Senseless

Chapter 7

The chatter at the table grew fairly loud. Avery could hardly hear herself think. She couldn't even hear the others' conversations. All the words meshed together to make a loud commotion.

But every now and then, Avery would catch a phrase like, "She'll be here soon..." or "It's almost time."

This caught Avery's attention.

She leaned over to her right and whispered in Wesley's ear, "Who're they all waiting for?"

"Saige," he replied, "she's a really close friend of about everyone here."

The chatter continued for a few more moments until it was broken by the arrival of a dark haired girl.

She was slightly shorter than Avery, but she looked quite a bit older. Her long, wavy hair was held back in a ponytail and her dark brown eyes were relaxed. Her face was warm and friendly and she had a long, homemade shoulder bag that hung around her torso.

"Hello everyone" she said as she smiled, "sorry I'm late. I had to find a good excuse to get away from the house."

Everyone greeted Saige in their own personal way so that again, it sounded like a bunch of chatter.

Saige took her seat at the table and placed her shoulder bag in front of her. She pulled out a hand-full of small, brown leaves, which Avery was able to identify as Loreyalp leaves.

Following the leaves, Saige pulled out a container of some sort. Avery had never seen anything like it before. It was as transparent as water, yet as solid as stone. It looked as though it could be ice, but it wasn't cold to the touch. Avery puzzled over this mystery for quite some time.

Saige took the hand-full of leaves and stuffed it into the jar, making to pat down each leaf so it fit snug. Then she pulled out flint and steel and lit the leaves on fire.

The smoke from the jar rose in the air and filled the area with wisps of smoke.

Avery started to feel a little light headed.

The scenery around her slowly began to bubble and change until she thought she was dreaming. But the sounds around her still felt very much real.

The appearance of the other kids also changed, each person turning into someone else.

Avery looked around in confusion.

"Is this real?" she finally asked as the scenery around her continued to morph and change.

"You be the judge of that," Saige said with a smile.

This phrase caught Avery off guard, perhaps because of her light-headedness, but more likely because she had never really been given much of a choice in her life and finally, here someone was, offering her a choice.

"You be the judge of that," were the words that rang in her ears.

Finally, her surroundings stopped morphing when they reached a rather peculiar appearance.

The ground was now wooden planks that frequently creaked and rocked slowly back and forth. The tree stump was no longer a tree stump, but it was a proper, wooden table. There were lanterns in each corner of the room that hung from metal hooks mounted on the walls. There were all types of decor on the walls such as charted maps of seas, sword, flags and such. All of these caught Avery's eye, but what caught her eye most of all were the people.

The kids she was just sitting with were no longer kids. Each person was in there mid-twenties or thirties at least and they were all dressed in an odd fashion. Some had triangular hats, others wore long coats, and some wore eye-patches.

Avery sat their confused for a moment.

She looked down at herself to notice she was the only one that still looked the same.

"Uh,... guys?" she said in an uneasy voice.

"Don't ruin it," someone complained.

"Ruin what?" Avery asked.

The older man sitting next to Avery leaned over and whispered in her ear, "He means the reality. He wants you to make a character and just act along. It's all just a game."

Avery knit her brows in confusion and then smiled.

She closed her eyes and imagined herself in clothing, similar to the rest of the kids and she imagined herself in her mid-twenties, like everyone else. She opened her eyes and looked down at her new self.

She was a pirate.

"Alrighty crew!" a man said, voice raised, "Enough lollygagging! Back to work!!! All ye laddies!!!"

Avery smiled.

This was the most fun she'd ever had...

...and she'd never forget it.