Glitch

Dream/Lullaby

Chapter 3: Dream/Lullaby

He looked at me with a bit of confusion in his eyes, but it subsided and a smile took its place. I gave him a small smile before lying back on the ground to look up at the sky. The sun had risen to its peak during our game, and after a few minutes of staring at the space around the sun through the canopy of leaves, I heard Bail get up. I turned my head towards him in time to see him smother the remaining embers with his shoe.

He looked at me with kind eyes and nodded his head towards my bag.

"C'mon, we'd better get going." He said softly, moving towards my bag and picking it up.

I sighed, but not loud enough for him to hear. I turned my head back to the sky for a last few seconds. I already knew that there wasn't any way he was going to let me go, but that didn't stop me from thinking and wondering about how many people were looking for me, or if they even knew that I was gone. I couldn't stop thinking about all the people I'd never see again as I walked along behind Bail.

He turned around every once in a while, and every time he did, he smiled then turned back around to keep walking. We didn't talk at all while we walked, not like I wanted to talk to him, but it wasn't at all silent. The forest made so many sounds that I hadn't heard since I was a child; I heard at least fifty different birds calling out to each other, each with their own unique calls. I heard a cicada chirp a few times, but they stopped when the sun went down. All the sounds that I had gotten used to in the hours while the sun was up faded away, slowly being replaced by new sounds.

The crickets sang together in perfect harmony, and the frogs joined in as Bail and I passed by puddles and pools of water. A few squeaks and chirps found their ways into the music as well, and I closed my eyes letting myself follow blindly behind Bail. I took in the chorus and imagined little voices singing their words in tune with the natural symphony of the forest.

~ Calm down now, darling, calm down now

Free your shoulders of the pressures of the world

Calm down now, darling, calm down now

Put the pressures on someone else's shoulders

Find your peace, darling, find your peace

Let someone else deal with them for once

Find your peace, darling, find your peace

Sleep well knowing that your troubles are behind you now. ~

The music continued, but Bail stopped and I ran into his back. I stumbled backwards and open my eyes to see that Bail had set down my bag and was proceeding to set up camp again.

"You okay?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Wha? Oh, yea, I'm fine." I looked down at the ground then back up at him.

He sighed. "Why don't you go collect some more fire wood."

I nodded and turned my back on him to walk back in the direction we came. A few yards later, I heard the snap of a twig behind me. My eyes widened a little and I turned my head slowly, but didn't see anything. I continued walking and picking up twigs for a while.

After I had gotten a large armful of twigs and small branches, I turned back towards where Bail was. I took a few steps forwards, stopped when I came to the realization that Bail wasn't anywhere near me. He was a good length away from where I was then, and he would have no way of knowing if I just up and left. He'd have no way of stopping me, and I could probably get back to town in maybe a day if I went fast enough.