Emotionless. (Cielois)

Chapter 8: The Best Picnic I've Ever Had

Mounting Licorice and riding a horse again, I realize how much I miss it.

"Wow. Not half bad, Ciel.... bet you can't beat THIS though!" Alois says, suddenly racing ahead through the acres upon acres of empty field.

"Hey!" I say, laughing as I kick my horse to catch back up to him.

The wind blows through my hair, tangling it hopelessly; but that doesn't keep the smile from plastering on my face as I race past Alois into the morning sky. I find myself easily surpassing Alois with every race and competition... apparently the horse-loving me never left. We ride on like that for hours, which naturally feels like minutes, until Alois finally convinces me to take a lunch break and eat the picnic packed for us. We stop at a small pack of trees and bushes; of course, Alois insists that we find the prettiest tree to sit under, and after a few minutes of inspection, he finds a match. He then unzips his suspiciously wet backpack.

"You crushed them!" I whine.

Unfortunately, being stuffed in a backpack and bounced around for hours didn't exactly help the roast beef sandwiches and fruit salad. Apparently, the bag of fruit exploded, leaving the sandwiches soppy with juice. Alois picks up the corner of the bag, crinkling his stub of a nose and sticking his tongue out. I can't help but smile sheepishly at that.

"Here, feed them to the horses. I'll be right back." I say, getting up and heading towards a pack of bushes speckled with small, red and blue dots.

Just as I suspected, they were wild raspberries. As I begin to pick the ripe fruit, I realize I will need something to carry them in. My eyes drift to a large stick that lay on the ground. Just then, I come up with an idea; I pick up the chunk of wood, hurry back over to Alois, and hand him the wood along with the pocket knife I always keep handy.

"Carve a bowl out of this, alright?" I command.

He looks at me for a moment, puzzled, before picking up the knife and sawing at the wood as if to cut it in half.

"Oh, nevermind. I'll do that." I decide, snatching the knife and block from his hands. "You go pick as many berries from those bushes as you can. Ooh, and grab me a rock, too!"

"Aye aye, captain!" He says, starting towards the bushes but turning around to salute.

I carve a somewhat indistinguishable bowl, but it's large enough to hold multiple handfuls of raspberries. Alois fetches me a smooth, rounded stone, which I use to crush the berries into a smoothie of sorts. Unfortunately, I forgot about utensils... we had to use the backs of the plastic forks originally intended for the fruit salad to scoop up the fruity goop. Despite that, Alois is mesmerized.

"You're a culinary genius, Ciel!" He squeals, moaning as he takes a bite as if it weren't just smashed berries on a log.

I laugh and curtsy, to which he applauses.

"Dummy."

"Double dummy."

"You can't use my own insult against me!"

"Really? 'Cause I just did."

Despite the (literal) food mix up, we have what I consider to be the best picnic I've ever had. As I look at his beaming face, I can't imagine it tear-soaked and miserable... I begin to wish I had opened my eyes that day in the hospital, just to see what it would look like... I never knew this boy had a serious bone in his body, let alone sobs to choke on. I wonder if I would ever see that side of him again, when he knew I was conscious.