdrop disorder.

But gumdrop disorder? Is there even a disorder like that?

Kyle nudged me and signaled me to listen to listen attentively to Darius’ announcement, bringing me back to reality again.

“We all know that it had been more than three weeks after the incident that occurred during the forum.” He said, tapping his fingers on the log he was sitting on, as if he was nervous to tell us something. “We do need to hide, but we are desperately running out of supplies.”

Supplies.

I remembered my empty bags of gumdrops. Sheesh. Really, Heather?  Gumdrops at the time of a ‘famine’?

“I need people to go to the market in Verona and buy us two-weeks’ worth of food.” He uttered. “Any volunteer?”

A few people raise their hands, including Kyle. Darius glowered at him as his eyes looked around the pack of campers. “You can’t go.” He said.