House of the Yellow Fern

vi. Hollan

07/11/2030 3:00 pm

Jacob had challenged his best friend to a game of hide and seek within the walls of their boarding room. Granted, the room was more of a collection of rooms, one bedroom two and a half bath, with the respective dining and lounging area. The room was much nicer than any hotel, probably due to the owners overwhelming wealth. Lace and shag littered the cozy little suite, on the walls, floors, furniture, and everything else in view. Both the men agreed it was a bit much for a simple hotel room, but Jacob assured the other it was a blessing they could stay in a quality room rather than one of the cheap motels New Balton was so filthily accredited for.

Hollan sat restlessly on the king size bed, back pressed comfortably against a stray pile of Jacobs unpacked clothes. He twiddled his thumbs and hummed a small tune in his head.

"Nine....ten!" He yelled. His eyes snapped open and he scanned the room. Shadows flickered from behind the furniture, hiding from both Hollan and the light that seeped through the half drawn windows.

"Here I come." He stated, hopping from his soft imprint on the mattress, and took to sweeping the room for any sign of Jacobs person. Hollan crouched beneath a coffee table and frowned at the emptiness beneath it. It seemed, as he thought so soon into the game, that his best friend had turned into something of the size of a dormouse, and begun to chuckle internally at the thought of the man hopping around with tiny ears and a long spindle-like tail. The bedroom was searched and searched until the seven or so hiding spots had been picked clean by Hollans' efforts.

Jacob was admittedly better than the other had thought. There was half of the suite to check, but Hollans original expectation was for Jacob to effortlessly choose a stupid hiding spot in hopes for a cheap laugh. Hollan caught the sound of a creak, almost inaudible. It echoed from the back of the lounge area, and hoping to sneak up on the younger male, Hollan crouched down onto all fours and proceeded to crawl towards the origin of the sound. Lucky for him, despite his taller, broader appearance, Hollan was quite nimble when it came to sneaking. Hours and hours of plotting to sneak up behind his mother and deliver a soft but alarming jab to her waist (to which she delivered a heavy scolding, the poor woman) had prepared him for a lifetime of silent movements.

His body slid around the length of their satin couch sat conveniently between the bedroom door and the end of the lounge room.

At any rate, Jacob has noticed i'm walking around. Hollan thought to himself, skillfully traversing a small stack of notebooks he had brought on their trip.

A second more and the man had come around the couch and peeked from under the arm cover. In-between him and the wall sat two objects: a hardwood coffee table, more fancier than the one in the bedroom, and a covered work desk with a Jacob-sized underside. Looking between the two, Hollan silently marked the work desk and began to slither towards it. With his back pressed lightly against the legs of the couch, Hollan drew in closer and closer to the desk.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, a pale figure twitched from the couches cushions.

"Gotcha!" The figure screamed, jumping out from beneath the lace-lined pillows, arms outstretched as if to grab the now panicking boy by his throat. Hollan lay in shock as the figures arms wrapped around his shoulders and drug him further towards the ground.

It was Jacob.

Hollan rolled himself out from under the laughing boy and grew red under the windows beam of light. His mouth curved into a sneer, but he couldn't suppress an occasional quiver of his bottom lip. To Jacob, Hollans angry face made the older boy look very much like a child, and thus added to a fit of laughing that could be ceased by none but himself.

"You scared me!" Hollan bursted out, cleaning a fist and roughly wobbling to his feet. His voice was barely audible over the others wail, and so the two froze dormant until the sounds of Jacobs giggling had faded away into the new-found drone of the nearby air conditioning, which had miraculously sprung to life in order to join in Hollans' humiliation.

"I got you good! Oh god, that was great." The last jolts of his mocking deceased, and only then did he pull himself up from the wooden floor to meet Hollans' angered gaze. Jacob raised an eyebrow and lightly punched his best friends shoulder, to which he earned a continuous sneer.

"Come on duuuuuuude."

Regrettably, Hollans' sneer melted into an exhausted chuckle, and the two commended a short-lived but meaning laugh between each other.

"Damnit Jacob, you bitch. Scaring me like that." Hollans voice was softer and he returned a light jab with his clenched fist. The two stood on their knees for a moment in silence with the ghost of laughter echoing around them. It wasn't awkward; in order for it to be awkward there would've had to been some feeling to feed off of, and truthfully, the two shared nothing but a smile before breaking off into the rest of their daily routine.

"Your turn." Jacob exclaimed before rising to his feet. He pulled Hollan up with him.

"No, no, no. I've had enough hide and shriek for one day." Hollan teased. His best friend rolled his emerald green eyes, (something Hollan always found intriguing about the other) and teasingly shooed him off.

"Fine. If you're gonna be a pussy about it-"

"I'm not being a pussy." Hollan defended, a big smile across his squinting face. "Besides, the concert before the festival is in an hour."

Jacob looked down at his tiny brass watch rapped loosely around his arm and proceeded to stare wide-eyed at the tiny hands ticking lifelessly within the trinket.

"Well i'll be damned." He said sarcastically. He grabbed the back of the couch and leaped over in a single jump, his cotton white socks smacking bluntly on the wood floor. Jacob shot Hollan a quick smile and darted into the bedroom, slamming the door in a most reckless of manners.

"Ill be out in less than seven minutes. Time me!"

As the noises inside the room began stirring within the walls, Hollan took the opportunity to sprawl his body against the couch. A long and semi-exaggerated sigh escaped his lips and mixed with the hum of the air conditioning.