The Veil

Chapter Five

Rune emerged wearing pants that had a nice fit to them, unlike the pants I'd been used to seeing my whole life. They weren't tight but they weren't shapeless either and they were made of something much different than cotton. Rune also wore a basic white shirt with a strange overcoat of some sort that had two strings hanging out of it near the collar.

It was one of the most peculiar outfits I'd ever seen. "Let's go." Rune urged opening the door.

I shivered as we walked through the Forrest I hadn't realized how far I'd come until I tripped on the same root. Earlier, It seemed like I'd only been running for ten minutes or so. We'd been walking for much longer than that. I got up. My palms and knees kissed in mud and other streak of mud across my left cheek.

"Get up." Rune sighed. Rune's hand reached out to help me up. I hesitantly took it. I wanted to prolong the touch but as soon as I was on my feet Rune's hand quickly retreated. I'd forgotten how nice human contact felt.

We walked in silence. I wanted to ask more questions but I could tell Rune was beyond annoyed especially after Rune was pretty much black mailed to help me get back home.

When we emerged after what seemed, and quite possibly was, hours of walking, we were a few houses over from mine that bordered the Forrest as well. I wasn't going to risk going through their yards because there was no way all their cameras weren't working either.

"My house is three down that way." I whispered even though the world was asleep.

"Congrats. Now forget you ever met me and saw what you did." Rune practically demanded. Rune sharply turned away and stormed off.

I heard something hit the ground of the Forrest. A small thud that almost went unnoticed. I look towards the direction and saw a glint in the midst of the leaf covered ground.

Slowly. I walked over I bent down and picked the small object up.

It was a key that looked exactly identical to mine. Except this one had a violet stone in the middle. The same violet color that adorned Rune's irises.

I picked up the small key and turned it over in my hand. The metal that made up the key wasn't gold like mine, it was a cool silver. And for once I wasn't repelled by the color gray.

Getting back to my house was its own challenge. I had to make a huge detour to get to the blind spot of my house unnoticed by the camera.

I looked up at my open window and almost let out a cry of defeat. I was at least four feet short of being able to grab on. I began to panic. There was no possible way of me getting into my room without being seen by a security camera. I forced my breathing to slow and looked behind me for any sign of Rune.

There wasn't even a broken twig that held any evidence of him being in the woods. And even if he had been around this was my problem now. He wouldn't of been blamed for it. I scoured the woods for what seemed an eternity before I finally found a rotting log that was just small enough for me to drag out. Muscles burned with every pull and push. I didn't even know if it would be enough to get me back to my room. I also grabbed a long thick stick, after all it would be incredibly suspicious if there was a log from the Forrest next to a house with an uphill sloped back yard.

I almost lost my grip on the log which would of resulted in it rolling all the way to the bottom of my yard and into the forest.

After twenty or so more minutes of yanking on the log I finally positioned it against the wall of my house. I climbed on with shaky nervous legs and as quietly as I could, pushed the long stick into my room. I then tried to leap to my window.

My fingers barley caught the ledge. My feet scrambled to get a better hold against the slick concrete walls. My arms where burning with exhaustion and my eyes with frustration. Then by Using every bit of strength I had left I hoisted myself up and clumsily fell into my room.

My body was caked in dirt and doused in shrubs. My lungs burned as did every muscle in my body. But I'd never felt more content in my entire life.

I allowed myself just a moment to celebrate my victory before I grabbed the long stick. I looked out my window and wedged the stick between the log and my house. I pushed back on the thick stick as hard as I could and slowly but surely the log began to roll. As it found its way back to the Forrest it collided with a tree.

The tree shuddered at the impact and so did I.

I looked at my clock. I had been gone four hours. The sun would begin rising soon. I suddenly felt heavy exhaustion creep over me. It slid its way through the veins in my body and began weighing me down with the desire to sleep. But my mind was bursting with energy and questions. I took the violet and silver key out of my pocket and dug through my clothes drawer to find mine.

I felt the cold metal brush my fingers, I took it out and compared the two. I gasped. They had the exact same set of teeth. I didn't know how it was possible but as I stacked them on top of each other they aligned with perfect symmetry.

I took the keys and shoved them into my clothing drawer. I looked at my clock. It was 6am so I had about an hour to sleep. I climbed into my bed and immediately fell asleep as I finally succumbed to my body's plea for sleep. I dreamed in purple the rest of the night.