Wildfire~The Dark Forest (Book One)

Chapter Eleven~I Am Not Just A Story, More Of My Own Little Legend:

"You done?" Alpha snarled. 

"Oh, getting angry are we?"

"No, I just hate little thorns in my paws." 

"Same difference." I argued. 

She growled, "Why haven't you answered my question?" 

"Well, obviously, you haven't answered mine. How old do you think I am?" 

"At least over twenty." 

"Oooh-Wait, I've got a better question. How old is my legend?" 

Her eyes brightened up, "Oh..." 

I nodded, "Yeah, feelin' old yet?" 

"How?" 

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm pretty sure my audience wants to know how old I am." 

"Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how old the legend of Wildfire and Fear is..." Pixels added

"Exactly, okay. Imagine the oldest thing you can think of, Ash." Ash nodded, "Well, perhaps a tree?" 

"Well trees are old, but immediately forget the oldest thing you can think of besides the universe, because I'm older than any tree. Oh, so much older, so much wiser. Well, I prefer cleverer. Have you Googled it yet?" 

"Are you just gonna say it, or keep stalling?" Alpha asked. 

"Probably the latter." 

"So you're gonna keep stalling then. Lovely." She says the 'Lovely' part sarcastically, but I'm sure you heard the sarcasm from where you're at. 

I gave my finest grin, "Hey, the sarcasm, that's my thing. I even bought a sarcasm shirt off of 'Amazon' once. True story, didn't fit, thought it would fit, but that always happens with stuff you buy online." 

"What are you even rabbling on about?!" Alpha exclaimed. 

I continued my grin, "Ooh, 'rabbling'. I like that. I'll take that. Yes, lovely. I do that quite a lot, but you should really listen when a mad cat is rabbling, or should I say, 'creatively insane'? Yeah, I'll take creatively insane." 

"Tell them!" 

"What?" 

"You know what, Sophia! Tell them how old you are!" 

"Well that's just flat out embarrassing. I think everyone else would experience second hand embarrassment. I mean really. Embarrassing." Yep, I was stalling. One hundred percent. 

"Stop stalling!" Her tone was definitely rising, Alpha was getting mad. 

"Oh look, the almighty Alpha is getting angry." I was keeping my tone as cool as possible. 

She stepped in front of me, "I wonder, what secrets your eyes hold. All those secrets, that you will take to your grave. All of the cats you've taken to their graves. How much sorrow, how much pain, how many tears?" Her tone was soft again, "I wonder, Sophia, how longer must you suffer? How much longer must your fire burn? Why won't you let it just burn out. You know what you're like?" 

My grin faded, "A Wildfire I'm sure." 

"Well yes. But you're also like water. You're eyes, they are full of the sorrow of a million cats. A million deaths. You are like water because you run, and run, and run. And then someone needs help, they need you. They need water. So, you help them, you may not want to, but they keep asking. Once you let them in, they feel safe and sound in the calm water, but then the tide comes in, the current comes, and washes them away. You're biggest weakness, it's compassion." 

"Well I thought my weakness was being quiet this long, but you've obviously proved that wrong." I joked, trying to not accpet the fact that everything she said was in fact true. And she was right, as much as I hate to admit it. She was right about most of the things about me, as if she knew me well, as if she was a friend I had confided in. 

"That's more of a fear. I'd assume your number one fear is loss. You are so scared. So small. So weak. So old." 

I was silent. 

"Oh look, she has nothing to say. But please do say, how old you are." 

I sighed, looking her in the eyes, I had nothing to lose now, after all. And there was that simple fact that I wanted to know specially about Pixels. 

 I sighed once more, "I'm One-Thousand-Three-Hundred-Fifty-Two."